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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COU PH 2023-02-07 (2022-2024) (BILL 230, DR 2) (continued on 2023-02-24) PUBLIC HEARING OF THE HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL Downtown Hilo Business Improvement District No. 2 Bill 230, Draft 2 Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 CALL TO ORDER: A public hearing to consider the proposed Downtown Hilo Business Improvement District No. 2 was called to order by Chair Heather L. Kimball at 6:00 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo. ATTENDANCE: Present: Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member (came in later) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member CHR. KIMBALL: I'd like to ask Council Member Kagiwada, from District 2, to get us started off with just a general overview of Bill 230 before we begin hearing public testimony. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Thank you all for coming today. It's pretty exciting to have this much energy in the room. I just want to start off by saying what this meeting is and kind of what it isn't. It's really geared towards property owners that are in the proposed BID, Business Improvement District, area. That is what this is about. It's for those property owners, and specifically, this meeting is for registering protests. That is what this meeting is about. It's not really a place to get individual questions answered or have back-and-forth conversations. So I just want to kind of make that clear because it's really going to be focused on just hearing from people and registering protests. Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 I just want to say a little bit about the project itself. It's been in planning for over two years, and I was not involved in the planning of this. I got involved just as a regular resident of the Hilo area when I saw there was a public meeting about this several months ago. I attended that meeting. After that meeting, I was elected to represent District 2, which includes the Downtown Hilo area. So I've been shepherding the process that was started by my predecessor Council Member Aaron Chung, as well as obviously there's been a very active group of downtown property owners and businesses that have been really shepherding this from the beginning. And I just wanted to say, yeah, that that process is kind of culminating right tonight in this meeting, and then we'll see if it goes any further or not. But I want to turn it over to somebody who's actually representing the people that have been working on this project, and that's Jonathan Humphries. He's going to just share a little bit about what the actual project is and maybe a little bit what it isn't. So there's been some misconceptions, I think, and a lot of information out there that's not necessarily right. So, hopefully, we can get a little sense here just about what the project is. So, Chair, is it okay if I can have Mr. Humphries ? CHR. KIMBALL: Yes. Go ahead, Mr. Humphries. I request that you keep your presentation succinct and fairly brief, given that we have so many participants tonight that would like to make their statements. Thank you. (Note: At this time, Jonathan Humphries, representing L6'ihi Studios and Amigos Contina, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. HUMPHRIES: Understood and thank you. Appreciate that. My name is Jonathan Humphries and I have a local business in Downtown Hilo; L6'ihi Studios above Cafe Pesto. I've got two keiki that attend Ka `Umeke K5'eo, and for the last five months or so, I've been working with the rest of my steering committee members to bring this bill to this point. It's my belief that this will make Downtown Hilo a better place to work, live, and play. Can we bring the slides up, please? CHR. KIMBALL: Before you begin, I just want to make one additional comment, too, which is, at this stage, because this is a public hearing, my recommendation would be you would keep this just to the facts and what the project proposes, rather than trying to make any influential statements one way or the other. Thank you. MR. HUMPHRIES: Understood. The Business Improvement District is designed to allow the local property owners and their tenants to decide on certain changes within Downtown Hilo. It's a nonprofit corporation, which allows it to apply for grants and also make assessments against the property values. Those funds are Page 2 Hawaii County Council–Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 decided by the elected board of directors on how to provide services and capital improvements within that area. There's been more than 3,000 BIDS nationwide. One of the common questions is what's the difference between the Downtown Improvement Association, the Business Improvement District, and county services. The general separation is that the DIA (Downtown Improvement Association) is a membership organization, and at this time, our understanding is that their focus is on events and advertising for the member businesses. The Business Improvement District, in addition to the responsibilities I already mentioned, it can make capital improvements. It can also pay for services, such as cleaning graffiti, beautification, and a homeless outreach coordinator. What services it actually does are determined by the elected board of directors again. The County has many responsibilities. The short list here is taking care of the streets and sidewalks, providing police community officers, and providing short- and long-term care for the homeless. So far, the steering committee has attempted to educate the area through letters, a survey. We did two door-to-door flyer distributions, held two public meetings in October 2022. It was first introduced to the Council in December 2022, and we have our public hearing today. Remaining steps would be the second reading and then a vote, and then it becomes an ordinance. The BID is run by the board of directors. There are 17 seats; 15 of those are voting. The split for this in Kona is 8 seats are reserved for property owners and 7 are reserved for tenants. The four remaining positions are held by government: One is the Mayor or his representative, which is a voting position. Council Member Kagiwada or her representative is also a voting position. And then there are two non-voting positions for the Finance Department and Public Works Department. We don't have to follow the Kona motto. That would be determined by the first board of directors, but the 17 seats is in the bill. Because of its structure, the BID is able to assess the property owners, can also apply for grants, and receive donations because it is a nonprofit. As steering committee, we decided to split the impacted area up into three zones so that the board of directors could decide to set different assessed rates for different zones or provide different services for different zones based on the needs of those local communities. It also leaves residential, government, and nonprofit properties exempt from assessment. Zone 1-you should be able to see my cursor—hopefully is this area. We commonly think of downtown around Keawe Street, in that color—pardon me, I'm color blind; I couldn't tell you what that is. And then Zone 2 is the yellow shaded area. And then Zone 3 is along Kilauea Avenue, not far from where we're Page 3 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 at right now, the slashed lines. And so that, again, is to allow the board of directors, when they're formed, to determine different services based on those and also different amounts. The reason behind that is because during the surveys, we found that results from those areas differed from the other areas as far as what they wanted to see funding applied to where the BID formed. That concludes the high-level, short overview of it. For people who would like to speak to the steering committee, you can email us. And a lot of this content and a lot more is also available on the website hilobid.org. Thank you. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Mr. Humphries. All right. Chair, I think we can proceed at this point. