• ‘Scrooge’ was a smash • We are responsible for the environment • For the record • OHA’s building … why? • $30M down the drain ‘Scrooge’ was a smash Let’s for a moment imagine that it is Monday morning
• ‘Scrooge’ was a smash • We are responsible for the environment • For the record • OHA’s building … why? • $30M down the drain
‘Scrooge’ was a smash
Let’s for a moment imagine that it is Monday morning in New York, you pick up the New York Times and the headline reads, “Scrooge the Musical … a Smash! Director, brilliant. Jeff Demma, mesmerizing. A present day Albert Finney.”
Now let’s say 5,396 miles from the office of the New York Times, you are waking up after spending a night of theater at the War Memorial where the Hawai‘i Children’s Theatre production was not only “smashing” and “brilliant,” but also “riveting.”
The audience that attended Sunday’s show were treated to: Ron Woods’ version of Marley — “over the top scary”; Raina Silver’s voice control, at 15 she echoed the likes of Barbara Streisand; Bruce Fehring’s laughable and charming Christmas Present; to phantoms scary good and brilliant direction by Ed Eaton.
Behind the scene, top artist Holly Rudinoff and master carpenter Kit Alderete brought life to the vision as only they could.
Every child that played a role and spent months in rehearsal needs all the love their family and friends can muster up for them, for they embodied Debra Blachowiak’s vision of young children learning life skills through theater. May we give thanks to that vision, her wonderful aura and her endless hours as the producer and the president of HCT.
Let me say bravo to the entire cast, stage crew and advertisers that support this passion of joy and creative genius. Topper would say “NOW THAT I will drink to!”
A big mahalo to the mayor, his wife and the county for supporting the arts.
Ronald Horoshko
Kalaheo
We are responsible for the environment
With respect to the “discovery” of certain shoreline areas being negatively impacted, several reasons have been cited. Those reasons behoove us to be mindful about what we are flushing out into our ocean waters.
We have become so accustomed to using chemical derivatives to fertilize, herbicide and pesticide anything and everything from golf courses, our parks, our school and church yards, and our front lawns.
Who knows what we have flushed into our toilets or poured down our kitchen sinks in hotels, restaurants and our own homes — which eventually flow into our ocean waters?
What about the ways we have built whatever we want from mauka to makai, including residential neighborhoods, hotel complexes and irrigation ditches from which we continue to chemically deal with the unwanted weeds and pests we deem undesirable?
We, having dominion (control) over all else, can decide and allow what will happen to impact our environment! Aren’t we the “masters of the world”? It may do us well to recall that comic-strip character, Pogo, who spoke these words: “We have met the enemy, and he is us!”
Jose Bulatao Jr.
Kekaha
For the record
I am writing to respond to Ms. Partridge’s letter of Nov. 28, concerning reporting of real estate transactions.
I have provided “pro bono” real estate transaction info and real estate articles to Kaua‘i’s newspapers (previously Kaua‘i Business Report and Kaua‘i Times) for nearly 20 years.
Currently, real estate data is obtained through Hawai‘i Information Service, which is a subscribed service. Typically, names of new owners take 2 to 4 weeks to appear in the HIS search. The search includes Realtor assisted, private sales, bank repos, etc.
The sales data is sent in several email transmissions to TGI staff, who manually transfer the records to the format you see printed in the Friday Real Estate Section of TGI.
In the past, I was alerted by the section editor when TGI had space for sales data. Due to procedural changes at TGI, information requests have ceased. Now realizing there will be no alerts, I am forwarding data as previous months’ information is finalized.
Thank you for calling our attention to the incomplete sales info for August. A new search was performed, and there were, in fact, several missing transactions.
Mahalo for allowing me to explain the process of getting the real estate information to you. The system is not perfect nor lightning fast, and occasionally there are data errors. Please feel free to be a part of the reporting “team” anytime you notice an error. I am happy to provide this service to Kaua‘i’s community and support our island’s only daily (almost) newspaper.
Carol C. Cummings
Lihu‘e
OHA’s building … why?
Nov. 28’s The Garden Island printed a letter from Rowena Akana, trustee of OHA. In it she complained of the excessive cost of buying and renovating a building purchased by OHA. She stated that it would have been better to have built a new building from scratch on the Kaka‘ako waterfront.
One source of OHA’s money is 20 percent of the income from the “ceded” lands with the State of Hawai‘i receiving the other 80 percent. Since this had not been paid for many years, a negotiation with the State of Hawai‘i was carried out. One of the results of these negotiations was that OHA obtained the Kaka‘ako waterfront property.
I might point out that the “ceded” lands once belonged to the native Hawaiian people. The lands were not “ceded” but taken from them. They were supposed to be held in trust for the benefit of the native Hawaiians. However, it seems that whenever our government agencies look for more money or land they eye these properties. Act 55 and OHA’s control of income from the properties have succeeded in doing just this. IS THIS JUST?
Further, I don’t understand why OHA needs a building in the first place. What is the purpose of such an undertaking? Why are they spending money that rightfully is to be used for the benefit of the native Hawaiian people? Why isn’t the money being used, e.g., to create infrastructure so that Hawaiian homes can be built on the land that has been designated for their homes but cannot be built upon for want of water, electricity and roads? Twenty-eight million would go far to help families that are living three and four generations in small, decaying homes.
It could also be used to purchase the Coco Palms grounds and used in making that area into a Hawaiian Cultural Center. I fail to see how a commercial building will help the Hawaiian families have a better life.
Marjorie Fitting Gifford
Princeville
$30M down the drain
My compliments to Rowena Akana, a trustee at large of OHA, for her forthright letter of Nov. 28.
I happened to be in The Gentry Pacific Design Center last week, and except for The Indich Carpet Gallery, all but one or two stores still exist in the vast building. The $30,000,000 of funds entrusted to OHA down the drain.
No tenants = no cash flow.
Old building = major repairs for deferred maintenance.
Odd location = low foot traffic. Etc.
This reflects very badly of OHA and the tax payers money supporting it.
Tom Rice
Princeville
