<story><title>Cuomo signs bill prohibiting Airbnb listings in NYC</title><url>http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/268627/cuomo-signs-bill-prohibiting-airbnb-listings-in-nyc/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jjordan</author><text>This highlights a flaw in the law more than anything else. Who owns your home? If government can tell you who can stay with you, regardless of any private transactions or agreements you make with that person, then government has more authority over your living space than you do.</text></item><item><author>geebee</author><text>Airbnb&amp;#x27;s response: &amp;quot;A majority of New Yorkers have embraced home sharing, and we will continue to fight for a smart policy solution that works for the the people, not the powerful.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d be more interested in knowing how New Yorkers feel about regulating short term apartment rentals than how they feel about sharing.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t think I&amp;#x27;m guilty of being a broken record if airbnb keeps misusing the word &amp;quot;sharing.&amp;quot;  Although I understand there can be some ambiguity in the word &amp;quot;sharing&amp;quot;, the arrangement &amp;quot;you may rent my apartment out for a week if and only if you pay me $1,000&amp;quot; isn&amp;#x27;t anywhere close to this zone of ambiguity.&lt;p&gt;It is commerce.  It is unambiguously commerce, it is a pure quid pro quo money for services transaction.&lt;p&gt;New York has passed legislation regulating commerce - in this case, the conditions under which someone may rent out property for under 30 days.  Those laws aren&amp;#x27;t obsolete just because someone wrote a rails app where you can type in an address and click a &amp;quot;create hotel here&amp;quot; button.  Also, commerce doesn&amp;#x27;t become sharing just because the quid pro quo financial transactions take place over the web.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mikestew</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Who owns your home? If government can tell you who can stay with you&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;The government can do all manner of proscriptions for your residence. For instance, no, you cannot run a brothel from your house. You cannot turn it into a bouncy house park. And you cannot have short-term rentals in an area that the community has decided to use for permanent housing.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s called &amp;quot;zoning&amp;quot;, and collectively we&amp;#x27;ve agreed to the allowed uses of our property. You live in a community of others, and your property lines do not define &amp;quot;The Independent Republic of JJordan&amp;quot;, so yeah, the government does have some authority over your use of your property. You might not like it, but you&amp;#x27;ll be going against the flow. Because, personally, I&amp;#x27;d rather not have the house next to me used for short-term rentals &amp;quot;shared&amp;quot; with those that don&amp;#x27;t give two shits about the community they&amp;#x27;ll be leaving on Sunday afternoon.&lt;p&gt;You also don&amp;#x27;t get to just decide not to follow the rules after the fact. One moved to a community, and directly or indirectly agreed to abide by the community standards. If one decides that&amp;#x27;s just not really working for them anymore, well, move to a community that has standards more to your liking. There do exist places that will have no problem with you throwing all the loud parties you like, and renting to college students on spring break. Those places are not in SV, however, so good luck in your search for remote work.</text></comment>
<story><title>Cuomo signs bill prohibiting Airbnb listings in NYC</title><url>http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/268627/cuomo-signs-bill-prohibiting-airbnb-listings-in-nyc/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jjordan</author><text>This highlights a flaw in the law more than anything else. Who owns your home? If government can tell you who can stay with you, regardless of any private transactions or agreements you make with that person, then government has more authority over your living space than you do.</text></item><item><author>geebee</author><text>Airbnb&amp;#x27;s response: &amp;quot;A majority of New Yorkers have embraced home sharing, and we will continue to fight for a smart policy solution that works for the the people, not the powerful.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d be more interested in knowing how New Yorkers feel about regulating short term apartment rentals than how they feel about sharing.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t think I&amp;#x27;m guilty of being a broken record if airbnb keeps misusing the word &amp;quot;sharing.&amp;quot;  Although I understand there can be some ambiguity in the word &amp;quot;sharing&amp;quot;, the arrangement &amp;quot;you may rent my apartment out for a week if and only if you pay me $1,000&amp;quot; isn&amp;#x27;t anywhere close to this zone of ambiguity.&lt;p&gt;It is commerce.  It is unambiguously commerce, it is a pure quid pro quo money for services transaction.&lt;p&gt;New York has passed legislation regulating commerce - in this case, the conditions under which someone may rent out property for under 30 days.  Those laws aren&amp;#x27;t obsolete just because someone wrote a rails app where you can type in an address and click a &amp;quot;create hotel here&amp;quot; button.  Also, commerce doesn&amp;#x27;t become sharing just because the quid pro quo financial transactions take place over the web.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bloat</author><text>This argument doesn&amp;#x27;t hold much water. There&amp;#x27;s many, many things you can&amp;#x27;t do in or with your own home due to various laws. There are externalities associated with lots of activities, and therefore these activities are regulated or outlawed. I can&amp;#x27;t use my home as a bar, or as a concert venue. I can&amp;#x27;t use it to tan leather, or operate a waste incinerator.</text></comment>