Welcome to the neighborhood | Kailua - Hawaii Editorials

With proximity to one of the best beaches on the island, water sports are a major activity.

[glenn paul]

Been through Kailua numerous times. It seemed to us like a very good place to live. Plus, the people we came incontact with sure had the Aloha spirit. Speeding is a problem all over the US. Get your local police envolved. In fact, out of Waikiki, we enjoyed stopping at the local business and resturants. The people were wonderful not to mention great food.

[glenn paul]

Just one more comment at Kailua, we live in a very good neighborhood because if you want a good neighborhood, YOU HAVE TO BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR. tHAT WAS OUR IMPRESSION OF kAILUA. tHAT WAS WHERE WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST BOX OF yumy yumy choc covered mac nuts. Aloha from Northeast PA.

[Jammer]

We are from Canada and absolutely love Kailua. We come every year and go to the beach many times. Thanks for the beauty of your precious world.

[James]

You three posters above missed the point: The residents of Kailua quoted in the article don't want you there. No tourist rentals!

It is absurd to assume that home prices in Kailua have increased beyond affordability for residents because of tourist rentals in the area. Facts or statistics, anyone?

This is just the NIMBY syndrome--not in my back yard or neighborhood. I have mine,and I don't want others here.

Hawaii's lifeblood is tourism, especially with the demise of major agricultural endeavors in the islands. Don't discourage the tourists from coming!

I resided in Oahu for many years and still own a home there--and no, it is not used as a tourist rental. I return annually. I have watched as the Aloha spirit has degenerated over the 40 years since I first lived in Hawaii.

Kailua is a special place. A few well-regulated, bed and breakfast tourist rentals will do nothing but enhance the area and Hawaii's reputation.

Show your aloha to the tourists instead of complaining about them and trying to ban them from the neighborhood!

[whine]

James from salt lake you missed the point . The posters said nothing about staying in a rental in kailua , only that they liked it (Kailua).
And locals for the most part are the ones that speed and give you stink eye when you go the speed limit .

[Mike]

I love the city bus ride through the Pali rain forest. It is very relaxing to see no houses along the way, Just tall, green trees line the road.

[Mike]

I remembered back in the 1960s, we never even locked our cars or houses in Kailua.

[R U Kidding]

James wrote:

You three posters above missed the point: The residents of Kailua quoted in the article don't want you there. No tourist rentals!
It is absurd to assume that home prices in Kailua have increased beyond affordability for residents because of tourist rentals in the area. Facts or statistics, anyone?
This is just the NIMBY syndrome--not in my back yard or neighborhood. I have mine,and I don't want others here.
Hawaii's lifeblood is tourism, especially with the demise of major agricultural endeavors in the islands. Don't discourage the tourists from coming!
I resided in Oahu for many years and still own a home there--and no, it is not used as a tourist rental. I return annually. I have watched as the Aloha spirit has degenerated over the 40 years since I first lived in Hawaii.
Kailua is a special place. A few well-regulated, bed and breakfast tourist rentals will do nothing but enhance the area and Hawaii's reputation.
Show your aloha to the tourists instead of complaining about them and trying to ban them from the neighborhood!

James, I live in Kailua on a short residential street. There are 3 vacation rentals on my street alone. None of them are regulated or legal. Every week we see different people walking up and down the street and we don't know our neighbors. Is this an issue? For my neighbors and me, it is. We also have a very high burglary rate on our street. Every house, except one, has been burglarized.

I still show the Aloha spirt to the vistors as they are only here for a few days and have no idea what is going on with the short-term rental issues.

As far as facts and figures, well, how about this. One rental on this street is $150 a night for a what is basically a hotel room. That's $4500 a month! That same room would went to a local or a Marine for about $2,000 a month. There are many examples I could give like this.

The bottom line is this is a neighborhood. Not Waikiki. Visitors are always welcome for the business, dining, beach, and other events in Kailua. I just don't want a hotel next door....which I know have three.

[alice]

Unlike Waianae, this neighborhood cares about the community

[What happened]

alice wrote:

Unlike Waianae, this neighborhood cares about the community

So everyone living in Waianae doesn't care? You are so wrong and as usual your dumb comments reflect your ignorance. I know for a fact that most Canadians are very nice people, but with you thats the complete opposite. Should we profile all Canadians like you? No because we know that with you we have figured out that you are in a special group of people that can be found everywhere?

[Pat]

I agree with the top five. Bringing Wal-greens to Kailua or Whole Foods will or have added nothing.There are no bargains! The land-fills are full! Affordable housing/apts. are needed. That vacant area on Kailua Rd. would be ideal. It is on the bus line and close to shopping.

[alice]

Kaikua folks care about their community and it shows.

[CWD]

As a long-time Kailua resident, I couldn't disagree more with the Kailua Neighborhood Board's decision to demonize other residents as being money-hongry despoilers of the environment.

