Letters: Proposed short-term rental ordinance too lax; Oil price figures need context

Proposed short-term rental ordinance too lax

The proposed STR (Airbnb) ordinance before the State College Borough Council is far too lax and will forever change the character and hometown environment in each of the borough’s neighborhoods.

The ordinance should require that the homeowner must occupy the home at least 8 months out of the year. Allowing an already rented property to also be an STR allows two commercial enterprises to operate in a single home. The neighborhood becomes a de facto hotel zone. An STR should be a benefit of owning and living in the Borough.

Sixty rental days is extreme. There are seven home football games, two graduations and the Arts Festival (19 days).

Allowing more than 20 rental days pivots the enterprise from adding income to the family budget to a profit-based commercial business.

One off-street parking space must be provided for every bedroom rented with occupancy limited to a maximum of four persons per bedroom. An STR on McKee Street has one loft space with four queen sized beds.

For the safety and security of all concerned, any STR must pass the requirements for long-term rentals in the Borough including, but not limited to, hard-wired smoke detectors, hard-wired CO detectors, fire extinguishers, and yearly certified radon level measurements.

The Borough should charge a fee that covers all the administrative and enforcement costs associated with the STR program.

All fines should be enumerated and should escalate after each offense. All fines must be paid before the STR can accept any future guests.

Oil price figures need context

Jon Nelson’s recent response to Patty Satalia’s letter on crude oil pricing was interesting from the perspective of what is not present — namely proof to back up his critique of Biden’s impact (or lack of impact) on oil prices. Satalia argues that energy companies are making obscene profits. Nelson argues the years between 2013 and 2021 were not profitable for domestic oil companies.

Exxon’s gross profit, for example, for the quarter just ended, came to $32.514B — a 129% year-over-year. For the 12 months ending June 30, 2022, Exxon’s annual gross profit was $64.202B — a 119% increase year-over-year. I will leave it to the reader to decide whether those numbers qualify as obscene.

Nelson’s contention that the years between 2013 and 2021 were very unprofitable requires some context. Beginning in approximately 2009, U.S. shale oil production began to add significantly to U.S. production, making us the world’s leading oil producer in 2018, a position Nelson must know we continue to hold despite his suggestion that Biden sabotaged domestic production. 2018 was a very profitable year for the industry.

As for 2020-2021, Nelson is correct, but leaves out of his narrative the impact of COVID on world and domestic economic activity. Demand fell off a cliff in the spring of 2020, driving prices and profits down.

Nelson is spot-on that the microeconomics of the oil industry is complicated, but the siren’s song that this is all, or even mostly, Biden’s fault is more than a little disingenuous.

Laughable response to raid

Sometimes the news is hilarious!

I’m referring to Representative Kevin McCarthy’s angry response after hearing about the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid, searching for documents that Trump admittedly stole. Of course, that wouldn’t include documents that Trump ripped up and flushed down the toilet. Perhaps it includes documents that Trump ripped to pieces, that were subsequently taped together by staff who knew it’s a crime to destroy those papers.

McCarthy, not the sharpest tool in the shed, was incensed that the FBI would try to recover the documents that Trump stole. He promised an investigation of the Department of Justice for doing their job and he said, “Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents.”

Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up!