By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt
You know you are repeating past mistakes when past warnings confirm the threats of the past were real. This video was shot at one of the first Airbnb demonstrations held in SF about a decade ago. All the warnings were ignored. And now here we are being overtaken by the cute little struggling tech startups we warned against. And who was around to campion them?
Now that Joe Gebbia, the billionaire co-founder of Airbnb, is joining Elon Musk’s attempt to dismantle the federal government, I would like to remind everyone of a little history.
Airbnb was started in San Francisco, and for its first few years, every single listing in this city was illegal. The company’s entire business model was illegal. It was also deeply damaging to tenants, many of whom lost their homes so the place could be turned into a hotel room…
Ed Lee was the mayor. He did nothing, nothing, to enforce the city laws against short-term rentals. Airbnb was a tech company; the mayor loved tech companies. His administration also did nothing to stop Uber and Lyft, which were violating city law every single day.
In those days, if you were a tech startup, you didn’t have to worry about local laws. Move fast, break things; it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Never mind if you are ruing the lives of low-income renters and struggling cab drivers; they don’t count… (more)
Not much has changed except the coddled cute little techies that needed room to grow have outgrown SF and jumped from local to state to national destruction. When is enough enuf? Share this one if you can.