People, not guns letter
earns Italian retort
My Italian-born dad had a perfect proverb in reply to Mr. Koubele’s letter. It goes like this: “Chi lava la testa di un asino, perde il suo tempo e’ il sapone.”
Translation: “He who washes the head of a donkey, loses both time and soap.”
Victor Ferro
Kailua-Kona
Trump’s head is beached
For a smart man, our president seems to have his head in the sand.
For the most obvious, to deny global warming, is simply ignorant. Just looking at all the extreme weather the mainland U.S. is facing is undeniable. And on the local front, all the land being lost due to sea level rises, especially on Oahu’s North Shore, is proof.
Even the other islands have seen changes in the last decade of beach side changes and sand erosion.
If he doesn’t wake up and admit that we are facing drastic times ahead, and take steps to curb a major worldwide crisis, we are all doomed.
Colleen Miyose-Wallis
Kailua-Kona
It’s taxpayer money
So, the Salary Commission is not happy being questioned about their award of increases that are greater than many taxpayer salaries on Big Island. Hey, give me your credit card and/or a blank check on your account and “trust” me to spend as I wish.
Mahalo, Councilor Lee Loy for having the big ones to stand up and question this absurdity and try to do something about it. We need more like you.
In the real world I went 10 years without an increase because of troubled times in high-tech but still did my job and was happy to have had one. Not to pick on the council, but the salary increase for council members alone is absurd, particularly since it’s a part-time job, not to say they work part time, but some do have other jobs and are absent from contact, deliberation and votes as a result? The sum of $70K for a part time job!?
It’s absurdity to compare our financial low end to such as Oahu and Maui. Get real!
Steve Lopez
Kailua-Kona
Bill 108 bad deal
for island residents
A recent op-ed referred to the 4,500 vacation rental listings on the Big Island. This number is misleading. Many listings are on multiple sites so are counted multiple times. Many of these listings are extra rooms rented in homes occupied by the owner or are in resort zones that this bill excludes. The suggestion that there will be 10,000 listings next year is not borne out by the facts.
There are many people who live here and own a rental property also. These rentals house visitors who spend more on average than tourists who stay in hotels. Most of the money earned from these rentals goes directly back into the island economy — for cleaners, landscapers, maintenance people and by the owners themselves who live and work on island. This is not true for hotels and resorts whose billionaire owners keep their profits far away from here.
Let’s find a way to limit the excess growth of vacation rentals in individual neighborhoods while protecting the island economy. For example, we could choose to limit the number of vacation rental permits as a percentage of houses in a neighborhood. Or limit the number each year based on a percentage of new permitted homes. Let’s work together to find a solution that works for all island residents.
Bob Kirk
Kona
Let’s all share the road
I walk along Alii Drive often and understand the bike lane is also used for mopeds. Often, there is no other lane to walk or run or bike in along there.
A few times I’ve had folks on motorized bikes bigger than mopeds yell at me for being in “their” lane. Come on man, there’s hundreds of walkers, runners and bikers there and I can count the mopeds on one hand. I try to always move over when I see a bike coming, or a moped, so let’s share the road as the only choice is often in the traffic or share the bike lane, and in spots there is no bike lanes, only the shoulders of the road.
If you are on a bike bigger than a moped, you are breaking the law, not the walkers, so please give ground.
Stan Chraminski
Kailua-Kona
