Please consider donating
to support county’s zoo
I would like to thank new Mayor Kimo Alameda for canceling the county’s plan to charge admission to the Pana‘ewa Rainforest Zoo. It was the right thing to do, because many local families would be unable to afford to take their keiki to the zoo if admission were charged. Our zoo is a point of great pride because it provides a beautiful, happy environment for families.
I am on the Animal Enrichment Team at the zoo. We are a volunteer arm of the Friends of the Zoo, which raises money for various projects at the zoo, including providing treats and toys for the animals and birds, upkeep of exhibits, design and construction of new exhibits, the purchase of new animals, and the hiring of a farrier to keep our equines’ hooves healthy.
Some of the construction projects the Friends of the Zoo has funded include the Primadome for the spider monkeys, the Petting Zoo barn, the enclosure for the ‘alala, and the painting of the murals around the zoo.
The animals and birds purchased by the Friends of the Zoo include the colobus monkeys, the anteaters, the hyacinth macaw, the binturongs, the lemurs and the miniature zebu.
All of this takes money, and that’s where the zoo-going public comes in.
Admission to the zoo may remain free, but the projects and purchases listed above are covered through donations. When you go to the zoo, please help us help you to have a memorable experience by donating to the Friends of the Zoo.
The county provides the funds for the infrastructure and the everyday upkeep of the zoo and its animal inhabitants through its dedicated zookeepers and custodians. Your donations will help us keep our furry and feathered friends happy and healthy and ensure that our beloved zoo remains a destination for visitors and residents alike.
Art Roberts
Hakalau
Greed contributed to
exorbitant housing costs
How is the house hunting going for renting or buying? Tough, right?
Looking for reasonably priced rentals or home purchases is very tough for most people these days. Decades of house-flipping and price-jacking and short-term tourist rental houses have priced many Native Hawaiians and others out of the picture.
The house in front of me is going for $1.2 million. Is it worth it? Oh, heck no! Small, dumb design, postage stamp lot, etc. In a real and common-sense world, that place should be only $250K, tops.
Greed has been the prime motivator. Do people really think that if you raise rents and home prices that it will make people happy and that it will be sustainable?
Folks have to work far harder to pay for rent and mortgage due to greedy people pushing fake valuations through the roof. No “investors” I’ve met are here to make Hawaii great. They are here to fill their wallets.
Now apartment building complexes are being considered here. Wow. Terrible idea.
I just want to thank all the genius real estate “investors” who managed to make some real nice coin. You’ve continued a game which cannot be played out to anyone’s benefit, not even your own, in the end.
Letting people run around willy-nilly “investing,” and not taking others into consideration, plays out just like you think it will. It’s playing out in front of my eyes on my street, looking at an overpriced house for sale and a short-term tourist rental none of the neighbors want around.
Please consider others over your wallet sometimes.
Allen Russell
Hilo
