The word is out
If you think construction in Kona and Hilo is through the roof, you should take a tour of Ocean View. Lots are selling like crazy, bulldozers are working night and day to clear the land of any trees or plant growth, structures are going up before our very eyes. Word is out on the mainland and elsewhere, you don’t have to have permits or go through any legal hurdles to build in Ocean View — you can do anything that you want to.
Folks like me, who live in legally permitted structures, are finding themselves living next door to unpermitted shacks, mobile homes, and quite literally — junkyards full of wrecked cars, pallet tents, and growing piles of trash. Are these properties a fire hazard? Yes. Are these properties a hazard to community health, because they have no way to deal with the human waste of the many folks living there? Yes. Do some of these trashed properties attract and encourage criminal behavior? Yes. Does the County Of Hawaii enforce their many county ordinances that address these issues? No.
There are seven steps to go through before beginning a home building project in Hawaii County, to include “Land Use Review” by the Planning Department and “Septic System” review by the waste water department. Over recent years, our county has chosen to ignore the many complaints filed by residents in Ocean View, regarding these kinds of violations, going so far as to state, “as long as Mayor Kim is in office, these complaints will not be addressed.” Kim is no longer in office, so unless the county is prepared to rename the community of Ocean View “Free For All,” I think someone should get out here and do some enforcement of our current laws and codes that have been put in place to protect all of our citizens.
Heidi Jaworski
Ocean View
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What’s appropriate?
I live close to the East Hawaii Veterans Cemetery in Hilo. Rifle shots are fired when a body is put into the ground. What is the point of that? It only beats the drums of violence and war. It surprises and disturbs birds, dogs, cats and nearby neighbors. It adds already excessive, stress-producing noise to our lives. Wouldn’t silent contemplation be more appropriate?
Gary Harrold
Hilo
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Pidgin is an official language
In response to Mr. Foster’s May 2 letter to the editor, I would like him to know that Hawaiian Pidgin is an official language in our state since 2015. Our Pidgin is not some dumbed-down version of another language. It is a legitimate stand-alone creole language in its own right.
Here is a good resource: https://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/hce.html.
C. Olivera
Kailua-Kona
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Letters policy
Letters to the editor should be 300 words or less and will be edited for style and grammar. Longer viewpoint guest columns may not exceed 800 words. Submit online at www.westhawaiitoday.com/?p=118321, via email to letters@westhawaiitoday.com or address them to:
Editor | West Hawaii Today
PO Box 789
Kailua-Kona, HI 96745
