SANTA MONICA, Calif.—Every day, the sun sets on the shoreline here, creating beautiful views that tourists from around the world flock to see.To enjoy this experience, typically vacationers would have to pay for a hotel costing upwards of $400 a night—or they can try a new option in the so-called “sharing” economy.
Home-sharing websites like Airbnb allow homeowners and apartment dwellers to rent their home and spare bedrooms to vacationers for a fraction of the cost of a hotel stay.
But on May 12, the Santa Monica City Council passed a new ordinance that will impose regulations that make that opportunity much harder to come by.
“Santa Monica City Council is really at war with its own citizens on this matter,” said James Gattuso, a senior research fellow in regulatory policy at The Heritage Foundation.
“Airbnb is a service that is very popular with owners, very popular with visitors—it serves a need on both sides,” Gattuso said. “A lot of residents in Santa Monica want to use Airbnb in order to...
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Looks like the peons tapped into the income stream of the hotels and the tame politicians did their quisling duty and stopped it.
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