XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, hawaii.politics, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: fuckyou.woke.asshole.dei.cocksuckers@cbs.com   
      
   On 14 Nov 2023, "Donald J. Trump - Inmate Number P01135809"   
    posted some   
   news:uj0euq$1b8ch$12@dont-email.me:   
      
   > Leftism created the fire disaster.  Expectations for them to fix the   
   > mwesses they create is unrealistic.   
      
   LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — A group of Lahaina wildfire survivors is vowing   
   to camp on a popular resort beach until the mayor uses his emergency   
   powers to shut down unpermitted vacation rentals and make the properties   
   available for residents in desperate need of housing.   
      
   Organizers with the group Lahaina Strong are focusing on 2,500 vacation   
   rental properties they've identified in West Maui that don't have the   
   usual county permits to be rented out for less than 30 days at a time.   
   For years their owners have legally rented the units to travelers anyway   
   because the county granted them an exemption from the standard rules.   
      
   Lahaina Strong says the mayor should use his emergency powers to suspend   
   this exemption.   
      
   “I’m kind of at the point where I’m like ‘too bad, so sad,’" said   
   organizer Jordan Ruidas. "We never knew our town was going to burn down   
   and our people need housing,”   
      
   The group says they are staying on Kaanapali Beach, exercising their   
   Native Hawaiian rights to fish 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They   
   planted fishing poles in the sand and are calling their action “Fishing   
   for Housing.”   
      
   Lance Collins, a Maui attorney, said the mayor has the authority to   
   suspend the county ordinance that has allowed the 2,500 short-term   
   vacation rentals. Similar action was taken during the COVID-19 pandemic   
   when Hawaii’s governor prohibited landlords from raising rents and when   
   both the federal and state governments banned evictions, Collins said.   
      
   “Temporary alterations to the market to protect the common good and the   
   welfare of our community as a whole is permitted on a temporary basis in   
   the face of an emergency,” he said.   
      
   Permanently eliminating the exemption would require the county council   
   to pass new legislation.   
      
   Ruidas said the 2,500 units at issue could house a large share of the   
   7,000 Lahaina residents who are still staying in hotels months after the   
   Aug. 8 fire destroyed their town.   
      
   Vacationers have other options for places to stay, but Lahaina's   
   residents don't, she said.   
      
   Maui, like much of Hawaii, had a severe housing shortage even before the   
   fire killed 100 people and destroyed more than 2,000 structures. The   
   blaze only amplified the crisis.   
      
   The U.S. government, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency,   
   has been putting survivors up in hotel rooms. They are also helping   
   people pay rent, but the housing shortage means many survivors can't   
   find apartments or homes to move into.   
      
   West Maui is one of the state's biggest tourist destinations, second   
   only to Waikiki. Just north of historic Lahaina, large hotels and   
   timeshare properties line a miles-long stretch of white sand beach in   
   the communities of Kaanapali and Napili-Honokowai. Condominiums there   
   are rented to vacationers on a short-term basis.   
      
   At Kaanapali Beach during a recent weekday, about a dozen people sat   
   under tents talking, eating lunch and explaining what they were doing to   
   tourists who stopped to ask. Upside down Hawaiian flags, a sign   
   distress, billowed in gusty winds.   
      
   Ruidas said the group will stay until the mayor suspends the vacation   
   property exemptions.   
      
   “We’re at the point where we’re going to fight for everything and   
   anything because a lot of us feel like we have nothing. We have nothing   
   to lose," she said.   
      
   Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said in a statement that he is considering all   
   options, but declaring a moratorium on short-term rentals would invite   
   legal challenges and could have unintended consequences. His office is   
   working with property managers who handle a significant number of   
   short-term rentals, and Bissen said he has been encouraged by their   
   willingness to cooperate.   
      
   “Shared sacrifice is necessary at this crucial time as we work to   
   incentivize interim housing,” Bissen said.   
      
   Some in the tourism industry support the residents' protest.   
      
   “We thank them for what they’re doing because in order for us to even   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)