Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Things I Think: A Rent Control Scam for a Century
It’s been a while since I had random thoughts. Random thoughts used to keep me going.
If I understand “rent control”, it’s something that happens in Manhattan. Or maybe all of New York. I mostly know about it through sitcoms and films set in New York. It’s a system for protecting little old ladies who started renting their apartment in 1970 from having to pay whatever the 2013 going rate is and, hence, being unable to afford it.
I always imagine some cute little 80-year-old woman is paying $315 a month for a great place overlooking Central Park.
It would be great if some guy rented an apartment, say, back in 1946, just after the war, and before he decided to move out in 1955, found another person who looked very similar to himself and let that dude take over the rent. And when that guy decided to move on, he’d find another guy who looked like himself and rent to him. And so on and so on. The first renter could’ve willed some of his clothes and his tell-tale Mets hat to the next tenant to really fool the landlord. In fact, it could go one step further… the new tenant would also have to change his name, legally.
People need to be more creative.
This could be made into a movie. An epic “period piece” spanning many decades in New York and show how a man named so-and-so always made headlines and was a part of many incredible, historic moments. Interesting people would move into and out of the apartment building, never realizing the so-and-so they said good morning to on a Thursday wouldn’t be the same person they said it to on Friday. Now I just need a motive, a climax, and an ending. But I have a premise.
Don Kowalewski 