Airbnb fights back against Boston!

[Charlie MacPherson]

The City of Boston recently enacted regulations that severely restrict property owners from renting out their homes by the night, unless the owner lives in the unit - a move aimed squarely at Airbnb.

I don't have a dog in this hunt, but it seems to me that restricting an owner's use of his own private property without compensation is just reprehensible, so long as it doesn't cause a hardship to others

Placing a pig farm in a residential neighborhood seems like an unreasonable burden to others.  Having guests sleep in your property doesn't.

Well, Airbnb is fighting back.  They've sued the City of Boston.

"The lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court says the ordinance violates state and federal law by forcing home-sharing platforms to share information about clients with the city and requiring the platforms to enforce the new rules."

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/11/13/airbnb-sues...

Godspeed, Airbnb.  Enough of Regulation Nation.

[Charlie MacPherson]

@Robert B. I think that property owners of any description need to rigidly defend private property rights.

I get that local residents might be priced out of the market, but the solution is for them to move to an area that they can afford.  

There is no such thing as a basic human right to live in the city of Boston.

I might like to live in a nice Beacon Hill condo, but seeing as how the average list price is $3.679 million, I can't.  I moved to a place I could afford, because I don't have a right to force condo owners to reduce their home prices to a level that I can afford.

You cannot rightfully force a property owner to give up his private property rights without proper compensation.  Doing so is inherently unjust.

@Ray Johnson The internet has disintermediated countless businesses.  How many brick & mortar travel agencies do you see now, as compared to pre-internet days?    How's Sears doing after getting gutted by Amazon?  Realtors like me have seen Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com take over the relationship between agent and client.  

When I bought my "pack & ship" retail store in 2004, we were shipping ~35 packages per day and making $5.00 - $50.00 on on each.  We'd get 2-3 pre-paid returns, making $0.80 per package. 

When I sold it in 2015, those numbers were exactly reversed.  The internet with it's "click & ship" and "print your pwn shipping label" just about put us out of business.  What's the solution?  Tell people they can't print their own shipping labels?  Outlaw Stamps.com?

No.  Like the smart buggy whip manufacturers who became carburetor builders, realizing that they were in the vehicle acceleration business, we adapt.  We don't force regulations that require cars to be powered by horses.