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Thank you, Mr. Humphries, for that introduction. I will pass it to our Council Services staff, Mr. Araceley, to begin calling testifiers for tonight's public hearing. Thank you. STATEMENTS The following individuals registered to speak on the proposed business FROM THE improvement district and came forward when called by the Chair: PUBLIC: JOHN ANDOH: Aloha, Council Members. John Andoh, Mass Transit Administrator, County of (Mass Transit Hawaii Mass Transit Agency. I want to say that we are definitely interested in the Administrator; in BID, and we would like to ultimately, if the BID is successful and being support) implemented, we are interested in working with the BID in developing potential trolley services that could operate in the Downtown Hilo area as identified in the master plan. We presently operate trolley services in partnership with the Kailua- Kona BID along Alii Drive. That's all I have. Thank you. JAY PENN: Sorry, I was just teaching class. I just finished so I got here as soon as I can. (representing J.B. Okay, my name is Jay Dee Penn, and I'm an LLC (limited liability company) Enterprises, LLC; in member for the J.B.R Enterprises, LLC. We own approximately 4.5 acres of opposition); commercial space in Downtown Hilo with seven TMKs (tax map keys), as (See Comm. 1060.18)attached. We purchased these properties in 2005 and invested millions of dollars in improvements, including the repaving of three streets within this area. I ask the Council Members not to approve Bill No. 230 because it is a bill that will hurt Hilo businesses and not help them. The COVID (coronavirus disease) pandemic hurt and closed many businesses in Downtown Hilo. We are still in recovery. Bill No. 230 is another government-induced fee that many businesses in Downtown Hilo are unaware of. As a property owner and a property taxpayer, along with all the downtown businesses, we need to have our State and County representatives help us with the Page 4 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 funds to revitalize Downtown Hilo not ask downtown business owners to fund a program that will not work. J.B.R Enterprises, LLC, asks the Council Members, again, not to approve Bill No. 230. LORRAINE SHIN: Aloha. My name is Lorraine Shin, and I'm the president of M.S. Petroleum (representing Corporation, who owns seven commercial properties in Downtown Hilo. M.S. Petroleum M.S. Petroleum properties comprise of approximately five acres of commercial Corporation; in space in Downtown Hilo. As a businesswoman and one of the largest property opposition); owners in Downtown Hilo, I ask the County Council not approve Bill 230 because (See Comm. 1060.17)it is a bill comprised by a group of individuals who's using a concept that may be working in the Kona tourist district that they believe would work in Hilo. It will not work because it will hurt businesses in Hilo instead of helping them. Federal, State, and County Government needs to do their job as elected officials to revitalize Downtown Hiloa concept that works for Hilo. My son Jay Dee and I met with a spokesperson from Engineering Partners (Inc.), who was part of a group who was spearheading Bill 230. He shared with us that the concept of Bill No. 230 was working in the Kona tourist district, and he felt it would work in Downtown Hilo. He shared with us that he did not own any properties in Downtown Hilo, but he didn't like what he saw when he passed Downtown Hilo on his way home. He did share that most of those sitting on the group were not property owners in Downtown Hilo. As a downtown business owner, Hilo is very different from Kona, and we should not allow a small group of individuals to make major decisions for the many businesses in Downtown Hilo. In 1994, I was the director and secretary of the Downtown Improvement Association and the Hilo Main Street Program. As directors, we were committed to the revitalization of Downtown Hilo, and we were successful in working with Senator Richard Matsuura to acquire funding to purchase the Palace Theater on Haili Street. It's been 28 years since I was the director. Although there have been many attempts over the years to bring downtown property owners together, it has failed for various reasons. One reason is the lack of motivation with no incentives by our State and County representatives. Where were the State senators? Where were our State representatives? Where was our Mayor and our Council Members, like Senator Richard Matsuura, to help Downtown Hilo? We all agree that we need to improve Downtown Hilo's aged streets, aged sidewalks, lack of sufficient lighting, and safety. We agree that the homeless issues need to be addressed. The homeless issue is not for businesses in Downtown Hilo to pay and solve. It's an issue for our State and County Governments to regulate and control. As an owner of seven properties in Downtown Hilo since (inaudible), we have paid commercial properties along with every property owner in Downtown Hilo, Page 5 Hawaii County Council–Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 yet Downtown Hilo still looks the same for the past 39 years. We need strong collaboration with our State and County representatives to come up with a better plan than Bill No. 230. If you look today, our businesses are beginning to thrive after the major COVID pandemic, and we need to not approve Bill 230. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Before we take our next two testifiers, I just want to remind folks that this is a formal public hearing. And although you may or may not agree or disagree with the testifiers, applauding is not appropriate. So we'll just stick to the testimonies, please. Thank you. KARYL FRANKS: My name is Karyl Franks, and I represent the three tax properties that F. Koehnen (representing Limited has on the Waianuenue end of downtown. When we first purchased that F Koehnen Ltd.; in building back in 1955, thanks to the County who did not maintain any of their opposition) flood areas, which they still do not maintain, we were flooded. Our entire basement was flooded; prolonged our grand opening by three weeks—and no thanks to any help from anybody in the County. When we had that huge flood in 2000, again we were totally inundated, and again it went back to non-maintenance by the County of taking care of their things. Now you want to slap us with this downtown improvement district, which they have been trying to do for the last 30-plus years. It's not working. It doesn't work. We are not Kona. We don't have the high trade of tourists that are going to come in and spend money in downtown. We're a bunch of old-time businesses that are struggling and trying to maintain. We try to maintain our buildings. We try to work with the County. We get slammed every time we want to do any kind of improvements by your Building Department, which incidentally cost us an additional quarter of a million dollars when we did the building for Mokupapapa—and now you want to hit us with this. And I'm sorry, it is just a no-go. We can't afford it. Nobody in downtown has that kind of money right now to afford any of this. Thank you. NANCY CABRAL: Okay, thank you, County Council, for coming together for us and for listening to (In opposition); us, God willing. My name is Nancy Cabral. I'm the owner of Day-Lum Rentals (See Comm. 1060.13)and Management(Inc.);previously at Coldwell Banker DAY-LUM. I have been doing real estate property management in East Hawaii primarily for 40-plus years. I'm a little amazed that somehow this committee never found me. What have I been doing with my advertising dollars all these years? I've been in Downtown Hilo as a business owner and as a business tenant, and as a business manager with dozens of properties I've managed at one point. I've managed over 250 commercial properties in the Hilo area. So I want to let everyone know in case people don't realize it: Property owners with commercial property, they get the property tax bill. And in most all of their commercial leases, they pass that down to their tenants. So to talk to only the Page 6 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 owners means they're going, "Well, don't matter to me. I'm going to pass it down to these other folks." So that's not going to work for everyone else, okay. So what we need to do is understand the business owners, the tenants, and, in some cases, even their employees need to have a voice in all of this. I agree we need to do landscaping. We need maintenance. We certainly need sanitation, safe and secure areas. And we need lighting, pathways, signage, and more parking. I question about bathrooms because what's going to happen to the bathrooms? Are we going to hire, what, three County employees a day, a full- time shift, 24 hours a day? How many employees more that are on the payroll that make more money than I or my employees make that we pay forever to clean those bathrooms 24 hours a day and be available when people doI manage properties. With commercial properties in Downtown Hilo, I want you to think about it. We already pay per square foot of land space more taxes than you pay probably at your house, certainly more than most residential people pay per household, okay. So we're paying that per square foot, yet a business can very easily come to work in the morning, have their doors recessed in, and what do they see? They can't. My tenants call me. They cannot open their door because there's human feces right in front of their door. So you open your door, which has to push outward, it's now on the bottom of that door. That is very irritating. So we don't need more taxes to be passed on to tenants who will pass it on to customers and cause more businesses to close down. Instead, we need incentives to the business people to improve their properties; maybe improve the value of their property and then pay more taxes and improve the attraction to have people come into Hilo. We previously cleaned up all around our building. We don't do it now because I only have 15 to 50 homeless people. I'm right on the river. I have people living beside me that are homeless and are unbelievably inappropriate not to put another place, move them out of downtown. Thank you. And previously, I was homeless. You don't have to be filthy. