City Council Bill 89’s restrictions on short-term vacation rentals will backfire. Many frequent visitors to Oahu prefer homelike accommodations, which now will be exceptionally scarce on Oahu.

These visitors are a source of business and tax revenue for Oahu residents. My family, along with other families with whom we travel to Oahu (or the other islands), will no longer be visiting Oahu (after 40 island visits over the past 25 years) until some sanity is restored to the Oahu vacation rental market.

When the next economic downturn hits (and it will hit), Oahu will sorely miss the visitors who would otherwise have visited and stayed at a VRBO or Airbnb accommodation. Furthermore, Bill 89 removes a valuable opportunity for Oahu residents: the potential for entrepreneurial families and individuals who live on Oahu to have a family business.

Bill 89 will force liquidation of numerous properties, thus decreasing property values for everyone.

Goodbye, Oahu, We had some good times together.

Michael Nickas

Redwood City, Calif.

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