What a breath of fresh air and the scent of rational minds at work. It is well that GM voted unanimously to approve the Schulz request for a conditional use permit. Airbnb is astonishingly ubiquitous – as the paper reported.
First, if you don’t know about the company, go to their website. Look around; you’ll find lodging almost anywhere you want to go. I’m a consumer of what they have for several years now. A person can find lodging (which may be a room and a bath or an entire floor or an entire small house) in Amsterdam, for example, in a safe, walking-distance place for under $100. (A certain well-known little apartment right here in town goes for $300 per night on Airbnb.) You can understand why the company is as large as it is. Airbnb offers much, much more; they’re here to stay and the hotels and motels throughout the world have been working very hard to stop them.
Cities have also tried to stop them because they “lose” the tax for lodging. The cities uniformly have lost blanket challenges (including San Francisco). The only real issue (for cities) is to find a way to collect any lodging tax. Airbnb already figured that out. The amount is broken down into one of the costs when a traveler books a room. Paid upfront. The issue of liability coverage or loss by damage is insured by the company as well. State Farm or Farmer’s won’t have to (legitimately) deny your claim for loss. You’re otherwise covered.
The city will get applications for residential sites to be part of Airbnb. I hope the city continues its rational consideration (because several dozen cities have litigated the zoning issue and lost). The residential nature of the property will not be disturbed. One family, person or couple per night surely can’t be a problem. All the possible problems could easily be dealt with. Public nuisance can be broadly defined and used when a problem arises. Working with residents will only help the GM area by bringing in more tourist dollars; not a bad thing. Oh, yeah, for the residents – $300 nightly for just a few nights quickly adds up.
John Thompson
Grand Marais
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