The sharing economy
The people who think the operators of Airbnb rentals are just a bunch of speculators looking buy up homes to host guests and price the poor out of the neighborhood are victims of propaganda.
First, anyone who rents a house, who has a cellphone and a U.S. bank account can put their listing on the site. It’s an opportunity to compete with the world for the individual’s share.
The sharing economy is the future. If we deny this avenue to prosperity to islanders who attempt to create their own prosperity, we deny economic development, and that’s denial on the personal level.
There was a well-run propaganda campaign literally based on lies to poison the well against home-sharing and ride-sharing.
People, please wake up. There is no housing shortage; there is an opportunity shortage.
The future is the sharing economy. We must not allow our leaders to make laws that prevent us from competing, or we will be lost.
The future is an irresistible vortex. We go there together. We take the traditions we hold dear with us through practice, or they are lost.
This is and should always stay a cottage industry island. Let’s not make matters worse by denying the right to compete in the future for the future generations who want to continue to try to carve out a living here.
Please get educated about the sharing economy. Those little phones in your hands make you, the individual, equal to all the corporate hotel chains. It allows individuals to bring their best forward to share with the world.
Please sign the petition to repeal this law. Stop them before they steal from your kids.
Susan Barrackman
Pahoa
An ‘iceberg’
If you go to a swap meet or a pawn shop and find tools that were well-maintained, especially if they’re in a plastic blow-molded case, it’s a safe bet they were stolen out of a house or shed by “ice” junkies.
The police’s hands are tied because the thieves must be caught in the act, even if neighbors told the authorities where the junkies and suppliers live. At times, it doesn’t even matter if they are seen on camera.
We are facing an unreal “iceberg” that should be addressed by the larger population.
Dave Kisor
Pahoa
