I would like to take this opportunity to notice our yearly state legislature hearing thousands of potential bills in a massive frenzy, committee heads for controlling what gets a hearing regardless of human necessity, the passing of empty bills, the habit of wearing colored wigs during stressful deadline week, and finally, criminalizing a myriad new things which tax the poor, such as scooter riders, who can’t afford regular transportation.
I also notice that in most anything to do with the county government, like the state, there is never any discussion or thought of government reducing their own internal waste or taking pay cuts, or finding a way to make things cost less, such as the park for $22 million bucks in Pahoa.
Heck, if you gave that money to the residents, all of lower Puna would be a park, and not only for folks who play baseball. There would be plenty of jobs for folks who want to take care of the sides of the roads and all our parks. There would be no more chain link fencing us out of our places, we can use them when we need them.
Look at Hawaii’s greedy cannabis dispensary fiasco which will lead to expensive product grown under fake sun, cut out regular folks from even applying for a license, and keeping poor sick folks facing persecution using the black market.
Look at the new Pahoa roundabout, let’s look for cost overruns after the grand opening. There is not even a bicycle lane in the roundabout, but what do we get for $4.8+ million anyway?
Look at the county and state budgets. Look at the percentage increase each year of employee costs: wages, benefits, retirement perks, etc. Look at the total budget increase. The employee cost increases are like three times more than the budget increase. That is not sustainable. So poor folks programs are cut.
Look at the police budget. How much of that is a projected assumption of forfeiture and ticket revenues, really just extortion of the people? Again, what is the public safety budget increase compared to the overall budget? About three times as much, that is not sustainable, and programs for poor are further cut.
How come a guy in Ainaloa can have dozens of fighting roosters stolen, report it to the police, and a short while later get a call from Honolulu PD that his roosters are being put on plane home to Hilo? But corrupt politicians, domestic violence, meth houses, robberies, thefts, missing persons and murders go unsolved and/or unprosecuted.
Patrol cops have grants to fund them taxing poor folks by setting up seat belt and safety check stings and new courthouses are funded that way and by police writing their quota of moving violation tickets. Still seeing Green Harvest flying almost 10 years after they were supposed to stop. Apparently there are no grants or even interest for closing drug houses, busting car theft rings or stopping your neighbor from beating up or killing his family. You can wait for hours for a 911 response when there are guns involved in Puna or Ka‘u. I know it’s scary but that is what we need police for, not monitoring registration tags.
I’ve been reading The Art of War, and I recommend all persons in legislative and executive government read it, because the way things are going our government has been sponging off the people to create a massive bureaucracy which employs them, their friends and family at the expense of the common folks, and it is the exact way to ruin our islands just as US protracted wars are ruining our country and others.
Get off your greed and power trips please! Take care of all people (not corporations) and they will take care of you. Taxing, criminalizing and penalizing us for everything under the sun is a prescription for disaster.
Sara Steiner is a resident of Pahoa