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Out at Home: New York's Response to Airbnb Puts San Francisco to Shame
http://m.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/your-humble-narrator-airbnb-david-chiu-new-york-dianne-feinstein/Content?oid=3226675Surprise, surprise, surprise: Airbnb is based here in San Francisco, where its business model is, indisputably, in violation of our similar city ordinances. But Schneiderman's counterpart, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, hasn't made any trouble for Airbnb. Quite the opposite: In the same week Schneiderman subpoenaed the $10 billion company, Harris held a fundraiser at Airbnb's opulent SOMA headquarters. Yes, our state's top law-enforcement official popped in to pass the hat in the den of a company with a business model that violates the laws of its home city, and hers....
This week, Mayor Ed Lee signed into law Supervisor David Chiu's ordinance validating Airbnb's business model, setting the stage for a proliferation of residential units to, lawfully, be refashioned into tourist beacons. Just how this nascent law will be in any way enforced remains elusive, even to the city bodies charged with enforcing it. The $25 million (or more) Airbnb owes the city in back taxes remains uncollected; settling that debt was not made a precondition of handing Airbnb the keys to the city.
This was all rather alarming to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who inveighed against the Airbnb ordinance in an op-ed in the city's paper of record. It's not every day a senior U.S. senator sees fit to openly and publicly opine on pending municipal legislation. Your humble narrator has learned that, prior to penning the op-ed, Feinstein phoned Lee and attempted to explain to him how this ordinance would eviscerate city zoning rules, deplete already-scarce housing stock, and enable a company that has made a point of not paying its taxes....
Not 24 hours after the board last week passed Chiu's legislation, a press conference was convened at which Lee bestowed his official endorsement upon Chiu's Assembly bid. Venture capitalist Ron Conway, the mayor's preferred financier and a major early Airbnb investor, was not in attendance. But his presence hovered over the proceedings.
This week, Mayor Ed Lee signed into law Supervisor David Chiu's ordinance validating Airbnb's business model, setting the stage for a proliferation of residential units to, lawfully, be refashioned into tourist beacons. Just how this nascent law will be in any way enforced remains elusive, even to the city bodies charged with enforcing it. The $25 million (or more) Airbnb owes the city in back taxes remains uncollected; settling that debt was not made a precondition of handing Airbnb the keys to the city.
This was all rather alarming to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who inveighed against the Airbnb ordinance in an op-ed in the city's paper of record. It's not every day a senior U.S. senator sees fit to openly and publicly opine on pending municipal legislation. Your humble narrator has learned that, prior to penning the op-ed, Feinstein phoned Lee and attempted to explain to him how this ordinance would eviscerate city zoning rules, deplete already-scarce housing stock, and enable a company that has made a point of not paying its taxes....
Not 24 hours after the board last week passed Chiu's legislation, a press conference was convened at which Lee bestowed his official endorsement upon Chiu's Assembly bid. Venture capitalist Ron Conway, the mayor's preferred financier and a major early Airbnb investor, was not in attendance. But his presence hovered over the proceedings.
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