If you want another example (and I know there are many) of crazy NY overregulation, consider the "Prevailing Wage Law" passed in 2022 with little fanfare. In order to qualify for the longstanding real estate tax abatement allowed to condos and co-ops, buildings suddenly had to pay "prevailing wages" set by the Local 32BJ building workers' union. There is another such union (the less-fancy union) representing similar workers, Local 670, and its workers had negotiated lower wages. But "prevailing wages" were set to the higher union wages.
In our co-op building, which employs Local 670 workers, this law required a sudden 28% increase in our payroll/benefits budget in early 2022, which caused our monthly maintenance charges to increase by more than 9%. One might think that it would be better to forego the tax abatement, but it was more economical to take the substantial hit and pay the higher maintenance charges. This also points out the hazards of encouraging these sorts of abatements and giving city/state government this sort of leeway to control how buildings are managed.
Hi Josh, I am sorry to have to point out that you have entirely missed the point of Intro 429A which was just overwhelmingly approved by the City Council. SURPRISE! This is a bill which will make it cheaper to LEGALLY install a new gas stove. If you had bothered to do the journalistic research necessary, you would have found out that it has been ILLEGAL for anyone but a Licensed Plumber to change a gas stove for more than 75 years. Janitors and Truck Drivers CAN do it, but for safety reasons they MAY NOT do it, not for over 75 years. Intro 429A moved changing a gas stove into "Ordinary Plumbing Work" under the building code. This did NOT add red tape; it cut red tape. Now a Licensed Plumber can do the job cheaper. It cut a 4-step process down to 2 steps. I would explain it to you, but you are apparently uninterested in facts. If your argument is saying that unqualified, uneducated, inexperienced workers doing illegal and dangerous work is cheaper than doing something the safe and legal way then I guess you have a point. Good luck in court or explaining that to the FDNY or your insurance company if something goes wrong. You threw a lot of shade at Plumbers, but you didn't bother to speak to any Plumbers to check the facts. I'm sure your Journalism professor would be very proud of you. By the way, your heroes at Home Depot just settled a Class Action lawsuit for over 4 million dollars in Long Island for giving truck drivers a pair of pliers and telling them it was OK to break the law. So DANGEROUS. So STUPID.
Mamdani's brand of Third World Socialism is inherently oppositional, not cohabitative or condominium-based. When I use "condominium" I use it in the sense of shared ownership and collaborative responsibility, not in the sense of a building that is not coop but condo. Seeing his worldview that way would lead one to view his likely time in office as fraught with conflict, with little desire for conciliation and coalition-building. DSA and its adherents differ radically from European socialists in the sense that they are deeply exclusionary and highly confrontational. This worldview doesn't lend itself to good governance. And yes, I know that socialists in America see Mamdami's likely mayorship as their "big chance" to prove their worldview is superior, but their political instincts will quickly push them in the direction of confrontation, so I see very little chance something like technocratic rule on the part of a DSA-based Socialist like Mamdami, which is what Josh is inferring COULD happen here, actually occurring.
Issues that are important to New Yorkers are SO interesting to those of us who don't live there. We wish our problems were important enough to deserve discussion, but alas we will never be as important as New Yorkers are. They're the importantest!
Hi Josh, I am sorry to have to point out that you have entirely missed the point of Intro 429A which was just overwhelmingly approved by the City Council. SURPRISE! This is a bill which will make it cheaper to LEGALLY install a new gas stove. If you had bothered to do the journalistic research necessary, you would have found out that it has been ILLEGAL for anyone but a Licensed Plumber to change a gas stove for more than 75 years. Janitors and Truck Drivers CAN do it, but for safety reasons they MAY NOT do it, not for over 75 years. Intro 429A moved changing a gas stove into "Ordinary Plumbing Work" under the building code. This did NOT add red tape; it cut red tape. Now a Licensed Plumber can do the job cheaper. It cut a 4-step process down to 2 steps. I would explain it to you, but you are apparently uninterested in facts. If your argument says that unqualified, uneducated, inexperienced workers doing illegal and dangerous work is cheaper than doing something the safe and legal way then I guess you have a point. Good luck in court or explaining that to the FDNY or your insurance company if something goes wrong. You threw a lot of shade at Plumbers, but you didn't bother to speak to any Plumbers to check the facts. I'm sure your Journalism professor would be very proud of you. By the way, your heroes at Home Depot just settled a Class Action lawsuit for over 4 million dollars in Long Island for giving truck drivers a pair of pliers and telling them it was OK to break the law. So DANGEROUS. So STUPID.
Josh: This will cause rents to go up.
New York City: NOT IF WE MAKE THAT ILLEGAL!
Checkmate, atheist.
