Jackson Heights Life

Why do we view landlords as "dirty"?

They buy commercial real estate to make money, just like buying stocks or bonds.
A lot of real estate is owned by families that are good members of community and are willing to give back (like the Rudin Family http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Bill+Rudin+to+speak+on+long-term+real+estate+investing.%28Brief+Article%29-a062026986)

Normally retail leases are for 10 years a month to month lease normally is just interim use of the space until a better tenant comes along. 

Only difference is that none of the landlords here are like the Rudin family and the landlords here are impeding this community from becoming a desirable place commercially, they would rather leave a space vacant rather than to lower their already exorbitant rates .   

I was wondering if the city had ever tried to control commercial rents in order to prevent these kinds of situations where there is plenty of retail space in a neighborhood but the rents are so high that potential business owners can't afford to take the risk.

I googled and found out that there was recently a proposal for this kind of commercial rent control, but it failed.

http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/commercial-rent-control-bill-introduced-by-council-member-robert-jackson-stalls-in-city-council

until michael bloomberg -- who hates poor, working class, middle class and even upper middle class new yorkers with a passion, as evidenced by his every move -- is out of office, nothing can be done.

maybe after he decides not to run for a seventh term, there'll be hope....until then??

Oh please .
No one likes empty storefronts , they make any neighborhood look dirty and dilapidated, but unfortunately the owners of these retail spaces can do whatever they want to with them and there is nothing to stop them , because in the long run they own these spaces 

of course they can do whatever they want. and so can we. as in refusing to patronize the new establishments and returning the storefronts to their vacant status. i like empty storefronts just fine if they mean a usurious landlord is squirming and suffering.

when i lived on the lower east side in the mid 80s, a beloved fixture restaurant called the orchidia was forced out by a greedy new landlord after about 50 years in the same location. we were horrified. it was replaced by an outpost of steve's ice cream -- a flash in the pan overpriced chain -- that agreed to pay eight times what the lovely old folks did. we boycotted steve's actively. it went out of business after six months. the landlord had an empty storefront for ages. it made sense to me then, and makes sense to me now. no offense intended towards your viewpoint.

Yeah, let's look at this from the renters POV.  Maybe he's a beloved renter of a bigger place elsewhere who had his/her own following who had to downsize andw as lucky to get one of the neighborhood vacated spots.

Like the people we will miss from M&V, Flagship, the Cavalier, and the many stores before them going back years (Luigi's, Budd's, Discount Books, etc.) all have the right to rent without being discriminated against because of their landlord.

Besides if a small business is bankrupted, that person is hurt more than the landlord.  Heck the landlord may even benefit .. he gets his money, even if he uses collection agencies, right.

That all said, I don't really know what can be done to stop greedy landlords ... this is why I don't work corporate I guess ..