Ranch makes terrific neighbor
I was surprised to read the article in the West Hawaii Today about Puakea Ranch this week. The article made Puakea Ranch sound like a loud, disruptive, disrespectful place in our town that does not care about the community.
As a 22-year resident and farmer in the North Kohala community, I have never once heard of anyone complaining about the Puakea Ranch as having a negative impact, and in fact I know only that they have a great reputation in Kohala, like hosting and supporting community events for the senior community and the nonprofit North Kohala Community Resource Center.
I personally see to the gardens there at the ranch, where I grow food for the guests and the host family, and my adolescent son also helps maintain the grounds. The ranch is quiet, private, peaceful, and very much striving to be agriculturally oriented and respectful of the community. The guests I have met there especially enjoy the historic, rustic, and tranquil setting of the ranch. The owner is passionate and respectful of the history of her ranch as well as the surrounding community.
I do not know what the neighbor Mr. Morrisons’ claim is, that this ranch is disturbing the community. It sounds like a personal vendetta he might have, rather than a community opinion.
Fara Boisvert
Kapaau
Letter to Mayor Kim from concerned cab owners
If keeping money in our local economy is so important, then why has your administration allowed transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft to operate without any regulation at all, in one of the most highly regulated industries on the island? I am particularly perplexed by your comment in West Hawaii Today regarding these TNCs in which you essentially dismiss their regulation saying that, “it won’t be by the same rules, otherwise they would just be another taxi company.”
What are they then? The service provided is identical, merely changing the name does not change the function or the service delivered. Are you actually encouraging a double standard?
Do you realize that every taxi company on this island is owned by a resident who started their business in, and serves, this county? Do you realize that you are allowing jobs to be taken away from established, local, taxpaying businesses in favor of unlicensed, unregulated and inexperienced drivers who send 25-30 percent of their total earnings off island?
The commercial insurance provided by TNCs only applies when carrying passengers or when a trip has been accepted and they are driving to that location without passengers. The driver’s personal insurance covers all other times. Many drivers are running trips outside the app for cash. TNCs won’t cover an accident that occurs when the app isn’t running and their personal liability insurance won’t be honored when the insurer learns they were making an illegal commercial passenger carry. No taxes are collected on these trips, either.
The method used to provide this service encourages distracted driving and is illegal in Hawaii. Drivers have to initiate and end trips by touching their cellphones. They are sent their next trip before they have completed the current trip, fostering more distracted driving and use of electronic devices.
I encourage you to visit whosdrivingyou.org and look at the sorts of people who drive for these companies and their rap sheets. Think it can’t happen here? Think again. Perhaps you don’t really care about public safety or our local economy.
Ian Work and Kelly Williams
Kailua-Kona cab owners