$75 LOFT TOO GOOD TO BE LEGAL

The New York Post ^ | 5/18/02 | DAREH GREGORIAN

[Pearls Before Swine]

She's a parasite, but too dumb or blind to realize it, or too selfish to admit it. The problem with set-asides--whether thru rent control, racial action, or lordship inheritance--is always the same. Inheritance or benefit without work or merit.

[general_re]

Sorry for the slowness of the response, but realistically, any time you monkey with the price of things, either the supply of or the demand for that thing is going to be affected, no matter what you call that monkeying.

I'm reluctant to tell you how you should feel in your situation, because as someone else already pointed out, doing what you did is perfectly rational, even if the morality is a bit suspect. In one sense, you'd be a fool not to try to "game" the system to your advantage, but in another sense...well, the morality is still suspect - you're essentially profiting by the theft of someone else's freedom, and the fact that it's done under color of law doesn't really improve the smell much.

Maybe the best thing is to try to strike a balance. Assuming you're not there totally against the wishes of your landlord, try spending some time talking up the advantages of ending rent control to your neighbors - compare NYC's housing market to a large city without rent control, like Chicago. Chicago has a huge rental property market, and it's awfully affordable when compared to NYC - check out the classifieds of the Tribune and the Sun-Times and you'll see what I mean. Try working towards phasing out rent-control altogether. Support politicians who want to phase out rental price-fixing schemes.

And so forth. The Cato Institute had a really good paper a few years ago about the effects of price-ceilings on the property market - see what you think.

[Conservative til I die]

Yes, you are right. I meant 1/5th of a mile.

[NickRails]

Hey, you should feel lucky, you won the NYC housing lottery, where the spoils go to the fortunate, not the needy.

Serioulsly, though, if you did nothing illegal or unethical, i.e. putting your name on a lease for an apt. you did not live in, or falsely claiming you were related to an apartment dweller, I would sleep easy. You took advantage (though not an undue advantage) of a flaw in the market created by over regulation.

[supercat]

Yes, you are right. I meant 1/5th of a mile.

I thought that's what you'd said, but I think $1.50/mile is what the rate was when I was there about a decade ago. Has it really not gone up since then?

[Conservative til I die]

Remember, there is the $2.00 surcharge, and I believe after a certain hour (9 p.m.? perhaps), there's a night surcharge of something like 50 cents, so that could be factored in.