BF Committee From: Kristin Holmes ASID <[email protected] > Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 6:59 PM To: BF Committee Cc: erin Wade; Jonathan Starr; Ashley Lea hey Subject: testimony submission Attachments: C&S W.pages.pdf TNTLRJOR D[t5ICN S1UDKT) H()ML rTKNI5I--nNc5 TOKL 091 KUpLaU Drv 2I0 \Vet Vneard Street Kihe, HI 9675 Waluku, HI 07Q P 808 3 79- k P 808 2-51c 803 3797517 1 808 2-5l7 krist, n@swanpnteHorsrnau corn SWAN I N I r 2 1 0 P S To: County Council Members Date: 4/27/17 Re: Clean & Safe From: Kristin Holmes ASID I am a co-owner for the family owned commercial property at the corner of Church and Vineyard. I am also the owner of Swan Interiors with our Home Furnishings Store located on the corner. Added to that, I am the Vice-President of the Wailuku Community Association and on the PAC for the Parking & Events Center development. I support the Mayor's line item budget to fully fund the ongoing Clean and Safe Program for Wailuku as it is currently functioning. I feel strongly that it is very important to our business operation. We have established a more upscale business in Wailuku our ability to bring in people from areas like Wailea and Kapalua rides on the comfort level for our clientele. Frequently, clients will ask what the "story" is with this small community and question why I've chosen to locate my store in this area. I want to be able to respond with a supportive answer about the changes being affected by ReWailuku plans for a quaint historic town that still has many dilapidated pockets that attract a less desirable group of people. I am also VERY concerned for the safety of my store manager that works solo in the shop and warehouse also located on our property. We have had numerous incidents with homeless seeking refuge in various parts of our property. My store manager is back and forth between the store and the warehouse and has had to deal with vagrants sleeping in bushes or in areas where cardboard is stored until we have a load to be recycled. Since the C&S program has been in place, this has been much less of an issue. However, just a few months ago, we had a man that had come to the store several times that was obviously not stable or sober and it brought deep distress to my store manager. When she called me about this vagrant coming into the store several times, we quickly contacted Laurence with the C&S program. He was in our store within 5 minutes and immediately set out to find the person that had repeatedly come in. Similarly, we have had a female coming into the store that was obviously high and that too was distressing. We have an alarm system with a panic button that serves as a 911 call. I have reminded my manager to use that if needed but that is very disturbing to me that I would have to suggest that should ever have to be used. We are finally starting to make such important progress with this town. Let's not allow a backward slide at this point. Thank you. BF Committee From: c guyer <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 5:57 PM To: BE Committee; Mike White; Robert Carroll; Stacy S. Crivello; Alika A. Atay; File Cochran; Donald S. Guzman; Kelly King; Riki Hokama; Yukilei Sugimura Subject: raise property taxes on hotels; please read Do you want to see better funding for County core services, human service and economic development grants, housing solutions, water quality and infrastructure problems, and public safety? There is a way. Right now, the council is trying to balance the county budget by cutting costs across the board, with not much new revenue coming in. That means our services, grants and housing solutions will suffer. It doesn't have to be this way. If the council voted to raise Real Property Taxes on Hotels, we could fund everyone's needs. Right now, hotel RPT rates are $9.37 per $1000. For every $1 that we raise hotel RPT rates, the county of Maui will see an approximate $10,000,000 increase in revenue. If we raised our current $9.37 hotel rate to $10.37, we would be just about even with Honolulu's hotel RPT rate. Even at a much higher tax rate of $12.4, that's approximately $1.25 per visitor, per day, and that would increase FY20 18 projected revenue by over $30,000,000. 1 That revenue can pay for things like: health and human service grants affordable housing solutions invasive species control improvements in wastewater management which will improve ocean water quality Waiehu Golf Course recycling road and highway improvements park maintenance and improvements fire and ocean safety towers and equipment .and so much more. Our visitor industry is a big part of our County economy, but it is also has massive impacts on our infrastructure, limited housing, and resources. Let's ask the hotel & visitor industry to pitch in and help ease the burden. It's a kakou thing. We can do this if we all do it together. Please come share your support for this concept in person to the council on the 8th floor of the county building this week: Tonight at 6pm, Thursday or Friday at 9 am, or by email to [email protected] 2 Perhaps they are not stars in the sky but rather openings to let our loved ones shine down to let us know that they are happy. Live every day as if it is your LAST chance to make someone laugh. Do not regret growing older; it is a privilege denied to many. SF Committee From: john wood <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 2:22 PM To: BF Committee; Kelly King Subject: 3 can recycling Aloha Council Members, Please do not kill 3 Can curbside recycling. And please don't do it with the stroke of a pen in a budget meeting without notice to the the public about what's going on and giving residents a chance to voice their opinions. It's just not pono. We need more recycling, not less. Most people have absolutely no idea that this issue will be coming before you in the next day or so. There's been zero notice from the county regarding this latest effort to kill 3 Can. 3 Can recycling is self funding and actually turns a profit so why kill it? According to the county's own figures, Maui collects $169,000 annually in 3 Can fees yet the program only costs $126,000, yielding the county a hefty 25% profit margin of $43,000 a year. This program is extremely popular and very successful. In fact, Maui's utilization rate--I have heard it is about 61%-- is higher than the well established program on Oahu that serves over 160,000 households. The vast majority of residents do use it, want it and will be very, very unhappy if it is stopped. In fact, just come over early on alternate Friday mornings and you'll find out for yourself how popular 3 Can is—you'll notice a sea of blue recycle bins everywhere. The most reasonable benchmark for measuring our program's success is comparing our success with Honolulu. Their bin "set out" rates average 53% (8 points lower than us), with a high of 64% in parts of Pearl City and a low of 25% in one neighborhood, Laie. So neighborhoods vary, which is to be expected. And no program will ever have anywhere near 100% utilization, which is also to be expected. It's critical to note that these rates seriously understate the actual participation rate since frequently people put out their blue cans only once a month when full. The fact that a can is not out on a particular day does not mean that the household is not participating. So at this point, our participation rate well surpasses the successful Oahu program. Thus, cancellation is not justified using this most appropriate benchmark. Just the opposite is true-3 Can is a unqualified success. Curbside recycling isn't new, untested or radical. It's good for our island and our people. In fact, it should be expanded island wide, just like Oahu residents enjoy, as do millions of families on the mainland. And it should be made a permanent service to residents and not subject to what seems to be possible cancellation each year. Another very important point to keep in mind is that 3 Can is a very "high touch" customer service from the county. Your customers—Maui residents—get an immediate and very personal benefit from 3 Can by not having to haul recyclables to a collection center. It creates a sense of partnership between taxpayers and government. Plus, 3 Can establishes that the county and our officials are progressive and are providing a relevant and very useful service that affects people's lives every single week. Als Aloha Council Members, Please do not kill 3 Can curbside recycling. And please don't do it with the stroke of a pen in a budget meeting without notice to the the public about what's going on and giving residents a chance to voice their opinions. It's just not pono. We need more recycling, not less Most people have absolutely no idea that this issue will be coming before you in the next day or so.