Posted on: Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Writer on Akaka bill misunderstands issue

Regarding Frank Scott's March 8 letter on the Akaka bill: There is a need to clarify his concerns.

First, justification for the bill is based on what occurred during the period before annexation and the transfer of Hawaiian crown lands. It is based on the illegal overthrow in 1893 and the subsequent Ku'e Petitions in which 40,000 Native Hawaiians declared their opposition to the loss of sovereignty. By the time of annexation in 1898, crown lands were not merely transferred lands but stolen lands.

Second, the Akaka bill does not establish land reservations for a Native Hawaiian government. Instead, the bill creates a process by which benefits of native citizenship can be delivered. For example, benefits might relate to trust funds, trust lands and control over those resources to deliver culturally competent education, health services and housing assistance.

Finally, yes, Hawaiians would use state public services, and they would likewise be obligated to pay state taxes. They could continue to receive federal benefits they are otherwise entitled to, having a status similar to dual citizenship. The Akaka bill calls for details of these points to be negotiated among the state of Hawai'i, the United States and the new Native Hawaiian governing entity, pursuant to section 8(b) of the bill.

Shaka Santa had better beware of crackdown

Dear Shaka Santa,

I am heartbroken to hear that you, too, may become homeless due to the high cost of rent on O'ahu.

Let me warn you, stay away from Mokule'ia and Hale'iwa. If you and Mrs. Claus end up homeless in Hawai'i, you will be harassed to no limit out here.

If you try living in a car or shed on city property, HPD will do frequent unannounced sweeps at night, usually after 11 p.m., and awaken you, shake you down, run a warrant check and order you out in 24 hours under threat of citation, court appearance and fine. You will be treated like a criminal because you can no longer afford to pay rent or purchase a home on O'ahu.

If you try to stay on state or federal land, armed officers will confront you and demand you vacate after you have been handed a 48-hour eviction notice under threat of arrest, fine and confiscation of personal property.

The homeless in Mokule'ia and Hale'iwa are being harassed by pistol-packing government police on a weekly basis, showing no compassion, and the city and state are not sending relief organizations to help with transition prior to the sweeps.

Please heed this warning, Santa; if you cannot come up with first and last months' skyrocketing rent plus deposit, you will not have a merry time trying to survive out here even with a job.

And Santa, we hear we have the governor and our state Senate president (Act 50) to thank for much of this heavy-handed harassment of the homeless. Please make a note of them on your Christmas list. They have not been nice to the North Shore's homeless population.

Bush is in a corner

The situation in Lebanon shows just how embarrassingly immature President Bush's foreign policy remains. He thumps his chest demanding Syrian withdrawal, yet doesn't realize he's being set up as long as American troops remain in Afghanistan and Iraq. After the Syrians leave, how's Bush going to stand up to world scrutiny without any appearance of duplicity?

Citizens can help complete projects

My first reaction: "How sad." My second: "What is the matter with our leaders? Have they forgotten how to work with people?"

We have people, community groups and businesses that will gladly work with the city if attitudes could be inspired and the bureaucratic system tweaked.

For example, the city has a lot of trees in nurseries, the equipment and manpower. Citizens can assist in planning, providing people power (volunteers) and organizing a team to keep trees watered, etc.

Why is it always "Why isn't the city doing this instead of that?" Come on, folks, organize and make planned offers to help, including businesses. We can do it!

These are our lands, our buildings and employees. Let's find ways to help so we can have nice projects completed.

Adjust budget, don't increase our taxes

Here's a thought: Instead of increasing taxes, try adjusting the state's budget. Or is it just easier to increase the size of the state's purse than doing the math work?

It's already expensive enough living in Hawai'i. We don't need someone picking our pockets in the form of fees like the joke you like to call the "bottle surcharge" to encourage recycling.

Taxes are based on a percentage of our income, so when we get a raise, the state gets a raise. When will it be enough? Thirty-five percent? Fifty percent?

Stop nickel-and-diming the workers to death.

Recycling gives new meaning to 'loooong'

To all legislators, City Council members, Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the governor:

Your new experiment in social engineering is definitely working at the corner of Beretania and Isenberg.

I just spent my weekly 45-minute consciousness-raising session with the usual allotment of seniors, college students, teenagers, homeless and the uninitiated who walked in off the street — all of us waiting to redeem our cans.

And I walked away with $7.32 that I didn't have before!

