BNB? BRB –BDB

“But emails obtained by the Daily News make clear that City Hall cut off talks with Airbnb days after the mayor’s non-profit got the six-figure check”:

After City Hall had engaged in cordial talks with Airbnb for two months in 2015, a politically powerful opponent of the home-sharing website gave $200,000 to Mayor de Blasio’s now-defunct non-profit group, Campaign for One New York.

The cordiality quickly stopped.

Shortly after the donation, top aides to Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen broke off communications with Airbnb. And the shift came as the mayor began ratcheting up enforcement against so-called illegal hotels that use Airbnb to attract customers.

The sequence of events came to light in the Daily News ongoing investigation of de Blasio’s fundraising, and represents the closest timing to date between a big-dollar donation to CONY and mayoral action.

[. . .]

The donor, UniteHere, a national union affiliated with the union that squared off against Airbnb, the Hotel & Motel Trades Council, insisted the donation had nothing to do with opposition to the home-sharing company.