Transparency required
Freshman Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz is wise to acquiesce and scrap any plan to circumvent transparency (“Bound by the law,” Tribune-Herald, May 10)!
State legislators should take note, if in fact opportunities to do so are utilized at that level. Government of, for and by the people demands no less!
Joel Peralto
Hilo
Zoning matters
Concerning the “The sharing economy” letter to the editor (Tribune-Herald, May 3): The concept sounds great for the individual who is renting their house out to tourists, and the extra money they make from this deal is attractive, but what about their neighbors?
The influx of tourists can be disturbing to your neighbors, who should have a say in neighborhood changes. People move to an area for various reasons, and zoning is one of those reasons.
Don’t complain if your zoning is agriculture and your neighbor has chickens, goats and other livestock, but if you live in a residential-zoned area, you have a valid complaint — just as you have a valid complaint if your neighbor operates their house like a resort hotel or wants to sell fireworks out of their house garage.
Even a bed-and-breakfast operation requires a special use permit; it allows your neighbors to have a say in changes to their neighborhood.
To avoid zoning rules, people have been using the vacation rental concept to get around those pesky requirements. It’s easy to ignore your neighbors when you live elsewhere and don’t have to look at them.
Well people got fed up with the bending of the rules, and this is the result: additional laws.
The letter states that your cellphone makes you equal to the hotel chains. Well, that is exactly the problem. If people wanted to live next to a hotel chain, they would. What they don’t want is for that hotel chain to move next to them.
If you want a zoning variance to run your house like a resort, go through the process, and let the people you are going to impact have a say.
Roger Schweitzer
Volcano