Just so You All Know...

not everyone in Kailua is ga ga about B%26amp;B %26amp; Vacation Rentals

GB some data

thanks to Mr Fernie letter in the paper.

Neighborhood %26#39;residential,%26#39; so B%26amp;B%26#39;s are out of place

Here%26#39;s another perspective to Kerry L. Gellert%26#39;s recent letter to The Advertiser covering the illegal B%26amp;B and vacation rental issue: I%26#39;ve lived in Kailua for 58 years and am watching this special place morph into a tourist destination.

Auwe! ( not a happy camper to say the least)

The starting premise is, my neighborhood is ';residential'; ��� not hotel/resort or commercial or industrial; it%26#39;s residential. Check out what the zoning definition is.

The purpose of zoning, by the way, is to provide some logical sense of orderly land use.

It brings businesses, for instance, together in generally the same location with a goal to provide unity of use and

to avoid conflicting/obnoxious activity with other zoned lands.

And the lands in different zoned areas are taxed at different rates. Oh, there%26#39;s a thought for Mufi Hannemann and the City Council to consider.

By the way, there is zoning in place to accommodate tourists, and appropriate real-property taxes are applied for that use.

Allowing any business in a residential area most certainly has value consequences for that land and those lands surrounding it. Moreover, infrastructure (crowded roads, parking, sewer, etc.) is impacted.

To make a case that taxes and license fees collected would offset these impacts would be a tough task. Property values in Kailua have soared beyond belief. Homes with income-producing value (legal or not) influence what buyers will pay.

My real-property tax assessment has gone up 40 percent. My children must be millionaires now to live in the town where they grew up. (AUWE my take)

Mr. Gellert complains that ';The bigger problem (with the city) is that there is no licensing system in place for B%26amp;B or vacation rentals.'; Another entrepreneur of a different sort could also make that same argument when faced with obtaining a license for, say, prostitution in the neighborhood. Both illegal activities occur in residential areas.

My sense is that most neighbors don%26#39;t wish either to be legitimized, except those in the business, of course.

KITV 4

http://www.thehawaiichannel.com also did an essay on THIS.

Just so You All Know...

Touris- I was reading an article in the Advertiser about this issue while we were there. It%26#39;s certainly a tricky subject. The truth is, most folks who trun their property into vacation rentals , whether full-time or part time (through things like home trading, for example) are living in residential areas. I can only say that I am glad that there were places for us to stay there, because I love Kailua. And as for my kids not being able to afford to live where they grew up- hey that%26#39;s a reality most everywhere, esp. here in CA!! Renting out a space in your backyard may be the most reasonable way for folks to help pay for that expensive Kailua house.

However, I undertand the impact that this can have. Ironincally enough, when we were staying in Kailua, we didn%26#39;t hear a peep from the other renters staying alongside us, but there was an all-night pool party at the residential, non-rented house next door, complete with bright lights, that pretty much kept us up all night. It%26#39;s not only tourists who can ruin a neighborhood ambience!

Perhaps the idea of having the owner live on the property will help, but to be honest, the hotel tax dollars that these rentals bring in has got to be good for the economy. And if parking is a problem, folks who stay in Kailua don%26#39;t have to drive to the beach and use up all the street parking nearby!

Anyone who stays there, though, does need to be sensitive to the neighborhood aspect of the place, and respect the waking and sleeping hours of their neighbors.

I always feel a little strange, though, about people who buy property near some of the most beautiful- and public- places in the world- and then don%26#39;t like it when others come to visit it.

Oh, and one more point- as Waikiki gre so large and became more and more bent towards the Japanese tourist, fewer mainlanders wanted to come to Oahu, and headed to Kauai or Maui instead. How many times have we had to defend Oahu on this forum?? Places like Kailua are the kind of places many folks want to stay in, and if they can%26#39;t they will probably just head to another island instead.

Guess I shuld send this one to the letters to the editor, huh??

Just so You All Know...

a letter to the editor with a different prospective sounds good.

You have sound points.

hey on another reply you sent regarding food I noted

you said portaguese sausage. nice you still remember th

local way to say it. he he.

