[From article]
Smaltz has lived in the same 700-square-foot, rent-stabilized Midtown apartment for 38 years. But she says the apartment complex has become like a hotel filled with transients and strangers.
“This building has 37 apartments, of which eight are inhabited by regular tenants who are rent-stabilized,” Smaltz says in the ad, referring to the building at 15-19 55th Street, near Central Park. “The entire fourth floor [has become] rentals, short-term rentals. The third floor, being done over, short-term rentals. And apartments on the eighth floor [as well],” she says.
“They don’t like us because we’re rent-stabilized,” she says of landlords.
[. . .]
The ad also claims that non-regulated rents have skyrocketed in Midtown while rent-controlled units are being lost to “Airbnb and illegal hotels.”
She complains that transients have keys to the building.
“You don’t feel comfortable. You don’t feel safe. It’s not home anymore,” Smaltz says.
It was not clear how much rent Smaltz pays, but she’s no humble pensioner. She’s the CEO of a successful fashion industry company called Ground Crew, which coordinates the backstage operations at fashion shows. Her clients include Donna Karan and Oscar de la Renta.
[. . .]
The ad comes just days after state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a report claiming up to 72 percent of Airbnb lodging reservations were illegally booked.
http://nypost.com/2014/10/20/elderly-woman-takes-on-airbnb-and-landlords-for-illegal-bookings/
Elderly woman takes on Airbnb and landlords for illegal bookings
By Carl Campanile
New York Post
October 20, 2014 | 1:20am
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