[NYC Republican]

This is the same scum that buddies up with Sheldon Silver (D) to pass the tax increases - a trifecta - state, NY City, and sales taxes all go up - RETROACTIVE to last Jan 1st! They over-rode Pataki's veto. He might as well move over to the Dem side, he's a lying scumbag.

[Arkinsaw]

Price controls don't work.

[supercat]

SURPRISE! BRUNO BACKS TENANTS IN RENT BATTLE

BTW, headlines like the above are interesting since they presuppose the existence of an adversarial relationship between landlords and management.

The fact is that not only are landlords, collectively, best off when the market determines prices, but so are tenants, collectively. While rent control does improve things for some tenants, it makes things worse for other tenants. The effect is to give some tenants preferred status over others. Unfortunately, those who push for things like rent control seldom seem to discuss why certain tenants should be favored at the expense of others. In some cases, there may conceivably be valid reasons, but I've never heard them discussed.

[oceanview]

remember why Bruno did it, the tax increases are all paid by the "rich" downstate residents who make over $100K per year, so it does not effect his constituents.

[Dahoser]

He might as well move over to the Dem side, he's a lying scumbag.

Gee, could there be anything in his FBI file? All of a sudden he's playing ball on the RAT side and it coincidentally happens along with the release of Sid Vicious's book, Dallek's JFK hosed an intern tour, and Hitlery's book of BS with all attendant swooning from the media. Talk about setting the pins.

[finnman69]

This really pisses me off. Rent control is one of the reasons why partments remain expensive for those not lucky enought to slip into a rent controlled apartment.

[goodseedhomeschool]

Tenants already have far too many "rights". We landlords are being run out of business every day because of it.

[Little John]

I have zero compassion for the whining and crying from the poor abused "landlords. Rent control started in the '40s after WWII and then came stabilizationin the late '60s or early '70s. It seems to me that there are very few "landlords" around who were in the business before controls..... and if they survived for over 50 years then the laws can't be all that bad for them. Any landlord who got into the business after controls started knew damn well what the laws were. In business you take your chances. Vacancy decontrol is the only rational solution, but has never been seriously considered by any viable politician to my knowlege.

I agree that the existence of controls has probably held down the building of new apartments..... but I don't think the difficulties facing landlords in NYC are any worse than any those faced by any other business in the city.

[rector seal]

Bruno's NY state senate district includes declining cities and towns like Troy. Troy loses over 10% of its population every census and has no rent control as abandoned and collapsing buildings reflect the true future of New York state and eventually "the city's" fate as well.