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Rent Control Negotiations Continue

By Newsradio 88 Staff

Legislation to extend the state's rent regulation laws for another six years was still being negotiated late this morning.

Legislators had also hoped for a resolution to the problem on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so today's efforts were more of the same.

State Senator Joseph Bruno pointed toward lawyers as being the problem:

"Lawyers, being lawyers, always have differences of opinion and they each think they're right," said non-lawyer Bruno. "You put six lawyers in a room, they have six opinions," he told the Associated Press.

Governor Pataki, thinking that sounded good, joined in the lawyer bashing: "I think Joe had it right," the governor said. "If you have three lawyers in room, you'll have six different legal opinions."

Pataki is a lawyer.

The sticking points to finalizing the agreement include a battle over language requiring renters to deposit at least a portion of their rent into special escrow accounts when there was a dispute with a landlord.