But as far as an environmental concern, the project fails — this whole program is a joke, a device for the state to add $$$$ to the coffers. Just ask the conscientious, civic-minded people standing in the lines. The loooong lines. The impossible lines.

If time is money, the government owes these good people a ton of money for wasting their time.

Taiwanese cannot accept China policy

I would like to comment on the March 10 editorial "China's war threat untimely and risky."

China's anti-secession law, which will unilaterally change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, was recently denounced by the U.S. government. The law arbitrarily presents forced unification as the only valid option for Taiwan and its 23 million people, which is a severe infringement on the universal values of freedom, democracy, peace and human rights.

The Taiwanese people cannot accept China's "one country, two systems" arrangement. The future of Taiwan requires the consensus of the Taiwanese citizens, and the Chinese authorities must accept this fact.

It's time for the international community to jointly curb China's provocative behavior in order to avoid destroying stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.

Subsidized rail system important to our society

The 20 percent of the population who oppose a rail-based transportation system on O'ahu have repeatedly stated that they object to it because it will have to be subsidized. While it is true that the farebox will not cover all of a rail-based system's expenses, it is also true that ticket prices do not cover the cost of the air transport system. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, in 2002, the federal subsidy to commercial and general aviation nationwide was over $4 billion. In 2001, it was almost $3 billion.

It is quite likely that the federal highways system does not pay for itself either. While the U.S. Department of Transportation numbers indicate a surplus for the highway system, what it does not indicate is whether highway funds are keeping up with maintenance. It has been argued that simply to maintain current pavement conditions, an additional $8 billion per year would be necessary. That would mean subsidizing the federal highway system, too.

On a personal level, most streets and roads in the state of Hawai'i are subsidized. Most people in Hawai'i never use the H-3. Fuel taxes went to build and maintain it, but if you do not use it, you are subsidizing it.

The movement of goods and people around the island, between islands and between Hawai'i and the outside world is important enough to society to subsidize transportation whether it be planes, trains, ships or automobiles. The benefits from having an efficient transportation system are obvious and include improved economic efficiency and a better quality of life.

It is also important to note that cities with strong rail systems spend less on transportation as a whole than cities that do not. Because trains are so efficient at moving people from place to place, overall expenditures on transportation drop from about 13 percent of gross regional product in cities without rail systems to about 9 percent in cities with strong rail systems. In an economy as vibrant as Honolulu's, that 4 percent difference amounts to over $1 billion a year.

In sum, all forms of transportation are subsidized in one way or another. If the question is which mode is most cost-effective, rail wins hands down.

Somebody should wake up state

What is the difference between spending $800,000 to demolish an affordable housing apartment building plus $1.8 million (not yet appropriated) to construct a replacement and spending zero dollars to rebuild the facility? The difference is the leadership of the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawai'i, the affordable housing authority of the Lingle administration and common sense.

Habitat for Humanity has offered to do the organization and community-based rebuilding of this affordable housing complex with no cost to the state, yet the HCDCH has evicted tenants, has no actual plans for the site after demolition and has no money to rebuild. All the while the HCDCH says it is on the "fast track" for the area.

If we the people need this kind of fast-tracking, we might as well just get our shopping cart and move to the street.

As chair of Neighborhood Board No. 16, Kalihi, I recently testified before a Senate panel trying to evaluate the past decisions and abilities of the HCDCH in operations of the Kalihi Homes and Hauiki Homes programs that are in our neighborhood. I spoke of the many residents of these programs who have come to our meetings to complain about the very same things facing the Wai'anae area where they will soon lose the apartment building because of exceptionally poor planning and administration.

This Wai'anae community will see what Kalihi has experienced. We, too, have hundreds of vacated units that have remained so for years, brand-new buildings that have been vacant for years and are currently deteriorating because of lack of use, over 12,000 people on the waiting lists, and over 210 days average for filling a recently vacated unit.

While Wai'anae and Kalihi are without needed facilities, the federal oversight administration has sanctioned the entire state program so that we have lost and will continue to lose millions of dollars because of bad decisions and administration.

We the people need to rally 'round Habitat for Humanity and its historic and profound abilities to accomplish what a poor administration cannot and will not.

Is there someone out there who can stop this administration's current decisions and actions to demolish a useful facility? Is there someone out there who can stop this administration's spending a wasteful $800,000 for demolition? Is there anyone out there who does not see that there is no real concern by this administration to provide and assure adequate affordable housing?