Bits & Pieces

Okay, the holidays are over (they were very enjoyable), my sukkah is all dismantled and packed away for next year, and it is time to catch up on a few odds and ends. In no particular order:

1. Bianca Jagger: As noted on this Blog on 19 October 2007, Bianca Jagger, as an alien in the US on a tourist visa, could not claim the benefits of New York City's rent stabilization law for her NYC apartment. The case has gone to the New York Court of Appeals (which is the highest state tribunal in New York), and the landlord has been upheld. This decision is roundly applauded. Aliens are not necessarily entitled to the rights of citizens, particularly rights which weigh on the purses of citizens (such as Bianca's landlord). But by the same token, at least Bianca is here legally. How many illegals are benefiting from NYC rent stabilization?


2. An antidote to PETA: www.heifer.org. Check out the Heifer.org catalog.


3. Within the past 100 hours, I have had two manuscripts accepted for publication in prestigious scholarly journals. Estimated time before ink hits the paper (what with the editorial processes, etc.) is approximately 6 months. I am, of course, elated to the point of gloating over this. But if the author of an article (or book or other literary or creative work) fails to get excited by the prospect of publication, then that literary work probably has little or no redeeming value.


4. From Albany we get the news that Charlie O'Byrne, Governor Paterson's top staffer (who started his career as a horse in the Kennedy Family stable), has tendered his resignation following revelations that he failed to pay his income taxes for nearly 5 years. Definitely the appropriate thing to do! I have little sympathy for him. As a former IRS employee, I would be given very harsh treatment by the IRS and the courts were I to neglect my taxes for 5 years. In this era of New York State budget cuts, having tax evaders in high State positions sends the wrong message!

The news reports all speak of O'Byrne's FEDERAL taxes (that is, his tax debts with the IRS), but not a word thus far on his New York State income taxes. Usually, where there is a failure of a New York resident to file a Federal tax return and/or pay the Federal taxes, there is a corresponding dereliction for the state taxes. Are the Kennedy Family pursers going to help Charlie O'Byrne out on his tax debts?

Bianca can't get no satisfaction or shelter

New York City has this thing called rent stabilization. It is a complex and Byzantine system which was "temporarily" imposed after WWII, when returning GIs increased the demand (and therefore, the going rate of rent) for housing. The regime continues to this day, with the result that a significant number of New Yorkers live in apartments for which they pay far, far below the fair market rental.

Rent-stabilized tenants often go to great lengths to maintain their NYC rent-stabilized apartments. This means keeping the apartment as one's primary residence, which means that people who otherwise would have relocated to Florida (or the Piedmont or who knows where else) frequently travel back to NYC to be physically present in their apartment. And, because one can pass the apartment on to members of one's "family" (including one's homosexual homeboy or lezzie live-in), the stakes are all the greater.

The system, initially concocted as a fix to a housing emergency, is now a permanent fixture in New York City and has transformed the right to a rent-stabilized apartment into an heirloom to be passed down from generation to generation.

The only case I ever had that in any way entailed the NYC Rent Stabilization Code demonstrates the system's absurdity. My client, an kind-hearted elderly woman, had taken in a needy homeless person. Turns out that this "guest" not only stole my client's property, but also physically attacked my client. Another lawyer tried to obtain an order of protection, but this "guest" claimed that because she had lived in a room in my client's apartment for more than 30 consecutive days, she was entitled to a statutory rent-stabilized lease for the room in my client's apartment!

For reasons not relevant here, the guest-cum-assailant finally left my client's apartment. It turns out that claiming a rent-stabilized lease in the apartment of a generous host this was the "guest's" usual modus operandi.

But the system is not in TOTAL dysfunction. Turns out that Bianca Jagger's landlord was able to evict Bianca (and thus rent the apartment to a more remunerative tenant) because Bianca, as an alien on a B-2 tourist visa, cannot claim a primary residence in New York City or anywhere else in America.

The case is Katz Park Ave. Corp. v Jagger, 2007 NY Slip Op 07908 (App.Div., 1st Dept. 2007).


To the Court, I say "Bravissimo!!" But what about all of those who are not B-2 tourists because they are in America illegally? Are the courts going to enforce the law against them, too? Quite frankly, at least Mick Jagger's ex is in America legally.