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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Another top
ranking for HawaiiHawaii annually basks in the glow of getting its beaches listed among the best in the world.
It should be no surprise then, that Hawaii also is included in a list of top second-home purchase destinations.
Massachusetts-based Location Inc. used its proprietary software and found that Capt. Cook on the Big Island is a desirable location for a second-home purchase.
"Hawaii showed up not for its 'permanent vacation' qualities, but for its great communities," the company said in a statement.
Location's choice second-home towns are rated for peace and quiet, safety from crime, educated neighbors, excellent public schools, affordability and a mix of rental properties and owner-occupied homes. Location officials say that means real estate investments are more secure.
The company filters its research through data from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Education, Federal Housing Authority and the FBI, all studied by company president Andrew Schiller. "I'm a nerdy Ph.D geographer," he told TheBuzz earlier this year.
Other lists are posted at www.NeighborhoodScout.com.
In February, the company included Kailua in its top five sites for a permanent vacation. Of course, that was before the tragic SpongeBob snatching incident.
Free Tube ride
A free 4 p.m. concert today by Tube, the Japanese rock band, is likely to pack the beach around the Sheraton Moana Surfrider Banyan Courtyard today. Na Hoku Hanohano award-winning artists Jake Shima- bukuro and Keahiwai are also billed to perform.Shooting the Tube for Japan viewers and readers will be Fuji-TV News and six newspapers.
Distribution of free tickets, required for courtyard seating, began yesterday at 10 a.m. in the hotel lobby. Otherwise it's BYO-beach mat for beach seating with a view.
In addition to the gift of the free concert, Tube is donating $5,000 to Easter Seals Hawaii for the Music Enrichment Program the band helped to create.
Concert promoter Tom Moffatt is a big fan of not only the band, but its fans.
The 13,000 who attended the Tube concert at Aloha Stadium three years ago cleaned up all the rubbish around them, leaving light duty for the stadium's clean-up crew, he said.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com