History repeats itself, or so they say. We remember this time of the year when a young man leading a so-called revolution with alleged good intentions ended up destroying Cuba. This message coming from New York City will remind many Cubans of my parents' generation about similar speeches and promises they heard decades ago.

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This is from New York City:

The New York City Council has passed what has been called the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) that will force private building owners to offer up their property to nonprofits and government entities before they make any private sale, effectively causing massive delays in property sales and other regulatory hurdles in the Big Apple’s housing industry.

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In the scenario that it is passed, NYC will have the largest COPA program in the country. The act forces landlords to offer their property to the city as well as nonprofits before the building can be sold on the public market. The lawmaker who sponsored the law, Council Member Sandy Nurse, claims that it will be a win for New Yorkers.

“Corporate interests and big real estate tried their hardest to block the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act with a misinformation and fear-mongering campaign, and they failed,” Nurse said about the law’s passage, per Pix 11. “Today marks the beginning of a new social housing era in New York City… COPA levels the playing field and makes it possible to preserve and create thousands of permanently affordable homes across our city.”

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The act dictates that landlords must first tip off the government entities and nonprofits that qualify, and “may not take any action that will result in the sale of such covered property to a person other than” those entities. Then the owner must sit on that property for 25 days as it is up for sale to the nonprofits, which can submit a statement of interest.

“Corporate interests and big real estate tried their hardest to block the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act with a misinformation and fear-mongering campaign, and they failed,” Nurse said about the law’s passage, per Pix 11. “Today marks the beginning of a new social housing era in New York City… COPA levels the playing field and makes it possible to preserve and create thousands of permanently affordable homes across our city.”

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The act dictates that landlords must first tip off the government entities and nonprofits that qualify, and “may not take any action that will result in the sale of such covered property to a person other than” those entities. Then the owner must sit on that property for 25 days as it is up for sale to the nonprofits, which can submit a statement of interest.

A big win for New Yorkers, someone said? Well, talk about lying to people.

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Let me tell you what will happen by having you look at a current picture of Havana. It was, before Castro, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. 

Look at Havana today. Please look at the real Havana, not the sections available to tourists who pay dollars for everything.

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What happened in Cuba? The landlords left their properties and moved to Miami. The once beautiful skyline of Havana now looks like crap with garbage on the streets and families sharing apartments. The lights go out constantly unless you are a staying in a tourist hotel or you dad has a prominent position in the party.

Our family lived in a residential portion of Havana with clean streets and garbage did not sit around for weeks. Batista may have been a jerk but he also understood that a clean city was good for tourists and to promote a business climate.

What happened in Cuba? The regime punished landlords and then suddenly everyone was poor, houses were literally falling apart, and small business owners, the backbone of Cuba's entrepreneurial economy, were on their way to Miami.

New York landlords will probably find their way to Miami or South Carolina soon. And then the mayor will blame it on Trump, just like Castro blamed everything on the embargo.

Watch out, New York City. Listen to the Cubans because we saw this movie before, the film of socialist good intentions, that ends up making everyone poor. As my late mother used to say: I didn't take economics in school but I have a PhD in communism. Trust me -- it doesn't work no matter how much you want to help the poor or tell people about affordable housing.

P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Image: Bingjiefu He