Fred, to be honest I have no clue just what the deal, if any, the County of Hawaii has with WTC to provide the venue. Looking at it logically, it might actually be a deal with the State and may not involve the county at all. The venue they use for transition (the pier, which is done enough for the race this year btw), is state owned. The land around Hake Halewai is state controlled too, there was a minor snafu last year with a state bureaucrat over that.

If WTC is dealing only with the state, that would explain an awful lot as DLNR is not anyone's friend including the governor.

In reality, and after a very good nights sleep, I think that the real problem isn't the athletes per se or the vendor hawking their wares in town. It's people. We have the same issue with our regular tourists as well. Ironman simply concentrates lots of people in town instead of spreading them out as happens during tourist season. And instead of jay walking to trinket shops they're advertising themselves by wearing all that odd clothing and swarming the Queen K. It just magnifies things.

As for the impact in the local economy, it is big as you suggest. I really have no desire to put people out of work. But I'm quite annoyed by the preferences given WTC in their venue choice when organizations that put on swim and triathlon camps with far less negative impact (restricted access to the ocean during the event for example) are refused access at threat of criminal charges. Yes, people have been criminally charged for using our ocean. They bring business to our town as well and are, sadly, all abandoning Kona now. It takes two parties to allow the event but only one to chase an event away.

Edit: FYI there are only two levels of government in Hawaii. State and county. There are no incorporated cities as there are elsewhere in the country.

---

---------------------------------------------------------
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"