LIHU‘E — Over 200 business owners across the island assembled at Vidinha Stadium’s parking lot on Wednesday to organize their concerns and find a way to send them to the county and state officials in hopes of opening tourism on Kaua‘i.
It’s the second time the group has gathered; the first was last Friday at Olympic Cafe which attracted a smaller crowd.
After a pule and pledging to the United States flag, Cynthia Keener shared the struggles she and her husband Lance Keener have faced with their business, Ohana Fishing Charters.
“Just like many in the business community, we had a thriving growing business before COVID,” Keener said. “As a result of these policies, we have almost lost 100% of our revenue and acquired mountains of debt from government loans just to hang on.
“But (there is) no transparency from the county council (or) mayor’s office. We are left in the dark not knowing a plan for reopening. Meanwhile, having to borrow from our equity in our home just to keep paying the bills.”
Keener has a message for all elected officials on behalf of those that attended the meeting and those that lost their business during COVID-19.
“If your plan is not to reopen, boy, you need to tell us now and be transparent,” Keener said. “Our families are being greatly affected by these current policies. We need to know so that we can plan accordingly to get on with our lives and stop pouring money into businesses that may never return.”
Keener said public servants voted in by residents should be concerned about all and listen to all the people and she encouraged the county council to act now.
Councilmember Bernard Carvalho was one of two councilmembers at Wednesday’s gathering. Also present was Councilmember Felicia Cowden.
“The businesses are hurting I’m with you at that, for sure,” Carvalho said. “And I want to tell you since the last meeting, that we did speak with the mayor. The administration knows. They have a plan (and) It’s coming.”
Carvalho didn’t give details on a timeline for when that plan would be revealed.
Another business owner David Stewart from the North Shore said he has much respect for Mayor Derek Kawakami, but wishes the Mayor’s Administration would be more transparent with their plans or the Kauai economy.
Stewart owns a landscaping business he and his wife intend to pass onto their children.
“We have a landscaping business still going good-paying the bills, (but) very little profit. I can give that to my children,” Stewart said. “Keep me alive, (don’t) kill my dream. Don’t kill that.”
Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce’s President Mark Perriello was at the meeting listening to business owners and conducting a new survey.
“The Kaua‘i Chamber is here today to encourage business owners to respond to a survey that we have on COVID-19 and government policies and the impact that it’s having on their business,” Perriello said. “We hope to really capture a lot of voices in that survey so that we can better advocate on their behalf with government officials. And this is a new survey. The last survey was in December 2020.”
More info kauaichamber.org.
The Financially Privileged have an increasingly amount of influence on our local government. They have found a way to buy influence through non profits and by other means with our government officials. Kauai is on the way to becoming a gated community. Tourism is not needed in the FP’s plan, in fact is being discouraged. Better get a job working for the elite.
Starting to see the picture yet?
So true. Local families moving away and being replaced by remote, high wage tech workers. If you’re going to be locked down or work from home, why not move to Hawaii and live the dream? Right? Local entrepreneurs driven away by the closed economy here will almost certainly have no way to come back as house prices soar and transplants buy up homes sight unseen (which is currently happening). The last issue I vigorously campaigned against with the community had over 1000 testimonies in opposition and less than 10 in support… the legislature still passed it. And look at what happened with the poisoning of the West side communities through the ag. companies. So much push back from the community – yet they march ahead with their agendas. Who do they really work for? Time to demand transparency. This only ends when enough of us demand it.
Nobody so true, the Mayor said it himself, he does not want Kauai to be a budget Destination he wants the upper crust.
Almost 500,000 Americans have died. 27,000,000 have been infected. 1 person has died from Kauai and only 180 infections. Do you want more deaths ABD more boat charters or do you want to wait a few more months until this has gotten under control? If you think giving up our lowest Covid- rates-in-the-USA in exchange for it to be easier for tourists to come, then I hope it isn’t your ohana that starts getting sick and dying because that’s how this goes. Choose wisely Grasshopper.
Where is the science that says “a few more months” will do the trick? We now have new variants being discovered and circulating worldwide. Also, the vaccines do not prevent transmission or infection, they only lessen the severity of the infection in the vaccine recipient. The time for containment has long come and gone. This is never going away. We learn to live with it or we all continue to be prisoners in the name of “safety”. Remember “14 days to stop the spread”? That was over 330 days ago.
