HI Mike -
This is Sherri Reeve - This email is very delayed -
We have just celebrated our 25th anniversary as a gallery in Makawao Town.
I am across the street from Komoda Bakery.
I am 100% in support of the bike businesses in Makawao.
They have brought numerous clients to my gallery.
When they stop in Makawao for a quick lunch break, they finish their tour then often drive themselves back to have more time to shop.
I know there are issues that need to be addressed - but I am hopeful there can be some compromise.
Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions.
I am willing to testify if needed.
Aloha Great Committee members. This testimony is being submitted by Tim Wolfe for G-44. I have been a Maui resident for over 30 years in Haiku, and offer these comments as a concerned private citizen. I have personal experience with bike riders on roads in Haiku. In the past, I have ridden down the mountain myself both on guided and independent bike excursions. As a board member of the Haiku Community Association, I have devoted time to learning from a lot of related documents, and asked questions of the principles of Haleakala Bike Company (HBC), a large bike business based in my community. The figures I cite below come from verbal estimates supplied by operators. I have no conflict of interest with private business or public agencies on this issue. I want us all to thrive.
I agree with CM Molina that a Bike Tour ordinance is a big issue. I believe the community needs more time with input from more shareholders to help create a comprehensive regulatory environment for this established industry. Included in the discussion would be government agencies, bike business operators, legal and insurance consultants, tourism professionals, traffic control experts, and the general public in order to cover all the pertinent bases about Bike Tour activities. Please do this before regulations are passed by government.
Consider these items:
• The Maui bike tour industry is 40 years old.
• HBC has created a comprehensive document which lists the “Best Practices” for bicycle tour companies regarding safety for customers.
• It has created hundreds of jobs on Maui, many of them in Haiku.
• It serves from 100-200 customers a day, who patronize business ventures along the downhill route in Kula, Makawao, and Haiku.
• It now serves an estimated 30,000 tourists a year, who spend perhaps $10 each shopping along the way. This represents a much appreciated annual figure of around $300,000 collected by local upcountry businesses.
• The annual gross revenue of HBC is roughly $4,500,000.
• 90% of the revenue earned by these activities remains on Maui or in Hawaii in the form of salaries, business expenses, and GET taxes.
• The revenue that leaves the State is mostly for insurance premiums to mainland companies.
• The monthly payroll of HBC is around $150,000.
• The annual GET expenditure is roughly $200,000.
• This activity is the primary source of tourists spending money in Haiku.
• HBC has been an anchor tenant in the Haiku Marketplace for many years.
• HBC has collected a large database of favorable customer reviews.
•HBC has developed a variety of documents and visual media for the purpose of educating their customers, showing permitted routes, and obtaining legal consent for participation in a possibly dangerous activity.
• HBC has expressed an interest in creating a Bike Tour Operators Association for the purpose of sharing industry information.
For now, I believe that we have a very important and productive business on Maui that needs to be cultivated with the application of rational rules that apply County wide to all operators. Our economy depends on tourism. This is an industry that pays a large part of all our salaries, whether we are public servants, or offer a public service. Let us all work together to accomplish better relations between the public and private sectors.
Mahalo nui loa.
HI Mike -
This is Sherri Reeve - This email is very delayed -
We have just celebrated our 25th anniversary as a gallery in Makawao Town.
I am across the street from Komoda Bakery.
I am 100% in support of the bike businesses in Makawao.
They have brought numerous clients to my gallery.
When they stop in Makawao for a quick lunch break, they finish their tour then often drive themselves back to have more time to shop.
I know there are issues that need to be addressed - but I am hopeful there can be some compromise.
Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions.
I am willing to testify if needed.
Mahalo,
Sherri Reeve
S.Reeve Gallery + Gifts
Aloha Great Committee members. This testimony is being submitted by Tim Wolfe for G-44. I have been a Maui resident for over 30 years in Haiku, and offer these comments as a concerned private citizen. I have personal experience with bike riders on roads in Haiku. In the past, I have ridden down the mountain myself both on guided and independent bike excursions. As a board member of the Haiku Community Association, I have devoted time to learning from a lot of related documents, and asked questions of the principles of Haleakala Bike Company (HBC), a large bike business based in my community. The figures I cite below come from verbal estimates supplied by operators. I have no conflict of interest with private business or public agencies on this issue. I want us all to thrive.
I agree with CM Molina that a Bike Tour ordinance is a big issue. I believe the community needs more time with input from more shareholders to help create a comprehensive regulatory environment for this established industry. Included in the discussion would be government agencies, bike business operators, legal and insurance consultants, tourism professionals, traffic control experts, and the general public in order to cover all the pertinent bases about Bike Tour activities. Please do this before regulations are passed by government.
Consider these items:
• The Maui bike tour industry is 40 years old.
• HBC has created a comprehensive document which lists the “Best Practices” for bicycle tour companies regarding safety for customers.
• It has created hundreds of jobs on Maui, many of them in Haiku.
• It serves from 100-200 customers a day, who patronize business ventures along the downhill route in Kula, Makawao, and Haiku.
• It now serves an estimated 30,000 tourists a year, who spend perhaps $10 each shopping along the way. This represents a much appreciated annual figure of around $300,000 collected by local upcountry businesses.
• The annual gross revenue of HBC is roughly $4,500,000.
• 90% of the revenue earned by these activities remains on Maui or in Hawaii in the form of salaries, business expenses, and GET taxes.
• The revenue that leaves the State is mostly for insurance premiums to mainland companies.
• The monthly payroll of HBC is around $150,000.
• The annual GET expenditure is roughly $200,000.
• This activity is the primary source of tourists spending money in Haiku.
• HBC has been an anchor tenant in the Haiku Marketplace for many years.
• HBC has collected a large database of favorable customer reviews.
•HBC has developed a variety of documents and visual media for the purpose of educating their customers, showing permitted routes, and obtaining legal consent for participation in a possibly dangerous activity.
• HBC has expressed an interest in creating a Bike Tour Operators Association for the purpose of sharing industry information.
For now, I believe that we have a very important and productive business on Maui that needs to be cultivated with the application of rational rules that apply County wide to all operators. Our economy depends on tourism. This is an industry that pays a large part of all our salaries, whether we are public servants, or offer a public service. Let us all work together to accomplish better relations between the public and private sectors.
Mahalo nui loa.