HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0675.503 2022-2024From: Alan Smith
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2024 10:07 PM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Bill 121
Please stop rubber stamping every proposal that our corrupt, lying, dishonest elected officials (who have been
completely bought and paid for by the island hotel lobby) put in front of you. This proposed legislation has one purpose
only - to drive out every form of accommodation that competes with the overpriced hotel rooms on the island that are
owned by mainland -based corporations.
The argument that Airbnb style STVRs drive up rental costs for locals is complete garbage and the hotels know that and
so does everyone living on the big island and everyone on this committee. I own my own home in lower Puna (btw, I
stress that I own my own home, it's not owned by Hilton or Marriott or Hawaii County and I should be able to do with it
what I want). I travel to Europe or Asia twice a year for 1-3 months each time (I can't afford to travel in Hawaii any more
because the costs are so outrageously high), I rent MY house in Hawaii out (with a 31 night minimum) to partially offset
my travel costs. When your committee rubber stamps this legislation (as you surely will), I will still travel just as much,
my house will just be empty while I'm away (earning no TAT or GET for the county). I know my guests are spending much
more money at restaurants, shops and car rental than I do when I'm in Hawaii which also benefits small businesses and
the people they employ. My empty house will do NOTHING to lower rents for locals in the short or long term.
If you want to fix the housing affordability problem on the island raise the minimum wage to a level that workers can
actually afford to live here. The hotels (who created the UNaffordability problem in the first place by paying thousands
of employees low wages) will be the ones shouldering the cost of fixing unaffordable housing which they and all the
other low wage employers like Walmart and the fast food industry created.
In lower Puna there are no hotels and the only accommodation options for visitors are STVRs. It's obvious the goal of
this legislation is to reduce and eventually eliminate all of the STVRs on the island. This will be the final nail in the coffin
for small towns like Pahoa where ALL the small businesses rely on visitors to make money and pay wages to locals. There
will definitely be more empty shops and fewer jobs in Puna after your committee rubber stamps this legislation.
If every STVR owner has to pay a registration fee of $750 and an annual fee of $500 for each of their STVRs, why aren't
the Hilton Waikoloa, the Marriotts and all the time share villages also paying this registration and annual fee PER UNIT?
When you approve this legislation (as you surely will, just like you have all similar legislation our lying corrupt politicians
put in front of you) you are further giving the corporations who own the hotel rooms on this island an unfair competitive
advantage over the locals who are trying to survive by renting their house or ohana for all or part of the year. Approving
this badly flawed legislation will again do NOTHING to fix the housing affordability on the island, it will lower the amount
of TAT and GET collected by the county, it will reduce the number of jobs on the island and send more tourist dollars to
the mainland based corporations who own the hotels on the island.
Alan Smith
Puhala St
Pahoa
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