Submitted by Being Fair, Feb 19, 2007 17:51

I am addressing this comment to the landlord who made the accusation and compared people who believe in rent regulations to being communists. First of all, when you buy a multi-dwelling apartment building you buy a leased fee estate. Maybe that landlord should take a real estate course. Secondly, most businesses are regulated. The NYSE is regulated by the SEC. Is the NYSE communist? Of course not. Third, the vacancy rate in Manhattan is less than .05 percent. The reason why the rent laws first went into being was because of the low vacancy rates. Finally, most of our real estate laws came from England who had 999 year leases because they knew they were privileged to have so much real estate.

If you look at many neighborhood in Manhattan such as SOHO they are only the way they are because of the poor artist who started them. If that be the case,'t then shouldn the artists and actors who helped produce these neighborhoods be helped to live in them. We only have what we have in this country because of the grace of God. Or perhaps, the landlord who made this ignorant accusation should have real estate like the type that the Jacob Astors had in the 19th century. Most of the rent laws were a reaction to the horrible conditions of the 19th century. If we paid for everything we had in this country, most of us could not begin to repay for the bounty we have (including landlords)

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