It’s not a housing problem
When are they going to get it? It’s not a housing problem. Apparently, Councilman Aaron Chung was offended when he noticed homeless people sleeping on the street. So, he with 100% of the rest of the council members agreed to tap three-quarters of the tier 2 tax on luxury second homes for more homeless programs.
Please don’t say this money would be spent on housing. It’s not a housing problem! The majority, I’d guess at least 90%, of those living on the streets are there because of a lifestyle choice. I’m not against helping the homeless, but they do not want housing if they have to follow rules. They need mental health and addiction services. Make loitering and littering crimes again with consequences to encourage people into mental health and addiction services. Start putting money to those type of programs and you may get results. Otherwise, as usual you’re wasting taxpayer money.
Mikie Kerr
Waikoloa
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Beach park being
loved to death
Rules and regulations on the Kohanaiki Beach Park (also known as Pine Trees) website are not being enforced.
Campers and large parties are not required to clean up their sites and area. Regulations are not being enforced. And the general littering is on going. What happen to Kohanaiki Ohana? Why can’t the Department of Parks and Recreation and the county hire county positions full-time?
We should be priority. The community is paying a fee for camping. We need a new council person if this is allowed to continue.
Colleen Sullivan
Kailua-Kona
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Are U.S. security
agreements trustworthy?
The Budapest Memorandum is a security pledge given to Ukraine by the U.S., U.K., and Russia, signed in 1994, in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear arms left over from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ukraine inherited the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, including some 1,900 strategic nuclear weapons most all designed to strike the United States. This was a huge benefit to the U.S. and the West in general. The U.S. and U.K. promised to defend Ukraine’s security in exchange.
The wording of the Budapest Memorandum was somewhat vague and it was not ratified as a treaty by the Senate, but it was recognized by each subsequent presidential administration since Clinton.
The Budapest Memorandum pledges were requested by Ukraine in 2014, after Russia seized Crimea and again last week at the Munich Security Conference 2022, as Russia was poised to invade. Both times the guarantors, U.S. and U.K., refused to act to safeguard Ukrainian security. Both times the Ukrainian presidents told their people that they were “cheated” by the U.S. and U.K. with “empty promises.”
We are seeing the results of the latest failed promises.
With this clear record of the U.S. and U.K.’s honoring their security pledges, will any country depend on us to honor our pledge to assist their security needs? Will Iran or North Korea ever believe that U.S. pledges of security will be worthwhile in exchange for giving up their nuclear arsenal? Will Taiwan feel safe with U.S. pledges?
William Seal
Kailua-Kona
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