Two things to consider doing tomorrow
1. Get on the bus to Albany on Monday
Tenants and our allies in the State Senate and Assembly are hoping to get a deal done on stronger rent laws Sunday or Monday. Buses are going up to Albany on Monday and if you want to let Republican state senators who are holding up stronger rent laws know what you think, here's your chance to get on the bus.
FREE buses to Albany leave Monday morning from Manhattan (95th & B¹way) and Brooklyn (Dekalb & Flatbush). Call 347-541- 3339 to reserve your seat. More buses to be announced!
Sponsored by the Real Rent Reform Campaign.
OR...
2. Join Council Members Dan Garodnick and Rosie Mendez tomorrow for a March and Rally for Fair Rents
When:
June 20 at 4pm.
Where:
Meet on the Northeast corner of E. 14th St. and 1st Ave.; march to The Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th St. at 3rd Ave.
Why:
MARCH, RALLY, AND GIVE TESTIMONY at the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) public hearing. The RGB proposed renewal lease guidelines for rent stabilized apartments to increase rents between 3 - 5.75% for a 1 year lease, 6 to 9% for 2 years, and add a 1% surcharge for buildings with oil heat. That is way out of line with inflation and wages.
Co-Sponsors:
NYS Senators Tom Duane, Liz Krueger and Daniel Squadron; NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Members Deborah Glick, and Brian Kavanagh; Community Boards 3 and 6; The Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, Tenants and Neighbors, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, the Cooper Square Committee, Good Old Lower East Side, Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, and University Settlement
10 comments:
Where do I go to lobby against rent regulation?
Where do I sign up to end rent regulation entirely?
Portland, Oregon
If put to popular vote, I'd wager that rent regulations would be banished.
The problem is, only those interested in preserving these absurd laws are those with schedules conveniently free to take Monday morning buses to Albany rallies-- the rest of us are working at our Bourgeois jobs.
Workers of the world unite? How about "shirkers of the world unite"?
wow. those are some pretty astronomical increases.
@glamma
Yeah they are. Courtesy of Mike Bloomberg, who appointed all nine members of the NYC Rent Guidelines Board.
@ Anonymous
Baloney. You know exactly where to go to lobby against rent regulation, Mr. Shaoul!
Now to reality. According to the Siena College survey released on 6-13-11, rent regulation is tied for NYers number one biggest concern along with the tax cap and ethics reform, whereas it ranks third statewide. About 58% of voters in the boroughs support an extension of the rent regulations according to the survey.
I can't take off work to go to Albany, but like a number of friends in our building, do plan on getting to the rally at 4pm. The median rent for apartments in Manhattan is $1,300 month. Rents for stabilized apts in our building already run in the $1,000 - $2,500 per month range. So as far as the shirkers comment goes, just go f*ck yourself.
Whoops, that should have read, "The median rent for rent stabilized apartments in Manhattan is $1,300 month.
Rather than being bitter that some have the benefits of rent regulations (including renewal rights), why not ask why YOU don't have them? Housing is not a luxury.
I don't have regulated rent because I own a co-op apartment. So, my objection to rent regulation ain't fueled by "bitter" jealousy.
I object because all government price controls are B-A-D, I'd no sooner support rent regulation than I'd support government regulated prices for clothing, cat food, tooth paste, automobiles, anything.
Housing is not a "luxury", you say? Housing in Manhattan -one of the world's most desirable cities- is definitely a luxury... compared to housing in say, Weehawken, Kalamazoo, or Buffalo; is it not?
Should the government regulate the price of macadamia nuts or oysters because "food is not a luxury"? Regulate the price of hand-knit cashmere sweaters or silk negligees because "clothing is not a luxury"?
Whenever some kind of political dishonesty or evasion's afoot, you'll always hear the same old slogans: "_____ is not a luxury!", or "_____ is a Human Right!"... totally evading the fact that other men have to supply whatever "_____" happens to be, since few things are gifts of nature.
Regulation is only in effect as long as vacancy rates aue under 5%, Anonymous. NYC has regulated its large rental housing market precisely because it is one of the world's most desirable cities, and so housing here is always scarce. In an unregulated market, that would drive prices waaay up. At one time, the powers-that-be felt that to keep our city healthy and desirable, it was necessary to have effective regs to prevent big rent spikes / keep rents affordable in order to maintain a strong middle class presence.
Why did you choose to buy and not rent, Anonymous? Was it because, thanks to vacancy decontrol, you were unable to find a rent stabilized apartment? And were unwilling to take a chance on spending a lot of $$$ to move into a market rate apartment where the landlord could choose, for whatever reason, not to renew your lease, or upon renewal, to increase your rent by 30% (don't scoff at that figure, it happened to market raters in my building in the years from 2003-2008. How many middle class families can budget for those kinds of increases on their housing costs and are stupid enough to depend on the kindness of landlords?
I thought you free marketeers finally wised up after our under-regulated banking system practically collapsed the world economy. Some things should be regulated. NYC rental housing is not toothpaste or macadamia nuts. The rental housing market would not be some kind of Randian, Reagonian utopia where rents for all would level out if regulation ended tomorrow. That's not what happened in Boston, and it's not what would happen here. Especially when something like 80% of rental housing units are owned by 12% of landlords.
Remember Pataki's first day as governor when he deregulated energy? Thanks to the miracle of the marketplace, rates doubled overnight and haven't come down since.
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