Letters for Sunday, August 7, 2022

Conservative, progressive, liberal; someone clarify

Can someone who has a detailed knowledge please write an article(s) on the Democrat Party (yes — Democrat — not Democratic party) versus the Republican Party. Aren’t they both Democratic?

Judge Fernandez, can you please help?

When we vote, we should hopefully understand the stance of the two parties. My understanding is that they are both Democratic.

Aren’t we a constitutional democratic republic? What does that mean?

The Democrat party is not the party of “the good ol’ days.”

Who are the conservative representatives?

Or who are the progressive/liberal representatives?

We have to look at NOT ONLY the person, but also the policies of the Democrats versus the Republicans, because elected politicians usually follow the party line, ideologies, issues and values.

You can be a conservative or progressive/liberal, too, but the only two we really vote for are the Democrats or the Republicans.

Elections are coming up, and it’s time for people to understand and learn more about who and what policies they are voting for.

Joyce Ogmundson, Lihu‘e

Affordable housing should be the people’s choice

Why am I not at all surprised that the naysayers turned out to be Kaneshiro, Carvalho and DeCosta???

I wonder why you three don‘t want to put the issue to a vote by the people??? Perhaps because of the guaranteed overwhelming response in favor of action to help the increasingly impossibile ability of residents to find affordable housing?

So I am guessing no one in your ‘ohana has been suffering the consequences of no affordable housing here on Kaua‘i? Friends of mine finally had to rent a small, two-bedroom place for $4,500 plus utilities! Who can afford this kind of monthly expense??

I am appalled by your insensitivity to this crisis.

You can be assured you three will NEVER get my vote for anything you run for. Clearly you do not have the interests of the people of Kaua‘i in mind. So whose interests are you serving instead? That is not a rhetorical question. I would really like to know!

Thank you to Chock and Evslin for putting the bill out there and Cowden and KipuKai for saying yes!

In these times of global crisis and divisiveness, I would have hoped that we on Kaua‘i could come together over such a clear and pressing need.

I am one discouraged Kaua‘i resident.

Joan Levy, Kapa‘a

We are in a crisis, need housing solutions

I am in utter disbelief that the affordable-housing resolution, introduced by Councilmembers Evslin and Chock, was voted down yesterday (Wednesday).

This resolution would have given the voters, we the people, the opportunity to decide if we wanted the county charter amended to earmark a small percentage of property taxes for affordable housing. Three individuals just made that decision for the entire island.

I’m angry. Livid. As should be every single voting person on this island. Ask these same county members what the singlemost pressing issue facing residents of Kaua‘i is and they will say “the lack of affordable housing.” And yet they shoot down a resolution aimed at getting the ball rolling in the right direction!!

The reasons given are petty and insignificant when faced with the greater crisis. Mr. Kaneshiro wants to ask “what’s wrong with the current (budget) process”…?! It’s obviously not working!! And this kind of mentality is EXACTLY why we are stuck in the situation we are in.

Fellow Kauaians, are you satisfied with the status quo as well?? I’m not. I applaud Councilmembers Luke Evslin and Mason Chock for working diligently on coming up with solutions that address Kaua‘i’s affordable-housing crisis, and I implore them to not be discouraged by this setback.

We ARE in a crisis. Our children will feel it worse than us. We need to move forward with solutions. The status quo, and those who support it, isn’t going to get us there.

Loretta Mattos, Kekaha

Stop destroying what nature gives us

My morning was saddened when I read in the Forum about the Koloa chickens being poisoned, and how the poisoner taunted the writer and his wife by lining up some dead chickens for them to find near their home. We all live with chickens. Some of us are OK with that and some hate them.

However, even if you don’t find them cute and a link to our Polynesian history, they do eat tons of bugs and centipedes, and for that reason alone they are helpful. Too much chicken poop for you? If you are a gardener, scoop it up and use it for the good fertilizer that it is.

As was pointed out, other animals can ingest the deadly poison this person chooses to put out. As the writer of the piece mentioned, he has not been seeing his song birds or his usual endangered Koloa ducks (Koloa Maoli) or his normal batch of nene, also endangered. And his cat died a painful death after ingesting the chicken poison. I would not wish that kind of cruel death on anything.

Our world is overpopulated by humans, and as we know we have pushed out other wildlife as we encroach on their territory. For many of us, any nature we can get in our own neighborhood or even our yards is enriching. On a few occasions when paddling the Wailua River I was rewarded to have seen a Koloa duck. It’s only happened twice.

Though I have never had a nene in my yard, they do fly over the neighborhood most mornings, honking as they go. I love it. I am sincerely grateful for the wildlife we do have left, including even the chickens, and especially their batches of chicks. I just wish that we humans could all appreciate what nature gives us and stop destroying it in our small ways, which all do add up.

Paulo Tambolo, Wailua Homesteads