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you very much for your testimony. Again, I remind folks that we request that there be no applause or signs of disapproval so that all of our testifiers tonight can feel comfortable and unintimidated regardless of their position. This is a formal public hearing. Thank you. AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.) CHR. KIMBALL: It is a free country, but we have order of decorum and procedure in this body in this hearing room. Page 7 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 CORY HARDEN: Good evening, Council people. If this district moves forward, I don't know, based Comment on the testimony so far, one of the biggest improvements we can make to Hilo is to end the sight of homeless people wandering the streets or (inaudible) shelters. Many of them talking loudly to no one in particular because they have untreated mental illness. And the biggest improvement would be to make sure every homeless person has a home. You don't need statistics to tell you there's more and more homeless people all the time. It is bad for business, as has just been described, and of course it's worse for the people with no place to go that's safe or comfortable. The data shows that on our island, chronic homelessness increased sharply, and unsheltered homelessness went up 14 percent in the past two years. So I'm glad to see there's $30,000 in the budget now for homeless outreach, and I'm glad to see other bills moving forward to increase affordable housing. And hopefully, the affordable housing credit scandal will also shake things up in a positive direction. So, if this moves forward, please ensure that the district funds cannot be used to remove homeless people who are not doing anything illegal, either by request to the homeless people or by security guards or police. That just moves the problem elsewhere. And I would not like to see district funds used for hostile architecture, like benches that are too short to sleep on or maybe obstacles on the sidewalk so you can't sleep there. Anyway, I hope things can move forward in a way that's good for hardworking business people and also good for homeless people. Thank you. MATTHIAS I feel like I should be facing this way, not these guys. My name is Matthias Kusch KUSCH: and I'm on the steering committee. I don't have any skin in the game like you. I Business own a lot of multifamily homes, and I get the big property tax. And my road is Improvement mostly gravel. And the permitting. All of it. I hear it. It's really dealing with the District; in support) County, no thanks to you guys. But dealing with the County is really tough. But what I also hear is nothing's changed in 40 years. And I don't see a lot of not me. Not everybody here has 40 more years to hope to see it changed. And so I jumped on the steering committee because the taxes—well, we're not even calling it a tax the assessment that you guys have is not going to them. It's going back to you guys: to Lorraine, to everybody here. It's going back to you guys to decide whether you want to build it out a public restroom, great. You guys can get grants from the Federal Government, from private sources as a 501(c)(3). There's a lot of options. But it's not perfect. And as a steering member, basically we build a car. Right now, you guys are on a railroad, and I don't need to fill that phrase in about being railroaded. Page 8 Hawaii County Council–Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 CHR. KIMBALL: Mr. Kusch, I'm going to interrupt you one second. This is a public hearing. I appreciate what your message is. I would like to request that you address the Council. We are the folks that are meant to be hearing testimony tonight. Thank you. MR. KUSCH: Okay. So, not to be railroaded, but we provided the framework for a car that you can drive in any direction you'd like. That's all we did, is provide a framework and try and make it flexible so that when the board starts, you guys can make the decisions—not any of them. Not me. Not Jonathan. Not Nimr. Nobody else you guys with skin in the game. And I think that's really important. It can really make an impact on homelessness because the stuff that you find in the morning, you can hire people to Point of Order: MR. INABA: Chair,point of order. CHR. KIMBALL: Yes, Vice Chair. MR. INABA: I'd like Mr. Kusch to address this body, as was requested by the Chair. MR. KUSCH: Okay. I was trying to split the difference. So they can hire the board of directors of the BID can hire people to monitor downtown where County services have not been able to. They can hire security to monitor where the County has not been able to. They can do whatever they can work together with the County and including the homeless outreach officer that can help identify frequent problem people and work with HOPE Services (Hawai`i, Inc.) or other entities to enable them to get help and get off the streets, making downtown better. Really, that's the source of the BID. It's just a framework. It's not anything else. It's just a vehicle. So that's my testimony. Thank you. Sorry about not addressing you guys. LLOYD GOOD: I purchased the 270 (In opposition) MR. ARACELEY: Sorry. Kala mai. If you could just introduce yourself before you start. MR. GOOD: Lloyd Good. I own 278 Keawe Street in Hilo. It's a half-acre with a small building on it. I bought it in, let me see, 2019. Halloween, I closed and then the government shut down the world for a year. And then my taxes were increased by $1,400. From '21, it was 3,840, and then in 2022, it was 5,241; $1,400. So I oppose another $75 a year, which is what it would be. And all I can see is, is it impossible to make it illegal for people to sleep within the city limits on the sidewalks? Is that impossible? Put them in jail? Put them in the mental institute for three days? They're not going to like that. They need Page 9 Hawaii County Council–Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 their cigarettes and their alcohol and their drugs. They're not going to hang around Hilo if every time they're caught sleeping, they get taken to jail or taken to the mental health place. Make it illegal to loiter for more than a certain amount of time. I mean, isn't it that simple just to make it to where you cannot do it? Because if you support it—as a farmer, if you fertilize something, it will grow. But if you don't want it there, you've got to pull them. And municipalities that are soft on people living outside everywhere, they get more and more of them. It's the only issue, and that I don't see really being directed by any of this. And that's a litigious thing that there needs to be a law passed that says you cannot sleep within the Hilo limits, the city limits, or be there all the time with all of your stuff. Is that impossible? I don't know. But I'm opposed to it, and I don't know why my taxes were increased by 25 percent with no increase in services and a building that's been closed for three years. Okay. FARZIN FARDL Hello, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity to be here and express myself. I'm a (In oppositions small business owner as well as a property owner in Downtown Hilo. I had made comments that have already been expressed by previous speakers that are opposed to this law, and I'm also opposed to this law for a variety of reasons. But since I have about two more minutes left, I'd like to express and share with you some of the math associated with this fee or tax. According to the information provided, $1.50 per thousand dollar value adds up to $367,000 a year to do this project. So I kind of asked myself, how much assets are we talking about? I did a little math; had a little help from a mathematician. I came out with $244 million worth of assets we're talking about in this district—$244 million. That's about a quarter of a billion dollars. I'm not sure how much is designated or how much is set aside to take care of this small district. Four hundred twenty- one notices had gone out. So it's not really a