What other local laws do we leave up to private companies with a vested interest in non-compliance to enforce?

Could we put Uber in charge of issuing parking and speeding violations?

^ Don't give Hales any ideas.

Welcome to Nu Portland!

The City should crack down on the Air BnB rentals that are entir homes or apartments(often multiple ones in the same complex) being rented out year-round, that's basically a hotel/b&b. But the instances where it's just some old couple renting out a spare bedroom or some guy with a bed in his basement, who really cares?

^ Agreed. People should not be able to rent out just any apartment or house.

The weird tiny apartments with shared bathrooms above the drugstore in the article might make a better hotel than they do apartments - but the owners need to legally make it a hotel! They shouldn't be allowed to rent them on AirBnB without transforming the space and paying hotel taxes.

@reymont You do realize that Airbnb automatically collects and pays hotel taxes for all stays in Portland, right?

I like how allowing people to stay in hastily-converted firetraps with insufficient means of egress, inadequate smoke detectors / alarms, sprinklers, etc, is suddenly "OK" because a well-heeled company has come up with a website. Let's throw out 150 years of fire safety reform, decades of people burning to death in packed tenement slums because hey, these guys from Silicon Valley-- they have an app!

So, following the taxi industry, when can we expect commercial hotel operators to demand their own flavor of deregulation? After all, I'm sure Hilton and Doubletree and Marriot all have apps too. Let's gamify public safety! After all, scum-sucking entrepreneurs and free-market crybabies always have our best interests in mind, right?

Just another step in much needed population control....doin our best!
btw:i grew up in portland, it was much too small a track to run on. jeez i remember two places to eat after 11 p.m...i left for awhile till the fine city grew up.....i like it much better now....but where did all these whiners come from....are they really the kids of all my friends that helped escalate the population? what is it about not being able to afford rent that would encourage you to have children?!

@Hank Cavill - Oh, no I didn't! Thanks.

@Chunty McHutchence - The permit process with the city of Portland actually requires basic fire safety measures, including multiple forms of egress, as well as a working smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector if there is natural gas there...It sounds like your problem is really with the enforcement of the permitting process which is quite lax.