If you want another example (and I know there are many) of crazy NY overregulation, consider the "Prevailing Wage Law" passed in 2022 with little fanfare. In order to qualify for the longstanding real estate tax abatement allowed to condos and co-ops, buildings suddenly had to pay "prevailing wages" set by the Local 32BJ building workers' union. There is another such union (the less-fancy union) representing similar workers, Local 670, and its workers had negotiated lower wages. But "prevailing wages" were set to the higher union wages.
In our co-op building, which employs Local 670 workers, this law required a sudden 28% increase in our payroll/benefits budget in early 2022, which caused our monthly maintenance charges to increase by more than 9%. One might think that it would be better to forego the tax abatement, but it was more economical to take the substantial hit and pay the higher maintenance charges. This also points out the hazards of encouraging these sorts of abatements and giving city/state government this sort of leeway to control how buildings are managed.
Hi Josh, I am sorry to have to point out that you have entirely missed the point of Intro 429A which was just overwhelmingly approved by the City Council. SURPRISE! This is a bill which will make it cheaper to LEGALLY install a new gas stove. If you had bothered to do the journalistic research necessary, you would have found out that it has been ILLEGAL for anyone but a Licensed Plumber to change a gas stove for more than 75 years. Janitors and Truck Drivers CAN do it, but for safety reasons they MAY NOT do it, not for over 75 years. Intro 429A moved changing a gas stove into "Ordinary Plumbing Work" under the building code. This did NOT add red tape; it cut red tape. Now a Licensed Plumber can do the job cheaper. It cut a 4-step process down to 2 steps. I would explain it to you, but you are apparently uninterested in facts. If your argument is saying that unqualified, uneducated, inexperienced workers doing illegal and dangerous work is cheaper than doing something the safe and legal way then I guess you have a point. Good luck in court or explaining that to the FDNY or your insurance company if something goes wrong. You threw a lot of shade at Plumbers, but you didn't bother to speak to any Plumbers to check the facts. I'm sure your Journalism professor would be very proud of you. By the way, your heroes at Home Depot just settled a Class Action lawsuit for over 4 million dollars in Long Island for giving truck drivers a pair of pliers and telling them it was OK to break the law. So DANGEROUS. So STUPID.
Arthur O. Klock Jr.
"Ackchyually this form of absurd overregulation is good" is the refreshing take we all need today.
Mamdani's brand of Third World Socialism is inherently oppositional, not cohabitative or condominium-based. When I use "condominium" I use it in the sense of shared ownership and collaborative responsibility, not in the sense of a building that is not coop but condo. Seeing his worldview that way would lead one to view his likely time in office as fraught with conflict, with little desire for conciliation and coalition-building. DSA and its adherents differ radically from European socialists in the sense that they are deeply exclusionary and highly confrontational. This worldview doesn't lend itself to good governance. And yes, I know that socialists in America see Mamdami's likely mayorship as their "big chance" to prove their worldview is superior, but their political instincts will quickly push them in the direction of confrontation, so I see very little chance something like technocratic rule on the part of a DSA-based Socialist like Mamdami, which is what Josh is inferring COULD happen here, actually occurring.
Issues that are important to New Yorkers are SO interesting to those of us who don't live there. We wish our problems were important enough to deserve discussion, but alas we will never be as important as New Yorkers are. They're the importantest!
A hahal cart on every corner, one might say?
Hi Josh, I am sorry to have to point out that you have entirely missed the point of Intro 429A which was just overwhelmingly approved by the City Council. SURPRISE! This is a bill which will make it cheaper to LEGALLY install a new gas stove. If you had bothered to do the journalistic research necessary, you would have found out that it has been ILLEGAL for anyone but a Licensed Plumber to change a gas stove for more than 75 years. Janitors and Truck Drivers CAN do it, but for safety reasons they MAY NOT do it, not for over 75 years. Intro 429A moved changing a gas stove into "Ordinary Plumbing Work" under the building code. This did NOT add red tape; it cut red tape. Now a Licensed Plumber can do the job cheaper. It cut a 4-step process down to 2 steps. I would explain it to you, but you are apparently uninterested in facts. If your argument says that unqualified, uneducated, inexperienced workers doing illegal and dangerous work is cheaper than doing something the safe and legal way then I guess you have a point. Good luck in court or explaining that to the FDNY or your insurance company if something goes wrong. You threw a lot of shade at Plumbers, but you didn't bother to speak to any Plumbers to check the facts. I'm sure your Journalism professor would be very proud of you. By the way, your heroes at Home Depot just settled a Class Action lawsuit for over 4 million dollars in Long Island for giving truck drivers a pair of pliers and telling them it was OK to break the law. So DANGEROUS. So STUPID.
Arthur O. Klock Jr.
It's been like this in Australia for years....