See The List of NYC Lawmakers Who Seem to Have Waged War on Homeowners in Favor of Hotel Lobbyists

OpEd By Calvin Thompson, Brooklyn Homeowner – Distributed by NYC Newswire – A Series of OpEds by other homeowners will follow.

New York City homeowners need to read the list below and take names of lawmakers who approved Local Law 18 that basically takes away your ability to rent a part of your own home (that you pay taxes for) as a short-term rental. Hotel lobbyists seem to have convinced the City Council and NYC Mayor Eric Adams that hardworking two-family homeowners are cutting into the multibillion-dollar New York City hotel industry’s profits. (See the List of City Council Members who voted for this law, which absolutely hurts black homeowners)

• 69% of the homeowners renting an apt or room in the homes that they own are from Brooklyn. Although the law was introduced by Bill Kallos who is from the Upper East Side, which is a different world from Brooklyn, where homeowners need the extra money to survive in this city.
• 49% of homeowners impacted are are people of color
• 50% are retired, unemployed or self-employed
• 93% of homes are owner occupied

As Jumaane Williams, Public Advocate and a Former City Councilman, has stated, “We were clear our intent is not to go after one- and two-family homeowners… But the administration looks like they’ve opened a can of wild, wild west whoop-ass on them.”

New York City homeowners have been renting out their spare apartments and rooms to earn extra money to pay for high ass NYC taxes, speed camera tickets, high cost of food, increased prices for oil, gas, and other utilities. Make no mistake about it, this new law is going to hurt these hardworking homeowners and will put some into foreclosure. Moreover, many of these same hypocrite lawmakers I can assure you, stay in short term rentals like Airbnb themselves.

Many New York City hotels have turned into part hotel, part shelter. Maybe that’s their problem. New York City hotels are charging an exorbitant amount of money for rooms that are not properly maintained. The hotel industry is dying, not because of the hardworking homeowners, but because of their bad business practices. Why should homeowners suffer because of their inability to maintain their hotels properly.

New York City Council Members are allowing this war on hardworking homeowners to take place. Once again, elected officials are siding with high priced lobbyists instead of the people who they are supposed to be lobbying for. The price of living in New York City is getting higher and higher, with no end in sight. New York City lawmakers have a way of supporting the hotel industry, developers and every other billion-dollar industry, on the backs of hard-working New Yorkers. For those who do not know, former Governor Cuomo’s family are owners of shelters in New York City, making it profitable to keep shelters alive, which means keeping homelessness alive. New Yorkers must be smart about what is happening in this city and smart when it comes to electing politicians who are either inept at understanding what is happening or in cahoots with the bad actors. Most of them do not even read legislation, which is why we the people suffer at every turn.

According to an article on WPIX, these new rules were set to go into effect on Monday, Jan. 9, but the registration program will now begin 30 days after the final rules are published which will happen after a public hearing this week.

Carolina Medina, a homeowner in Jackson Heights stated, “the city is making it nearly impossible for us to use our home appropriately,” Medina added. “We literally use our home for survival. What we make is what we use to maintain our home and maintain a livelihood and for my dad to be retired in peace.”

I encourage all New Yorkers to join the online public hearing on January 11th and make your voices heard. Take notice of how your local City Council person votes on this issue. This will be a telling factor in understanding whether they support hard working homeowners.

Council Members who Voted Yes to this law are listed nelow. (Some have moved on to other positions, but they should all explain their vote.  Either they didn’t read the law, or they read it and just didn’t care. Or they simply supported whatever the hotel lobbyists pushed in front of them. In either case they failed the homeowners whom they are always seeking votes from. Some of these people have moved on to other elected positions or jobs with the city. Remember their names at the voting booth or from whatever rock they crawl from under. 

Ben Kallos Affirmative – INTRODUCED THE BILL

Adrienne E. Adams Affirmative
Alicka Ampry-Samuel Affirmative
Diana I. Ayala Affirmative
Inez D. Barron Affirmative
Justin L. Brannan Affirmative
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers Affirmative
Tiffany Cabán Affirmative
Margaret S. Chin Affirmative
Robert E. Cornegy, Jr. Affirmative
Laurie A. Cumbo Affirmative
Darma V. Diaz Affirmative
Eric Dinowitz Affirmative
Daniel Dromm Affirmative
Mathieu Eugene Affirmative
Oswald Feliz Affirmative
James F. Gennaro Affirmative
Vanessa L. Gibson Affirmative
Mark Gjonaj Affirmative
Barry S. Grodenchik Affirmative
Robert F. Holden Affirmative
Peter A. Koo Affirmative
Karen Koslowitz Affirmative
Brad S. Lander Affirmative
Stephen T. Levin Affirmative
Mark Levine Affirmative
Farah N. Louis Affirmative
Alan N. Maisel Affirmative
Carlos Menchaca Affirmative
I. Daneek Miller Affirmative
Francisco P. Moya Affirmative
Keith Powers Affirmative
Antonio Reynoso Affirmative
Kevin C. Riley Affirmative
Carlina Rivera Affirmative
Deborah L. Rose Affirmative
Helen K. Rosenthal Affirmative
Rafael Salamanca, Jr. Affirmative
Mark Treyger Affirmative
Paul A. Vallone Affirmative
James G. Van Bramer Affirmative

Link to the Official Roll Call.  (Click “Action Details”  under “Result Pass” to see how they all voted to confirm this list.

To post your OpEd about this subject send an email to [email protected]