Posted on: Thursday, June 2, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Government red tape to blame for high costs

The May 25 article "Median U.S. price buys little here" shows how on the Mainland you can build a brand-new house for $46 per square foot. To build a new house in O'ahu (just the costs of building the house, not buying the land), it costs $120 to $180 per square foot.

It costs three times as much to build here not because of higher labor and material costs, but because of the direct and indirect costs of bad government.

Hawai'i requires more types of permits and has more badly-thought-out expensive regulations than anywhere else in the United States. To get a $100 weed-cutting permit on a large lot can require a $3,500 report from a civil engineer. Add the costs of delays in getting multiple permits to build, and the costs mount.

Factor in irrational zoning laws that have raised the price of any buildable lot on the island into the hundreds of thousands of dollars range or higher, and it is little wonder that we have the highest housing costs in the nation.

B&B, vacation rentals degrade neighborhoods

Transient accommodations such as B&B or vacation rental operations impose substantial monetary and cultural costs when they are allowed in single-family residential neighborhoods while contributing very little or nothing.

The costs to the neighborhood are immediate, at least in terms of increased traffic and associated pollution, parking problems and security issues. A real estate appraiser will discount residential property adjacent to a B&B or a vacation rental when compared to similar properties in quieter, more private settings.

Since vacation accommodations do not even require an on-site manager, there is an even greater potential for noise and neighborhood disruption and greater loss of value to nearby properties.

The character of Hawai'i neighborhoods is not sustained by the presence of transient accommodation operations. The transient clientele for B&B or vacation rentals does not participate in the community that residentially zoned neighborhoods are intended to foster. Income from transient accommodations does not tend to stay in the neighborhood to provide any community benefit.

If a change in the law allows currently zoned residential neighborhoods to be invaded by transient accommodation operations, owners of nearby property who experience a loss of value should be compensated by government. It is easily done by collection of earmarked fees from the operators who apply for permits to operate a transient accommodation in a residentially zoned neighborhood. The calculation of these fees should value cultural as well as direct monetary costs.

Greg Gouveia found a lot of good in the bad

Thank you to Greg Gouveia for "making lemonade out of lemons" the day of the Punchbowl fire ("Fire seals off Punchbowl," May 29).

Greg and his family had to " ... just park your car and wait," said Gouveia, adding, "I spent two hours with my mom. So, it was a good thing."

Wow! You just can't keep a good man down! What a fortunate mother!

Lingle should veto bills on 'home rule'

Gov. Lingle has gone on record repeatedly stating her support of home rule for the counties. She now has her chance to prove how much she really believes in this idea when she considers two bills now awaiting her signature.

The first bill she must consider and then veto is the increase in the excise tax. Her view is that this gives the counties a say in raising funds. That may be the case on the surface, but the truth is that the Legislature is telling the counties how the money must be spent. That's not home rule, even by the loosest definition.

The second bill that deserves a veto is the law telling the counties how it must behave when deploying its workforce. This is something that should be negotiated between the state and counties and their bargaining units. It shouldn't be dictated to the counties by the Legislature.

Clearly home-rule issues.

Sen. Trimble's ouster sends wry message

Irony writ large at the Legislature: Recently, Sen. Gordon Trimble was stripped of his minority leadership position for defending the right of the Senate Democrats to call a reorganizational meeting at a moment's notice.

But, the meeting in which the Senate Republicans stripped Trimble of his title was exactly the kind of ad hoc reorganizational meeting that Trimble was rebuked for permitting to occur.

Lure of shady tree brought on addiction

Regarding Lian Bonilla Balmores' May 28 letter "Being popular can lead to your death": When I was 19, I joined the Air Force, and while standing at attention in the 95-degree sun at Lackland AFB, Texas, my instructor said, "Fall out if you smoke 'em." I had never smoked before in my life. So I fell out and got to be in the shade of a tree while I pretended to smoke.

I thought to myself, "I am a strong person, I will never get addicted to smoking." Well, 10 years later I wish I had stayed at attention and did not "fall out." Don't do it. I wish I never would have tried that first one. To this day I still battle smoking; quitting is so difficult.

So please, do not do it. You are proud and think that it won't happen to you, but it will. Smoking ages you, and not to mention, you smell awful!

Clayton Hee heard plea about education

While campaigning for the Senate seat in my home district of Hau'ula, Clayton Hee took the time to listen to my concerns about education in our community.

As a parent of a student at Hau'ula Elementary and former chair of the state Board of Education, I know how difficult it has been for our rural schools to get the attention they need from the Legislature. Yet, in only his first year back in office, Sen. Hee successfully secured more than $2.5 million to upgrade Hau'ula, Kahalu'u and Waiahole elementary schools' electrical and telecommunications infrastructure and provide for the construction of a new portable classroom at Kahuku High/Intermediate School.

These projects may not draw the fanfare that a new library or administration building would, but I know these funds are greatly appreciated as they directly impact the learning ability and environment of our students.

We need elected officials who genuinely put children first. Mahalo nui loa, Sen. Hee.

Where was separation at Akaka bill 'rally'?

Nancie Caraway (Letters, May 25) attacks Duke Aiona and Christian evangelicals for using religious views to shape their public expression of political opinion. She accuses them of violating separation of church and state, trying to establish a "theocracy."

