Shoot the white elephant — Hilo airport
There are only five counties in the entire USA that operate two or more international airports: Los Angeles County, Queens (New York City) County, Cook (Chicago) County, Harris (Houston) County. The four largest metropolitan areas in the country.
The fifth county? Wait for it!
Hawaii County! Population approximately 200,000 people.
Kona airport has annual passenger loads approaching 2 million and increasing. Hilo’s passenger loads are barely 600,000, and decreasing every year. Southwest Airlines is about to commence Hawaii service to Honolulu, Maui, Kona and Lihue. Notably absent: service to Hilo. Why? Southwest (arguably the most successful of all American airlines) understands that Hilo is a destination the market place does not need or want.
Hilo International Airport costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually to maintain certification. Its proximity to the Hilo dump is why the dump must be closed and Hilo’s garbage trucked to West Hawaii. Not to mention the noise restrictions on flights in and out of the white elephant.
All to keep Hilo International as a commercial airport that the market place doesn’t want and doesn’t need.
Far better to close Hilo as a commercial airport. Convert it to general aviation only. And use the tax dollars to actually build transportation infrastructure that Hawaii County’s economy and citizens want and desperately need: A daily, reliable ferry service to Oahu.
Politicians are constantly reassuring citizens of their listening skills. It’s time they listen to both citizens and the market place: Close the Hilo International Airport. It’s the white elephant in the room.
Kenneth Beilstein
Kailua-Kona
How can you run Will?
The only response to the column by George Will is that everything he wrote is a lie. Stand by your party and continue to not support facts. Your column is fraught with misinformation and out-and-out lies.
I wonder how you can live with yourself spreading fake bullet points that can not be proven with a simple search on the web.
David Macdonald
Kona
Other than paper, poor job informing neighborhood
I would like to thank WHT for informing us in the Lono Kona subdivision that the sewer project would begin on March 4. During the community meeting on Dec. 11 – which was presented by representatives of the County of Hawaii, Belt Collins Hawaii, and Nan, Inc. – no start date was set. We were told we would be informed when the contractor got the green light to begin. No official word has been given to the residents/owners by letter, phone or email.
However, starting on Feb. 11, a pink notice was taped to the cars parked in the Lono Kona area stating: “On 02-19-2019 construction will begin on the new sewer line. All vehicles need to be moved prior to this date.”
Two days later the police were knocking on doors and telling people that their cars had to be moved within 24-hours, not by Feb. 19, or they would be towed. This was our first clue the project was moving forward.
Never mind that neither Nan, Inc. nor Belt Collins Hawaii have bothered to tell us officially when construction will begin. Just because we live in the area involved and are going to pay for the construction of a sewer we never asked for. The County of Hawaii has already put a lien on all our properties. Why should they bother to keep us informed?
Elizabeth Poire
Lono Kona subdivision