IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL THE SQUEEZ ???

Letters to the Editor

For Monday, January 11, 2010

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 11, 2010

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Harbor fee hikes sound suspicious

Beware the "Renaissance"! The state Department of Land and Natural Resources proposes to again raise user fees at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor.

Fees were raised last year by a reasonable amount, but this time rents will nearly double what they were. At the same time, the boat repair yard is proposed to be leased to a wedding chapel. Over 700 boats at the Ala Wai need periodic maintenance -- and the repair yard will be a wedding chapel?

How do you get rid of all of the recreational boats and make way for tourist development? Well, just raise the fees to levels that they cannot afford. It does not appear to matter that the Ala Wai Harbor has paid for itself over the years, and has actually subsidized other small boat harbors even before the fees were raised.

If the harbor were a financial drag on the state, or the local boaters were not paying enough to sustain the harbor, then maybe one would not be so suspicious about a DLNR hidden agenda.

Chuck Prentiss
Kailua

 

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