Inside Airbnb’s Plan to Build a Grassroots Political Movement

> In the end, the San Francisco measure to restrict Airbnb was defeated 55% to 45%. “Coming out of that, the light bulb went on over our head,” says Lehane. “There’s a huge community here that is passionate, that’s inspired … and has an awful lot of economic self-interest tied into it.”

Interesting. They are exploiting one of the known weaknesses of democracies: a small group of highly invested people can prevail over the collective good of a larger group of people that is more broadly negatively impacted. think lobbyists or other "special interest" that socializes externalities.

Airbnb: lawless and racists, and now exploitative.

I live in a town with a new and very poorly written law targeting vacation rentals. Getting a permit was expensive ($2300 for the first year) and huge pain because the local government is so disorganized.

I hope Airbnb can help people like me fight back against poorly written regulations.

I work remotely so we travel, and rent out our home, when we are out of town. The stupid law puts us in a year-round rental category, hence the inflated fees.

Obviously, it makes me mad.