Charade: an empty or deceptive act or pretense. The annual Rent Guidelines Board process, which began last week, clearly meets that definition. It doesn’t matter whether board members are liberal or conservative or which mayor appointed them. The very idea that they can make the right decision is a charade. The board can do only one thing: set an annual rent increase for the city’s nearly 1 million rent-stabilized units. These apartments might be in bankrupt, crumbling buildings in the South Bronx or in valuable, immaculate buildings on Park Avenue. Their tenants could be 1-percenters with weekend homes or unemployed […]

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