How is “a few more months” going to fix this? How much more “under control” can we be than literally zero active cases? Covid is not going away. The time for containment has come and gone. We should be asking why our local government has not taken other measures to support and prepare the community for re-opening over the last year. We heard that we had to stay shut down because we only have 8 ICU beds on Kaua’i… why have they not tried to increase capacity, or assemble a team of Doctors and equipment to travel and support hot spots that might appear? I’m sure that would have costed millions of dollars less than the hit our economies have taken. “14 days to slow the spread” was over 330 days ago. The world will never be covid free. If that’s what we are waiting for, we might as well close every struggling business today. Permanently.
Stop catastrophizing. The Covid rates in the USA have fallen dramatically in the last month. “A few more months” is a very accurate guess. If people get vaccinated we can return to normal. I’m vaccinated, are you? The ridiculous argument you’re making is “it’s so bad we should just throw caution to the wind” is absurd. Get vaccinated, wear a mask and quit saying the sky is falling: it’s not. But a global pandemic isn’t something you can wish away – it takes effort/time and until recently our government’s Covid efforts were being led by science deniers like Scott Atlas.
We have not “thrown caution to the wind”. We have had a mostly closed economy for *almost an entire year*. We have worn masks for *almost an entire year*. Our children have not had a normal school life for *almost an entire year* which means most working families have not been able to work a normal work schedule for *almost an entire year*. Stop minimizing the destruction the “safety at any price” theory has inflicted upon society. You saying you’ve received the vaccine tells me you are either 1. elderly and therefore probably financially secure or retired / unaffected by unending shutdowns OR 2. Working for the healthcare system in some capacity or other *essential* job which also means… you are unaffected by unending shutdowns because of job security. I think the people of this community who aren’t as fortunate as someone in your position financially, have already sacrificed enough for your safety. If you are vaccinated, what are you afraid of? Can’t we switch resources to protecting the most vulnerable? Most of whom have been vaccinated at this point anyway? The argument that we should just stay closed “a few more months” until the world is rid of covid seems to be a purely emotional / fear based argument. But since you’re a proponent of science – post a link to the evidence than this will be over in “a few more months”… and maybe I’ll be persuaded.
We have not “thrown caution to the wind”. We have had a mostly closed economy for *almost an entire year*. We have worn masks for *almost an entire year*. Our children have not had a normal school life for *almost an entire year* which means most working families have not been able to work a normal work schedule for *almost an entire year*. All we are asking for is that we are as open as the other islands which still require pre-testing, etc. Stop minimizing the destruction the “safety at any price” theory has inflicted upon society. You saying you’ve received the vaccine tells me you are either 1. elderly and therefore probably financially secure or retired / unaffected by unending shutdowns OR 2. Working for the healthcare system in some capacity or other *essential* job which also means… you are unaffected by unending shutdowns because of job security. I think the people of this community who aren’t as fortunate as someone in your position financially, have already sacrificed enough for your safety. If you are vaccinated, what are you afraid of? Can’t we switch resources to protecting the most vulnerable? Most of whom have been vaccinated at this point anyway? The argument that we should just stay closed “a few more months” until the world is rid of covid seems to be a purely emotional / fear based argument. But since you’re a proponent of science – post a link to the evidence than this will be over in “a few more months”… and maybe I’ll be persuaded. Also, the CFR for someone in my age group (19-49) is .00007-.0002 according to the CDC which means I have at most a 2 per 100,000 chance of death IF in infected with covid. Think I will take my chances and avoid the vaccine for 5-10 years until the long term study you are now subjecting yourself to via a product with only emergency approval has been conducted.
You are forgetting to care about all of the many lives that will be taken as a result of the irrational overreaching restrictions. What about poverty? What about drug abuse and overdose? What about homelessness? Depression? Suicide? Why is Covid the only public health issue that matters? What ever happened to logic? Have we forgotten that we have an immune system? And how about that 99.9% recovery rate? ENOUGH ALREADY!!
I think the politicians and county employees should all get together and help the business owners. Donate your salary !
Sounds like Communism!
They don’t have any salary. And they call it profits. I think government intervention when it is dependent on tourism won’t work. No tourism means. No profits. Okay if your job is for the state doing some research like GMO’s. Because they can do it. But for the majority it is dependent on tourism. Doctors, lawyers, bankers, all are dependent to some degree on tourism. So I work at Matson company now? Doing barges. Still dependent on tourism. Supervisor. I make $100 dollars per hour telling stories. Kidding. The point is everyone is affected by a downturn in economics.