large area. How much of these taxes that's a quarter billion dollars of assets the owners are paying? I did a little math a little further. I came out with just under $40 million that these properties, these 421 notices that you sent out,just under $40 million is spent towards our real property taxes. I understand some of it has to be spent for bridges here and there, paving here and there, but how much is actually being spent for this district? I don't have a clear answer to that, but I know the services that we've been getting doesn't add up with the math. I ask you to take care of Downtown Hilo as it is everybody's town. It is so important that we make the place look the best it can be. It's a jewel. Paying more in real property taxes, I'm going to have to pass it down to the tenant. The tenant will pass it down to the consumer, and we're going to be pricing the goods and services provided in downtown out of the market. Page 10 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 When we look to the makai side, one, I, as a building owner/property owner, we're looking for the next tsunami coming in. We look to the mauka; we're worried about the next eruption that's possibly coming to Hilo as it did come close in 1983. So I don't think spending money is the problem. I think allocating the proper attention and the budget that's already in the taxes that we pay. Thank you very much. LOKE DAVIS: Aloha, everyone. My name is Loke Davis, and I am representing my family as Comment landowners and also residents in the proposed Zone 1 of the proposed BID. I feel like I am someone who would potentially see the long-term impacts of a Downtown Hilo 40 years down the road and, as a highschooler, witness the initial attempts of the DIA to see a lot of those improvements in downtown. So it's interesting to see how this may or may not develop. I think this particular bill is great in concept. I question execution in part because of all the testimony you've heard thus far of landowners in the area and the investments that they have made in the past and continue to make of their own accord into Downtown Hilo. I do agree that it is a kakou effort, and I think it is going to require a different format and a lot more to get there. I think if we look at the bill just in itself, what gave me a lot of questions was the ambiguity of years two through five of what we would be assessed. And that gave me a lot of pause because we just don't know what that's going to look like. And I really appeal to the Council that if you're to reevaluate this bill, to please define what that would look like, either an amount and/or a process by which to arrive at that amount, so we at least have a very clear map of what we are facing. I'd like to reiterate that this would impact a lot of the small businesses that are struggling in Downtown Hilo and to please consider that. Mahalo. MICHELE Aloha, everyone. I feel like we should all be able to face every which way. If THORNTON: we're being asked (Rainbow Jo; in opposition) CHR. KIMBALL: Sorry. I'm Presiding Officer of this hearing, and I request that you speak to, and everybody subsequently testifying, to the Council, who is the body that is hearing the testimony tonight. Thank you. MS. THORNTON: So are you asking us to approve an additional tax? CHR. KIMBALL: I'm asking you to please address your testimony to the Council for this hearing. Thank you. MS. THORNTON: So are you for it or against it? CHR. KIMBALL: This is a time for us to take testimony. We will not be taking questions. You are welcome to make your testimony on the BID. This is a public hearing. Page 11 Hawaii County Council–Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 MS. THORNTON: Okay. I'm the owner of Rainbow Jo clothing on the corner of Keawe and Furneaux. I own the building as well. I've been there for 17 years. I've been open six days a week, except for the pandemic. I was open-minded when I got the letter because, obviously, downtown improvement, we all want to work together. But if you're asking—if this bill is asking us to work with the County and an imposed tax, this doesn't feel right; like if we can only talk to you but we can't talk to our other business people because we all know that for it to really flourish, we have to work as a group. And these are the business owners. If this needs to be done, why don't we make a group together that really wants to work? It just doesn't feel right if I can't talk to everybody. That doesn't feel like something that's practical. So just listening to everybody's testimony, and I'm going to have to agree that I'm going to have to ask not to do this bill because it doesn't feel like the communication with the business owners is really genuine. So I will say let's not do it. I would vote against it; Bill No. 230, Draft No. 2. Thank you. Aloha. CHR. KIMBALL: I will remind folks that this is a public hearing as required by law on the BID process. And the intention is to receive protests on the BID proposal by this body, the Council. So I would again remind everyone to address their comments and testimony to this Council and refrain from responses to testimony, and that we need to maintain order and decorum in this hearing. Thank you. MEGAN ISAAC: Aloha. My name is Megan Isaac. I'm actually really grateful for this opportunity (In oppositions to come and testify and also to be in a room full of really fabulous people, some of whom I know, some of whom I don't. Some I haven't seen for many years because it is a factor of the business culture here on the east side of Hawaii that we tend to work really hard. And that testimony has come up quite a lot as a theme that a lot of us bear a lot of burden. We work really hard just to make things work. And we're very aware that the costs have to go somewhere and they get passed on. And there's a culture here of struggle that I would like to see changed, and I mostly think it's about improving the relationship and the communication between Downtown Hilo and the county of Hilo. It's quite ironic that it's really literally two blocks away, but I've been in Hawaii nearly 18 years. I've been a property owner that long. I've come to figure out that there is some kind of gap. There is some kind of challenge that means that property owners don't feel supported by the County and this is historic. It would be great to heal it. I think this could be the beginning of the change because you are hearing from people some very strong testimony. I understand, too, there are historic reasons. Like a tsunami came in and devastated a generation who moved up the hill. And a lot of people have chosen Page 12 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 to represent other constituents, and we haven't seen Downtown Hilo really defended or cherished. It would be great to change that because you're hearing a lot of people stick up for Hilo, and the Hilo love is strong. I am going to be opposing this bill for all the reasons already stated, but I do want to say this is a great opportunity. It's a great beginning of something because you are hearing real messages from people that we'd like solutions, and we'd like to be working together. Thank you very much. GARTH Hello, Council. Garth Yamanaka. Thank you for having me here today. I got YAMANAKA: involved in this process years ago; this is before COVID. It was between DIA and Comment the County trying to work on this program. I'm not sure exactly why I was invited to that other than maybe being a property owner and being involved in government affairs. But while I was there, at the time I was against all the services being included in the bill that they were talking about back then. I just thought the people who are the owners who are going to be paying into this should be the ones making all the decisions on this. That was always important to me. There weren't a lot of owners back then. And again, this is over four years ago that people have been working on it. But my concern with staying in this group was always that people were working on this. To me, it was going to happen either way because there was so much interest in things getting changed down there. What came around for me was working in the BID, not so much the services, but having a unified voice because there's so much things that needs to get done down there. If we can get infrastructure done down there, I think it can add so much value to the property, and people can actually do stuff with their property. We won't have as much problems that we do have with Planning Department, with Building Department. But we can't do that because it's such a hodgepodge of ownership down there. If we had a unified voice, I feel like it would be so much helpful. So, with that being said, I do think this bill, if we could pare it down,just get the BID formed; at that point, have