I agree with Maui County Council Chair Alice Lee when she said that Bill 9 is the worst bill she has ever seen in over 20 years.

When the retired state attorney general says that taking property rights away without compensation is a no-no, I would listen to him.

He said that Maui taxpayers will be fighting the 7,000 condo owners in court and it could or will cost Maui a billion or more in fines and payments.

This is real life here. As a property owner paying taxes, this is a risk not worth taking.

You are throwing away $70 million a year in property taxes on 7,000 units. Why? Plus 350 million a year in vacation rental income. That money gets spread out to thousands of people.

I would hope that locals could live on an acre or two of land, and have room for their families and pets and gardens. There are thousands of vacant acres of land in West Maui and elsewhere in State Ceded lands. With a few signatures it could be leased or sold cheap to homeless folks and they could live on it and create affordable dwellings.

There is an R-3 zoned 165 acres of ceded lands right near Lahaina town. So, my idea is to create very low priced homesites and maybe even solve the real homeless car camping mess.

A plan like this one would not cause a huge burden on the rest of us when down-zoning these money-making vacation rental condos.

Ken Kleid

Makawao