RE: David Stewart
“We have a landscaping business still going good-paying the bills, (but) very little profit. I can give that to my children,” Stewart said. Keep me alive, (don’t) kill my dream. Don’t kill that.”
Maybe I haven’t drank enough coffee yet, but how does lack of tourism affect a landscape business? The grass still grows, as do the trees and flowers, with or without tourists.
Yes, more coffee. Just a guess but maybe some of their clients depend on tourist money and they choose groceries over yard work?
When we are ready, they will open up again, the light is getting near. The Mayor has made many tough decisions that kept Kauai safer then the other Counties, count our blessings, continue to wear your mask, SOCIAL DISTANCE, and we will get over this and re-open sooner.
For any person praising the “good job” the mayor and governor have done to “keep us safe” by blocking tourism, please answer these questions:
What are YOU, PERSONALLY willing to sacrifice to keep YOURSELF safe?
Are YOU willing to sacrifice YOUR salary, job, savings, and the decades of work it took for you to build a business on Kaua’i? If YOUR answer is “no” – you do not have the right to an opinion in this situation. Lives have been saved at a tremendous cost to the community here. The deepening crisis of class warfare here on the island is becoming obvious. Retired, independently wealthy, or gainfully employed remote workers continue to push for tourism bans and restrictions while the less fortunate suffer. To hear that “a plan is coming” or “just a little longer so we can be safe” after nearly a year of this… you are all in denial. Time to be responsible for your own safety and allow others to live freely. Or put your money where your mouth is, and donate your salaries, savings, and free time to support those who have truly sacrificed everything over the last year for your benefit.
This is what u get when the left rules and doesn’t represent!
They represent the vast majority, just not your view.
Guy, look around you and realize that the vast majority of “left-wingers” are finally waking up and realizing that they have been duped. Take the RED PILL and see for yourself what is really going on. Ask any Texan what they think about the “Green New Deal” plan now that their power grid, dependent on frozen wind farms and snow and ice covered solar panels, is working for them. Ask what people in Arizona and New Mexico think about a flood of undocumented and un-vaccinated homeless immigrants. Ask how the thousands of workers involved with the pipeline project are going to feed their families. Then finally ask how Hawaiians are going to survive the perpetual “just a few more months” propaganda that we keep hearing. Wake up people!
Just to be clear because you seem to be confused: The Green New Deal is a legislative proposal. It has never been voted into law. Remember, until a month ago, the GOP had a majority in the Senate and held the presidency. In Texas the GOP controls both legislatures and the governor and lieutenant governor are from that same party. The Texas grid is a run by a patchwork of unregulated power companies which didn’t think it wise to winterize gas power plants to save a few bucks. As for the border, ICE is a Federal Agency, until a month ago it was under the authority of the Trump administration. That you happen to be born on one side of an artificial line doesn’t entitle you to spread lies and misinformation. Good day
Just to be clearer, the terms “plan” and “proposal” are synonymous and neither implies a “law”. And yes, both parties are quite capable of detrimental behavior to “save a few bucks”. My point is that, if the “Green New Deal” PLAN is ever implemented, given the current circumstances, thousands, even millions of people would freeze to death for lack of electricity. And when do you think, “just a few more months” is actually going to end?
How bout this; all elected and state appointed officials pay be suspended until Kauai’s residents are back to work and children in school.
Suspended? I don’t know why that big guy and the mayor keep showing up in public places. They don’t pay any real bills. If you’re a business owner you probably pay an insurance policy that is incredibly big. Just for the employees to do a job. All I am saying is that the way this sceme is set up, you’ve got Carvapuke jr. or Kawatami, representing other athletics in the economic shows around Kaua’i. People of athletics during high school years think they are doing a fine job. Little do they know the leaders in the community, those who really make money are the ones balking. I don’t want the leaders to hit a homerun over the fence. And talk about Leon Spinks who just died, that he beat out Muhammad Ali in 1978. This is ridiculous talk for a billionaire. No billionaire knows who Leon Spinks was. Yet it’s the talk of the town for few. Big deal. My point is, do you want these guys representing you in government? No. Then speak your mind. Put them down every chance you get. They were never qualified. Say it. And say it every time so they don’t get any pay. This is 1st amendment.