Where was Nancie when her husband, Rep. Neil Abercrombie, participated in a church service in our Legislature?

On March 31, our Legislature held a hearing (actually, a propaganda rally) on the Akaka bill, where Sen. Dan Inouye, Abercrombie and Rep. Ed Case gave testimony and answered questions. At the beginning, Rep. Ezra Kanoho told everyone to stand up. Then he led the congregation in singing the Hawaiian-language Christian hymn "Doxology." Kanoho continued with a lengthy prayer in English explicitly calling upon Father, Son and Holy Spirit to bring everyone together in supporting the Akaka bill.

We often hear demands for government to bow down to ancient Hawaiian religion on issues like military training on "sacred land" at Makua, telescopes on sacred Mauna Kea, and banning genetic engineering of sacred taro. See http://tinyurl.com /2n4hy for a discussion of how Hawaiian religion is used to assert political claims to racial supremacy. See http://tinyurl.com /b5bef for an explanation of how a creation legend (Kumulipo) provides a metaphysical theory supporting our existing institutional racism.

Even token support of any religion by state is perilous

Jonathan Durrett's letter ("Column on Aiona belonged elsewhere," May 24) chiding David Shapiro for calling attention to Lt. Gov. Aiona's "sincere expression of faith" as an intrusion on Mr. Aiona's freedom of religious consciousness completely missed the point. Mr. Aiona and his evangelical disciples in the Legislature weren't just expressing beliefs, they were talking about implementing those beliefs into education and government.

Two subsequent letters (Steven Arakawa, "Lt. Gov. Aiona stands on a solid foundation," May 25; and Sophie Mataafa, "Aiona isn't forcing religion on others," May 25) recognize the issue, support the agenda and thereby vindicate Shapiro's concerns.

Religious beliefs are never just personal. They have real consequences. History, from the Inquisition to the Taliban, from David Koresh's Branch-Davidian cult to 9/11, confirms this.

If not sincere religious beliefs, then I'd like to know the basis for withholding funds from AIDS-stricken countries that use the funds to buy condoms (sex is evil?); for depriving homosexuals of their civil rights (homosexuality is evil?); for outlawing embryonic stem-cell research (embryos have souls?); for retarding science education in the classroom (creator God?).

None of the above-mentioned religious beliefs has any evidence in its support. And no, the Bible isn't evidence; its truth value is also based on a religious belief.

The facts are: Condoms do curtail the spread of AIDS; there is a well-established genetic component to homosexuality; the benefits of embryonic stem-cell research defy the imagination; and evolution has so much evidence in its support that it counts as a fact.

Some of us think it is important to expand the definition of the culture of life beyond the unborn and the brain-dead, and to start seriously addressing everything in between. Evangelical politicians haven't been very good at this.

Finally, James Madison, as pious a Christian as there ever was, had it exactly right: Not only should there be a separation of church and state; but because a sincere Christian's relationship with God involves a deep personal commitment, even the token or symbolic support of any religion by the state or its stewards poses a threat of coercion or undue influence that compromises the freedom of the chosenness of that relationship.

Home-grown saints are needed

Father Damien of Moloka'i and Mother Marianne Cope are real saints, but the departure of their remains back to the people they were "borrowed" from reminds us that we need home-grown saints here in the Islands. The Spirit Creator that made these Islands so beautiful can surely make saints we can keep.

Christianity, Catholicism here specifically, has been an add-on in Hawai'i. Good enough. Things take time. But Hawai'i can now infuse what had been an add-on before and make it something special. Damien and Marianne did not come here to impose something but to invite gifted people into an ancient church that had previously incorporated nearly 2,000 years of culture.

When I was a seminarian 40 years ago, it was necessary for all seminarians to study philosophy and lots of it. The two biggest influences on Catholic philosophy were Plato and Aristotle, who lived centuries before Jesus. In a word, they lived and died as "pagans." I use that word because it was typical of the day, and even though it was often used as a put-down, pagan philosophers were still the basis of thinking for the Roman Catholic Church. So subtract Plato and Aristotle from the Catholic tradition and you do not have much left.

Most of the rest of philosophy, except for the Middle Ages, was the study of non-believers. Why would the Catholic Church require years of this kind of study? Because God makes the human mind and spirit and heart as one. Truth is truth wherever it is found. The church went west to Greece and did not impose but transposed a whole culture whose truth it was ready to accept as compatible with Christian faith.

If the church had gone east instead of west, it would likely have taken on the culture and philosophy of India and China. The early Jesuits in China and India adapted very fast to the local culture and philosophy. Later, they lost the battle to religious orders that wanted to maintain Western ways. Today, after centuries, we can say they won the war. Many of the Catholics coming new to Hawai'i from different Asian countries expect to see Asian things in our churches here. These things had been banned at one time, but now enrich Catholicism.

I could be asking for more philosophers as well as local saints, but I would prefer some Hawaiian saints. The late Pope John Paul II spoke of spiritual ecumenism: the joint witness of many different kinds of Christians who lived and died faithful to their calling. Perhaps the churches of these Islands could get together and share stories of the holy witnesses among us. These witnesses might not be canonized or Catholic, but the Spirit of the Islands that kept them faithful could do something for us, too. It could do something like change us into saints.