Some questions about ‘Visitor Destinations’
Hawaii County is proposing to designate certain areas of our island “Visitor Destinations.”
Since all but the resort areas were designated as nonconforming, and are awaiting a hefty increase of an additional $500 in yearly payments to the county by owners, the county is proposing to designate additional areas as Visitor Destinations, thereby making them conforming?
From what I have learned, visitors prefer vacation rentals on the ocean, so all oceanfront roads should be designated as Visitor Destinations. However, the county only chose certain mostly high-priced areas: Paradise Ala Kai, Puako and gated Kona Bay Estates.
There are several other oceanfront roads with numerous vacation rentals that charge visitors less per night, but that would reduce the taxes paid by visitors.
So, therefore, the owners of those vacation rentals that are still considered nonconforming still have to pay an extra $500 per year.
The other Vacation Destinations are Volcano, which has been a true vacation destination for a long time, and all of Kehena — could it be the nude, hard-to-climb-down to, dangerous black sand beach?
This does not seem to be fair and treats wealthier people preferentially!
Magdalene Phillips
Pahoa
Obsession with crowd size is mind-boggling
The upcoming election is a very serious one for our country. Two very different views of America, our future, our challenges and our strengths are evident.
This is why it boggles my mind that a presidential candidate seems to be totally focused on the size of crowds at rallies.
It kind of reminds me of third-grade at Kainalu Elementary School on Oahu, where we would taunt each other with, “I’m rubber and you’re glue. Everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you,” and “I know you are, but what am I?”
There are very serious things we should be concerned about: wealth inequity, climate change, our debt issues, to name a few, and yet a candidate for the most powerful office in the entire world is focused on crowd size.
Is this who we want to be piloting our ship in such turbulent waters?
Mary Hudak
Hilo