To everyone who says “just wait a few months more — this is working!” I ask, for whom is it working? If we want to prevent all automobile deaths, we should ban driving, or make the speed limit 25 on every road. Saying we need to completely destroy our local economy rather than do what Oahu and the other neighbor islands have done is ridiculous. We have to balance risk and jobs. Plain and simple. Deny that, and you are living in a fantasy world. This is all about the amount of risk we can take on relative to its costs. And the costs have been huge. As the owners of a small business that has been decimated, we have lost our entire life savings, everything. We’ve paid our employees while not taking a dime for ourselves for almost a year. Our savings are gone, and we can’t do it anymore. We’ve been ruined and guess what? We can’t pay other people around the island now for the things we used to get from them. It’s not just businesses that rely for a lot of their income on tourists that are starting to get hit. Our lives have been destroyed, and our kids are doubly scarred from the massive disruption to school and their lives and the depression and stress we’re experiencing as we have watched everything we had disappear. But sure, say it’s working just fine because Covid cases are virtually non-existent. Don’t worry about the economic damage – that’s someone else’s problem. Small businesses and their employees have been pretty quite until now, but that’s over. We’re fed up with the uncaring attitude. The Mayor’s office brushes off and doesn’t return calls from small business owners who have been impacted. You know who returned my call in less than a minute? Representative Morikawa’s office. At least someone cares about the people whose lives have been destroyed…
Locking negative healthy tourist in a “resort bubble” with tracking devices ($80 per person) and requiring another negative covid test 3 days later ($200 per person) is the most in American thing I’ve ever heard. Someone is making money off of this, but it’s not small businesses. That money is better spent by a tourist wearing a mask, following social distance guidelines at small businesses. They’re not even letting fully vaccinated tourist to bypass this scam by the mayor. So what, you don’t think the vaccine works? That’s what we were aiming for and now that’s not even enough. So what will be?
Paradise sounds more like prison now.
I am sorry for business owners who continue to suffer losses, BUT, there are residents who are SAFE and ALIVE. Sorry for your businesses. This is unique set of circumstances, however, the safely of other island residents, is, I think, more important than your businesses. We have ALL lost something due to this virus. I think county and state government have handled pretty well, with ZERO federal leadership up to now.
WOW. The expression of opinion, based on ignorance of how things work in an economy, is on full display in these e mails, and explains why the Mayor is able to get by on this.
Someone talks honestly about how COVID is hurting his business, and everyone uses it to open the big divide in this community. Who do you think pays for the roads you drive on, the money in the unemployment checks, the parks you enjoy, and many of the businesses you use everyday. Do you think Costco could survive if tourism went away? You know why we had some many supplies this past year? Stores like Costco buy according to the number of tourists as well. Tourists pay 14.96% on their accommodations, 4.72% in excise tax on every purchase. In other words, they are paying into the tax revenues that keep the State and community going. You are blinded by your hate at anyone who is not you.
And how about the owners of all the vacation rentals who pay property taxes at a rate that is more than twice as much as residents pay. That money goes into the community.
It is time to get people back to work, so they can have the dignity that comes from having a job. The number of deaths from COVID don’t justify the economic loss to people in this community. Did anyone notice that the number of suicides during COVID have doubled in many area of our country. No one talks about them. Shameful.
And the unemployment Insurance that so many are enjoying, is paid by businesses!!!! Except for the one that I had to permanently close last week.
Kauai Guy- thank you for your reasonable, intelligent post. The CDC has confirmed that the survival rate for this virus is 99.7%. We have lost 2 businesses on Kauai this past year that employed up to 90 locals during busy times. I realize that since we are part time residents, no one cares about the economic impact to us but the locals should care about the enormous taxes our 2 businesses generated for the economy along with the employment and health benefits. Our 2 rental homes contribute a tremendous amount of money in the form of property taxes, all without renters this past year. We continue pumping property tax dollars into the Kauai economy without any income. And when we do have renters, not only does that generate extra tax dollars, it employs housekeepers, pest service, etc. which we have cancelled due to our financial devastation personally. That is how the local schools are funded, roads are maintained, and COUNTY OFFICIALS ARE PAID, among other things. I won’t even get started on the amount of local philanthropy of which we are a part. Protect and quarantine anyone at risk, require a neg covid test within 72 hours of arrival, and open up with masks and social distancing protocol. Maybe when unemployment runs out, locals will have a change of heart. Let a local take all the risk we took, open their own business, pump money into the economy, hire locals, and then watch it all go down the communist covid drain. It’s funny, last time I looked, we were all Americans.
