Another Holiday Inn? ADVERTISING Another Holiday Inn? The Kailua Village Design Commission has raised concerns about the color and setting for a second Holiday Inn Express &Suites proposed for Kailua (Tribune-Herald, Aug. 17). These are important concerns, but the greater
Another Holiday Inn?
The Kailua Village Design Commission has raised concerns about the color and setting for a second Holiday Inn Express &Suites proposed for Kailua (Tribune-Herald, Aug. 17).
These are important concerns, but the greater problem is allowing into our Big Island economy yet another business from a huge national chain that will pull in island-generated tourist dollars and ship them right back to the mainland.
The Holiday Inn Express follows in the footsteps of other colonizing corporate giants — Wal-Mart, Costco, Starbucks and others — who in recent decades have undermined local businesses through their unfair market advantages and by exporting Big Island dollars that would otherwise have circulated in our local economy, diminishing whatever value the giants bring here.
Allowing yet another Holiday Inn Express in Kona sends a clear signal to our homegrown hotels — Uncle Billy’s, the Manago and the Kona Tiki, among them — that their traditional island character and contributions to our economy are less important to us than emulating mainland tastes.
No matter what color the design commission decides is appropriate for the new Holiday Inn, it’s still just lipstick on a pig that’s foraging for Big Island dollars at our community’s expense.
Fortunately, this project is at an early stage so there’s still ample time for our local chambers of commerce and elected officials to intervene to prevent the harm it will bring.
Tom Peek
Volcano
Dump cartoonist
To use one of President Donald Trump’s favorite words: sad.
That is what I felt when I saw that the Tribune-Herald had printed Tom Stiglich’s racist cartoon (Commentary, Aug. 18). In it, he equates the Ku Klux Klan, with its history of hatred, lynchings and cross-burnings, with those who object to their un-Americanism.
I assume that someone on the Trib staff, whose job it is to filter what is printed, was asleep at the wheel.
At the very least, the Trib should cancel their agreement with Mr. Stiglich and never again publish any of his work.
David Legge
Hilo
