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I'm impressed by how much hate is directed in the comments to the guy in the article. Seems like a lot of people here are either jealous about this guy "hacking

by nico 13y ago

I'm impressed by how much hate is directed in the comments to the guy in the article. Seems like a lot of people here are either jealous about this guy "hacking the system", or are just too self-righteous. Why not instead use the article (as it was probably intended) as a way to think and debate about things that are hard to agree on or that are hard to define? This caught my attention for example: "The Man Who Does Not Exist claims regulations that govern rental apartments are akin to drug laws. They are useless, unenforceable, and an affront to the general public.", and although I don't have a strong opinion about hotel regulation in NY (or elsewhere), I do agree that current drug laws pretty much only benefit government agencies (they get funding) and drug cartels (by artificially raising prices).

hapless 13y ago
I approve of the law as it stands. Hotel taxes and hotel regulation improve my quality of life. He breaks the law for money. As a result, I would like to see him punished. (As a secondary matter, he is loathsome for defrauding his landlords -- renting out space to be used as a hotel is a much higher-risk proposition than a long term residence)
- nico 13y ago
  Except there is a debate now, because hotel law was not created to regulate people renting out their places. So now people on both sides need to agree on a solution, given it's not clear whether hotel laws apply directly to people on Airbnb or not. This is a similar (if not the same) issue that Uber/Lyft and similar companies are facing with current regulation all over the world. Slavery was legal in the US for a long time, and a lot of people were fine with it. Does that mean it should have stayed that way?
  - hapless 13y ago
    Hotel law was absolutely created to regulate people renting out their places. The early working-class hotels were owner-occupied tenements with short leases. Hotel regulation was written with that picture in mind. And I simply cannot believe you compared hotel regulation to the institution of slavery. It is not just in-apt, it is totally inappropriate. You should feel ashamed of yourself.
    - randyrand 13y ago
      Some states (I know Illinois) actually have laws protecting renting out your own place. Typically referred to as subleasing. Also, get off your high horse.
      - hapless 13y ago
        Subleasing is legally protected in New York. Operating an illegal hotel is not.
    - nico 13y ago
      Please provide a reference to your claim about hotel law being created to regulate early working-class hotels. I can't find any. And given that NY only recently modified hotel law to ban less-than-30-days rentals on SROs, what you say is hard to believe. I should be ashamed for making a factual comment? Slavery is only shocking now, but it was completely normal a few hundred years ago and for thousands of years before that. Would you prefer I compare hotel law to gay marriage then? The principle is the same anyway, people believe or agree on something until the premise for that is no longer acceptable or no longer true. Then a debate starts and change must happen. You are rejecting change and accusing the people who are creating the change of being criminals, I think you should be ashamed of that. Given your nickname and the tone of your comments, I recommend you read this and put it into practice: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3304496/Be-lucky-its-an-easy-skill-to-learn.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3304496/Be-lucky-its-a...
      - vacri 13y ago
        Slavery is only shocking now This is utter bullshit. There have people making political stands against slavery for centuries. In the US, there were laws being brought in in 1777, right after independence. In England, there was a 16th century case where a slave brought from Russia would not be recognised under English law. Slavery in France was prohibited early in the 14th century. Slavery has a long tradition of people opposing it. Even 'thousands of years before that', there were societies where slavery was explicitly forbidden. The Achaemenid Empire (500-300BC) banned slavery due to its Zoroastrian religion.
claudius 13y ago
But while drug laws are primarily intended to restrict access to one resource (drugs), hotel regulations are intended to ensure that a resource (living space) is available and only as a side effect restrict another resource (hotel rooms). The analogy also fails because while drug laws are motivated by health/moral concerns, hotel regulations are to a large extend motivated by the fact that the common resource required by both tenants and hotels is limited simply by the amount of available space in NYC,. This restraint on the available space would effect the outcome of a perfectly free market to be rather bad™, since it would turn the whole of the city (and most other popular cities) into one large hotel without any permanent residents.

by nico 13y ago

hapless 13y ago

I approve of the law as it stands. Hotel taxes and hotel regulation improve my quality of life. He breaks the law for money. As a result, I would like to see him punished. (As a secondary matter, he is loathsome for defrauding his landlords -- renting out space to be used as a hotel is a much higher-risk proposition than a long term residence)

nico 13y ago
Except there is a debate now, because hotel law was not created to regulate people renting out their places. So now people on both sides need to agree on a solution, given it's not clear whether hotel laws apply directly to people on Airbnb or not. This is a similar (if not the same) issue that Uber/Lyft and similar companies are facing with current regulation all over the world. Slavery was legal in the US for a long time, and a lot of people were fine with it. Does that mean it should have stayed that way?
- hapless 13y ago
  Hotel law was absolutely created to regulate people renting out their places. The early working-class hotels were owner-occupied tenements with short leases. Hotel regulation was written with that picture in mind. And I simply cannot believe you compared hotel regulation to the institution of slavery. It is not just in-apt, it is totally inappropriate. You should feel ashamed of yourself.
  - randyrand 13y ago
    Some states (I know Illinois) actually have laws protecting renting out your own place. Typically referred to as subleasing. Also, get off your high horse.
    - hapless 13y ago
      Subleasing is legally protected in New York. Operating an illegal hotel is not.
  - nico 13y ago
    Please provide a reference to your claim about hotel law being created to regulate early working-class hotels. I can't find any. And given that NY only recently modified hotel law to ban less-than-30-days rentals on SROs, what you say is hard to believe. I should be ashamed for making a factual comment? Slavery is only shocking now, but it was completely normal a few hundred years ago and for thousands of years before that. Would you prefer I compare hotel law to gay marriage then? The principle is the same anyway, people believe or agree on something until the premise for that is no longer acceptable or no longer true. Then a debate starts and change must happen. You are rejecting change and accusing the people who are creating the change of being criminals, I think you should be ashamed of that. Given your nickname and the tone of your comments, I recommend you read this and put it into practice: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3304496/Be-lucky-its-an-easy-skill-to-learn.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3304496/Be-lucky-its-a...
    - vacri 13y ago
      Slavery is only shocking now This is utter bullshit. There have people making political stands against slavery for centuries. In the US, there were laws being brought in in 1777, right after independence. In England, there was a 16th century case where a slave brought from Russia would not be recognised under English law. Slavery in France was prohibited early in the 14th century. Slavery has a long tradition of people opposing it. Even 'thousands of years before that', there were societies where slavery was explicitly forbidden. The Achaemenid Empire (500-300BC) banned slavery due to its Zoroastrian religion.

claudius 13y ago

But while drug laws are primarily intended to restrict access to one resource (drugs), hotel regulations are intended to ensure that a resource (living space) is available and only as a side effect restrict another resource (hotel rooms). The analogy also fails because while drug laws are motivated by health/moral concerns, hotel regulations are to a large extend motivated by the fact that the common resource required by both tenants and hotels is limited simply by the amount of available space in NYC,. This restraint on the available space would effect the outcome of a perfectly free market to be rather bad™, since it would turn the whole of the city (and most other popular cities) into one large hotel without any permanent residents.