• Big ideas littler in Hawai‘i • Corporate will • Community minded? • Sour Democrats • Public service announcement or campaigning? Big ideas littler in Hawai‘i I am writing this after watching a Planning Commission hearing for reconsideration for a
• Big ideas littler in Hawai‘i
• Corporate will
• Community minded?
• Sour Democrats
• Public service announcement or campaigning?
Big ideas littler in Hawai‘i
I am writing this after watching a Planning Commission hearing for reconsideration for a couple planning to build a 5,000-square-foot house in Ha‘ena. The Planning Commission said to keep the house to 4,000 square feet but the couple were back with new statistics trying to keep their original plans. I turned off the TV in dismay so I do not know the outcome.
This is what I know for sure. When I moved to Hawai‘i in the late ‘60s it did not take me long to realize that Hawai‘i was not a state but a country and that I had better adapt fast, be humble and tread lightly. There are many unwritten rules and laws here, everyone knows this or should. People come here and are swept up in the energy and beauty and romance of Hawai‘i Nei, they go back to the Mainland and start making plans to move back with big ideas.
Many of those people are blessed with a lot of money and they come here and buy property without thinking about the consequences of what they are really doing, without doing any homework.
Kaua‘i is a very fragile place ecologically and sociologically. This is not new. When malihini come to Kaua‘i to live it would seem that they would want a simple life here, this is a simple place. It is not complicated. Go fish, go surf. Go paddle. Go holo holo. To want to build a huge home here is incongruous with the health of the islands. To want to impose the standards of Mainland living on this system of Polynesian islands is insane. All prospective new home builders and developers should go out to Waimea Plantation Cottages and get a feel for what kind of home they should build. No house should be over 2,000 square feet, use the finest materials on Earth, just keep it simple. That way the land would not be impacted nor their neighbors who have lived next door for 50 years see a rise in their taxes.
We can not look at what has been built before, nothing historically applies anymore. This is a new day.
We should also consider that Hawaiian sovereignty is not an issue but a fact and one day these kanaka maoli will be in control and many of us who own property will not have clear title. As regards, Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘aina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
Susan Ann Allyn
Hanapepe
Corporate will
Let us put aside our personal feelings about the county’s “Big-Box” store law for a moment and ask ourselves what it means that a corporate behemoth like Wal-Mart can overrun our public legislative process to impose its will on the community.
It’s a perfect example of the high cost of low prices.
Katy Rose
Hanalei
Community minded?
It seems that Wal-Mart isn’t content with being the biggest company in the world. Now it wants to impose its will on the people of Kaua‘i. Never mind that the elected representatives of Kaua‘i County unanimously voted to ban big box stores, like Wal-Mart superstores from our island. Wal-Mart is concerned with making money, and that’s it. Not the community and certainly not the poor, which they shamelessly tout as serving, while failing to mention they pay terrible wages and offer little benefits to their own employees.
I can’t say I’m surprised that Wal-Mart would try a sneaky tactic and saying now that they had their permits. If that was the case, why didn’t they say anything when the big box bill was being heard.
And threatening to sue the county? Is that something a community minded company would even think of doing?
It’s painfully obvious that Wal-Mart refuses to respect the people of Kaua‘i. They are out for the buck, and they don’t take any prisoners.
Jill Taniguchi
Lihu‘e
Sour Democrats
It’s apparent that Democratic legislators are now playing politics with our economy. Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, House Speaker Calvin Say and House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell couldn’t get to the microphone quickly enough to point out how the economy is declining.
Why would they gloat about something like that?
They claim this is the reason they wouldn’t work beside Gov. Linda Lingle to provide real tax relief and fund innovative programs to diversify and strengthen Hawai‘i’s financial state. If you look at the numbers, our economy is still very strong. True, it isn’t as red hot as it was a few years ago, but this is a common trend across the nation. Talking so negatively about our economy only has a sour effect on business, so shame on them. These Democrats didn’t deposit the funds into the state treasury in the first place — they chose to spend tax dollars on their favorite pork projects. Voters should remember this most recent example of the Democrats’ abhorrent leadership when the 2008 election rolls around.
J. Palmeri
Kapa‘a
Public service announcement or campaigning?
Back in June, Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona announced his intention to run for governor in 2008 and has since held a number of fund-raisers statewide. At the same time, he is the principal spokesperson in a series of taxpayer funded “Start Living Healthy” commercials, also known as public service announcements, which are receiving a great amount of print and air time on broadcast and cable. The state should enlist great role models such as Tadd Fujikawa, Colt Brennan or Clarissa Moore to promote healthy living, for the lieutenant governor is campaigning and should step down from this role.
One of the first bills to pass the Legislature this session was HB389, which Gov. Linda Lingle signed into law as Act 54 on May 1. The law now states that candidates for public office are prohibited from appearing in public service announcements from the time they file their nomination papers until the time they are no longer a candidate. Certainly, the L.G. would not like to contradict his previous press release of Feb. 1, 2006, wherein he believed it would “not be appropriate” to appear in any public service announcement since he was running for office. Again, he may not be in violation, technically, but as a former judge and as someone who aspires to be governor, I’m sure he would want to be sensitive to the spirit of the law and not stoop to a technical loophole. While the L.G. has not filed papers, he is obviously and visibly in campaign mode. I would like to remind all potential candidates of this new addition to campaign law.
Rep. Marcus Oshiro
Chair of House Finance Committee
