Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

> an online information/marketplace/intermediation firm

Well, there is what airbnb say it is, and what it really is in reality.

In a lot of places airbnb is a way to make big bucks via short term touristic rentals (coupled with no tax) instead of renting to actual people living in the city. This itself has creates many problems for local communities.

I've seen houses with 4-5 airbnb room and professional cleaners etc ... it's an hotel, minus the security, minus the insurances.

> Business models are changing along with the societal changes in communications technology.

The other way to interpret it is: "disrupting tech startups are destroying communities and local businesses, by creating / enabling tentacular monopolies which operate above the law".

How do you explain that airbnb payed less than 100k euros in 2016 in France, its 2nd biggest market at the time. [0]

All these companies are going through seriously sketchy processes to make money [1] [2] [3], they just transfer their costs and responsabilities to foreign countries, local communities or their own employees. These things might fly in the US/UK (and even there people are fighting) but they sure won't fly in a lot of EU countries.

[0] http://www.leparisien.fr/economie/airbnb-n-a-paye-que-92-944...

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/16/we-company-ceo-in-hot-wate...

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/19/gig-economy...

[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46018104

And if Hotels close down due to AirBNBs there's more space for appartments where there once were hotels. If the AirBNBs take less space than the hotel they replace it's a win for appartments. If they cause more tourism it's a loss. What the overall effect is is far from clear, I haven't seen any thorough analysis on that.

It's naive to only look at one factor and ignore the others, yet that's often how far this debate goes.

I mean let’s be real: you described dozens of industries.

From sports teams to manufacturing, our industries are fueled by externalizing the costs (cleanup, infrastructure, social services, etc).

Locals need to collectively take back their agency in order for things to change. Stop manning their front desks, occupying their cubicles, leaving neighbors and families behind for long commutes on crumbling roads in tin cans.

Stay home and work together as neighbors.

The article is essentially about tax authorities trying to offload their work on AirBnB. Irresponsible owners will not disappear if it happened.

>Why should zoning laws be fought tooth-and-nail?

Because infringing on people's right to do what they want with their property deserves a hell of a lot more scrutiny than it gets right now. Trying to centrally manage what can be done where doesn't scale. See SF housing prices.

>Can I open a nightclub in my house?

As long as it meets the standards that night clubs have to meet then sure. You're unlikely to be able to do these things and be commercially successful enough to subsity in primarily residential area.

>What about parking? Can I pave my front lawn and rent the space out as parking spots? Or maybe put a dumpster there for local businesses to put their trash in?

Sure. Just be aware that you might be on the hook if you do a half-assed paving job and the runoff affects your neighbors. Once again if you truly are in a residential area where this kind of thing is not appropriate you will have a hard time being successful enough at it to annoy anyone who isn't already annoyed by everything.

>There's a tree on my boulevard. Can I cut the tree down and park a truck on the boulevard?

This is more complicated because you get into right of way issues and the city usually has a pretty substantial right of way beside the road (sidewalk?) but sure, if none of that is an issue then feel free to cut it down.

>I decided to run a grow-op in my house. When I turn the electricity on, the lights fade in my neighbours houses because the load on my grow-up is so much bigger than the equipment is designed to support.

If the power company was worried about QoS to the other customers on the street they wouldn't give you the massive breaker you need for that operation. If the neighbors are really bothered by it they can complain to the power company and if they complain enough then it will get addressed. There is no need for laws for this sort of thing. Once again if you're really in a residential area you're unlikely to get that kind of service if you really are somewhere it would be a problem. The power company has internal rules about what service gets installed where (basically their own zoning) in order to ensure that breakers on bigger equipment upstream are not tripped during times of peak load.