the owners decide if they want to pursue this or not. Give us that opportunity to do that, I would appreciate it, and not have these big assessments on it, year one. Just enough to get the people together to talk. That's what I think this thing should be right now. Forget the services. If they decide that's what they want to do, then fine, so be it. But for now,just do this for the BID. Let them talk. If we want to move forward, we can move forward. If not, everyone goes their separate ways and we go back to what it is now, which is nothing would ever get done. So that's all I have to say. Thank you. JOHN PETRELLA: Hi. My name is John Petrella. I'm a small business owner and a veteran. My (In oppositions business has been downtown since 2007. I've watched a lot of things change. My Page 13 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 business is not as big as Nancy's is. She puts up with a lot of grief where her building is. And my landlord owns three other properties there. He is constantly fencing, cleaning up, taking care of graffiti. And, of course, that gets passed on to me in the form of rent. I've watched my rent go up from $600 to now $1,200 just to help him maintain the building. He's not getting rich. He's just maintaining and giving us a chance us small business ownersa chance to eke out a living. Now, before I go on, I want to thank the Council and thank the good hardworking folks in the BID because this should not be an "us versus them." It's us, what we can do to make things better. This, to me, is democracy at its very best. So some suggestions that I hope the Council will consider before you go on and pass this bill or amend this bill, or any other bill in the future, address the nonprofits that are downtown feeding the houseless. Perhaps they are the ones that we need to reach out for houseless outreach. Fix that goddern permit process that we have in this town. If there's anything that hurts us small people, try. Try. Go get a permit to open up a restaurant. It's going to take you well over a year. Meanwhile, you're paying the rent. On this particular bill, you know we have EISs (Environmental Impact Statements) on this island for everything. We go and put in a little toilet over there, we're going to have to have an EIS. What is the expected return on investment for this? Has anyone considered that? We're going to go spend out I am in my rent—we're going to spend over $300,000. Are we going to make a million dollars off of that? Are we going to make half a million dollars? Or is this just more money down a black hole with good intentions? The last one is, as I read this billI'm no expert on it; my landlord called me and asked me to come down. I have a hard time when we have a tax that automatically renews. If this County puts a tax on anything, put a sunshine date on it. Let's talk about it in the future. The tax may be perfect for now, but maybe five years from now, we may do something different. That's it. That's all I have to say. Thank you. JIEYU SHEPARD: Hi, my name is Jieyu Shepard. I have a building downtown, and I've had it for a Comment few years. Well, I wasn't prepared to testify or anything. Everyone is talking about these 40 years never changed. So this is something we needed to do collectively at least, I think. The bill, how in the draft, I don't agree; especially the major problem is the homeless. This cannot be done by our association, this law guidance there. Something (inaudible), cannot do. If your County Government doesn't make any rules out there, we pay anybody. No matter how many people we hire, it's not going to get it done right. It's going to cause more trouble. We see causes of trouble. We see some people supporting the homeless. I can hear the lady because one of—there's a lot of those kinds of Page 14 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 people that want to feed the homeless and want to protect them. I understand that. But the major thing that is first is they need to get it done. No matter how much your landscaping's done or the painting's done, and then a homeless guy just pee and poo, it doesn't make any sense to have it. So I think to make an association to do the job is not—we didn't know how much money is needed to do a certain project. So we needed to have maybe the trial or just by association to come on the project, come under how much money, the cost, they need to ask for approval when we want it. We need to do that, you know, how much it costs. I think that will make sense. And then it has to be done, something for it, you know, I think. Hilo needs a place for people to have a place to go at night, a safe place. Right now, you walk downtown, gees! So that's what I can say. I'm not against it but how you're going to proceed, I think that's important for everybody. So when the money's on the right place. That's what I want to say. Thank you. NEERAD REDDY: Hello. Thank you. Neerad Reddy. I am a landlord; 27 Waianuenue Avenue. I (In oppositions oppose this bill as a landlord. I'm also a small business owner of Moonstruck Patisserie. I oppose this bill as a small business owner. I think, after three years, we can reflect that the COVID policies were a big failure. They were an assault on small businesses and commercial landlords. We can now compare the data from states that closed and states that didn't. Clearly, there was no benefit to closing. But in hindsight, we know this so I'm not going to accuse you of making the wrong decision there. But after that failed decision, you increased property taxes by 60 percent. After you crushed us, there was no Federal relief for small commercial landlords. Everyone else got relief, we didn't. I gave a lot of my tenants breaks. I lost 40 percent of my income. I got no reimbursement for that. There was no Federal thing for that. Property taxes went up 60 percent. Now, you're trying to impose a fee or a service, whatever name you want to come up with, on landlords to help improve something that a handful of people want. Let's read this from the BID: A business improvement district is a means to organize local property owners and merchants to take charge of their future. I don't need a small group of people telling me how to take charge of my future. I've done a pretty good job of that myself. Okay. Second of all, it says owners and lessees must comprise the majority of the board's voting members. What percentage of the steering committee are owners or lessees? From what I've heard, Jonathan Humphries is a tenant. Garth Yamanaka might own property there. Nimr and Matthias do not own Page 15 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 property; they're not landlords or tenants. So, if Roy Takemoto is not a landlord or a tenant, the majority of people on the steering committee have no vested interest in this. What are they doing guiding us? Second of all, what I've heard—it might not be true—it takes 50 percent plus 1 to overturn this. Okay. So five people—what I believe is 400 tenants and landlords are affected by this. Five people, which is 1 percent of this group of people, can come up with an ordinance extracting wealth from us, and it's going to take 201 of us to refute this. Why didn't those five people spend their time and energy to get 50 percent plus 1 to support their initiative? The onus should have been on them. Okay. Second of all, the last thing I'm going to say is, therefore, the board of directors determines the assessment. However, if there is an increase that is greater than 110 percent of the previous year, the County Council must hold a hearing and approve the new assessment. What that means to me is that you can increase it by 109 percent every year and not have approval. Now, can you tell me what the math is? If we start at$1.50, what does that mean, 109 percent? Does that mean that they can increase it to $1.64? That's 109 percent of 1.50. Or does it mean you can take the $1.64 and add it to the $1.50? Okay, that I need clarity because that means it can go up to 3.14. If you do the math that way, by year five, we could be paying $28.61 on this. There's no clarity on what that"greater than 110 percent" is to me. I'm not great at math. Please clarify. Thank you. I'm opposed to this bill. TERESA I'm Teresa Prekaski. I own six buildings in Downtown Hilo. I have owned them PREKASKL for a very long time. They are still works in process. I haven't made any money (Comment); on them except for one; I'm just starting to this year. And I could give one (See Comm. 1060.16)example of one of the buildings they all doubled since 2021 to 2022-2021 on this building, $5,521; 2022, it's $10,411. And I don't know what I will be paying for in 2023. But I had to move into my building because people just kept breaking in. I would be doing repairs, and they'd bust through, take my building supplies. And