Grateful for eminent-domain action
Thatʻs one for the people who actually live here and grew up here and canʻt afford to live here because of years of land speculation, short-term rentals and billionaires driving up prices. (The median price of a home on Kaua‘i is now $1.1 million, a price fewer and fewer ordinary people can afford).
Eminent domain refers to the power of the government to take private property and convert it into public use — such as desperately needed affordable housing. Eminent domain includes paying fair-market value for the property, the price to be decided in court, which will include a substantial profit.
I applaud the County Council for exercising the right of eminent domain over 23.5 undeveloped acres in Kilauea owned by a land-speculation company from North Dakota, B&D Properties, which will be given a fair price decided by the courts and will include a substantial profit. For once the public good and affordable housing have been honored in a courageous way by the County Council. Thank you!
Sylvia Partridge, Princeville
Floridian glad Hooser is in Hawai‘i
This is in response to Gary Hooser’s Oct. 13 column.
As someone who has put the uniform on to defend the Constitution, I was compelled to respond.
First, let’s get one thing clear — the same party that screams “my body, my choice” goes silent when people choose a different path. He states he is glad he lives in Hawai‘i. I say he is right. He seems proud that Democratic governors use power they do not have to crush business and bankrupt their states as great work.
I am glad we choose to live in the free state of Florida, where adults can make informed decisions for themselves, where our budget not only is balanced but runs a surplus, where work is plentiful and we believe in true freedom, not the nanny state.
Yes, Gary, thank God you are in Hawai‘i.
Craig Waldvogel, Clearwater, Florida
Regarding Craig, you sir are exactly 100% correct in you response. Your opinion is shared by a growing number of tax payers and the
liberals who refuse to see the obvious danger of their foolishness policies will fail and be no more.
Well said, Craig!!!
We’re all happy you live in the “free” state of Florida, too, Craig.
Craig Waldvogel from Clearwater, Florida, mahalo for a very refreshing letter to Mr. Hooser from my birth Island. Yes, I’m also glad he is on Kauai and not Florida.
Mr. Waldvogel-
I wonder why you feel compelled to comment on Mr. Hooser’s opinion pieces.
I went back to read the Oct. 13 column in question and see that he makes a whole lot more sense than you do. Your Governor Ron DeSantis is a boot-licking Trumper who is responsible in part for the many Floridians now in their graves due to Covid 19.
Let’s see…You berate those who believe in “my body, my choice” , yet you state that you are proud to live in ” free state of Florida, where adults can make informed decisions for themselves”. Think about it. Are you positions at polar ends of the abortion debate?
You cannot have it both ways.
Please butt out of our business in Hawaii and please stay out of our state.
Name calling is for the sandbox….. Florida, without mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and Saran Wrap on the grocery store aisles, has significantly lower positivity rate than California who implemented drastic measures, similar to Hawaii. I am glad Hoosier lives in Hawaii; it will be a wonderful day when every single Blue voter congregates in just a few states. Hawaii is in awful shape, sold out by the Blue politicians, who pretend to care about the local people while they sellout to the rich haloes……. Hoosier is one of them! I can’t wait to sell my home, that I grew up in, and leave Kauai in my rear view mirror forever! 50 years is enough for me!, But a mighty Aloha to you, and your name calling- such a demonstration of the Aloha Spirit…
I protest the cok takings of this most recent debacle that will only benefit a few builders and most from out of state.
In the Kilo Decision of u.s. Supreme court on emminate domain, the Honorable Judge Sandra O’ Conner wrote volumes about why we should NOT OVERTURN THE 5TH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION….. read about it and weep! The people of Kauai are being fleeced again!!!!
Without the research of what litigation and costs to even make this happen is a predictable blunder by the poorest educated sitting on the county Council…. time to look at the bigger picture and heed the advice of our most highly educated and experienced people who decades ago firmly
Voted for development Corporations to build worker and affordable housing first…..
We here on Kauai are glad people like Gary Hooser lives here and those like Craig Waldvogel of Clearwater Florida don’t live here. You can leave your commentary in Florida.
We are glad Mr Hooser lives here as well, however I dare say you all in Florida could use a lot more people like him. Florida is hardly the state to tout how governors act like adults as they try to ape the FORMER president. You do , of course recognize that President Biden is the duly elected current president?