And no - I don't own, operate or work in a bed & breakfast or any kind of vacation rental nor do I work for a real estate company or developer.

These NIMBYs not only control what goes on at the Neighborhood Board meetings and try to do the same at City Hall but also they make it uncomfortable at best and impossible at worst for people like myself to get a chance to speak up & get involved at community meetings.

Fortunately, most of the people on the Kailua Neighborhood Board are well south of age 60 so most will either be dead or drooling down their nightgowns in a few years if we can wait that long. Meanwhile, the town will become even richer, older, and whiter.

If the KEPP IT KAILUA supporters want to stop transient vacation rentals - which are different from owner-occupied bed & breakfast homes - then we must allow these homes to be used as housing for the homeless and other special needs people so that the properties will remain occupied and the mortgages paid. Otherwise, they'll remain vacant and eventually go into foreclosure.

I doubt seriously that this will fly with the anti-everything folks, but how are the current owners of these homes supposed to meet their mortgage payment obligations? They have to rent to someone. Local buyers are not hanging around to pay $800,000 and up for these properties.

Don't expect renters like my spouse & me to pay $5000 a month for rent when it's a struggle for us to pay $1700 for a 50-year-old house.

[CWD]

Whoops!! KEPP = KEEP

[Malia Espinda]

I am a PROUD Kailua Girl. I am also the child of the ORIGINAL Kailua Bed and Breakfast operator. It is very fair to say that I was raised on Bed and Breakfasts. I know the ins, the outs, the ups, and the downs of the realities of this business. Now, I want to say this - as best as I can remember - my mother's agency did not have listings that had multiple rooms for different guests. She didnt run an inn. Her intention was for moms, like her, who might have had an extra room or space in their house to rent it out, allowing them to make some extra money for their families. It was never about getting rich on B&Bs, it was simply a way for my mother to use our family home to provide a little extra for us. I was a teenager during the heat of the last time Kailua contended with this issue. It was a relatively new industry then, especially to Hawaii, and regulation was to be expected. However, since we are here again, I think we can all see that the response then is unenforceable now.

Mr. Prentiss is a good man who has served the Kailua Neighborhood Board for quite some time. However, I feel this editorial is an example of what is wrong with the B&B debate that is, again, pitting neighbor against neighbor.

Can we please just stick with facts and data?

Mr. Prentiss states: "demand for homes to be rented to tourists is causing property values to rise to levels that local residents cannot afford, and raising property taxes because of inflated values" How is he linking B&Bs to property values and raising property taxes? The real facts are that values of all properties rose across our islands in the past few years, just as much as we are all now seeing them decrease. Thats the market, not B&Bs. As for property taxes going up, I think we all recall that was the handy work of our Mayor a few years back, of which Kailua as a whole realized one of the larger increases in our city. However, I see no facts linking increase property taxes to Bed and Breakfasts. That all of our property taxes continue to be inflated comparative to our now diminishing property values is something, again, to take up with our good Mayor.

The only way we can have a truthful, honest discussion about this issue is if we remove the rhetoric, stop with the fear-talk, and stick with the facts.

Mr. Prentiss goes on to cite a survey as further justification that Kailua is opposed to B&Bs. Im sorry if I am skeptical, but I do not know enough about the tool used, how the questions were formulated, or how the survey was administered. If I am an opponent of B&Bs, surely I would make sure that 200 of my closest pals completed this survey.

If Mr. Prentiss and others who sit on the Board and who, I hope, seek to fairly represent all of us, want to hear from all of us, I suggest that a neutral party (City Council?) commission a real survey of a larger pool of Kailua residents through one of our local companies that professionally conduct surveys, perhaps SMS Research? This will provide some necessary, credible data for decision makers.

In my humble Kailuan opinion, there are three very concrete facts about Bed and Breakfasts:
1) Bed and Breakfasts allow people to make money.
2) Bed and Breakfasts allow the City to collect taxes.
3) The current law is unenforceable.

I suggest that the City and County adopt a regulation in the spirit of what my mothers intention was when she brought Bed and Breakfasts to Kailua: help the average moms of Kailua make a little extra money. Allow people to utilize their properties in a constructive, positive, and limited manner. Build a law that will be enforceable for those who will be charged with enforcement, but will not continue to pit neighbors against one another.

Thank you,
Malia Espinda

[alice]

kailua is kept safe because we regulate the savage hawaiians

[alice]

Malia makes sense

[Malia Espinda]

I should add that my mother specifically disallowed single 'overnight' bookings. She established a three-night minimum for each booking to better ensure that B&Bs were utilized and viewed as a distinctly different Hawaii visitor experience than that of a hotel.

[alice]

alice wrote:

Malia makes sense

true

[Welcome hahaha riiight]

More like, "Spend $$$ and then keep on drivin'!"

The KNB is OUT OF CONTROL, just reread what their grande poobah says again and tell me I'm wrong.