HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-15 Bill 121 Jillian Marohnic From: Jillian Marohnic
To: LPCtestimonv
Subject: Oppose TAR Bill Package April 18 2024
Date: Monday,April 15,2024 11:53:16 AM
To the County of Hawaii,
Testimony in opposition of TAR Bill Package wherein hosted vacation rentals are now being
targeted and controlled.
It's clear that you are vilifying the vacation rental industry—turning public opinion against us and
trying to drive us out of business by imposing extreme taxes and fees, cumbersome registration
procedures and absurdly high monetary penalties for small violations. Many of us are residents
here, with our vacation rental business being our only means of income. We support our local
economy, as mostly all our earnings are spent here on the island. In preparing and maintaining our
vacation rentals we also buy locally--flowers, home-made soaps, and artworks—as well as hire local
cleaning and yard maintenance people and handymen... Rather than viewing us as removing
housing from a crowded island, you could rather view us as providing necessary accommodations for
the island's most important industry... the tourist industry. We are an important component for
visitors to the island who would go elsewhere if vacation rentals were not available. Our island is
getting crowded... the roads are packed with standstill traffic during school pick-up hours and work
commuting hours... filled with the overwhelming number of people who now live here permanently.
We don't need to move in more families and encourage them to set up residence here when our
infrastructure can't support them. Having houses that instead host tourists for a few days at a time
alleviates some of the stress of overcrowded neighborhoods. Vacation rentals are good neighbors,
with pristine yards and well kept buildings, no barking dogs, roosters or junk cars. Housing problems
will work themselves out... if dwellings are not available, then people will find elsewhere to live. If
there are too many vacation rentals then some will go out of business. We don't need heavy-
handed government interference in what is supposed to be a free economy. All the pendulum of
trends to swing on its own.
We have enough rules in the vacation rental industry already. Why not try to enforce the rules we
already have and gain more permanent housing in that manner? There are plenty of illegal vacation
rentals that you turn a blind eye to.
Sincerely,
Jillian Marohnic
Vacation rental owner and host
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