so I finally just moved into my building. And so I've seen firstI'm very famous on Big Island Thieves because I'm always reporting the crimes, and there's plenty of them. Downtown Hilo's pretty much a homeless shelter. Five o'clock, all the sleeping bags, the tents, everything comes out. On my block, there used to be at least 50 people every night, and I have chased them away. It took about two years to do that. I know some of the business owners are afraid to talk to the homeless and tell them, "Hey, I don't want you to sleep out here." They feel intimidated by them. I feel like this bill is just going to make the downtown area nicer for the homeless. And I think it's good that people are finally interested in the downtown area, but I Page 16 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 think we should first address the homelessness. I have, from living downtown and talking to homeless people, I have personally a lot of good ideas that could help with the homelessness. And that's really what our first steps should be, is to clear that situation before we throw any money at the downtown area. We have to do something about the homelessness because it's not going to work with what's going on down there. And the police can't do anything. All they can do is talk to the people. I had windows broken last week, and the policemen couldn't do anything because it's not going to get prosecuted. It's a waste of time. So another window broken. Two nights ago, Ashley, who's mentally ill—and I mean I wanted to just cry for her because it was poring down so hard. But she had a laundry basket and she was banging it on my window, and the police could only talk to her. They couldn't do anything. That's it. GEORGE Hello. Can you guys hear me? Council, thank you for letting us be here. My HOTNIANSKY: name is George Hotniansky. I arrived here when I was 19 yeas old in 1974. At Comment that time, Standard Drug, which was located in the Canario Building, was going out of business. A few years later, Macy Wessel's Hilo Drug was going out of business. Merle Lai, her family had Metronome Music. It moved over to where Phase 4 was, where Domino's—well, they're gone too. My point is, downtown, we all want to make it successful. We want it to be a place for the whole community. This process is flawed. What we did in the old days, when we wanted to do something, we would bring the entire community not just landlords the tenants, dishwashers, stock clerksI get emotional because I've spent my life improving Downtown Hilo. I have great friends and tenants. And I've got to say, Garth, I was impressed by what you said. And I think there's great promise and room to move. What we need is not for 50 people in a room. We need the Hilo basketball gym at Hilo High and bring in 600 people. This affects everybody. Sorry, but this is my 50'h year coming up working in Downtown Hilo, and I got to learn from the greats. My neighbor was Mr. Young and he had Ahmai store. And he invited me to join the Downtown Improvement Association. We went to Blacky's Paramount Grill, upstairs to a tiny little room. We had breakfast at the beginning of each week. And like 20 people—and these were the pioneers who built Downtown Hilo: Ralph Lau, Millie Kadooka from National Dollar, Tony Taniguchi who was our leader, Helene Hale who would fight for anything. We need that now. There are some great ideas, but I'm scared as a property owner because there's so many unknowns. I understandoh, I get another three minutes because I'm not here as me. I'm also here as Rose Chang. I'm sorry but the process is flawed, because you know what I did all day today? For eight hours, I just dropped Page 17 Hawaii County Council–Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 everything I was supposed to do, put my dog in the car, brought my wife along with me. We went door to door talking to property owners, none of whom knew this was happening tonight. Rose Chang lives on the Mainland. (Inaudible) Properties owns Midas Muffler and Taco Bell; they didn't know. Kadota Liquor; they didn't know. Shiraishi Financial (Group), where Regal Travel used to be on Hualalai CHR. KIMBALL: I am going to have to keep you to your three-minute limit. MR. HOTNIANSKY: No, let me get my paper. I'll be real—can I have Rosie's paper, honey? I'm sorry. CHR. KIMBALL: I'm sorry. You're not allowed to testify on behalf of somebody else in a public hearing. Mr. Araceley, our next two testifiers,please. MR. ARACELEY: Madam Chair? CHR. KIMBALL: Our next two testifiers, please. MR. HOTNIANSKY: I'm sorry, lady. I respect you very much, but I would like to say that I'm here representing Rose Chang because she lives on the Mainland, and she didn't know about this meeting. She owns the Hata building. CHR. KIMBALL: There is no process by which you can represent somebody else in this public hearing. MR. HOTNIANSKY: I'm asking you to give us some flexibility. I'm going to ask you to pause the voting for two weeks. I'd like to have a meeting of all of downtown workers, merchants. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, sir, for your testimony. Appreciate it. We do need to move on to our next— MR. extMR. HOTNIANSKY: I've got two more things on homeless. CHR. KIMBALL: We need to move on to our next two testifiers,please. MR. HOTNIANSKY: If you've ever slept on the sidewalk at night on a rainy night—you know why they left the cardboard ? CHR. KIMBALL: At this moment, we're going to recess for ten minutes. We will reconvene at 7:15. Thank you. Recess: At 7:05 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Page 18 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 7:15 p.m. UTAE SUZUKL I oppose raising taxes, of course. That's no question. Okay, George is my (representing Dragon landlord, and we have a very good relationship. Through the pandemic, he was a Mama Futon Shop; very generous person. Now, it went up very high, but we are still on good terms in opposition) and he listens. Anyway, I thinkI'm from Japan, from old country. A lot of old things are still there. And when my friends come from Japan as tourists, always Hilo is the best because it's very funky, like a funky old town. Funky but too much homeless. Funky could be very clean, like an old Japanese town. Can we do something about the homeless? I've been there 31 years. I own Dragon Mama (Futon Shop). He works hard. I work hard too. We're all overworked just to keep Hilo going. The homeless has been those guys have been a pain in the neck. It's reallyI feel for them but it's really hard to be around. They distract you all the time. Can they round them up and maybe take them to some protected area in Hamakua or something? Let them learn farming maybe? I don't know. A lot of people have to talk about that because they cannot make up their own decisions, and they like people. They like to be they always like to come to where people are. So, have to do some kind of social thing for them to—okay. So, anyway, I am against raising taxes that's it—because it will trickle down to me. BRENT WENNER: Hi. My name is Brent Wenner. I am a commercial realtor in town, so I actually (In opposition) work for everybody in this room. What I do is I try to fill this town with tenants who are creating an atmosphere where it's hometown. We don't have the Domino's. We don't have the Pizza Hut. We don't have anything that is downtown. We create something in Hilo that's a little different. If you look at Bayfront, it's thriving right now. We are almost a hundred percent occupancy in Downtown Hilo. That's tremendous. We're not Kona. We're not this the County just imposed this ridiculous tax of increasing commercialI have no skin in the game, I want to tell you. I do not own property. I represent almost everybody in this room. If I don't represent you, please call me. Sorry. But the—last year, they got hit with a 50 to 75 percent increase in property tax. That goes on to get passed on to their tenants who then gets passed on to all of us. So increasing this tax on one particular section of the population doesn't make sense. This is a County population. This isn't the property owners' problem. So, if we increase the tax on there, then it increases the tax on the small business owners, who I'm trying to get them into space. And then when my CAM, common area maintenance, charges go up from $0.70 per square foot to $1.50 per square foot because our property taxes increased by 75 percent, that's not sustainable. Do we want to have a main street that has Pizza Hut? Do we want to have a main street that has all of these Page 19 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 corporate entities and not have our tropical forest? Not to have our Island Naturals? Not to have the things that make Hilo, Hilo? I oppose this bill 100 percent. I work with Nancy. I work with Garth. We are trying to make this a community where it's built on small businesses. We do not want the corporate entities coming in here, and that's the only people who are going to be affording this if you keep increasing all of these taxes and increasing these CAM charges, and making the landlords pass it on to the tenants. We are built on a town where small business owners can thrive in this town. Keep increasing these taxes and they cannot do that anymore. Thank you very much. