Cheap Digs for Big Wigs

Rent-control laws require New York City landlords to offer some of their apartments at lower prices than they could get if - in a perfect world - the politicians didn't meddle with the free market. This is done in the name of helping out the little guy and ensuring that the politicians get that little guy's vote in the next election.

According to this piece on Newser, one "little guy" is a girl. And that girl is Faye freaking Dunaway. She's been leasing a rent-controlled one-bedroom walk up in New York City's posh Upper East Side. The rent? $1,048. If you don't live here that might sound expensive but trust me, anyone who lives here is thinking OMG that's awesome.

It seems to me unfair that an Oscar-winning actress with a storied career - whose mailbox is crammed full of film residual checks on any given day - is able to obtain a discount on prime real estate at the expense of others. More irksome: Does anyone on this planet actually believe Faye freaking Dunaway lives in a one-bedroom walk-up? Didn't think so. Neither does her landlord, who claims in a lawsuit that the star actually lives in California and has been letting her son use the apartment. Doing so is in violation of the stupid rent control laws that allow a rich movie star to rent an apartment at below-market rates.

Alas, she's not the only high-profile, not-poor person to take advantage of these laws. That list includes former New York mayor Ed Koch, singers Carly Simon and Cyndi Lauper, actress Mia Farrow and many others.

Frankly it's all a bunch of codswallop, which is my new favorite word.