Not everyone happy with illegal hotel bill

From the NY Times:

When the State Legislature recently passed a bill meant to stop the use of residential apartments as hotel rooms, tenant advocates and some elected officials spoke favorably of the measure, saying it would end a dangerous and unregulated practice.

Yet that reception was not universal, and in City Hall Park on Sunday afternoon, about 150 people gathered near the fountain, holding aloft placards denouncing the measure and calling upon Gov. David A. Paterson to veto it.

The demonstrators said they owned or worked at hostels or single-room-occupancy establishments that they feared would be harmed if the proposal became law.

“We provide jobs; we collect revenue; we pay our hotel occupancy tax,” said Ronnie Oved, who owns Central Park Hostel and Hotel 99, both on the Upper West Side. “And we bring people to the city.”

Under the proposed rules, such apartments could not be rented for less than 30 days.

State Senator Liz Krueger of Manhattan, who sponsored the bill along with Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried of Manhattan, said in a telephone interview on Sunday that more than 300 buildings in New York City had residential units that had been turned into rooms rented for short periods.

As a result, she said, apartments were removed from the pool available to renters, and permanent residents sometimes had to put up with rowdy crowds.

“Longtime tenants, including the elderly, find themselves in a building with complete strangers riding the elevators, wandering the halls and partying at night,” Ms. Krueger said.

In addition, she said, residential buildings were subjected to less stringent safety measures than hotels, making them dangerous when they are used to house large numbers of visitors.

She added that the City Council and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg supported the measure.