Wille’s done more than other council members to help island’s working people
I am writing in response to Tyler Saito’s Aug. 1 letter to the editor titled “Wille’s interest not in line with real issues” in which he claims Margaret Wille has done little to help the working people of her district.
The truth is Wille has done more to help the working people on this island than any other council member. What Wille has not done is toot her horn about her accomplishments.
Let’s start with mass transit – which is a big benefit for working people. Wille has been championing mass transit issues for many years. Are you aware it was she who initiated the effort to establish the intra-Waimea shuttle bus service – long before she was on the council? We can also thank Wille for the construction of the Parker Ranch Connector Road (Ala Ohia). She single-handedly forced the county and Parker Ranch to pony up to install that road and pedestrian pathways when the Planning Department was going to give Parker Ranch a waiver from constructing the road concurrent with development of the adjacent Lualai Phases III and IV subdivisions. This term, she has fought for an islandwide upgrade of our mass transit system, and the consultants have now been hired to start planning that upgrade. As part of that plan, she is seeking a regional transit hub to be located in Waimea, possibly on Kamamalu Street on NHCH property. Without any legislation, she was also able to eliminate the Hele-On bus fee for carrying packages, and eliminated the extra charge for bicycles when the rider purchases a monthly pass.
She is also busy working on bills to save us real property taxes and making sure the impact of the tax burden is fair. So too she has championed solid waste bills to reduce our tax burden. She alone among the council members stood up to the administration when it proposed a solid waste plan that would cost the taxpayers some $100-$300 million over the next couple decades for a mass burn incinerator. Instead she got us a zero waste program so that we will now have invasive species-free mulch, and starting in July 2018, high-grade compost available to our farmers. This diversion of green waste and all compostables reduces the greenwaste in our landfills – which otherwise causes an environmental risk. She also got passed an environmental management bill that allows the administration to direct a few additional refuse trucks to the west side landfill, which legislation is saving us over $1.5 million a year. With respect to our utility bills, she has not been involved – because that is a state issue, not a county issue.
Concerning homelessness and affordable housing, both Wille and her opponent have expressed concern. But it is only Wille who proposed a solution that she is now working on. She is drafting legislation to give homeowners financial incentives to provide “ohana” space for affordable rental units. I have not heard of any new solutions from her opponent.
In each of the communities in her district, Wille has initiated community programs to improve the well-being of all residents. Here are just a few examples here in Waimea: She kick-started the “Coffee with a Cop” program (so residents meet informally with area police officers), the free books nook project at the Waimea Keiki Fest, the recent Tropicare Program for Waimea school children in need of dental work, and a school supplies project that is now underway for middle and elementary school students.
We should all be grateful that Wille is so hardworking on our behalf and re-elect her on Saturday as our District 9 County Council member.
Allen Wooddell
Waimea
It’s time we have schools our keiki deserve
An exciting event is about to take place! Our governor is asking the community’s input on our dream for public education. With the new federal law that replaces No Child Left Behind, we have the freedom to return to locally-based education and ditch the Common Core standards, which were rated lower than our previous standards. We can abandon expensive mainland standardized tests, which were never field tested, are developmentally inappropriate, and lack research to show their validity. Teachers were not allowed to see these tests, so students were set up to fail.
With the new federal law, the state must prove that the community has had input into the blueprint for public education. People need to bring their biggest, boldest dreams for our educational system to the Town Hall meeting in the cafeteria of Kealakehe High School 4:30-6:30 p.m. Aug. 17.
It’s time we have the schools our keiki deserve!
Mireille Ellsworth
Hilo
Imagine such low character?
In response to the Aug. 2 letter by Sandra Gray, who is having her “Trump”signs stolen from her property. The last words in her letter are “But I can’t imagine a person of so little moral character.”
Sounds like Donald Trump to me!
Rich Reed
Kailua-Kona