'Hawaii Together' guest calls STR bills 'economic suicide' 

From Hawaii Together, June 10, 2019

As the Honolulu City Council nears its final decision on bills that seek to crack down on short-term vacation rentals, Joe Kent and Mary Lavoie-Olson appeared Monday on ThinkTech Hawaii's "Hawaii Together" program to talk about how vacation rentals offer alternative accommodations to travelers and give homeowners the opportunity to earn additional incomes. 

Kent is executive vice president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, which has been critical of the proposals to limit new permits and levy potentially excessive fines on homeowners who illegally offer their homes for short-term lodging.

Lavoie-Olson, a Realtor and partner of Elite Pacific Properties, is a property right activist who said the measures would "close down an entire industry for any of the locals to participate in; 'economic suicide' is what I call it."