Puna doesn’t need CDP
Dear Editor,
For its backers to say the Puna CDP is “crucial” and a “must” or “nothing will be accomplished” (in Puna) is simply hype. A lot has already been accomplished in Puna!
Thousands have moved here, built good houses, parks, stores, roads (increasing), schools, churches, shopping centers, etc. Granted we need more roads (not bike paths) – like the coastal highway I pushed for years ago when I ran for Council and Mayor – and industry, but not only will the CDP not accomplish such: it will restrict such even more and raise the costs of buying homes and doing business in Puna.
Puna is already Developed and has all the appurtenant land use laws, zonings, plans and building codes necessary to keep it growing positively and in accordance with the “good faith” that all those who have already bought and invested here expect to protect their property rights, subdivisions, associations, CC&Rs, quiet enjoyment, bundle of rights, warranty deeds, title insurance/etc. from special interest groups, depreciating fads, needless additional new rules, restrictions and encroachments, unchartered and unlawful changes, eco-makeovers/takeovers and condemnation.
CDP supporters saying “there has been much opportunity for anyone who wished to give input” is simply not true. Being a longtime home-builder/renovator, preacher, author and Realtor, I can say I have never been contacted to participate. I can assure you the thousands of absentee owners received no notice or invite either and know little to nothing about this “Redevelopment” Plan. And I’ll bet you a dollar to a doughnut that you can’t find more than one out of a hundred in Puna who has a clue about what’s in this CDP.
Puna is OK. The CDP is not. So end it, don’t amend it!
Gerald Wright, Pahoa, Hawai`i
Lay off the bureaucrats
Dear Editor,
Some are saying a shortened government workweek could save tax money.
This public school teacher will see that and raise you: furlough for six months ALL upwardly mobile, desk driving, careerists populating the state Department of Education bloat-ocracy who do not have direct contact with children and the savings harvested will dwarf that gained by lopping a day off the work week.
Some of this harvest could be used to fund the current teacher contract -- which DOE signed and which they now want to abrogate unilaterally -- including the provision for random drug testing. With an annual DOE budget that in Fiscal Year 2009 of nearly three billion dollars, the claim that a mere half mill cannot be found to fund drug testing according to the contract they signed is a rank obscenity if not an outright lie.
After six months, the public can determine whether furloughed “educators” should be cashiered permanently. My guess? No one down here where the rubber meets the road will even notice they’re gone.
Thomas E. Stuart Kapa`au, Hawai`i
Queen of the Tree People blocks WTE
Dear Editor:
Incredible!!! County Council finally gets one right voting down the Wheelabrator Boondoggle.
Along comes a solution to the garbage problem (Jacoby) that appears to already be mostly paid for, (state funds of $100 million), and the manufacturer willing to put up the rest, but since the socialists in charge (Kim, Kenoi, etc.) won’t be able to stick it to the taxpayers, there seems to be lots of resistance instead of immediate investigation.
Almost immediately, the Queen of the Obstructionists, (formerly Queen of the Tree People) starts telling us how lengthy and difficult the process will be to get approval.
Evidently the only thing that can get fast-tracked around here is the hiring of a County Council Member who whines she can’t make it on her salary, and gets hired immediately by the county without the required process of advertising for the (newly created) position, or perhaps another project (Wheelabrator) which has already met approval (behind closed doors).
I sincerely hope that a new mayor will have the common sense to get rid of these people who have their own agendas, certainly not the interests of taxpayers, central to their daily activities.
When the truths are finally revealed, the legacy of the Kim Administration will be to go into history as the most deceitful and financially irresponsible administration in the history of the Big Island.
David M. Sprague, Hilo, Hawai`i
Commission violates rules for HD24
Dear Editor,
As if it were not bad enough that the Office of Elections
• 1) accepted a Democrat candidate for HD 24 who was not qualified to file under the law;
• 2) accepted a candidate’s illegal filing for both a State and City Council Office
• 3) allowed the Democrat party filing more time than the law allows to replace a candidate;
• 4) accepted an email filing sent from Democrat Party HQ to replace Kirk Caldwell, but would not accept a phone call from the City Clerk to withdraw Caldwell, who on July 22nd was filed illegally for both State House and City Council
• 5) has a Chief Elections Officer who was not registered to vote in Hawaii which is a legal requirement of his employment;
• 6) has approved printing a Primary Election ballot while candidates are being challenged
• 7) did not allow the political parties to review the ballot for possible errors, typos, whatever; even though the law provides for this review, and then states “Hopefully, all the ballots will be correct when they go out.”
Now the Election Commission has fully supported this folly. This is a script right out of the Third World.
If this is how we start the election season, how can we have any confidence in the outcome?
Willies Lee, Chairman
Hawai`i Republican Party
The People’s Rights
Letter to the Editor:
As citizens we must always be aware of threats against our constitutional rights.
Recently, an adult’s constitutional right to own a gun was in peril when the U.S. Supreme Court decided by a close 5-4 ruling the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It amazes me why the vote was so close considering what the U.S. Constitution means regarding the words “the people” in its Preamble and in the Bill of Rights.
The Preamble of the Constitution states: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.” Our Preamble clearly defines from its very beginning the meaning of “the people” in the Constitution.
Amendment I states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Amendment IV states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects…” Amendment V reads: “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or…” The words “the people” are also clearly stated in Amendments IX and X. “Person” and “the people” respectfully mean an individual or a group of individuals.
Mr. James Madison and other framers of our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights were very consistent when using the words “the people”. Therefore, there really should not be any question as to Amendment II’s meaning which reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
It cannot for the life of me - be any clearer.
James G. Borden Hilo, Hawai`i
‘Banana patch’ to be cleared for rail project?
Dear Editor,
As a lifetime Pearl City resident and opponent of the Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s rail plan, his planned condemnation to build a “park and ride” sight at Pearl Highlands Center brings my concerns over his rail project even closer to home.
The families in my community who reside on a 12-acre lot known as the “Banana Patch” have lived there for their entire lives, but they may now be forced to move to make room for this park and ride lot. They didn’t even have a say in it nor any notification from the city.
They just noticed surveyors taking measurements on their land one day and started to question why. Boy, what a surprise.
If I was told to give up my home that I grew up in to make room for a public transportation system or any reason for that matter, I would be enraged.
Where’s Honolulu City Council Member Gary Okino to speak up and defend his constituents’ way of life and property?
Oh yeah, as he constantly reminds us in public hearings, he was a city planner for 40 bureaucratic years before becoming an elected official who is out of touch with his community and supporting this rail transit.
Jeff Teruya Pearl City, O`ahu