• Delay their paychecks, not our tax refund • Anaina Hou: A
perilous precedent • Pothole ahead • No dogs allowed
Delay their paychecks, not our tax refund
Delay on our State tax refund? I say, “absolutely no!”
Some of the Hawai‘i State’s House Republican Representatives say “yes” on the delay for tax refund and use one-million-plus dollars to help with the balancing of the state’s budget.
One member even added that, “most people who filed their taxes for their refund in January, February, and early March did it because they need the money.”
What about the rest of the people who file late? Don’t they need the money too?
Hawai‘i State House Republican Representatives, could it be that some of us are having a hard time to come up with the money to file early?
Why not pass a bill to delay your paychecks and tax refund to help balance the state’s budget?
All in favor for Hawai‘i State Republican Representatives paycheck and tax refund be delayed to help balance the state’s budget say, “aye!”
Howard Tolbe, ‘Ele‘ele
Anaina Hou: A perilous precedent
Do you remember a few years ago how, suddenly overnight, Po‘ipu was transformed into a gigantic, desolate construction site surrounded by miles and miles of dust curtains?
This happened because seven development projects were being considered by the Planning Commission all at once. They were all approved, and hundreds of acres of open space were graded and covered with hundreds of houses. Too much, too fast, and all at once.
The same exact thing that happened in Po‘ipu is taking place right now in Kilauea. There are currently four developments in the pipeline that will effectively pave over Kilauea’s trademark fields of green. Two are large developments (hundreds of acres apiece) that divide agricultural properties into gentleman’s estates. The third one is a supermarket-anchored shopping center, and the fourth is a commercial amusement center. That’s a heckuva lot of pavement.
The Po‘ipu-fication of Kilauea carries an equally alarming concern: the dangerous precedent that would be set by the possible approval of the Anaina Hou commercial amusement park (also known as the Kilauea Pavilion). The developer is trying to get around zoning law by applying for a Special Use Permit to build commercially on State-designated agricultural land. If approved, it would create a new loophole to defy Hawai‘i Revised Statutes 205 and the other ordinances that were put into place to protect agricultural and open lands.
According to the Kilauea Town Plan of 2005-2006 and the Kaua‘i General Plan, the Anaina Hou site is never to be developed — except as affordable housing. This was a case where the true needs of the local community were put at the forefront in these plans. To approve developing this land as an amusement complex would dash any chance for local, working class people to get a shot at affordable housing on the North Shore. It would also set a horrible precedent that would make it easy for a developer, anywhere on the island, to simply apply for a Special Use Permit in order to override an agricultural zoning designation.
As a Kilauea landowner, I sincerely hope that the Planning Commission will uphold the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes 205 by deciding against the construction of Anaina Hou (Kilauea Pavilion). By doing so, they will avoid setting a precedent that would imperil ag and open lands across the entire island. The final hearing is soon – this April. Please write the Planning Commission and urge them deny this Special Use Permit.
Robert Miller, Kilauea
Pothole ahead
Along Olohena Road in Kapa’a, this sign: Pothole ahead, drive slow.
Drivers do not need such a sign to alert them to these potholes. They have been there a decade or more.
We’ve grown accustomed to their face and we are tired of it.
Is it really an impossible task to permanently fix a pothole?
Maria C Snyder, Kapa‘a
No dogs allowed
Dogs do not belong on our athletic fields. How inconsiderate of all you dog owners that let your dogs’ poop on our fields.
Our high school, middle school and public parks have kids play on them everyday.
Kapa‘a High is not a doggy park. Kapa‘a Middle is not a doggy park. Kapa‘a Ballpark is not a doggy park.
On weekends, after 6 p.m. and early mornings you inconsiderate owners trespass and leave dog poop all over our fields.
Do you guys understand that on Monday our students use these fields? They step on and fall on your dogs’ poop. How unsanitary.
Gordon Muramaru, Kapa‘a
