COM 0690.008 2004-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 + Honorable Chairperson and Members of the Hawaii County Council, My name is Barry Crivello and I live at 73-4341 Papaana Place in Kailua-Kona. I am a MBA and a CPA with a practice in downtown Kona. I have come before today to ask for your support for our project to bring "affordable worker housing" to Kona. I have a great business and a wonderful life, but I would not be successful without the great effort and loyalty of my employees. Every day they come to work and do a tremendous job of taking Gaze of our firm's clients. They aze professional and courteous and I am truly humbled and blessed to know such honorable people. But they, like so many other people, who aze living, working and raising families in Kona have not benefiting from the recent boom in the real estate market. Quite the contrary! The workers of Kona who are the backbone of our economy have been priced out of the mazket and now have no hope of sharing in the American dream of owning their own homes. They have watched as luxury development afrer luxury development have brought wealthy people from all over the planet to Kona, while they are forced to live with family members or in employer provided housing. The message has been clear and they understand it well. We want you to work in Kona but we don't want you to live here. Although their families have lived in Kona for generations they need to make way for the new arrivals. Where is the justice in this? They have hopes and dreams like the rest of us. Although they may be angry, they come to work every day and show respect to their employers, customers and fellow workers. They are what make our Hawaiian culture the best in the world. They are my heroes! We have all been taught to give something back, but what have done for the most deserving of our citizens? The sad truth is that we have taken them for granted. We have displaced them for their communities. We have ignored their desired and needs. And yet we expect them to be good, compliant citizens and be grateful that they live Hawaii. We build luxurious communities for the rich and famous but make excuses for why we cannot take care of our own people. We argue that although our workers already live and work in Kona, it will create additional traffic by having them walk or drive the short distance to town.