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Rethinking Maui next year due to fires
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Anonymous
Right, so this resentment has been brewing for years. They have been telling people not to come for years. Some will probably even try to take advantage of the fire to further their own agenda. |
Anonymous
You have a distinctly different opinion form the locals. Right now the locals are worried about nearly 1300 missing residents. They are worried about shelter and food. They are applying for access back to their homes to see if they have anythng left. I heard an interview and residents have to apply for a permit to go back to their homes. The issue is that the authorities are trying to stagger when people go back because everyone rushing back would interfere with the recovery efforts, searching for bodies and remains and trying to determine which building are structurally sound. Some residents who are allowed to go home are hunkering down in their homes because others who are allowed back are looting, so people are going home and staying put to protect what is left of their homes. They are also trying to get disaster aid to get food and water. And you think that these people who are struggling with just surviving and finding loved ones and protecting their homes have any interest in going to work to serve snobby tourists? So far, I have hear no resident who has said anything about wanting tourists. I have heard many asking tourists to go home. The only ones that I have heard suggesting that tourist stay or come, are officials like the governor who is not one of the ones that was displaced or who has to provide service to tourists. So, I think you are woefully wrong about what the locals want. |
Anonymous
Have you been watching the news?! You actually think tourism is.going to be booming a year from now. Houses, schools, hospitals, need to be built before hotels! |
Anonymous
I think I'm being realistic. If the locals have had enough they should up and quit, if they still have a job. I'm not going to Maui demanding my Mai Tai. But since the most common job is working in hospitality, the workers will find that this is a double edged sword. This is the reality for people who live in resort communities. I live in one also. What do you think is really going to happen long term? In the short term many have no jobs to go back to anyway to serve tourists they resent. Their jobs are already gone. What will replace them? |
Anonymous
Poor you. Those bad fires inconvenienced Mr.and Mrs. Got Bucks. You should go elsewhere because you are tone deaf. These people have lost loved ones. Lost their homes. Hospitals. Schools. Most have lose all possessions and their only clothes are on their back. Shame on you! Go to Mexico. |
Anonymous
It's a mixed message from the government frankly- who specifically should we be listening to to know when it will be ok for visitors to come to Maui in general again? And who can we advocate to make these big hotel chains give workers paid time off to grieve and recover? |
Anonymous
If we don't go stay in our hotel room, they'll just sell it to someone else. You know they aren't going to close the hotels for a year, right? |
Anonymous
That's the spirit! and we wonder why our world is going to sh*t |
Anonymous
I still think you are wrong. I know a couple of people who lived in New Orleans when Karina rolled through. After the destruction, there were many people who used federal disaster relief funds that were channeled to them to survive on. They had some savings and they then went into overdrive working on rebuilding their houses. They took the federal relief funding, plus unemployment payments for the 52 weeks those lasted (they had 26 weeks, but it was doubled due to the disaster) bought supplies for the renovating the house and did much of the work themselves, saving labor costs. They used a little bit of the money saved by doing the labor themselves to augment their savings and federal funds. Two couples that went nearly 2 years without working to rebuild their houses and help neighbors rebuild theirs. There were many people in the area that did similar things. Many people will qualify for disaster relief. The ones that worked will qualify for unemployment. The tourism industry is not going to be fully staffed for at least a year, probably 2 years. Just don't go and claim you are supporting the tourism industry and then claim foul when many services and facilities are not available for tourists while they rebuild. |
Anonymous
Why would I claim foul when I already said I'm not going? I went about 35 years ago that was enough. You are vastly overestimating the effects of this fire. In New Orleans 800,000 people were displaced and 200,000 homes, not remotely comparable. In Lahaina, 2200 buildings destroyed. A small fraction of the Maui residents live in Lahaina. Lahaina is destroyed, but Maui is going to be oK. |
Anonymous
You did not have to write “ I don’t live or work in Maui”… it is very obvious from your posts. Frankly your opinion is of someone who is not particularly bright. |
Anonymous
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I as listening to the NPR report about the massive problem of clearing the invasive grass on the island that is contributing to the fires. I wonder what people would think about spending 1 day of their vacation clearing grass to build firebreaks. They were also talking about how a big problem is that the grass has taken over the abandoned sugar fields. I’m not sure who owns that property now. I wonder if the state could eminent domain it, then give small acreage to free to anyone that will grow crops on it to maintain it.
I think the severity of this tragedy may prompt some out of the box thinking about the future of the island. |
Anonymous
I lived and still work in HI. My heart is there and breaking for the affected families. And this is true. Many would wish to be like Molokai which eschews tourism but has the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the state. If it weren’t for welfare I’m not sure what the people of Molokai would do. |
Anonymous
this isn’t going to help the fact that freshwater has been for a long time diverted to wealthy enclaves at the expense of the common folk. listening to the press conferences it feels like a lot of blaming natural forces and climate change and not addressing the elephant in the room. |
Anonymous
Yes. I think if they are going to open Maui back up for tourism, that they are going to have to impose water restrictions on the tourists. They are going to have to install water meters on showers, turn off fountains at resorts and hotels, and generally conserve water. The fresh water problem was hard enough to deal with when residents might have to buy potable water, but now bottled water is going to be at a premium as so much of the cargo space of boats and planes coming to Maui will be for food and building supplies, they won't be able to bring in nearly as much bottled and packaged water as they did before. |