Apology owed to Rep. Creagan
On March 11, your newspaper kindly printed my extended letter to the editor concerning the threatened Naalehu Theater in Ka‘u District.
Therein I expressed some simmering frustration with our district’s elected officials over their seeming lack of effort to resolve this long-running problem. However, I’ve since learned that Rep. Richard Creagan (District 5) did in fact initiate on March 9 House Concurrent Resolution 223, with the title of “Urging the County Council of the County of Hawaii to exercise its power of eminent domain to condemn Naalehu Theater to preserve the theater’s historic legacy.”
So my comments relating to Rep. Creagan were regrettably unadvised, and I’d like to publicly clarify the record if that would be possible.
Unfortunately, I was never informed about his efforts, and only recently came across the resolution text online.
Glen Winterbottom
Naalehu
Worldwide battle too
strong a description
I would not call it a worldwide battle going on right now as Tim Schutt put it. It is just a local disagreement.
It has been pointed out several times that no one wants to eliminate vacation rentals all together. Local hotels are full and actually cannot handle the influx of more visitors. They are not behind the vacation rental problem. The vacation rental problem only exists with vacation rentals in houses in residential areas that are owned by off-island nonresidents and are never occupied by the owner.
Maybe Mr. Schutt fell asleep in his rocking chair while reading the West Hawaii Today newspaper before he got to the My Turn column by Chris Fulien on Sunday, March 4, and is unaware of problems in residential areas where vacation rental houses are owned by off-island people who do not care about locals or Hawaii. They are in it for the money and there is no one around to control their behavior.
All the letters that are favorable of vacation rentals are from owners who live in their vacation rental residence. Not one comes from condo complexes or timeshares where late night noise and rowdy behavior is controlled. Does anyone out there have a good review where they live next to a vacation rental house that is owned by off-island persons that never lived in the vacation rental?
Teresa Tagon
Keauhou
Fed up with local government
Just by viewing the news on television and newspapers, especially letters to the editor concerning local government in Hawaii, there seems to be tons of corruption and dissatisfaction going on.
When a government worker on the local level does something drastically bad, he or she more than likely retires or gets assigned to another position. That is hardly just punishment. Nevertheless, these wrongdoers will stand the judgment of the great Lord who controls the entire universe.
Prestigious Forbes magazine called Hawaii the Republic of Hawaii many years ago and things haven’t gotten better. Increasing crime and rapidly growing homelessness, just to name a few, prove this point. Talks about a “political machine” in Hawaii was a humongous issue decades ago, and in my heart and soul I feel it has gotten immensely worse.
I know of winners and losers in certain voting districts on the Big Island, who I won’t mention, who are basically great friends in the same boat more than likely getting a piece of the pie from various projects instead of pushing for opposition. Government in Hawaii is basically a platform where elected officials laugh their way to the bank.
Dean Nagasako
Honokaa
