jan@oscvax.UUCP (Jan Sven Trabandt) (03/03/88)
Just thought I'd throw in my $.02 worth.
I forget where this quotation ('quote' is *not* a noun!!!) came from,
but someone (well-known) said:
" Rent Control is the best way to destroy a city -
after bombing."
Yes, I'm against rent control.
I agree with the argument that rent control caused more condos etc. to
be built because no builder would want to build a new rent-controlled
building and this causes affordable-housing squeeze etc.
Ever notice that rent control policies are generally made during
election years as purely vote-getting policies?
For instance, New York politicians of old acknowledge this in NYC,
wishing they hadn't because it's a policy that is extremely difficult
if not impossible to revoke (though that would be the best thing to do).
Consider that in NYC (this is from quite a few years ago, but definitely
after the birth of rent control in NYC),
fully 20% of housing is beyond repair,
and another 20% of housing is unfit for human living.
That much housing could not go to waste if there were no rent control.
Besides, we were doing reasonably OK before rent control got introduced.
In short, rent control is a fundamentally warped policy (well, maybe the
intentions were good, but that doesn't make it *right*) designed only
to get votes from the lower classes.
Jan Sven.
--------------------------------------------------------
-"Are you, besides Neysa, perchance a virgin?"
-"No."
-"Well, that's over-rated anyways."
( paraphrased from 'Split Infinity', by Piers Anthony)
Mind like parachute - function only when open!
Jan (Jan, from Amsterdam) no-hyphen Sven Trabandt
...!{allegro,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!oscvax!jan