King of Kailua killed the magic

Once upon a time there existed a magical town located on a beautiful bay. It was called Kailua. Visitors from around the world flocked there. But Kailua was about to change.

Kailua was ruled by a king who lived in a castle at the junction and owned much of its commercial land. The king took pride in his town, but his advisers, who did not live in Kailua, thought of it only as a business. These advisers knew that other kingdoms had generated large wealth by leasing land to big boxes like Target. They advised the king to adopt this strategy. The king asked, "Wouldn’t bringing in these large outlet stores change the character of Kailua, increase the traffic, put local stores out of business, and ultimately destroy the town’s magical charm?" The advisers replied, "Really, Your Excellency, your serfs don’t think in terms of quality of life. Just provide them more shopping options, a few jobs, and they will be happy." Thus the magic left Kailua.

Target store will help community

For whatever it’s worth, I would like to throw my hat into the ring in support of Target to open a store in Kailua at the Don Quijote site. I know many are against it for traffic reasons, and I do not think that traffic will be any better with them coming, but I question how much worse it would be.

I would be willing to put up with it to get a good store that can save us a trip over the Pali to shop, especially when it offers so much. In addition, I understand it contributes to the communities where it is located and could add value and support to our efforts to make Kailua an even better place to live.

Meth Project definitely works

Does the Meth Project work? The answer is yes.

In my experience as a peer education program coordinator/health educator with the state Department of Education for more than 20 years, I’ve never seen an ad campaign have quite the impact on my students that the Meth Project has. Students are getting the message: "Don’t do meth! Not even once!" The television ads are getting their attention and are making them think. They’ve learned that the dangers and risks associated with this drug are just too high.

I’m also grateful that the Meth Project is providing classroom presentations to our students, free of charge, and working with peer education programs that can spread the word. The presentations capture the attention of students, not always an easy task, and leave them not only aware of the impact meth has on individuals, families and our community, but motivated to get involved to help share the message with others. Following a recent presentation at Moanalua High School, students were waiting in line to sign up to volunteer to help with this project.

Election offers 2 distinct paths

The November elections loom large for Hawaii and the nation. It does seem we are at a fork in the road.

Do we stay to the left with people who for the last two years have espoused "redistribution of wealth" by segmenting the Bush tax cuts and expanding the tax burden; i.e., going from $1,000 to $500 on the child tax credit, raising capital gains on our retirement plans and reducing the marital deduction, together with increasing top rates for the wealthy?

Do we stay with people fostering illegal immigration, apologizing to the world, alienating our allies, promoting the theory that a larger government will reduce the deficits, adding unconstitutional entitlement programs that place us and future generations in unsustainable debt?

Or do we take the road to the right and say that enough is enough, that we want an administration, representatives and senators who respect and honor the Constitution; who respect the rule of law and the loyalty of our allies; who respect the fact that in a free market some institutions will fail but others will rise up without government intervention; who respect that growth in the private sector, not government, and reduced spending is the surest way to overcome the looming deficits; who respect the fact that when government is smaller and not micromanaging our lives, we are all more free to make our own choices, resulting in greater opportunities to succeed and flourish?

Symphony woes are a disgrace

Honolulu should be a world class city. Sadly it is not.

We lived and worked on Oahu for two years, made many friends, loved the culture and the people, and participated in its musical life. We promoted Hawaii and Oahu to our many friends and told them Honolulu is truly a world class city.

We can no longer make that claim. You have failed to support your Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. The oldest symphony orchestra west of the Rocky Mountains may disappear, leaving your city and county of three-quarters of a million people and the greatest concentration of millionaires in the U.S. with only an amateur orchestra and a very limited season of concerts.

Frankly, this is a disgrace and should be an embarrassment to all in Honolulu.

We live in a region of half million people in Canada that successfully supports both a fully professional orchestra comparable to the HSO, and five amateur orchestras. Several years ago, our professional orchestra experienced financial difficulties. The community, media, municipal governments, businesses and students at local schools all came to the rescue.

Bailouts beget more bailouts

Why would the federal government need to bail out the states with education funds? Shouldn’t states learn to prioritize and take care of their responsibilities without federal bailout?

Whenever you give anyone handouts, you can almost bet that in the future there will be a need for further handouts.

Tax break not just for wealthy

As one who has been involved in preservation in Hawaii for over 10 years, I disagree that this historic homes exemption is for the wealthy. These homes are old and many times older people who are on fixed incomes live in them.

One of the first houses I helped place on the historic register was of an elderly woman who had lived all her life in the same home. Now zoned commercial, she could not afford the extravagant property tax of $8,000 a year. Now her beautifully intact bungalow is on the register and she is able to afford to live there.

Owners who have placed their homes on the register appreciate their homes and have personally invested thousands of dollars paying for the continual upkeep, especially in cases where older, dilapidated houses are restored to their original beauty. The tax break was to support those owners who work to maintain them properly.

There are responsibilities of the owner, ones that prevent those who just want to save a buck on their property taxes by listing their houses. Owners cannot tear down or significantly modify their homes without removing their house from the register first. This process is not easy and may include paying back taxes.

With Hawaii’s spectrum of architectural styles, economic status has nothing to do with whether your house is important to the history of Hawaii.