Letters for Tuesday, May 8, 2007

• Where is the follow through?

• My agenda, selfish

• Home’s where you’re happy

• Blue eyes tragedy

• Watching helplessly

Where is the follow through?

The Guest Commentary on The Garden Island Forum page, May 6 on the “Big Box” bill discloses once again that JoAnn Yukimura is probably our most prolific councilmember. Her imagination, dreams and energies seem boundless. At council meetings she can be counted on to offer comments on virtually all matters.

I am writing to offer one concern.

She has told us that she is troubled by development and intended to offer a moratorium bill until infrastructure could support further development. In her campaign she promised she would be involved in property tax reform. She has been proactive on the bike path. Her bill on vacation rentals is pending. She is now preaching store size limits, why not hotel size limits?

The breadth of her interests is amazing. But why can’t she complete something she starts?

Kapa‘a

My agenda, selfish

Regarding Ms. JoAnn Yukimura’s points on “to have or not to have” any more big box stores: From a personally selfish point of view I must agree with what appears to be her agenda.

That is, to make it unlawful to build any stores bigger than what is already here. Again, from a selfish point of view, we need to keep Kaua‘i as rural as possible. No big subdivisions, no more big box stores, more low-height tourist facilities, etc. This is the best thing that can happen for my estate, small as it is, to continue to grow in value. My Mainland heirs will love it. When I go to the “afterlife” they can sell it and live very comfortably in other great places on the Mainland. I keep wondering why I am at all concerned about the young people on the island, after all whether they can afford to live here is their problem, certainly not mine. I’m not a politician, so I can’t do anything about their problem anyway. So, hence forth I will only think of what is best for my heirs. The Kaua‘i born will be able to figure out what they will/can do for their heirs or themselves.

Kapa‘a

Home’s where you’re happy

Recently many letters have been written about the homeless coming by way of the soon to be Superferry.

I live outdoors squatting in a tent at many different secret places on Kaua‘i. I do not consider myself homeless because I do not have four walls and a roof around me. I am happier living outdoors in the peace and quiet than around roommates, noisy neighbors and society as a whole.

I ride a bike and take a bus which eliminates car payments, insurance, gas, rents and mortgages. Living on Kaua‘i one must be rich or live alternatively to survive. Those in between are the ones we should worry about, not the people without houses.

Many people who have multi-million-dollar homes are homeless. Home is where you are happy and feel at peace with the divine one. Many people live in mansions and have anxieties and stresses that are horrid to live with.

People living outdoors experience a freeness that you can only experience by living the lifestyle.

To sum things up, one does not need to be without a house to be homeless. Many people without houses have homes in the spirit of the ‘aina and the Lord.

Many of the great sages and prophets that we worship were without houses, but definitely not homeless.

The old expression, “Home is where the heart is,” is as true today as ever.

Next time you speak of the homeless, look within …

Kapa‘a

Blue eyes tragedy

My initial reaction was shock and anger when I heard Sen. Gary Hooser’s interview with Dr. Larry Price on the KSSK talk show. My reaction then turned to sadness as I took time to analyze the transcript of the interview. It is sad to see such a distinguished, well-educated individual’s career scarred by one instance of racially biased commentary. For the readers who do not know Dr. Price, I encourage you to read his impressive biography on the KSSK Web site. If Dr. Price had made such a comment when he was head of the University of Hawai‘i football program, what actions would the UH athletic director and chancellor have taken? What actions would Chaminade University take if a professor made a racially biased comment in class as a human resources professor (ironic)?

I think we all know the answers to these questions.

In the case of Dr. Price’s debacle on radio, should KSSK (and all mass media) be held to the same higher standards as the academic institutions when dealing with racial intolerance?

I do not envy Mr. Cotton’s position at KSSK. He needs to weigh his obligation to produce a radio program with integrity versus his loyalty to Dr. Price as a friend and colleague. The only positive common denominator in this story is Sen. Hooser. The senator is an honest, fair, and hard-working gentleman dedicated to his family. If there is any person out there in the political arena that I would trust to turn negativity into something positive, it would be Sen. Hooser.

Kalaheo

Watching helplessly

It is so sad to hear that the problem of over-development and overpopulation has come to Po‘ipu. As a former Ho‘onani Road resident now living in Southern California, I can tell you that nothing good comes from over-development and overpopulation. Over-development of Po‘ipu will only lead to a lesser quality of life for its residents and a destruction of its commercial appeal. The pristine waters will become polluted, violent crimes will rise, a thing called “rush hour” will gridlock the roadways, and stoplights will infiltrate every intersection. I have witnessed this all happen to the town I grew up in, and my father has witnessed it happen to the town he grew up in.

My dad watched helplessly as his hometown of Long Beach, Calif., was overdeveloped and consequently destroyed. Which is the reason he moved the family to Dana Point in Orange County. I grew up in Dana Point, named after Henry Dana, and the area at which the land came to a point in the ocean called the headlands. The residents mounted a fight against the development of the last remaining undeveloped open space in Dana Point called the headlands. This land was home to an endangered species and was the setting of beautiful memories for all of Dana Point’s residents. Despite our unity and vigilance the headlands has been mutilated by developers and is the catalyst for more traffic lights, gridlock, coastal water pollution, overpopulation and even more pro, overdevelopment rezoning. Dana Point has in the last four years claimed the title of most polluted beach in Southern California. The small-town atmosphere is being tossed aside for its quest to become a big city, inevitably with big city problems. In the end, Dana Point has destroyed its namesake.

The city government will always argue for their greed of tax dollars. The problem is that the tax revenue from the over-development will never pay for the costs the city incurs from the over-development. The dog is left perpetually chasing its tail.

The only way to stop the environmental atrocities that over-development causes is to have a strong no growth platform as a base for a united organized residential political party that has seats in government offices.

Pasadena, Calif.