I’ve been watching the nationwide anti-short term rental movement unfold in my home city of San Diego. Some neighborhoods are clearly more impacted than others, such as beach communities, yet the opposition to short term rentals surfaces even in communities where such rentals are relatively rare. I’ve attended a a few meetings in which local crusaders against airbnb and VRBO have told stories of noisy parties, speeding cars, parking problems, and strangers in their midst. One suspects that the last complaint fuels the antipathy more than the former. In fact, the complaint about strangers and transience is frequently paired with the noise and nuisance complaints, as though there was a sense by the complainants that something more concrete was needed to justify their complaints.Continue Reading Proposed short term rental regulations: An example of zoning abuse.
airbnb
Bay-Bee and Bee – a personal account of Airbnb use
In the past few months I have been exploring California through a relatively new website service called Airbnb. Essentially, it is like a house-hotel, or bed and breakfast for travelers and couch-surfers alike. However, one can see this service also as hospitality meets transit, or, “circulation as destination” (Architecture Theory); where a large hallway, a garage, or a caravan can become a lucrative rental opportunity that can gross anywhere from $20.00 to hundreds of dollars (per night). In terms of its architectural value there are three ways in which I can qualify my experience with Airbnb: City exposure, Visibility, and Design character. In other words how the rental unit relates with the City it’s located in, how the traveler(s) and host relate, and how the quality of this relationship is reflected in, or defined by, the architecture building itself.Continue Reading Bay-Bee and Bee – a personal account of Airbnb use