In Landlord’s Uphill Fight to Ease Rent Restrictions, The New York Times reports on the Harmon cert petition (we posted the petition and the amici briefs in that case here), a challenge to New York City's rent control ordinance.
We won't rehash our thoughts on the case, but wanted to point out what we thought was the most revealing passage from the Times article:
Mr. Harmon said he had appealed to his assemblywoman, Linda B. Rosenthal, a strong supporter of rent regulations. Ms. Rosenthal said Mr. Harmon had asked for an exception to rent regulations for his building, which she found untenable because it would, she said, extend to thousands of other people in "the vanishing middle class.""I understand he thinks he could make more money, that he is being deprived," she said. "But I have so many constituents who would willingly trade his problems for theirs."
As for luck, she said, Mr. Harmon was "lucky enough to inherit a town house."
She said her views had nothing to do with the fact that she lives in a rent-regulated apartment, though she added, "If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t be representing tenants in this district because I couldn’t afford to live in the city."
You see, rent control is designed to even out the way that the Fates distribute luck (especially good luck), and to level the playing field for those who would be willing to "trade up" their problems for the problems of others. We think it sounded better in the original German: "Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen!"
-------------
*with apologies to Dean Martin, who apparently originated the quote about Frank Sinatra: "It's Frank's world, we just live in it."
