Ald. Quinn bans Airbnb in 38 of 48 13th Ward precincts

At Urging of Residents, Ald. Quinn Seeks to Further Ban Airbnb in 13^th Ward, precinct by precinct in the 13th Ward. AirBnB has been criticized for a variety of reasons including for discriminating against renters, and for operating in oppressive countries. Quinn’s action comes in responses to resident petitions against the racist online home rental service

Ald. Marty Quinn today requested the Chicago City Council’s Committee on License and Consumer Protection ban Airbnb and other home-sharing services from the 15^th precinct of the 13^th ward, bringing the total number to 38 out 48 precincts banning the company from operating in his ward. The committee voted to approve the opt-out ordinance in a unanimous voice vote.

“I have listened to my constituents and discussed their concerns with home-sharing services in the ward, and they are overwhelmingly in favor of banning Airbnb,” Ald. Quinn said. “With 90 percent of the 13^th ward made up of single-family homes that include many children and seniors, residents have a variety of quality of life concerns. It’s just not a good fit.”

13th Ward Democratic Committeeman Michael J. Madigan and 13th Ward And. Marty Quinn. Photo courtesy of Madigan-Quinn website

In order to ban home-sharing services from a given ward, the process begins at the precinct level. A resident from the precinct must file a petition with the city clerk’s office asking to opt-out of home-sharing services. The petition requires signatures from 25 percent of all registered voters in the precinct within 90 days for the precinct to officially opt-out.

Recent media accounts have detailed a variety of complaints against Airbnb, including a deadly shooting at an Airbnb in California and tales of a nationwide scam of fake Airbnb hosts.

Quinn first banned Airbnb from four precincts in the 13^th ward in June 2017 after several instances of objectionable behavior by rental guests in the neighborhood. To date, 8,169 residents of the 13^th ward have signed the petition to ban temporary room and housing rentals. Quinn’s goal is to ban home-sharing services from all 48 precincts in the ward.

Airbnb has been criticized for allegedly resulting in increased housing prices. Since the company’s globalization, many governments have passed various regulations limiting operations of short-term housing rental companies, such as Airbnb. In San Francisco, the issue led to protests in November 2015.

Additionally, Airbnb succumbed to pressure from Israel’s government to allow rentals of properties located in the Occupied West Bank and in Occupied East Jerusalem, territories that have been exploited by Israeli settlers resulting in the theft of land, property and asset rights from Christians and Muslims who are oppressed and denied rights in those territories. The settlements are for Jews only and non-Jews and Christian and Muslim Palestinians are prohibited from living in them. All of the settler lands have been stolen from Christians and Muslims living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Christians and Muslims are often denied the right to live, rent or even expand their existing properties. Many Christian and Muslim homes are destroyed and the families evicted to make room for more settler expansion.

Airbnb has been accused of being complicit in plundering property and rights from Christians and Muslims while only recognizing the rights of Jews living in the illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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