Teachers need affordable housing
There is a direct link between public education and housing.
Hawai‘i’s business and political leaders will never be able to solve the perennial problem of keeping our teachers here from k to 12 all the way up to college if they refuse to provide affordable housing for them.
Our educators are not a privileged class. They are a hard-working section of our society that is responsible for helping to maintain our economic growth and societal stability by educating Hawai‘i’s diverse youth population.
Hawai‘i’s working class is at the mercy of the large land owners, greedy Realtors and rent-gouging landlords. No more excuses. Those elected to public office have got to take them on.
Ray Catania, Puhi
Kaua‘i deserves free job training too
In the July 27 edition of TGI was an article about free job training through UH Community Colleges.
I looked into it. There are three categories — health care, technology and skilled trades.
The health care category has 14 classes on O‘ahu and Maui and are in-person.
The tech division has nine computer and one business class on O‘ahu and Maui, but they are online and available throughout the state.
The skilled trades category has five classes on O‘ahu, Maui and the Big Island, with four being in-person and one online.
What happened to Kaua‘i? The tech classes and one trade class are available to Kaua‘i, but not the others. If you go to the KCC site, there are a number of certificate and continuing education classes in the three categories, so why doesn’t Kaua‘i have some in-person classes for free job training?
Mark Perry, Lihu‘e
Hawai‘i representatives fight for native birds
Thanks to the leadership of Appropriations Committee member Sen. Brian Schatz and all of the Hawaiian congressional delegation, Hawai‘i will receive $14,092,200 to protect native, threatened and endangered birds from avian malaria.
Nonnative mosquitoes have decimated Hawai‘i’s bird populations. Mosquitos are thriving due to climate change, which makes high-elevation mountains, where honeycreeper species live, more hospitable.
With a single bite, a mosquito can transmit a parasite, which can cause a bird to develop anemia, weaken and die. This funding is part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and will fund mosquito control, captive care for wild birds and other technological and eradication efforts.
The American Bird Conservancy Action Fund applauds Sen. Brian Schatz, Sen. Mazie Hirono, Rep. Ed Case, and Rep. Kai Kahele for helping to fight extinction and protect birds, which are all-important to Hawaiian culture and ecology.
Steve Holmer, vice president of policy, American Bird Conservancy, Washington D.C.
