Inbox: Welcome to MusicfestNW Presents Project Pabst

Breaking the Airbnb Rules

How is it that the city of Portland is relying on complaints to identify Airbnb rentals that don't have permits? ["Air Supply," WW, Aug. 24, 2016.] There is literally a list of them online!

How about crosschecking with your list of permittees and going from there? It doesn't seem that hard, and actually enforcing the weak rules is a start.

—Amy Van Saun

Because of Airbnb, dwellings that would be occupied by long-term residents are disappearing from the housing inventory. Nobody's saying it's the main cause of rising housing prices, but it's a factor.

And it has all kinds of other negative impacts (livability, privacy, safety) on top of its impacts on housing affordability.

—"K15"

The article fails to mention that many listings on Airbnb are hosted by individuals who are tenants themselves and not owners of the properties.

I stayed at six Airbnb apartments while I was in the process of relocating to Portland. All of them were listed by tenants who were renting their units. I do not know if the owners consented.

Clearly, these aren't units that were taken off the rental market.

—"Truth Be Told"

Licensing Pot Businesses

That multiple other Portland dispensaries had the same problem only highlights the fact that the city has failed at creating a licensing process that can be navigated successfully ["Tokin' Resistance," WW, Aug. 24, 2016].

If Chris Schaaf was the only one who didn't understand he needed both licenses, then it would be on him.

—"econoline"

The majority of dispensaries navigated the licensing process quite successfully. We have speed limits, yet more than one person exceeds those speed limits daily. Does that invalidate the speed limit?

No, it just means some people are less capable of understanding how things are done.

—John Retzlaff

Rising Rents in Portland

We are not L.A. We do not have the L.A. job market or salary range. The city needs to block these greedy vultures of landlords ["What's the Deal With Portland's Rising Rents?" wweek.com, Aug. 19, 2016].

Portland might have been cool because we always had weird shit to do, but now we can't afford to do any of that shit. Instead, we get to pay bills and die while the rich get richer.

—"Valeriewhy"

Markets always correct, and so will Portland's. The word will get out about how expensive it is, so fewer people will move here. And there will continue to be more construction, because real estate people never know when to stop.

But the new equilibrium will be higher than it's been, and Portland's allure for 20-something slackers will fade.

—"New Columbian"

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