If you are afraid of getting COVID and dying you are not alone. A lot of people are afraid. However, is your fear of sickness or dying, a small chance statistically, more important than the health of others. If so go to the homeless villages built in our parks like in Waimea, and tell those living out in the elements that you are more important than their children’s health and security. Your fear is the real danger to the islands increasingly numbers of destitute.
The AOC / Warren – Green New deal are playing out in real time here on Kauai. Watch a thriving economy turn into a socialist State in less than year. The Mayor says the solution is MO Federal Money. The Mayor has no vision for the younger generation except MO surf and MO MJ, the new AG product that will be approved for commercial AG after Kamakazi wipes out tourism.
Let me get this straight: in an alternate reality, The Green New Deal, a legislative proposal which never became law is somehow responsible for the fallout here in Kauai of a Global Pandemic?????
UPS pilot testing testing <15 minute covid-stix test during flight. You could hand it out to all passengers with the paperwork before arriving. No fruits, vegetables, or covid...
The keeping visitors out to save lives is actually now doing the opposite….its ruining lives.
Aloha Garden Island readers,
Just want to remind you all that the Central for Desease Control issued a recommendation not to travel 11 months ago now. The issue isn’t with the rules put in place by the County or State to make sure tourism can to a certain degree come back as safely as possible. The issue is that we are in the middle of a global pandemic! Most of our main markets for tourists were until recently under stay at home orders and all are still enforcing mitigation measures to try and get this desease under control. International travel is in effect at a halt. There is simply a very low demand right now for leisure travel in general. Tourist won’t magically appear out of thin air carrying suit cases filled of currency…
What we can do is our part to not inadvertently spread this desease and focus on helping each other getting through this. Getting vaccinated when possible, avoiding unessential travel, washing our hands regularly and wearing a tight mask around each other helps in the mean time and will help us get out of this hole faster. The rest is quite frankly out of our control and there is no magic bullet at this point…
Stay safe
The CDC (centers for disease control and prevention) your opinion may be better received if in fact you knew what you were attempting to say. Your simplistic approach to what is factually occurring outside of mainstream media is obvious. You are just parroting talking points. Who knew 1 mayor could have so much power over 70k individuals life. We are averaging less than 3 deaths a day state wide. That’s negligible, the vast majority of deaths have been with end of life stage diseases. And a large portion of the number is also concentrated around the care home facilities. The cure in this case is far worse than the disease. Abuse, domestic and drug and alcohol are up. Suicides on kauai are up. Kids are resilient but this is going to negatively affect the majority…missing school, EC events, clubs, sports. The mayor offers no path for success. Just wants to sit on his big thumb until summer comes.
The fact that schools have not re-opened fully in the US in general and in Kauai in particular- implementing mitigation measures to prevent spread of disease- is a failiure linked to lack of resources carved out for public education and chronically underpaid teachers. We get what we are unwilling to pay for in taxes. Schools are successfully re-opened almost every where else in the world. Most countries did not prioritize re-opening indoor gyms, bars and restaurants over schools. Now the mayor doesn’t control the DOE… Most of the DOE staff is fully vaccinated so yes, seems like its time to re-open in a sensible way. The travel restrictions should have enabled this months ago but not everybody is willing to risk their health for twenty bucks an hour.
The mayor, however flawed he is, has one thing going for him: he was elected by the people of Kauai two years ago. There is no road map for a global pandemic. Everyone is doing the best they can.
As to the value of a life- however fragile it might be from your point of view- not sure everyone shares your eugenicist point of view.
Has anybody considered that Mayor Kawakami secretly doesn’t want tourism to return and he wants businesses to fail so that Kauai will return to the way it was in the 60’s? And COVID is the perfect vehicle for him to realize his dreams.
Earlier in the thread, someone mentioned that 27 million people in the US have tested positive for Covid and 500,000 have died. Has anyone done the math on that? It means that 1% of people infected have died and 26 million, 500 thousand people have RECOVERED!! NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE WHO RECOVER, only the giant number of people who have tested positive and have recovered. A few weeks ago I read that there had been 500 people who died in Hawaii from covid, versus 27,000 who had tested positive. That means 26,500 people recovered.!
Back in the days of the black plague, when people got it they didn’t recover— they died! Come on- enough with fear mongering folks. And for goodness sake, open this island up! The devastation to the small -and large- businesses is not justifiable based on the fear and dread of a virus that in 99% recoverable. And I don’t get the “resort bubble” scam. Someone is making money, but it is NOT small businesses that have already gone out of business or are just about too, as we “wait just a little longer”> This is nonsense.