Love Thy Tourist?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

This is an excellent idea!
With just a little tweaking the state & counties could also release a series of Love Thy Taxpayer videos to remind themselves that although those pesky people queuing up in front of them can be an inconvenience, they sure do pay state and county employee wages.

"The next time someone asks you to do your job, don't forget! She or he is asking for a service they already paid for!"

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." -Annie Dillard

[leilanidude]

They never seem to talk about creating some other kind of jobs. Hawaii has become a one-trick pony.
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Actually, the county and state have tried to get us other sources for jobs, but those pesky not in my backyard types keep complaining, filing lawsuits, claim sacred site, etc... until the new source of jobs just goes away.

[kalakoa]

but those pesky not in my backyard types keep complaining

They should be taxed to make up for the loss. Price of paradise and all that.

[Guest]

Apparently Hawaii has 1,600 job openings within the Hawaii public school system this year. Many of These local type jobs also seem to be contracted out to the tourists, which usually amounts to a high turnover rate when they eventually return home.

http://www.civilbeat.com/2016/04/living-...es-global/

Jmo here, Its a complete shame or embarrassment to see what Our homeless situation looks like throughout the islands now. Many of our homeless here in the islands are local folks and families who no longer can compete with the tourism priced way of life.

http://www.inquisitr.com/2504260/hawaii-...-solution/

Many of these now homeless folks once worked, rented, owned, payed taxes, and lived the Aloha spirit in Hawaii. The Aloha spirit may be hard to find Until many of these aloha ambassadors (homeless) are truly taken care of, what better time than now during a thriving tourism period. Jmo.

Got one more link here to remind some why they are still viewed as a tourist years after living here.

http://matadornetwork.com/life/8-signs-y...st-hawaii/

[kalakoa]

1,600 job openings within the Hawaii public school system

The shortage is so bad they're recruiting on the mainland:

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/31642...g-shortage

Officials acknowledge that recruiting from the Mainland isn't ideal: Teachers who come for positions are often placed in rural schools, and have to grapple with the state's high cost of living.

Obviously what's needed here is some kind of tax or fee surcharge so that residents can subsidize the high cost of living for ... uh ... other residents.

[ericlp]

We don't get that kinda money or tourist traffic here. What we do get is all shuffled back over to the kona side, after the day hike at volcano's park. Maybe after the double tree goes up we might see a small increase but... So, this article really isn't aimed at puna much.

[Guest]

Homeless is an issue in every county of Hawaii including Puna. Because of the High food prices meant for tourists in both the stores and the restaurants, the limited affordable available housing, and a limited amount of minimum wage type of jobs,jmo.

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experien...awaii.html

Although that article above shares another islands homeless troubles, Puna has its own. Right now one of my families favorite poihiki spots is currently a new home( and has been now for the past two months) to a couple of homeless, non-trustworthy type of guys, that are probably wanted by police also.
I feel torn at the moment, as I would like to have my family and kids continue to visit the poihiki place but not while these two homeless characters, Have their tent set up on the public used trail that leads to the beach, accompanied with a ripe sense of human feces in the air and a free roaming pitbull. Our Puna coastline is seeing the 10% plus increase in homeless, so its not like puna shouldn't receive its fair share of tourism generated dollars or homeless aid help to help keep puna, puna,jmo.

Is it true that all vacation rentals built after 1989 are illegal? The taxes from these tax dodgers would help ease our local homeless problems, especially since they are a major contributor to the growing homeless problem itself.

http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/lodgers-and-tax-dodgers/

Always thought it was very hard to compete with the military housing aid or section 8 housing. But now we have to compete with tourists and private corps for decent family housing too. Why would one want to rent their home to a local family for 1,500 a month when they can get that a week from tourist, without paying taxes too?

[shockwave rider]

Tourism/service industry jobs pay about the same as picking orders at an Amazon warehouse, and pollute far less than heavy industries like a steel mill or paint factory, but if you aren't making money off them tourists can sure negatively impact your way of life on a daily basis. If tourism was accompanied by a strong commitment to preserve the natural beauty of Hawaii and protect our ecosystems it would be easier to take, but statewide it just seems to be about exploiting the natural beauty without protecting it.

[Peter Easterling]

Before Hurricane Iwa, Kauai was rife with anti-tourist activity. Mayor Malapit's office was even bombed (cherry bombs as I recall). Then the hurricane devastated much of the island and tourism stopped. Oh, no more jobs. Maybe the #1 provider of jobs wasn't so bad after all.

[VancouverIslander]

gypsy: I agree that Puna should receive it's fair share of tourist dollars to help with the homeless situation. At the same time, we shouldn't try to drive tourism away as it can provide the dollars to help with some of the problems as well as provide income for Puna families so they can afford a place to stay. In the long run, it will create more housing. I know of at least one person who added a suite so they could rent it to tourists, but probably wouldn't have added it for long term rental. If immigration regulations allowed me to move to Puna full time I probably would buy up a number of homes for long term rentals for locals. It's crazy how many potential renters contact you when you rent a house out and when you can buy a place for $150,000, mortgage 80% at today's mortgage rates and you pay less than 600 a month and collect $1000/month in rent. Someone else pays for your house while you make some pretty good capital gains over time. Sure, you might only get a place out in the jungle for that price, but it's still a pretty sweet place to live compared to a lot of the world. If I were a young person in Puna I'd be busting by butt and saving every penny to buy my own place. In a few years as equity built up I'd leverage that to buy another place and eventually I'd own many homes that will provide a comfortable living. I've seen people do this in other parts of the world and become very wealthy.

If anyone can think of an industry to replace or add to tourism revenue, I'd love to hear about it.

Just call me Mike