“for the people who actually live here and grew up here and canʻt afford to live here”. ???
Don’t kid yourself. Many of whom you speak are here as “imported” workers who now realize that they can’t afford to live here.
Eminent domain is for the “good of the public”. “The Public” being “everyone”. Not just a handful of people.
Kauai does not provide adequate employment to afford a home for a single wage earner family. Most home buyers qualify for their mortgage loan with income from elsewhere or other sources. NOT from a wage paying job here on Kauai.
Sylvia, with all due respect, wasn’t Waimea just given 400 acres without the use of imminent domain? If I recall correctly, 24 acres are to be set aside for housing. Therefore it begs the question of the priorities of the planning commission. How much of the 23 acres up north are to be sold to residents so that they can enjoy the fruits of ownership? I would imagine, zero.
I totally agree!! Thank you Craig!
Craig Waldvogel,
2021: American Rescue Plan funds for Florida = $17.62 billion.
“Fortunately, federal policies have helped Florida manage its ongoing revenue shortfalls.”
Laughter, followed by a loud mic drop for unrealistic Craig.
Dream on we can afford to live in our state. We can afford gasoline how about you?
LOL…………..
Only on the Hawaiian islands is “Born and raised” used on a resume as some type of accomplishment and some type of entitlement. Being born and raised means nothing. This state will bankrupt itself trying to collect taxpayer money in order to provide “affordable housing” to the lazy that are afraid to leave an island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, for better opportunities. Leave the island after high school…..go to where there are better job opportunities and a lower cost of living…..make your money, save your money, and then move back to where you were “born and raised” if you can afford it. If not, then stay where you have opportunities.
Maybe re-read Craig’s letter today, and move to Florida where there is no state income tax, and Florida is not spending millions of dollars on land for the lazy that don’t want to take personal responsibility or accountability. Life is not that hard if you actually try. There is a whole planet with hundreds of countries out there, and thousands of opportunities. Stop the madness!
Apparently it does, that’s why you’re triggered… they’re two kinds of people in this world, HAWAIIANS and those who wish they were… BORN & RAISED!!!
How are you going to feel when the traffic backups get worse with a continuous crawl
from Kealia to Lihue??
I continue to advocate for a Mauka road from Kilauea or Princeville, to the Kahili Mountain park area, with turnoffs for east and west Kapaa, and east and west Lihue.
Maybe we’ll be able to get away from traffic coning every day…
@ C Waldvogel-
If you’ve never lived in Hawai’i, and are happy to “choose to live in the ‘free state’ of Florida”, maybe you’re unaware that Hawai’i has been a “free” state since it ceased to be a territory in 1959 when it became the 51st state of the USA. In Hawai’i governors are elected by the ‘free’ people of the State, just as they are in other States. And also, you live at the opposite ‘corner’ of the USA. What difference does it make to you that the governor of Hawai’i is doing a better job of protecting the safety of the people who live in his state than yours is?
RevW……. You must have been sick during your US history class. Hawaii is state number 50.
Craig; we are happy you live in Florida and not here. Another reason I will never visit Florida. There is a big difference between regulating what a woman can do with her body that doesn’t directly imperil society at large and mandating vaccinations. Because of the selfishness of a minority of people, this pandemic has dragged on. Most hospitalizations and Covid related deaths are unvaccinated people. Most rational people don’t view Florida through the rose-colored glasses that you do and see it for what it really is,
Thousands of Hawaiians grateful Craig lives in Florida.
@RevW “51st” state??? go count the stars on the flag again…
Reading what delight Sylvia and others take in seeing someone’s property forcefully taken in return for the euphemistically noted “fair market value”, reminds me of what Frederic Bastiat had to say about such odious practices:
“See if the law [government] takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.”
The unthinking may offer up the rationale that “the current property owner is being paid for it”. This does let them escape the guilt of their pride in seeing someone forced to sell for some purported “public good”. Do they think that a lucky few who will have their housing subsidized by the current property owner and the rest of us taxpayers are “the public”?
Imagine what would happen to you if you put a gun to a property owner’s head and forced him or her to sign the deed over to you for what you thought was a fair price…clearly you have committed a crime and would be summarily prosecuted. So is it any less of a crime if the government does what we as individuals cannot legally do?
Shame on Sylvia and all the other unthinking looters.
Colin McCleod
Craig…it’s funny because it’s true…