Police Board

What would Hanabusa do? (July 2, 2018)

— Jeanette Hereniko, Honolulu

Teacher Retention

Growing some of your own (July 5, 2018)

Seems like a fantastic program. Unfortunately it is quite limited,  which should have been addressed in the article. (“How Hawaii Is Trying To ‘Grow Our Own’ Pipeline Of New Teachers“)

I’ve been a sub for 10 years. Both public and private, longterm and short. Never intended to be a teacher but after years of getting wonderful feedback from teachers and more importantly hugs, notes, smiles and “aha” moments from students, I started toying with idea of going back to school to get an education degree at age 57.

So, when the Grow Your Own program was announced last year I was thoroughly excited, ready to commit to becoming a “real” teacher. After many calls and emails I was told that the program was designed to certify only those who had an undergrad degree in science, math, and some foreign languages to fill the need for middle school and high school teachers.

Sadly, my degree in journalism and communication combined with 10 years experience, was not enough to qualify. I was quite disappointed to say the least. I get the need for upper school science/math teachers. I just wish the program had broader range to accept those of us educated, willing and excited to teach.

— Kim Osborn Mullen, Kailua

Elections 2018

The silly season is the same as always (July 5, 2018)

This current election is shaping up to be just like all the other elections. To me, this is just unbelievable. Ige and Hanabusa are the only two being shown by the media to be viable for governor? Really?

2050 was the original year that scientists thought the Pacific Ocean ecosystems would collapse because of overfishing. 2048 is the new date. The Antarctic is melting three times faster than previously thought. That is current science. We have islands disappearing because of sea level rise, volcanos erupting, storms getting worse and worse and climate change keeps getting more extreme.

Hawaii has zero agricultural self sustainability, that is to say, we can not feed ourselves without imports for more than a few days, we are fossil fuel dependent, and economically dependent. And this is all on Ige’s and Hanabusas watch as well as their predecessors.

For the love of life puh-leez wake the heck up Hawaii! We, quite literally, do not have time for more of the same. I don’t care who you like, vote for what we need. Get off your lazy butts, do some research and then vote like Hawaii and the world depend on it. Because it literally does.

— Javier Ocasio, Honolulu

Rail Cost

You just can’t trust these people (July 2, 2018)

Pinocchio’s nose (aka HART) keeps growing. “Feds: Honolulu Rail Is Still Short By $134  Million” emphasizes that. This organization cannot be trusted. No matter who is at the helm, they keep obfuscating. It is time for the Mayor and City Council to pull the plug and end this monstrosity at Middle Street, where buses, taxis, bicycles, Uber, Lyft, etc. can take over before the city goes bankrupt. Meanwhile HART is conducting soil sampling, condemnations along a route that may never come to fruition.

— Lynne Matusow, Honolulu

Housing Crisis

Converting rentals to condos (July 2, 2018)

I agree with Neal Milner — we need to treat the affordable housing shortage as an emergency, and that attitude “needs to drive housing policy.” (“Neal Milner: Treat Hawaii’s Housing Shortage Like The Disaster It Is”)

Land is expensive here. Building low-cost housing on state land is necessary to construct the number of low-cost affordable units needed to make a sufficient dent in the shortfall quickly. In Hawaii the cost of the land under the housing is generally 50 percent to 75 percent of the unit’s total cost (info from Lincoln Institute tables of land values by state) Only low-cost housing sited on government-owned land could take 50 percent to 75 percent of the cost of housing off the top immediately.

If the state leases land for $1/year (a lease that Hale Mauliola and others got) and for virtually nothing with Kauauiki Village on Nimitz, low-cost housing can be hugely successful. To show he’s interested in creating successful ohana zones to address the homeless emergency, Gov. Ige can declare an emergency for ohana zone areas striving to shelter the homeless — as he did for Kauauiki — to waive some building codes. And if the city put in sewer and water connections — as it did for Kauauiki Village — ohana zones could also be quickly built.

— Renee Ing, Honolulu