• Landlords should give businesses a break • Kapa‘a traffic affects everyone • Workers must continue to assert their rights • Support energy bill Landlords should give businesses a break I was cruising on my bike and decided to stop
• Landlords should give businesses a break
• Kapa‘a traffic affects everyone
• Workers must continue to assert their rights
• Support energy bill
Landlords should give businesses a break
I was cruising on my bike and decided to stop somewhere I had not been in over a year, the Coconut Marketplace.
I sat down on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the free Hawaiian entertainment in the center stage area.
The once bustling tourist arena is now quiet, not quite a ghost town, but many restaurants, kiosks and the movie theater are out of business. Definitely a sign of the times.
On my way home to Kapahi I passed many other empty spaces: the once popular Jamba Juice and Century 21 in the Safeway plaza, Coconuts restaurant, Blossoming Lotus restaurants, the Fish Market next to Kojima’s and the Polynesian Cafe. All these businesses are gone within the last year or so. These are businesses that are on my limited daily bike route. How many other business have gone belly-up?
How many more businesses are going to go belly-up before the economy takes a rebound, if it takes a rebound?
I was once a landlord and would like to plead with landlords to give struggling businesses a break; it’s better getting half rent than no rent at all.
The government cannot solve this whole mess. We all need to work together and support local businesses before we are all doing all our shopping via a phone or computer.
Stimulus this and stimulus that, we all need to stimulate each other.
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a
Kapa‘a traffic affects everyone
I wholeheartedly support Chris Broussard’s thoughts and letter regarding approval of any further development of condos, hotels or multiple housing units in the Kapa‘a area until something can be done to alleviate the current gridlock situations on Kuhio Highway nearly every day (“Coconuts projects would produce traffic gridlock,” Letters, Feb. 5).
How can the powers that be (sanely or in good consciousness) approve any further building in Kapa‘a in proximity to Kuhio Highway? I refuse to drive through Kapa‘a Town between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. because of the awful traffic conditions.
I’ve lived in the Homesteads for 30 years and do most of my shopping in Lihu‘e because of the traffic problems in Kapa‘a.
When will the Planning Commission and department listen to us and do something to alleviate this awful problem? It negatively affects both locals and visitors.
Wendy Akita, Wailua
Workers must continue to assert their rights
Had I not respected The Garden Island’s 250-word limit for letters to the editor, and instead submitted 690 words, as Mr. Hoff did (“Toxic spring cleaning,” Letters, Feb. 10), perhaps I could have presented a more nuanced examination of the labor movement and union leadership.
Instead, in the interest of brevity and concision, I chose to focus on two major issues: the importance of securing Hilda Solis as the secretary of Labor, and the crucial need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
I have never claimed that all unions are perfect, that all union leadership structures unfailingly represent the best interests of their members, or that the labor movement is monolithic. Those who know me can attest to my ability to sharply critique problems within the movement.
However, I hold fast to the simple principle that when the majority of workers in a workplace want to form a union, they should have the unfettered freedom to do so. This includes substitute teachers, by the way, who, along with all public workers in recent decades, have been forced to compete against other workers for a piece of a shrinking public funding pie.
Unlike Mr. Hoff, I do not consider the greatest threat to worker justice to be unions themselves. As much as I believe that the labor movement as a whole desperately needs to reinvigorate its historic commitment to broad social and economic justice struggles, I continue to assert that the greatest threats to workers’ rights come from the right wing and the business interests which put profits before people.
Employers and their right-wing representatives use any means at their disposal to convince workers that we have nothing to gain by organizing to gain power and influence. Yet ironically, through their chambers of commerce, business lobbies and trade associations, employers demonstrate that the basic union principle of “strength in numbers” works just fine for them.
While Mr. Hoff and others bemoan the idea of union influence in the economic decisions that affect our lives, workers must continue to assert our rights to challenge organized big business with organized worker power.
Katy Rose, Hanalei
Support energy bill
Have you ever noticed energy being wasted in a state building?
Perhaps you were at an office, a library or a school and you noticed that everyone was wearing a sweater because the air conditioning was set too low.
Or maybe so many securities lights were on in and around the building at night that you wondered if they were deterring criminal activity or just inviting the criminals to leave their flashlights at home.
Well, the truth is the state doesn’t have any energy conservation guidelines or training for its employees. It’s an “on your honor affair.”
If you believe that the state should be reviewing its use of energy, posting energy guidelines and training its employees, please send your support to bill SB1090. This is a non-cost item that could save the state thousands and perhaps millions of dollars in reduced energy and water bills.
Please go to www.capitol.hawaii.gov/emailtestimony and type in SB1090. You will then be able to click on support and leave a comment.
Linda Silva, Kalaheo
