Tag: Renting

Opinion editorial Modal Trigger Gov. Cuomo’s move to shore up the rent laws is terrible news for city housing. He also wants to limit how much they can legally tack on to regulated rents to cover the cost of improvements. This lets the gov pose as a champion of the little guy, but it’ll just hasten the decline of buildings whose owners struggle to make ends meet. will have a harder time paying their bills. In the 1960s, rent laws led city landlords to abandon more than 100,000 units. Now Cuomo wants to prevent more owners from escaping the rent caps — so more of them will become financially jammed. Fact is, few policies have been as destructive to the city as rent regulation. Not only has it spurred the decline of some buildings; it also prompts tenants to stay in units they no longer need. And it’s deprived the city of property-tax revenue to the tune of hundreds of millions a year, the CBC says, by depressing the value of buildings.

John C. Ensslin Some folks might think the Passaic County Board of Social Services has done taxpayers a solid by hiring John Currie, longtime Democratic Party boss in the county, to a part-time job as public information officer that pays $92,000 and that will almost certainly boost his state pension. Some other folks might call it politics as usual in Passaic County, one of the highest-taxed counties in the nation. Often, public officials in New Jersey act surprised when political observers and ordinary taxpayers seem cynical about their government’s practices and policies. “I don’t (care) what it looks like,” Currie said. “I’m doing a job. I’m entitled to have a job, and I’m doing a good job.” The word “entitled” sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb; indeed, it is representative of the way so many public officials in New Jersey feel about their jobs. We do know that Currie has been a power player in local politics for years, and has shaped a landscape in Passaic County that has seen Democrats in control for most of the last two decades. Currie has served on the county board of elections for 21 years, but at the small salary of $22,000. No one can say John Currie doesn’t care about the people of Passaic County. We hope Currie does indeed do a good job.