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you very much. I want to thank everyone for taking the time out of your evening to come here and provide your testimony to us today in this public hearing. I will just one more time reiterate that the purpose and function of this hearing tonight was for us to register protests against the BID proposal. There will be other opportunities for public input into this conversation, so this is not the only opportunity to testify. At this time, I will request a motion to adjourn, noting that a motion to adjourn this meeting and an affirmative vote by this Council closes the time period from which protests can be received. May I have a motion to adjourn? MR. HENRICKS: Madam Chair, prior to doing that,just a little more specifics. You mentioned just to be clear, this bill is scheduled to be heard at first reading on March 8, 2023. The meeting starts normally at nine o'clock, and that is the legislative proceeding where the Council will be taking it up, discussing amongst themselves. You can come and testify then. Not only does the close of this public hearing close the window to submit a protest—so we will, if anybody wants to do that, we'll wait for a little while to give some time to do that if you haven't done so—but it'll also close the opportunity to withdraw a protest if you have submitted one and you've changed your mind and you'd like to withdraw it as well. That's what the close of the hearing would do. COUNCIL MEMBER: (Inaudible.) MR. HENRICKS: Speak to the Chair; not my decision. CHR. KIMBALL: We have the option to recess this meeting for two weeks and adjourn at that time. I will leave that—any discussion from my colleagues on that potential proposal? Council Member Kierkiewicz. Page 20 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I'm in support of giving property owners, business owners, anybody that has a tied connection, interest in Downtown Hilo, a bit more time to review the proposed BID and provide comments. I think tonight's discussion was very healthy, and I think we owe it to community to give them a little bit more time to provide us mana`o so that we can make a well-informed decision. Thank you, Chair. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Absolutely. If there will be no more discussion, I would look to recess this public hearing; I guess it would be to the 22nd of February. CHR. KIMBALL: That would be in Kona. MR. HENRICKS: That's a challenge, that the bulk of this group will be in Kona, if not all of us. This room will be open but you will be in Kona. So I don't think that will be COUNCIL MEMBER: Would it not work? MR. HENRICKS: No, it would but I'd assume that you'd prefer the opportunity to speak to the membership face to face. CHR. KIMBALL: Since this is a matter that is primarily Hilo-based and regional, might I propose that actual Thursday,perhaps, at 6 p.m., which would be February 23rd, which is a little over two weeks. COUNCIL MEMBER: Chair? MS. LEE LOY: I'm sorry but I still have the floor. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Lee Loy has the floor. Go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: I really am looking for feedback. I know most of us are attending a legislative conference next week, so even next week makes it challenging. But it does seem amenable to be on the 23rd or the 24h. Motion to Recess: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recess to February 23, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR. KIMBALL: Discussion on the motion? Council Member Kagiwada. Page 21 Hawaii County Council–Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 MS. KAGIWADA: There's a Keawe Street meeting on that night that many of these people will be wanting to attend, and I have to attend. So I would request that we please think about the 24h or a different date. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: I'll go ahead and take the—can I ask you to withdraw that motion? Revised Motion: MS. LEE LOY: Based on that information from Council Member Kagiwada, I'll just withdraw and restate the motion to recess this public hearing till February 24h at 6 p.m. Vote on Revised Ms. Lee Loy moved to recess to February 24, 2023, at Motion: 6:00 p.m. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada and carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball–9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: We'll be recessing this meeting to the 24h of February at 6:00 p.m. MR. HENRICKS: Okay. Because the meeting is in recess and this is not concluded or adjourned, then the window to file protests or withdraw protests is still open. I'd hope that we could communicate that to all 421 people we've originally, or not people necessarily but corporations or people we've sent out notices to. So we'll try to do that quickly as possible because I feel like just without them knowing then there's not as much value, that they should be aware. CHR. KIMBALL: Yes. Absolutely. MR. HENRICKS: So we'll try to find a way to do that, and that will be the plan. So we'll be reaching out to the same entities that we provided original notice to and let them know that the period is still open to file protests or withdraw them. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. MR. HENRICKS: And that the meeting will reconvene at six o'clock on Friday, February 24. Page 22 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Mr. Clerk, and we appreciate all of the efforts of your office to make sure that the public is well-informed about this process. I encourage the folks in this room to help share out this information as well. With that, we are recessed to February 24h at 6:00 p.m. Thank you. RECESS: At 7:40 p.m., the Chair declared the meeting in recess until 6:00 p.m. on February 24, 2023. RECONVENE: The public hearing of the Hawaii County Council was reconvened at 6:10 p.m. on February 24, 2023, in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair. ATTENDANCE: Present: Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Vice Chair(via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Absent& Excused: Ms. Cindy Evans, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member STATEMENTS The following individuals registered to speak on the proposed business FROM THE improvement district and came forward when called by the Chair: PUBLIC: KAREN Hello. My name is Karen Hotniansky. My husband and I are property owners in HOTNIANSKY: Downtown Hilo. I don't support Bill 230, and I wanted to share with you why. (In opposition) It's too much. For us, it's been one shock after the other after dealing with COVID. It's years dealing with COVID. And our tenants had a lot of trouble. We had a lot of trouble. Then in August, they raised our property tax. I guess I can expect that to happen sometimes, but it was a huge increase. It was a hundred percent. And so, after COVID, we had to deal with the hundred percent increase in taxes, and I just felt that unfairly burdens property owners and tenants. Six months later, we're here at this hearing about Bill 230, whose purpose is to provide funding for an additional tax for landowners and a new development district. What was the property tax increase for in August? We can't afford tax and tax again. I think this additional tax will discourage and prevent property owners from improving their properties, discourage investment in downtown, and displace a lot Page 23 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 of tenants because they will be priced out of the market. Please vote "no" on Bill 230. What we need help with downtown, most of all, is relief from the homeless situation. At night, the homeless are not allowed to sleep in the parks. They're not allowed to sleep at the bus station. They're not allowed in the bandstand, and the bathrooms are locked. Where are they supposed to go at night? Why is it okay for the homeless to be in downtown on our doorsteps? It's not safe for people to be on the street. And for property owners and merchants downtown, it's a nightmare. Constant problems of pee and poop and garbage in our doorways and parking lots. Broken windows. Break-ins. Graffiti. We need help with this problem. I was thrilled to hear that the Federal funding was passed to help homeless people in Hilo. It's much-needed. We need homeless shelters where homeless can get the help that they need and get off the streets. Because, living on the streets will not help them get better. It will not help small businesses be successful. Ignoring their problem just hurts everyone. I hope you'll considerI heard there's a new homeless shelter at the old hospital when I was thinking, "Gee, maybe they could take a County bus and bring them up there so they'd have a way up." There's a lot of distance between Downtown Hilo and the old hospital. I just think it's a need that really needs to be addressed. I think my time's up, so thank you very much. