Stadium a natural for natural grass
Why doesn’t Aloha Stadium have natural turf (“Aloha Stadium replacing 5-year-old turf for $1.2M,” Star-Advertiser, June 29)?
We have sun year-around. Grass grows well. Perhaps it is because the stadium was supposed to move to accommodate baseball. Oh, well. At least we painted the steel that was supposed to stop rusting.
Now we’re spending over a million dollars to fix artificial turf. As I recall, it wasn’t too long ago that we paid for a brand-new artificial field.
Be different. Play soccer, too. It can’t be that expensive to pay a few people to maintain a grass field — and we’d be putting a few more people to work.
In this day and age of mega-stadiums, Aloha Stadium stands out. All 50,000 seats have a good view of the field. Why not make it stand out even more and plant natural grass?
Fred Fogel
Volcano, Hawaii island
HB 1850 doesn’t shield scofflaws
I have three permitted vacation rentals on Kauai.
I’ve gone to great lengths to make sure I have all my permits, that I pay all my taxes and that my properties are in full compliance with both state and local laws.
Some vacation rental owners simply aren’t that conscientious. They might avoid paying taxes rather than going through the hassle of registering for general excise (GET) and transient accommodations tax (TAT) licenses.
House Bill 1850 would ensure that those taxes are paid. It would allow vacation rental platforms to automatically deduct the TAT and GET amounts and remit it to the state. With this bill, I wouldn’t have to compete against folks who either choose not to pay their taxes or don’t know how.
Local laws are important and should be enforced, but this bill wouldn’t shield folks as critics have claimed. Under this bill, the state would have subpoena and audit power to chase down scofflaws.
The governor is making a big mistake if he vetoes HB 1850. He’ll lose much-needed tax revenue, and hurt hotels and legitimate operators like me.
Don’t wait for the counties; get the money now.
Ellie Knopf
Poipu
Punishment for accident too light
Let me see if I got this right: drunken driving; pedestrian killed; another seriously injured; failure to render aid; left the scene of a fatal traffic accident. The sentence imposed was 30 days (“Motorist gets 30 days in jail for killing a pedestrian,” Star-Advertiser, June 30).
A 20- to 40-year sentence would have been fully justified in this case.
This type of sentencing imposed by Judge Colette Garibaldi goes on and on in Hawaii. Her name should be added to the long list of judges who are no longer fit to hold their lofty positions.
We have a huge problem with our Judiciary, which puts no value on human life. Our judges routinely show more compassion for the guilty than for those killed or injured.
James Robinson
Aiea
Report made it clear Clinton lied
The political cartoon depicting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reacting to the Select Committee on Benghazi report is misleading (Star-Advertiser, June 30).
The report detailed how Clinton repeatedly lied to the American public about the Benghazi attack being a reaction to an internet video, not a pre-planned act of terrorism, for purely political reasons.
Saying the report uncovered “no evidence of wrong-doing” does not make her bald-faced lying right.
Rhoads Stevens
Hawaii Kai
Legal path fails our Filipino vets
I was quite upset when I read that Filipino military veterans were still having trouble after many years getting their families the required legal immigration status to get into the United States (“Program joins Filipino vets with kin,” Star-Advertiser, July 3).
What was so upsetting is that we are giving “illegal aliens” so much attention and compassion and hope. Yet these Filipino veterans are going through the legal process and seem to be waiting behind these other aliens. This is absolutely unfair and a slap in the face of these outstanding veterans.
This has also been a local issue for many years. It seems our local politi-cians bring it up in election years but never get this injustice resolved.
Chuck Reindollar
Makiki
Homeless, rail getting really old
I don’t know about the rest of your readers, but I am getting tired of reading about the homeless and the rail.
If it wasn’t for these two story lines the paper would be about half the size. Reading about the homeless is like watching the tide go in and out — they move in and out of each area time and time again. It is like trying to herd cats. Now they are going back to Waikiki. Until something really new happens, just don’t report on it.
The same goes for rail. The whole project is a complete disaster, like so many projects in Hawaii — the Obamacare rollout, classroom air conditioning estimates, road conditions and more.
There are enough negative things going on in the world without reading about these subjects every day in the paper.
Carl Bergantz
Kaneohe
Speculations don’t equal facts
Richard Borreca’s column on the decision to place Tom Gorak on the state Public Utilities Commission is embarrassing (“Ige makes own power play with move to fill PUC slot,” Star-Advertiser, On Politics, July 3)).
Borreca was highly critical of Gov. David Ige’s decision to place Gorak on the PUC, using words such as “appears,” “speculating,” “wrinkle,” “probably” and “critics.”
He even included an allegation that the appointment was made because PUC Chairman Randy Iwase was against the proposed merger.
Borreca should base his editorial comments on factual information and avoid using his personal views to discredit people.
Charles Ota
Aiea
CEO skills don’t apply to politics
Many accept the specious notion that Donald Trump’s business expertise qualifies him for the presidency.
Consider that the business executive has essentially dictatorial control within his organization, while the president contends with a lobbyist-controlled, partisan Congress, the Judiciary, our Constitution, individual states, and competing and often belligerent sovereign nations.
