• Koloa/Po‘ipu Nightmare • Obama and cronies spinning the facts • Columns racist, biased Koloa/Po‘ipu Nightmare How long are the people of Po‘ipu and Koloa going to stand by and watch these developers and politicians make a colossal mess of
• Koloa/Po‘ipu Nightmare
• Obama and cronies spinning the facts
• Columns racist, biased
Koloa/Po‘ipu Nightmare
How long are the people of Po‘ipu and Koloa going to stand by and watch these developers and politicians make a colossal mess of this place. These developers start on a project and their money dries up and they just abandon it and leave the rest of us to look at their mess.
We are looking at one across from Keoki’s restaurant that pulled out months ago and left us with a black tarp fence and two ugly sea containers; another up the street pulled out and left us to look at a bunch of pallets with more junk stacked on them. Neither of them are made to put things back the way they found them. Downtown Koloa is a real mess. Two years ago they tore down some old cane houses (that at least added a little color to the town). Now we look at some temporary chicken wire fence some developer put up.
Across the street, eight months ago they had to cut down some monkeypod trees right away and that’s as far as the project has gone,
Now we look at their 15-foot ugly black fence flapping in the wind. I realize the economy and housing market are on the skids, and these people’s money has dried up, but we shouldn’t have to pay for their mistakes.
Economy and housing might take 10 to 20 years to turn around, so we shouldn’t be subjected to this. Before I always heard tourists say, “What a beautiful island this is.” What I hear now is, “How long has this construction been going on?” This is one thing that will continue to kill the tourism trade.
There is a development south of the Koloa Fire Station called Po‘ipu Estates; they have street signs, curbs, etc., but no buyers. The people who were around a year ago to lend the speculators money on those lots are out of business or bankrupt, needing to be bailed out themselves. So now the people who live here for years to come will be looking at these black fences and for-sale signs while these developers try to pawn off their white elephants on some unsuspecting tourist.
I realize that the questionable lending practices of our banking and financial systems to real estate and real estate projects is what has this country’s economy on its knees. I will vote for any politician that will hold these developers accountable so when their project goes sour they are made to clean up the mess and put things back the way they found them and get out of Dodge.
• Bill Murphy, Koloa
Obama and cronies spinning the facts
In reference to Francine Grace’s letter “We need change” (The Garden Island, Oct. 6), I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat and have been an Independent since my first voting experience in the early ’50s.
I am definitely not a Bush fan. I believe he could be the worst president we’ve ever had. What I’m about is honest and fair and Ms. Grace’s letter is neither. A banker recently wrote:
• Under Jimmy Carter we received the Community Reinvestment Act. This law says banks have to make loans in low-income areas and it has forced many lending institutions to seek to make loans to people in areas that lenders would not normally go because of the risk and low property values (subprime loans). This was in 1977.
“In 1980, President Carter and a Democratic-controlled Congress passed the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act. The law also removed the power of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors under the Glass-Steagall Act and regulation to set the interest rates of savings accounts. A sad fact is we are all still feeling the effects of his policies and decisions 30 years later.
• Then in 1995, Bill Clinton made changes to the Community Reinvestment Act, which forced an increase in the number of loans to these people and the aggregate dollar amounts loaned. Larger loans to people with less income in areas where the collateral value would go down instead of up.
• In 1999, Mr. Clinton signed to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act, which had protected taxpayers since the Great Depression.
• In 2003, President Bush tried to propose a change in regulatory control over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and place both companies under the control of the Department of the Treasury, but was voted down by the liberal Democrats led by Barney Frank. Remember the name Barney Frank — he is one of Obama’s top two economic advisors; the other is Jim Johnson, who was the head of Freddie Mac and walked away with $24 million.
Now, Mr. Obama and his cronies are spinning the facts so you will believe that all our financial problems are because of Bush’s failed economic policy. However, Obama’s two most trusted economic advisors to his campaign are the very people that were in control of Freddie Mac: Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines. In addition, since 1989 there have been several politicians who have received campaign donations and kickbacks from these two failed institutions.
The No. 1 recipient is Sen. Chris Dodd, D-RI, and the runner-up is none other than Sen. Barrack Obama, who received the second largest amount of donations (over $500,000), which is phenomenal because he has only been in the Senate for three years.
When Enron went belly up, we demanded Senate hearings and investigations. Why aren’t the Democrats demanding the same with these companies? Oh yeah, I forgot. It’s Bush’s fault! (Yeah, right, sure it is).
• Billy Whelan, Kapa‘a
Columns racist, biased
Does anyone at The Garden Island actually read the columns run under Media Voices? If not, you have abandoned all journalistic ethics. If so, you are as racist and biased as the two columns I’ve had to endure during my visit so far.
These columns represent the far right-wing agenda in America and are filled with statements both inaccurate and racially insensitive. You obviously have an agenda to promote “Right and White” bias. That would be OK if you labeled yourselves as something different than a newspaper, perhaps a white supremacist’s manifesto. I love this island but will not visit again until your editorial board is replaced. I have forwarded a copy of this letter to the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau.
P.S.: In case you wonder, I am white.
• Thomas Harding, MD, Milwaukee, Wis.
Editor’s Note: The Garden Island subscribes to a national content service that features commentary from a range of political viewpoints. We sample from both sides, right and left, to offer a diversity of opinions.
