HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0739.359 2016-2018 P/Counul
COUNTY CLERK Co+14.1b1
COUNTY OF HAWAII
From: Laura Brown
To: Council Testimony 7018 OCT 31 Au 'O, 36
Subject: Comment on Bill 108 from a frequent visitor to Puna LU 10 LI ! 1 61{ i1
Date: Monday,October 29,2018 10:07:41 AM
I am not a resident of Hawaii County. I visit Lower Puna one or two times a year, and when I
do I invariably stay in a vacation rental. Until this year we rented in Kapoho Vacationland,
now sadly gone, and now in HPP. The people from whom I rent pay taxes and register their
vacation rentals; Linda Flanders, from whom I was renting in Kapoho, spearheaded the
creation of the now-gone Wai Opae Marine Sanctuary.
I also live, in Seattle, in a neighborhood where there is an Airbnb rental across the street, and
my sister-in-law in Portland has one next door to her, both in residential neighborhoods. Thus
I am acutely aware of how problematic it can be for an absentee (or even an on-site) owner to
rent to people and take no responsibility for the renters' behaviors.
With all of this as context, I am responding to requests by members of the Lower Puna
community to share the visitor's perspective on Bill 108. I see how much of the economy here
in Lower Puna is affected by the vacation rental business. There are no resorts here and no
hotels; no developer is going to invest in land that Pele might take back any minute. There are,
instead, enterprising people who are living close to the financial margins. Some of them are
making it by being the maintenance and cleaning people on vacation rentals. Many of them
lost work when Vacationland and Kapoho Beach Lots were taken by Pele. The marginal legal
economy here has taken a tremendous hit that is not in any way helped by forcing visitors to
stay in a hotel, since here there are none.
I encourage the Council to take the special needs and realities of this hard-hit side of the island
into account. It should be possible to protect neighborhoods and affordable housing options
without foreclosing the cash-flow options afforded to Lower Puna residents whose living is
based in the vacation rental business. I'm guessing that this lovely place in HPP from which
I'm sending this email will be grandparented in under the new law, so I can separate my self-
interest. And...Lower Puna is hurting badly right now. There has to be a way to help its
residents continue to make an honest living repairing, cleaning, and renting. Mahalo for
considering the input of a very frequent visitor.
Laura S. Brown, Ph.D. ABPP
Independent Practice Seattle WA
206-633-2405
www.drlaurabrown.com
Comm. No 17A' 961
Leff:To: P1cunu1
Date
NOV 01 2 018