Fuck that the developer should honor the contractual obligations they knew about when they building. Nobody is obligated to take a payout when they have a contract saying otherwise. It’s not a racket they have a valid lease from the previous owner.

Because you can tear it down and build a skyscraper in its place, it’s still profitable even if you have to give an existing tenant space for free.

> Build what then, more “luxury buildings”?

No, I think the government should remove FAR restrictions but only for owners who will build coops that are affordable to purchase by the middle class and must be owner-occupied as a primary residence.

> And why does it matter that they take a loss when you’re providing an essential human need?

Because this is the real world and nobody is going to take a loss on purpose. Yes the government could get in the game but if they're just providing rentals it won't solve the problem. We need more middle class homeownership here not more lifetime renters.

The writers of Billions need new plotlines come on people lets give them something

Driving 5 minutes to a bagel shop is no different than walking 5 minutes to a bagel shop.

Yes for going out drinking, not having to drive is better but honestly once Ubers are automated and the price drops down to be like taking a $5 or $10 train ride home life in the suburbs will be very different.

Plenty of people want to build, they just can't because of stupid zoning FAR limits and corruption making the cost of construction here absurdly high.

Sounds like an upgrade for everyone

We also have a culture of pedestrians walking on red even when cars are coming through across the street.

As long as there’s a ticket a tow truck will remove it

Turning right on red is a thing again

They don’t need to they can auction it off still

> Because the large incremental payouts to schools for special Ed students incents them to declare more students special Ed.

You think a school can just declare a student to need special education? A lot of times parents have to pay out of pockets thousands if not $10k+ out of pocket themselves for neurological evaluations with a child neurologist and it takes 6-9 months to even get appointment for those. Then multiple various city agencies will observe the child in various settings (in the home, in the agency office, etc). And the city agencies fight it every step of the way because they don't want to be issuing an IEP to parents. Some parents end up suing the city to get their kids the right resources and I can tell you from having been through it, lawyers specializing in child special education do not come cheap. IIRC the one i talked to was $800/hour and the paralegals were like half that much.

Ah the good old days of waiting for some random arecibo driver to pick you up on a random corner. Might be 2 mins, might be 30 mins.

There are unions for unskilled labor too.

You still need a lawyer even if you're not paying the mortgage penalty tax like those of us non-coop owners.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/fart-jar-tiktok-stephanie-matto-interview-1280395/

Is it that they “pay high taxes” or that the city charges an exorbitant hotel tax on the occupants because it’s a way of taxing people who aren’t residents and therefore don’t get to vote on the taxes in the first place?

Maybe. This only started during covid and persisted during the ensuing labor shortage. TBH I don’t want someone coming into my room during a stay so I always left the DND sign up anyway. I like not having to worry about a cleaning fee when I leave though, that was always some bullshit about Airbnb.

Yeah I understand why the owners’ cost structures are lower I just meant from the perspective of value provided, a well run Airbnb unit offers more value than a well run hotel.

The Marriott hotels I’ve stayed in lately don’t clean your room every day, I guess as a cost cutting measure.

There are plenty of airbnbs in touristy neighborhoods too. I’d say the majority of people would rather have more space and a kitchen than 24 hour staff. I agree about the consistency though obviously it’s a huge value that large chains bring, and rewards points. My coworkers for years, at least as far back as 2014 choose to stay in airbnbs on business trips but I like those rewards points!

I only stay at Airbnb when I’m going somewhere with a group and we want a house/cabin to hang out in together.

Yeah get out there and rake up the leaves and mow the lawn!

You might not be but some people are.

Hotels in the outer boroughs are clustered around the airport and expensive or trendy neighborhoods like Long Island city or downtown Brooklyn. The ones that don’t fall into those categories have frequently been taken over for use as homeless housing.

And anyway, all of the things being equal why wouldn’t you wanna living room and the kitchen for the same or less money?

Excluding the bad host problems, airbnb is great for people who want to stay in a regular neighborhood around locals instead of in the touristy areas where hotels are licensed to operate. Let's say you're a parent from the midwest coming to visit your adult child who lives in queens or brooklyn, do you want to stay in wall street/times square/midtown where most of the hotels are or do you want to stay in the same neighborhood where your kid lives?

If cities didn't limit hotel locations and try to concentrate them in certain places, and hotels provided more kitchen-like amenities so people can cook for themselves when traveling this would all be less of an issue. But airbnb basically figured out that hotels aren't providing what a lot of people really want.

Maybe hotel chains should start making more multi-room suites with living rooms and kitchens, since that's what a lot of groups want when they go on vacation.