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Before you testify, sir, one other note again: I do have to ask people to refrain from responding to the testifiers. And this is really just in order to make it fair for everyone. Just imagine you're in the room and you're testifying for something that everybody else is opposed to and how you might feel intimidated. We want to make this an open public space. So please refrain from responding to the testifiers. Sir, your time. STAN LAWRENCE: My name is Stan Lawrence. I've been living on the Big Island since 1971. My (In oppositions business, Orchidland Surf Shop, is going on 51 years. I am not in favor of Bill 230. I feel the bill should be funded with grant money and donations, but not assessments to the downtown merchants and property owners. We all do our part to keep Hilo a quaint, small town in paradise. It has a lot of charm. We live here because we love it. Small businesses are the anchors for Downtown Hilo. It should not be gentrified. We do pay a lot of tax. I mean, it goes up and up, and I just feel like we've done enough and we need to see some results from what we pay. We're not seeing any results. It just seems to be getting worse. I think we all pay for tax making the rail project over on Honolulu. That's ridiculous. If you want to assess this, assess Page 24 Hawaii County Council–Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 it to the whole State of Hawaii just like we have to pay tax for the rail project. Everybody enjoys Downtown Hilo, the whole island. So it shouldn't be assessed on just the local businesses. Anyway, thank you very much. NIMR TAMIML Aloha. Aloha, County Council Members. Thank you very much for allowing me (representing Hilo this opportunity to testify. My name is Nimr Tamimi, and I'm on the steering Business committee for the creation of the Hilo Business Improvement District. Our Improvement committee is a mixture of downtown property owners, business owners, and District Steering stakeholders. We started this committee by reaching out to various organizations Committee; and people in our downtown community to identify people that may be interested comment) in working on this effort. Upon creation of this committee, we began our research, outreach, discussions, building a website, and a needs assessment survey. The community outreach for this effort included hand-delivered flyers to each store, a mailer to each TMK owner. We then coordinated two informational and Q&A (question and answer) community meetings, one geared exclusively to the property owners and the other for the public. The outreach for the public meetings included a mailer to each TMK owner, hand-delivered flyers to each store, and two newspaper ads. The bill we have today was drafted based on comments and information gathered during this process. The benefit of the public meeting a few weeks ago and the meeting tonight is that it's helped us identify additional partners we can work with to amend the current bill to include the concerns that have been presented. We would like to propose that the Council consider an extension to this process to allow us more time to work with the community to fine-tune the proposed bill. The outreach and discussion have already begun, and we feel it would be beneficial to our community if we had more time to work together as a community to amend this bill. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. CHR. KIMBALL: At this time, I will put out one more invitation for folks to come up and submit their names to testify. The adjournment of this hearing okay, please sign in at the table. The adjournment of this public hearing starts excuse me. Thank you, Toby. TOBY HAZEL: I was thinking about this, and I thought, well, how far do these people want to go? Comment How much are they going to whitewash everything? How much stuff do they decide—somebody can decide they don't like anymore that we like? Are they going to scrub out all the murals? I think we need more murals. I'd like to get rid of all that black mold that's all over everything. That'd be kind of nice. But that shouldn't take so much time and money. And I think it's true: I don't want to see more businesses go out. A lot of small businesses have gone out during COVID. Now that I live in Hilo, if I could find a Page 25 Hawaii County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawaii February 7, 2023 couple of places to eat lunch that's decent. A couple of places that I used to go to, they're gone. That little Isles Cafe back there by Suisan, that's still Hilo, even though it's not the Bayfront. But a couple of restaurants even around the Bayfront went down. I don't know. I think some of the businesses need help with just a facelift, a paint job. So these people, if you're going to pass this bill, I think a lot of people would like to see exactly what the plan is and what could be crossed off or what could be endorsed. That's it. CHR. KIMBALL: With the adjournment of this meeting, this closes the time period for which declarations of protest will be accepted, except for those that are postmarked prior to this date. So I will put it out one more time: Are there any additional testifiers? Seeing none, may I have a motion to adjourn? Motion to we'll hold off on that motion to adjourn. RHONDA Good evening. My name is Rhonda Nichols. I'm a property owner and a business NICHOLS: owner in the Business Improvement District. I wasn't sure if I wanted to testify (In support) because I knew that, with all of the phone calls that I got this week, that I was certainly the minority on this. So I thought maybe the conversation that I had with some people that took the time to call me and ask me why I was in support, I would share with you guys. Downtown Improvement Association was an organization that I'd been involved in probably about ten years, and it was very disappointing because we didn't have any teeth. We didn't have any legislative opportunity to actually do something because we were just a community organization with no funding and really no standing. So I listened to a lot of the arguments in opposition, and I guess I would just invite the opportunity that Nimr promised, which is to maybe amend some of the opportunities and to see how it could work. I have two properties. Yes, my property tax has gone up, but my property value went up. And isn't that kind of what we want? Don't we want our property values to increase? That keeps us from being really vulnerable to the next Panda Express or the next Taco Bell. If we want to keep our small businesses in business, we need to support small businesses being able to operate. There's a lot of no-cost, low-cost things that have been identified in Envision 2020, which was an initiative done many years ago. We're already there and we're not really doing any of them. There's the downtown multimodal program that's also in there. So there's a whole bunch of things that we could do. And I would just invite the property owners to maybe be a little bit more open to it because it does sound scary when it says, "Oh, we want to tax you more." And Page 26 Hawai`i County Council—Public Hearing, Hilo, Hawai`i February 7,2023 when you say, "But, wow, I'm already paying all these taxes," and it's going "Where are they going to?" And I kind of think, I'm like, wow, that must be like what the Kona people feel like when they say, "Where are all my taxes going?" So I would just invite us to maybe see there is some opportunity to (inaudible) in here. Maybe it wasn't rolled out in the best possible way. Maybe we need to have a few more stakeholders come and participate. But I believe that if we all work together, like in a kumiai, we can come together and do more with just a little bit of investment. So I am in support of it with some tweaks. I'd like to pay more attention to it, and I'd like to see the pause so that we can readjust this plan so that it is something that all of the downtown people can support. Thank you. ADJOURNMENT: CHR. KIMBALL: We are adjourned. The next opportunity to testify on Bill 230, Draft 2, will be in the Council meeting on March 8th. Thank you, everyone, for your attendance tonight. The meeting was adjourned at 6:26 p.m. on February 24, 2023. COUNTY CLERK JH/dg Page 27