"Sell extended cab 4wd pickup with lift kit and leather interior only 13000 miles, paid $52 thousand, asking $5 thousand dollars cash”. Well not yet, but with Mayor Tavares and George Bush sharing the driver’s seat for our economy, ads like that may be in the paper in time for Christmas.
Even if the mainland economy was great and oil was cheap, Mayor Tavares’ attack on every growth sector of our tourist based economy was bound to create a recession on Maui.
Surfing, Kite boarding, Standup, Windsurfing, Kayaking, all green activities, all growing steadily. Teaching tourists how to do these things guarantees their return because there is no better place for all of these activities than Maui.
Mayor Tavares’ response? Ban teaching tourists at the best places to learn. Require expensive insurance policies which indemnify the County (indemnification is not required for operators of semi- tankers hauling gasoline, nor similar high risk businesses on the Island). Regulate the ratio of students to teacher to make it impossible to make a profit.
Vacation Rentals are increasing in popularity world wide. They benefit caterers, contractors, bars, restaurants, airline employees and the benefits trickle on and on.
Mayor Tavares’ response? Support vacation rentals until she was elected then bizarrely, according to her deposition; wake up the morning after being elected feeling a need to shut down every vacation rental immediately.
19 FOSBINDER Q. Do you recall, during the period before your
20 election, disseminating any information that would lead
21 a reasonable voter to come to the conclusion that you
22 intended or wanted to shut down all the vacation rentals
23 on January 2nd?
24 TAVARES: A. I don't recall that, saying that or doing
25 anything like that.
1 Q. What happened? At what point did you decide
2 that you wanted to shut down all the vacation rentals on
3 January 2nd?
6 THE WITNESS: When I took my oath of office,
7 January 2nd.
(You can find the Mayor’s deposition as well as hundreds of pages of documents related to these issues at www.RecallTavares.blogspot.com)
Scuba diving is very popular with baby boomers and its demographics are: Boomers/highly educated /environmentally sensitive/prosperous.
Mayors Tavares’ response? Shut down the best place to take beginners, Makena Landing, based on a nonsensical denial of the obvious prescriptive easement relied on by the public since the Kingdom’s legislature voted $1500 dollars for the repair of Makena Landing provided that it would be open for all types of public use …..forever.
Boomers need exercise, walking is universally recommended. Walking oriented vacations are booming. What could possibly be smarter growth than lodging for tourists who prefer to walk rather than drive around Maui? How many places does Maui have that cater to walking tourists? I only know of one, Patey’s Place in central Lahaina. Walking tourists aren’t clogging the Pali, aren’t driving drunk, and their rental cars aren’t parked in the space you want.
Mayor Tavares’ response? Refuse to allow Mr. Patey, the owner, a reasonable amount of time to submit a full application for a conditional permit despite every similar conditional permit processed by the County being eventually approved.
The State of Hawaii formally admitted through a permanent stipulation that couples getting married on the beach have a First Amendment right not to be treated differently than picnickers or Frisbee players (no permit needed), settled our lawsuit by majority vote of the legislature but is now threatening to disrupt people’s weddings if they hire a photographer or wedding coordinator.
The first interrupted wedding will be publicized around the world. Ten million dollars worth of bad publicity that our Mayor might be able to prevent.
Mayor Tavares Response?
………Nothing
We stand in the cross hairs of economic hit men, Bush and Tavares -- either will put our island economy on life support. Together they will bring Maui a tsunami of foreclosures and bankruptcies never before seen on this island.
This need not happen. If the mainland recession should devolve into a true depression there will still be millions of wealthy Americans who will be able to go wherever they want. Maui will be the most desirable place in the world to visit ….If we support environmentally responsible growth types of tourism.
We must act quickly to restore our reputation as “tourist friendly”.
Time really is of the essence. Recall Mayor Tavares.
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After over 25 years on Maui, I am so sad to keep reliving lose/lose situations:
1. Extreme pesticide useage, stockpiles of DBCP from the 49 States which banned it in the early 1980's, used in massive amounts on pineapple fields, until the '90's. Was there more yield as a result? Did the Corp really gain anything economically? They still have to keep secrete the list of pesticides used for fear of law suites. We can't test our water without knowing.
2. Lax enforcement of fishing regulations, especially netting and aquarium catches. A few short term gains big losses for years to come.
3. Pot wars, which helped lead to the Meth epidemic, and still they buzz with the helicopters. Recovering Meth users cannot test a tiny bit for pot which stays for 30 days, so they revert to Meth which tests for less than 3 days.
4. Innovative teachers continually pushed out of the system.
5. Excess water taken for the Corps, even after they cut down on the number of fields, reducing the 'Nature' that people come here for and the ability to compete as a small farm.
I would rather be ripped of if the ripper-offer was really getting something out of it. This Mayor and her resentful henchmen/women as well as way too many of the council are not thinking this through. For every step the economy goes down and houses lose value, we get that much closer to outsiders or our 3 outsider owned Corps taking over Maui.
After this depressing-recession is over, who will own the majority of commercial real estate in Paia? Makawao? Will all future shop owners pay high rents plus 5% gross to a Corp, either ones that started here or based elseware?
Education is the answer and it was cut way down 20 years ago. Community is the answer and it was killed with the local-meth-haoli mess starting about a douzin years ago. This Mayor is a symbol of short sightedness that must leave us before we can begin to function as anything other than victims.
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