It’s going to be cold today. It is currently 7 a.m., 49° and headed to the high 50s.
Vacation rental websites like Airbnb have to pay San Francisco’s hotel tax, according to a decision by the city treasurer announced yesterday. The company doesn’t like it. From the Chronicle:
Laws like San Francisco’s hotel tax, adopted in 1961, “were written long before the Internet or any of these activities were conceived,” said Kim Rubey, an Airbnb spokeswoman. “Innovative new models that allow San Franciscans to generate additional income should be addressed by innovative laws and policies — not stifled by 40-year-old regulations.”
But proponents say it’s a matter of fairness, since tourists use city services.
New American Media published the heartbreaking story of Rita, a Mission resident who can’t even afford to die in dignity:
There are currently more than 1.2 million Americans like Rita who are facing a terminal illness. The health care providers who treat them routinely have to ask: How do you wish to die? Some of the dying — wanting to keep death at bay — repeatedly ask to participate in the latest pharmaceutical trials. Others have drawn up a “bucket list” of adventures for their final days. But more people have two simpler requests: to die at home instead of in a hospital, and to eat a decent last meal.
Have a good day!
