Snot-nosed rich people: Part Deux
I am spending 3 weeks on Kauai, where I grew up. For a long time it was the overlooked island of the Hawaiian chain. And the locals were happy with that. Maui seemed to be getting all the tourist love, along with Oahu, with the state's capital of Honolulu. But recently Kauai has become somewhat the new "it" place.
It is going through what I can only imagine the Hamptons did about 30 years ago. Suddenly mainlanders are discovering this paradise, and buying up land as soon as it goes on sale (40% of all house sales recently have been made to Californians), driving the prices up to almost prohibitive levels. The median house price here is about $550K, the highest in America. And when you think that most of the locals are involved in the tourist industry, you can easily see, that many people can no longer afford to buy property here.
If that weren't bad enough, the increased property value has raised property taxes to levels that belong more in Beverly Hills than a quiet island community.
Today I read in the newspaper that the mayor has proposed a ban on gated communities...thank goodness. I think it's all good that people want to move over here, because they like the island and its residents, but then to lock themselves in a gated community? Hello, people don't even lock their houses here. I am not kidding. You can go up to any house on the island and open the door and walk right in. People lock their cars when they are parked in a parking lot, but they never lock their houses, because they trust their neighbors. And the idea of gated communities and even worse "guard stations" is just so repulsive to me. People are moving to Kauai to get away from all of that, so why do they insist on bringing it with them?
I think eventually they will get their gated communities here, and their guard towers...and then they might have well stayed in Los Angeles, and they will have succeeded in turning this sleepy little island into the crack den they have left. (Can you tell that I am bitter?)
It is going through what I can only imagine the Hamptons did about 30 years ago. Suddenly mainlanders are discovering this paradise, and buying up land as soon as it goes on sale (40% of all house sales recently have been made to Californians), driving the prices up to almost prohibitive levels. The median house price here is about $550K, the highest in America. And when you think that most of the locals are involved in the tourist industry, you can easily see, that many people can no longer afford to buy property here.
If that weren't bad enough, the increased property value has raised property taxes to levels that belong more in Beverly Hills than a quiet island community.
Today I read in the newspaper that the mayor has proposed a ban on gated communities...thank goodness. I think it's all good that people want to move over here, because they like the island and its residents, but then to lock themselves in a gated community? Hello, people don't even lock their houses here. I am not kidding. You can go up to any house on the island and open the door and walk right in. People lock their cars when they are parked in a parking lot, but they never lock their houses, because they trust their neighbors. And the idea of gated communities and even worse "guard stations" is just so repulsive to me. People are moving to Kauai to get away from all of that, so why do they insist on bringing it with them?
I think eventually they will get their gated communities here, and their guard towers...and then they might have well stayed in Los Angeles, and they will have succeeded in turning this sleepy little island into the crack den they have left. (Can you tell that I am bitter?)
posted by CaliValleyGirl at 9:06 AM
3 Comments:
Developers are trying to introduce gated "communities" in all over the US. It makes me sad.
In Maine we've almost got more property with "Private Drive - Do Not Enter" signs than we have coastline.
I always say, the coast is wasted on the rich.
The crack den you came from! Ha ha I like that. That statement is sometimes way too true about LA.
HH6
AKA Miss Stella
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