Hi All. OK, here's the Airbnb one, finally. I am not territorial about my writing, so any changes that make it a stronger argument are fine with me. It's due at City Hall this coming Thursday morning, along with the other arguments that we will be submitting for the lottery. Word count came in at 284.
Imagine the audacity of renting out part of your house toa visitor to our city while you are living there without getting permissionfrom government bureaucrats. Underproposed ballot measure F, that wouldbecome a crime and would cost you a violation fee of $250-$1,000 per day, aswell as court costs, lawyers’ fees, and “actual damages.” Since there are already laws on the booksdealing with property damage and neighborhood disturbances, we are not sure whya new ordinance is needed to discourage “actual damages.” The current law in place went after absentee owners butleft permanent residents alone free to decide if, when, and for how long theycould rent out part of their house for extra income. Prop F would now further restrict someoneliving in their own house from what they could do on their own property. Since the owners of hosted rental propertiesby definition live in the neighborhood and have every reason to providestability and care about their neighborhood, what is the point of restricting theirvoluntary arrangements with visitors with threats, fines, and possible imprisonment? More important, what gives bureaucrats theright to butt into voluntary arrangements when no one is being hurt? Prop F would also create a disturbing precedent ofencouraging people to turn in their neighbors by expanding the definition of “interestedparties.” Prop F would provide afinancial incentive for neighborhood busybodies to sue hosting platforms withdeep pockets. Encouraging neighbors tospy on each other will do nothing to make San Francisco a better place to live. Vote NO on F. Itwon’t solve The City’s housing woes, but it will further restrict voluntaryactivities and pit neighbor against neighbor.
Thanks!Aubrey
Not much content change. Just some sentence shortening, clarifications and some minor editing.
Very good….
Mike