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24 Jul 2010 01:07

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U.S.: Vacation rentals in NYC no longer on the table thanks to new law

  • Craigslist entrepreneurs in NYC: Sorry. After saying he would veto the law, New York Governor David Paterson passed a law banning short-term vacation rentals in the city, forcing people to go to licensed hotels instead. If you go to Craigslist, you’ll see quite the cottage industry exists for this kind of housing. NYC mayor and noted iPad fanatic Michael Bloomberg supported the measure: “When housing designated for permanent occupancy is illegally converted into a hotel, unsafe conditions are created, the residential character of City neighborhoods is harmed and the supply of much-needed units of housing is depleted,” he said. Or, more likely, this cottage industry bloomed because hotels in NYC are super-expensive and out of whack with the rest of the country. source

05 Aug 2009 10:22

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U.S., World: The Smoking Gun lays the smack down on a prank-call network

  • What is Pranknet? The until-now anonymous network, led by Windsor, Ontario resident Tariq Malik, has been a loose collective of shut-ins, some with criminal records, using Skype and chat networks to commit a campaign of terror on chain businesses – largely restaurants and hotels – around the U.S.
  • The crimes In one case, they caused hotel employees to destroy sprinkler systems, causing $50,000 in damages. In another, they convinced a hotel employee to drink a patron’s urine. Most infamously, they convinced KFC employees to go outside, strip naked and urinate on each other.
  • Take cues from TSGThe mainstream media could learn a lot from The Smoking Gun – which is owned by Time Warner, by the way. Here’s an organization that posts funny mugshots, sure, but then posts these killer investigative pieces full of finished homework that lots of people read. Newspapers, take note. source