Vacancy Tax?
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has put forward a number of compelling ideas in his new run for mayor of New York City. Some, I think, could be considered for Healdsburg. We all know how crippling high rents are in downtown Healdsburg. They reduce profitability. lower wages and stifle entrepreneurship. Some properties downtown have been empty and unused for decades (the corner of Piper and Healdsburg Ave. The old orange machine shop on Healdsburg Ave.). Healdsburg suffers these eyesores while the landowners refuse to lower prices, circumventing the law of supply and demand that should keep values and rents in check. Yang's proposal of a 'vacancy tax' could help address this. On his website he describes it this way, "A Yang administration would advocate New York State for a vacancy tax, determining an amount of time for which a storefront can be vacant, after which the landlord must pay a tax to the state as a penalty. This will create an incentive for t