Council Gunning for Oversight of Rent Regulation
A bill seeking to give the City Council more control over rent regulation is expected to be introduced to the state legislature within the next couple of weeks, according to an article in this morning’s Sun. The bill would mean that the City Council gets to vote on who sits on the Rent Guidelines Board,…
A bill seeking to give the City Council more control over rent regulation is expected to be introduced to the state legislature within the next couple of weeks, according to an article in this morning’s Sun. The bill would mean that the City Council gets to vote on who sits on the Rent Guidelines Board, a nine-person body currently appointed by the mayor. In addition, the bill would significantly revamp how the board determines rent hikes because landlords’ net incomes would be considered. Perhaps most significantly, the bill would mean that tenants won’t have to renew their leases as long as they pay rent. Councilmember Letitia James (right) says she plans to introduce a resolution asking the legislature to pass the bill, which has the support of tenants’ rights groups. Frank Ricci, president of the landlord-interest group the Rent Stabilization Association, says his organization opposes the bill. “This legislation ignores the reality of rising taxes, rising fuel prices, and rising water rates, to make this a more political process than it already is,” he says.
Bill Would Give Council More Control of Rent Regulation [NY Sun]
Photo of Councilmember James by threecee.
Letitia James comes from the Rev Wright school of economics……
We all see how well thats worked out over the last 2 decades.
Does she really own rental properties???? – Classic – I guarantee they are absolute slums compared to the professional management companies that she would instinctively call slumlords – this is the problem with our press – investigative reporting would demand that Letita James=Landlord would get through scrutiny, but fear that they would be called racist, results in zero scrutiny – and huge numbers of Blacks/minorites being victimized by the unrepresentatively large number of minority lawyers, doctors, politicians, accounts, preying on their own – see Council Women Diana M Gordon for perfect example.
One guarantee: any legislation supported by Letitia James will NOT cover her own rental units. Do as I say and not as…
I agree with the above poster. It’ll be nice to vote against her, though, being an incumbent, she’ll likely win another term. That is unfortunate, as she is all but useless.
Letitia James is only attractive if you like Fat women with a cheap conk and a dye job.
Unbelievable –
it is 2008 and our elected officials think that price controls based on the ‘income’ of PRIVATE property is appropriate….
This is what happens when people with limited education about economics are put into power.
Letitia James certainly represents her ghetto consitutiency very well, her politics should help ensure that they gain a tremendous amount of political clout over the next decade – by expanding ghettos all over NYC.
It’s letitia James, not Jones. She’s clearly overplucking her brows. She needs to throw out that pearlesant violet lipstick. Her hair looks greasy and limp and she has an inch of roots showing. Not pretty.
Zach:
They told developers after the war rent regulations would be expanded. A building boom occurred from 1950-1970. Many more apartment units were brought online during that time than from 1970 until today. Why is that? The city lied. They passed rent stabilization and all of those buildings constructed after WWII just prior to the law being enacted had rent ceilings imposed.
I’m also very much willing to listen to any other explanations regarding why so little rental housing has been constructed in the past 40 years. You are right that it is not the only reason, but it is a major one.
Why risk it? It’s just not worth it, when condos still sell like hotcakes in this city.
11:29 – Here is a recent brownstoner post on expending rent control.
http://bstoner.wpengine.com/forum/archives/2008/04/potential_rent.php
Polemicist:
I’ve read that Cato article before, and while it makes some good points, the bit about rent control hampering new construction because of the threat of expanded regulation is pretty much bunk. The city hasn’t expanded rent control since the Second World War.
Rent control still impairs the city’s ability to develop new housing, but that’s mostly because it’s so difficult to demolish a building with RS/RC tenants (and since every pre-1971 tenement is RS, this group is guaranteed to include all of the city’s worst housing stock). The second half of the Cato argument really only makes sense for cities with room to grow.
nothing strange about it – Tish James is very good looking!