Pay up, developers
Pay up, developers
I was dismayed to hear why Councilman Dominic Yagong voted against implementing an impact fee ordinance at the recent Kona Town Meeting. He believes it will negatively impact the Big Island’s construction industry.
However, Mr. Yagong fails to see the big picture. He wants to streamline county government and make it more accountable to the citizens of this island, but his staunch opposition against impact fees contradicts this goal.
The current fair-share system isn’t codified into law and was declared unconstitutional in 2007 by Judge Ronald Ibarra. In addition, Hawaii County is unfairly saddled with the cost of constructing infrastructure. For example, the county recently floated bonds to construct the La‘aloa Avenue Extension. The developer should build this roadway, not the county.
Hawaii County already has $305.6 million in bond debt, which is consuming about 15.9 percent of the budget. This debt will increase until developers start paying their fair share.
I hope Mr. Yagong realizes the fallacy of creating short-term construction jobs and changes his opinion on impact fees.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
Star of the show
I couldn’t have felt more proud of what Hawaii accomplished at the recent Philadelphia International Flower Show. The theme — “Hawaii, Islands of Aloha” — was reflected in the beauty of Hawaii’s amazing array of flowers. And the response from the people who attended was extremely gratifying, knowing that so much effort went into presenting this show.
Needless to say, our floriculture industry got very excited when we heard the news that Hawaii would be the central theme of this prestigious flower show. We were thrilled with the prospect of sharing our beautiful flowers and aloha way of life.
We reached out to the Hawaii Tourism Authority and all the counties of Hawaii. We were greeted with helping hands and spirit of cooperation. We appreciated the trust and confidence of Big Island Visitor’s Bureau’s George Applegate and Mayor Billy Kenoi.
On behalf of Hawaii’s floriculture industry, I would like to say mahalo nui loa to all who gave their time and resources to make this show a tremendous success. “Live aloha” was the message our flowers conveyed.
Eric Tanouye
President, Hawaii Floriculture and Nursery Association
Too much travel?
Mayor Billy Kenoi spent $100,000 on travel expenses (Tribune-Herald, April 12).
Mayor Billy Kenoi is setting his carbon footprints all over the earth!
Gina Martin
Hilo
Support for Lui
I am a young resident, born and raised on this beautiful island of Hawaii. I want to put in a good word for uncle Abel Lui down at Kawa Bay.
Uncle Abel was more than kind to us when my girlfriend and I went, for the first time, down to Kawa about four years ago. We were enjoying a beautiful walk and Uncle Abel greeted us with aloha and told us about the history of the Bay.
He was kind and considerate and was simply being a steward for the land. He has planted and cared for the land at Kawa for a long time and deserves respect and mahalo for all that he represents.
We feel very sad about all of the talk and legal dealings about getting him evicted. Why can’t government consider him as being an information kupuna on site? He lives and breathes aloha and is a fine example of living pono.
Please consider no eviction for uncle, and find him a way to fit in and help with this land of aloha in this modern day. It would be a shame to disregard his value to the community. Mahalo for your consideration in this matter.
Elizabeth McDonald
Pa‘auilo