Subdivision too much to handle
Mahalo to Bill Hall and Joel Gimpel for expressing their concerns over the new Kona subdivision impact on Kona Vistas and Pualani Estates. The 450 new units means probably another 900 vehicles on residential streets, not Highway 11 as the developers from Oahu say they can’t get a road there.
Three-story rental units? How many views blocked? With voluntary water restrictions, where are the extra millions of gallons of water coming from? The department of water sure doesn’t know.
Every land owner in my opinion has the right to develop his land, as long as his project is something that fits with existing surroundings, is safe for all and is not based on greed.
I, too, hope the county officials give serious consideration to the impact of this project on the surrounding area.
Jerry Olson
Kailua-Kona
Wall has made left insane
Here’s a simple question: If Obama had proposed the wall, would you feel differently about it? And ignore for a minute that Democrats did recommend secure fencing as recently as 2006.
In the Obenski column of Jan. 12, Mr. Obenski says: “Walls, like locks on doors, only keep out the honest, curious people.”
No. Walls are an impedance to anyone, honest or otherwise.
“History is replete with stories of walls that didn’t work from the Great Wall of China to the Berlin Wall.”
Wrong.
If the Great Wall had not impeded the Mongol hordes, do you think China would have continued construction over 22 centuries? Really? Was it a hobby?
The Berlin Wall was very effective. Not morally correct, but highly effective. Do you know anyone who fled East Berlin? I do. Thousands more East Berliners would have fled to West Berlin if not for the difficulty of climbing the wall under the eyes of soldiers.
What about Hadrian’s Wall, Mr. Obenski, that protected Britain from the Picts? There are too many other examples to list. The left’s arguments that walls don’t work is nonsense.
Humans have been building walls for our entire existence, have we been wasting our time?
Another point. Have you ever managed employees? If an overwhelming number of your employees tell you they need something to better perform their jobs, and that something is grantable, would you deny them? What kind of a manager would do that? The Border Patrol is overwhelmingly requesting a wall to help them do their job.
Also missing in these arguments is any mention of drugs and human trafficking. Do you deny that a wall, with attendant sensors that will be part of the new construction, will slow the flow of drugs across our southern border? Not stop it cold, but maybe just slow it down? Save a few lives? Maybe a few hundred? Not worth the cost? Not worth trying?
Another point. If America needs more workers, OK. Vote to increase the nearly 1 million-person legal immigrant quota. Beef up the support systems, the courts, whatever is necessary. But let them in legally! Vet them! Process them! Find out if they have criminal records. Are they drug smugglers, MS-13 gang members? Terrorists? Or just people seeking a better life? It’s insane to inhale millions of people of unknown character, origin and history.
Stop the insanity. Build the wall.
David Wagner
Honolulu
Well done on moray one-liner
Kudos to the headline writer of today’s paper … picture of the eel.
I’m still chuckling.
Phyllis Hanson
Kailua-Kona
Nothing free about septic
Free septic systems? Mr. Mihalka, in Hawaii the cost of putting in a septic system is $20,000 to $30,000. And they must be maintained. The homeowner bearers all the costs associated with his system.
I am sure that if you were to live to be 200 years old, the small increase in your sewer bill could in no way pay for a single septic system. I would love to be connected to a government-owned sewer system but it is not available where I live. So how about you and the rest of the people on the system pay for it to be installed in all of South Kona? How ignorant and mean spirited to suggest that those of us who cannot have a sewer system also pay for those of you who do.
Cindy Whitehawk
South Kona