Rent Guideline Increases

As sure as the swallows will come back to Capistrano and the Boys of Summer will take the field, the Rent Stabilization Guidelines Board will meet and make no one happy.

It is a ritual, and we New Yorkers like our rituals as well as the next group of irate, overcrowded, paranoid and privileged group of city dwellers.

While our Byzantine rent regulations have been around longer than I have, it never changes.  No, not one bit. It's "the rent is too damned high" vs. "landlords cannot make a living."  The Mayor, be it Lindsay, Beame, Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani, Bloomberg, or de Blasio, is a stooge and puppet of the landlords, or the tenants, depending on who you ask, or rather, who is braying their opinion at you.

The most recent Guidelines Board meeting resulted in a proposed current spread of increases of 0 to 2% for a one year lease renewal and 0.3% to 3.5% for a two year renewal.  There is no final determination--that will come later amidst more cries and whimpers.

The final vote will come on June 27.  Hopefully I will be at a ballgame: or watching the swallows