Maui forum is also talking about the Rentals.

cheers.

I guess I shoulda typed ';portagee'; to be really accurate!

Every once in a while, when I was back on Oahu, I%26#39;d start to slip back into pidgin, and my kids would give me the strangest looks! Just doesn%26#39;t sound right coming from a middle aged haole anymore...

good The Pidgin

makes for a fun individual, ya

I can relate to both sides of this subject. One for the residents of Kailua and Lanikai -- who the heck whats all the tourists coming in and ruining things for them.

(Look, even I have noticed a difference from year-to-year! There were times that I would be in my little nook of Lanikai by myself with a good book for HOURS until a resident with a dog would come by). Now? I can honestly loose count on some days.

BUT, since I%26#39;m also a tourist... I must defend my beautiful OAHU -- I can see it from that side of the coin.

I can%26#39;t afford to live where I%26#39;m living either. The suburb of Philadelphia I live in used to be quite undesirable. Housing was inexpensive (relatively-speaking, of course). In the last few years, housing costs have gone up almost 30% and it%26#39;s climbing rapidly!!! The prices of a townhome are rivaling Hawaii.... and other more expensive areas of the country. They are tearing down beautiful wooded areas and laying down 500,000 ++++++ housing developments, that, if a good tornado would strike would send these houses down like match sticks. It%26#39;s very sad to see the beautiful rolling green hills of Pennsylvania being destroyed by concrete and developments.

It%26#39;s an unfortunate reality, no matter where we live I%26#39;m afraid.

tourist#rap%26#39;d,

thanks for posting that letter. I thought it was an excellent letter.

I feel the same way as the letter writer, while of course sympathizing with visitors who want to stay out of the heavily-touristed areas. But since by definition tourists staying in an area will turn it into a touristed area, and it%26#39;s a really slippery slope as to what number of accomodations are for short-term, visitors should take it into account. If there are no definitely legal places to stay in Kailua, I hope the conscientious visitor won%26#39;t stay there.

Or perhaps just for the more mature NON-partying...

visitors, who are coming from a squished mainland city %26amp;

desire space vacation space. and R%26amp;R. cheers!

Same arguments being made here in Florida. The keys recently made short term rentals illegal. Hey we%26#39;re all tourists. You or your relatives moved to Hawaii from somewhere else, just like my relatives moved here 85 years ago. Things change. Rentals are rentals. Here in our beach community the people who own and live in their home hate the renters and the absentee owners. Whats so funny is that the beach was originally developed by townies who wanted a little beach getaway. Now with things like roads and cars anyone can live out there and call it %26#39;home%26#39;. So property values are being pushed up by the availablity of a rental on the property and that is a bad thing, so government should control this? America is about the ownership of property and as long as a neighbors property isn%26#39;t a nusiance the government should stay out of private property. The term legal or illegal is not one of morality unlike the prostitution reference you made. Just because some politician passes a law doesn%26#39;t mean its right. We have had many a law and activities deemed illegal when its not and renting your legally purchased property is your right. I support those who want to invite visitors into their home, talk about the ';aloha spirit';. I plan on coming to Oahu this year. There is no way in Hell I would stay anywhere near Waikiki and you bet I%26#39;ll be staying in the east side of Oahu, whether that be Kailua, Lanikai or Kaneohe. Of course I%26#39;ll be spending my $$ there too, won%26#39;t be going to Roy%26#39;s or Duke%26#39;s or the like. Sorry but you live in paradise and the price you have to pay is to put up with people like me visiting your piece. Hey, don%26#39;t worry I have to put up with people like me all the time right here in the ';sunshine state';! Welcome friend let me tell you how it used to be.................

We appreciated your visit to our Islands and respect your opinion, but our laws do serve a purpose. They protect both residents and visitors. Touris#rap%26#39;d comments are meant to only help visitors from making an unintentional mistake that might lead to an unfortunate negative experience. The residents of Oahu only ask visitors to respect our laws and stay in legal and authorized accommodations. We appreciate your kokua in this regards and hope you have a wonderful visit!