Will State And Local Governments Shutdown The New Generation Of Small Business Owners?

AirBnB.Com, Uber.Com:

Canada Free Press

Austin Hill 

If you own a house or car, should you be free to do what you want with it? If your plans for your personal property include making money, then you may find out the hard way that, no, you can’t do as you wish.

That’s the harsh lesson being learned by many Americans as they participate in the new, burgeoning freelance services industries.

Consider Raliegh, North Carolina resident Gregg Stebben.  He and his wife Jodi are registered as service providers with AirBnB.Com, the new online venture that matches travelers in search of lodging with private homes, extra bedrooms and couches for rent.

Stebben says he and his wife became providers (what AirBnB.Com calls “hosts”) for fun, but what has ensued in the last few weeks has become drudgery. “I’m not a very political person, but right now I’m at the center of my hometown’s politics” he says.

The renting of an extra room in their house became the subject of government scrutiny by politicans and city officials concerned that the Stebbens, and others like them, are undermining the local hotel industry. Last week the Raliegh city council voted to fine the Stebbens for their entrepreneurial activity and demanded that they cease with renting a room.

“We don’t want our local hotels to disappear, so I understand that there are legitimate concerns here, but there’s got to be some middle ground approach to this” Stebben says. “This isn’t about the $80.00 a night that we might earn for renting an extra room, this is about the bigger picture, about whether or not our city is going to attract more businesses and entrepreneurs in the future.”

The frustrations that AirBnB.Com and the Stebbens are having with Raliegh city government officials are not isolated. Earlier last month, the government for the entire state of Nevada effectively shutdown Uber.Com, another freelance services enterprise that matches people needing a ride across town with local vehicle owners willing to drive. 

The Nevada Attorney General’s office argues that having previously set up shop in the Las Vegas area, Uber.Com was operating without the appropriate licensure and impinging on the rights of taxi cab operators. Uber.Com argues that there is no state law that regulates ride sharing services, and that ride sharing and taxi services are not the same thing.

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Reposted withv permission