10-10-2006, 02:35 PM
With cane long gone and no viable industry to replace it, there will be limited employment opportunities in East Hawaii. Acerbating that problem has been the abundance of affordable land and housing in East Hawaii, luring new residents. The problem is greatly magnified when the new residents are of the age and economic status that employment is a necessity. Were they all suddenly filled with new residents seeking jobs, the vacant lots in HPP alone would create problems unless some East side employment opportunities were created. Multiply that by the other large subdivisions. Unfortunately, many prospective residents are blinded by East Hawaii’s attributes and fail to give employment issues proper weight in their decision-making process. Some (a lot) of blame can be attributed to earlier county leaders that allowed so many subdivisions to be platted. Wages in East Hawaii will remain low as long as there continues to be an over supply in the labor market. The job market would be improved if more of the prospective new residents were retirees, such as I will primarily be. Retirees will not add to the labor oversupply and will actually create some service job opportunities. However, other than skilled medical positions, these are not generally high paying jobs. An over abundance of the elderly also comes with its own set of problems. (Care to start a new thread?) Land and housing in East Hawaii is still a bargain.
Hilo has a very nice small port. Why should large amounts of freight be shipped over the saddle? If many service trucks are having to drive from Kona to the East side, that sounds like a business opportunity. 300k might not be out of line. I don’t know enough on that project to have an opinion. However, housing used to be much less costly than what it is now. But with many homes on the market now, the over supply may decrease the values to perhaps a more affordable range. (Another thread ??? Today’s younger generation expects larger starter homes than what our parents or grandparents started in without having the finances to pay for it) It is good that the employers (resort industry) are trying to address the problem. It sounds like a form of capitalism at work.
Greatly improving the Saddle would relieve some of the pressure that is finally causing some of these other solutions to be implemented.
Sprawl will be the result of much easier access across the island. I don’t think any of us having lived in other populated centers want to see that in East Hawaii.
Kona does have more sunny, sandy beaches.
The increased traffic at Kea’au probably does necessitate some intersection improvements.
What happened to the hotel that I heard about that was to go up near HPP?
A person should try to take advantage of employment opportunities close to home.
For the record, I don’t object to the idea of a military base there. It has to be somewhere and everything can’t be NIMBY. I would like to see it properly controlled so as to do minimal damage to the environment. I don’t think the volcano will notice a few artillery rounds.
There are a lot of turns on the Saddle Rd. But none I would consider dead man’s curves. Of course if your that man!! I have driven roads much worse. Other than needing a new surface it didn’t seem that bad.
Low income housing is not necessarily the same as affordable housing. We are dealing with that issue here. With the recent real estate boom, teachers, cops, and service employees have been nearly priced out of the housing market. It is a problem in many areas that is being addressed in some places. More on that in a later thread.
S. FL Islander to be
Hilo has a very nice small port. Why should large amounts of freight be shipped over the saddle? If many service trucks are having to drive from Kona to the East side, that sounds like a business opportunity. 300k might not be out of line. I don’t know enough on that project to have an opinion. However, housing used to be much less costly than what it is now. But with many homes on the market now, the over supply may decrease the values to perhaps a more affordable range. (Another thread ??? Today’s younger generation expects larger starter homes than what our parents or grandparents started in without having the finances to pay for it) It is good that the employers (resort industry) are trying to address the problem. It sounds like a form of capitalism at work.
Greatly improving the Saddle would relieve some of the pressure that is finally causing some of these other solutions to be implemented.
Sprawl will be the result of much easier access across the island. I don’t think any of us having lived in other populated centers want to see that in East Hawaii.
Kona does have more sunny, sandy beaches.
The increased traffic at Kea’au probably does necessitate some intersection improvements.
What happened to the hotel that I heard about that was to go up near HPP?
A person should try to take advantage of employment opportunities close to home.
For the record, I don’t object to the idea of a military base there. It has to be somewhere and everything can’t be NIMBY. I would like to see it properly controlled so as to do minimal damage to the environment. I don’t think the volcano will notice a few artillery rounds.
There are a lot of turns on the Saddle Rd. But none I would consider dead man’s curves. Of course if your that man!! I have driven roads much worse. Other than needing a new surface it didn’t seem that bad.
Low income housing is not necessarily the same as affordable housing. We are dealing with that issue here. With the recent real estate boom, teachers, cops, and service employees have been nearly priced out of the housing market. It is a problem in many areas that is being addressed in some places. More on that in a later thread.
S. FL Islander to be
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
