• Plug the TVR leak • Think locals first • You are the minority • Practice what you preach Plug the TVR leak So what the country is saying is if you obeyed the law and did not operate a vacation
• Plug the TVR leak • Think locals first • You are the minority • Practice what you preach
Plug the TVR leak
So what the country is saying is if you obeyed the law and did not operate a vacation rental on ag land because it was not legal to do so, you will not be able to apply for a permit. But if you broke the law and can prove you did by paying the taxes then you will be able to be grandfathered in.
What would be right would be to open this opportunity to all law-abiding citizens.
Since the county seems to be moved by the threat of lawsuits maybe a class-action suit on behalf of all of us who have been law-abiding might create due consideration.
I wrote about this to the council three years ago. I never got a reply. So here we go just as I feared, injustice.
Thomas McCall, Anahola
Think locals first
I applaud JoAnn Yukimura, and council members Tim Bynum and Lani Kawahara in their efforts to try to stop the amendment supporting Kukui‘ula changes in affordable housing buyback provisions.
Unfortunately, Jay Furfaro and Daryl Kaneshiro seem bent on depriving our residents of long-term family housing. Even with the recession-lowered housing prices it’s still nearly impossible for residents to ever own a home on Kaua‘i.
Allowing this developer to change the rules now is just another backward step the council is taking similar to the recent changes to ag land use and TVR permits.
Being a “Libra” and wanting to “balance the scale” is unacceptable and destroys more chances families have of ever owning their own home. The scale is already unbalanced and not in favor of local residents.
It’s time the council sent a message to developers on Kaua‘i that if you want to build here on Kaua‘i and flood our roads and beaches with absentee owners from the Mainland you need to give back to the community.
It’s bad enough most developers aren’t using local workers, let’s not make it worse by caving in more like this proposed 25-year buyback rule and 14-month sale clause.
Just because council members can afford their own home doesn’t mean everyone else can. Your actions will affect local residents and generations to come.
Unfortunately, most people will not remember who supports them come elections day or maybe these council members might think twice about their priorities.
John Tobin, Koloa
You are the minority
Am I really reading this? (“Kukui‘ula project redux,” The Garden Island, Aug. 5)
Some 1,500 homes are for the rich and 75 are for the 35 to 45 percent of the lower class on this island? And those go to the insiders that build or state workers who already have more benefits than the minimum wagers?
As I walk among the large populations of children at schools, where are they going to live? What beach are they going to be allowed to be at? Or like a Chamber of Commerce speaker said last Christmas, the young leave the island because they can not afford to live here. The brightest leave. The others are trapped here.
Are you really going to be surprised when the crime rate shoots up? Why should anyone obey the laws here? The rich have lawyers but the underclass have their methods.
The remarkable restraint shown so far by the unlucky to not own homes/land and influence is amazing. All it takes is a spark — like early America with the British controllers — and the overlords are toast.
Think about that as you privileged ignore large silent groups of persons you take for granted everyday, to do the things you do not want to do. Drive by the bus stops and ignore 70-year-old women waiting to go to work, so they can come home and watch the grandkids so that their children can go to work. Go home to three generations stuffed in one home — it looks like four generations now.
All it takes is a spark. The elected leaders of this island have failed in all ways. Aloha, ‘ohana is PR talk. Taking two Hawaiian sacred words and transmuting them into a sick semblance of what they really meant.
Preserving the elite way of life is paramount with the minority here. Remember, you are the minority and your laws are only as good as insofar they are followed.
Shirley Wiser, Lihu‘e
Practice what you preach
As a frequent visitor to the Islands, and having just returned from Kaua‘i this week, I was disappointed to see the excessive and unnecessary amount of non-recyclable plastic bags and Styrofoam containers dispensed at your businesses.
Forget blaming only the tourists! Even the locals picking up their lunches had their Styrofoam-packaged meals wrapped in plastic bags although the food was frequently eaten on-site.
The amount of “fugitive” plastic bags blowing around the island seemed messier than I’ve ever seen and the recycling bins at grocery stores and restaurants were either non-existent or poorly maintained.
Just look at the contents of your garbage cans. If you really want to preach about your respect for the environment, you need to practice what you preach.
Roy Roenbeck, San Francisco, Calif.
