HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0675.076 2022-2024 From: Penny Lee
Sent: Monday,January 22, 2024 11:11 AM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: testimony against Bills 121, 122, 123
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A lot of"no cans" directed at regular folks just trying to make a living on this island. What apoutr.!—
property ownership rights? You keep saying resort developers have "entitlements", well other :'
property owners do too. There are many of us. You are squeezing out thousands of people in f vnr of
large outside corporate interests. L., -:_
The proposed bills have layers and layers of overzealous regulation. High fees, high fines, direct
interference in day to day operations, directing where owners/hosts are allowed to live on their own
property, forcing the majority of local owners into non-conforming use.
Property Rights are important for everybody. Fundamental to a resilient and stable community. When
Hawaii's governor says "the government can take from one person and give it to another person"
people's ears perk up and we are paying very very close attention. Just because you somehow got
elected once doesn't give you the right to subvert property rights, people's hard earned properties and
incomes derived over years from their small business. This bill is regulatory harassment of the very
families who need the income to survive on this island and within the ever increasing cost of living. It
is very easy to scapegoat a group of people that you think is somewhere else, not here. But the funny
thing is thousands of us are HERE, we live here and we have hosted, unhosted and everything else
vacation rentals. This is not surprising, because tourism is the main economy here. What do you think
our economy is based on in lower Puna, for example? Do you think that any resident in Puna can buy
a vacation rental in resort or commercial zoning? This bill excludes the average people of this island
from participating in the tourism economy based on exclusionary zoning regulation. This is a
regulatory taking of our property rights.
Funny, for US this is OUR affordable housing. We could not afford our house here without the income
from the vacation rental. Yet you say you are doing this to create affordable housing, you mean for
other people? How? Hosted rentals means we already LIVE on the property ourselves. Unhosted
means we will either not rent at all or sell. There are plenty of people who are wealthier than we are
all over the world and could buy these houses and never rent it to anybody. Most vacation rentals will
not turn into affordable housing.
The county council is implementing the interests of large corporations against their own local people.
Penny Lee
Comm. No. IS U
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1 Ref. Date ,°• 2 3 2024