An executive has only shareholders to please. The public welfare, and even public health and safety, are of no concern, and clearly subordinate to profits.
Assuming his father’s real estate and construction business shortly after college, Trump has only experienced executive power within his inherited bubble of eager, ambitious sycophants. His irrepressible confidence is real, but entirely delusional, based on his artificial and distorted worldview.
George Nakamura
Mililani
80 responses to “Stadium a natural for natural grass”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
IRT Rhoads Stevens: Not only did she lie, she’s completely incompetent. The FBI made that abundantly clear.
Hillary has been smeared by Republican’s for 25 years. The American public know who the liars are.
Downhill lied, cheated and stole. you don’t have to make this up.At the present we know that the whole FBI thing is tainted the law(and it has been copied and pasted many times in the Eds.) does not just say”intent”. By investigation of handling and destroying documents she is guilty, under the Law.
Bengazi= she lied to us, she lied to the families of the dead she continues to lie. She new about the “non-video”, she know about the security issues, she new about the 2 rescue teams called down during the attack
She’s treasonous. She sought money from foreign govs. for favors. That has always been Treason(hint start with B. Arnold)
Bogus university? She had the State Dept. give her friends, for profit U, 150M$, then the U. gave Bill 16M$ for “services rendered”…On and on…
Pretty good summary. This lady is down to lying about her previous lies about earlier lies.
Fox s talking points. Word for word. Fox parrot,aarrgghhh. Polly wanna cracker. Cracker.
Be very careful nana the Fox is watching you. Whitewater, Vince Foster, IRS, Cinton Foundation, Benghazi, classified emails and it all started with lying Hillary as a young lawyer during Watergate. Look it up.
Even the infamously left wing fact checkers have re-graded her previous remarks about the email scandal to the full 4-Pinnochio bald face lie, up from the original Benefit-of-the-doubt 2-Pinnochio rating.
“New” is not “knew” and how do you “know” about security issues?
I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
OldDiver says: “Hillary has been smeared by Republican’s for 25 years. The American public know who the liars are.”
Ah, you must be talking about that “vast right wing conspiracy.”
I believe the liar is the person who claimed Benghazi was triggered by a viral video and who said she never used her private email server in the basement of her house for classified email. The FBI disagrees.
Don’t you wonder WHY she didn’t want her email to go through secure government servers?
Clinton did ask the NSA for a secure server on which to use email from a smartphone but was denied…..http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2016-03-16/emails-clinton-sought-secure-smartphone-rebuffed-by-nsa
So, if you are denied, just go ahead and do it anyway?
So, if your are denied, you go ahead and do it anyway?
It’s the Clinton way. Ask Monica.
I asked to bring a full tube of toothpaste the last time I flew to the mainland, but was denied by TSA. You think I should have ignored them and just did what I wanted?
“But your honor, I asked for permission but they said no, so I did it anyway.”
Only a “don’t confuse me with the facts Democrat” could still believe that Hillary isn’t a liar. She’s been caught on film numerous times telling her whoppers. What I find more interesting is hearing from people like you who refuse to accept what most reasonable people now believe.
Depends upon what you mean by liar. I mean the republican candidate for president is not known for being truthful. In fact I think he leads in the number of lies among all candidates. The country basically accepted lying when they voted in Ronald Reagan in 1980. They chose lying over truthfulness and it has only gotten worse.
“”Depends upon what you mean by liar””
Are you kidding?
Paul Ryan is a big liar as well.
“don’t confuse me with the facts Democrat”. you wouldn’t know “fact” if it hit you in the face. how about “I am not a crook” Nixon, or “slam dunk” or “yellow cake” George W. Bush? the truth is what you want it to be as with lies.
Lie?! A politician?! I can’t believe it!!
Like the old joke goes: How do you know a politician is lying? When his/her lips are moving…
Boots….we know of your dislike for Republicans. I have a dislike for most Democrats and a lot of Republicans. You and OD’s love for Cankles and Obozo just stuns me. People with at least 2 oz of common sense can see through their BS.
OD is back and still supporting Cankles. Cankles and Slick Willie have themselves to blame. Scandal after scandal dating back to Watergate and when Slick was the AG of Arkansas. Yeah, we know who the liars are and they all have “D” in front of their names.
So sweet of you to care.
Yes we do know who the liars are. And the FBI showed that clearly that liar be Hillary.
The FBI isn’t Republican!
Lots of rain may be a problem for grass in the Stadium.
Yup ! Loads of MUD !
I still remember the mud bowls at the old Honolulu Stadium.
“Be different. Play soccer, too. It can’t be that expensive to pay a few people to maintain a grass field — and we’d be putting a few more people to work.”>>> A few? You mean like 3 ? 40k per? 120k annually? 200k total after benefits? 1 million in 5 yrs? BEFORE adding layers of retirees and THEIR benefits? Your “it can’t be that expensive” becomes “it IS that expensive”.
Have you seen the baseball fields in the communities? The workers can’t even maintain those.
Then there’s that too.
Or not allowed to. Hawaii is one of the few states where I have not seen weed control or fertilizer applied to parks and public sports fields. A good friend of mine in the Parks Division told me the enviro nazi no GMO types make it impossible to do it. They make a huge scene if an area is cordoned off for treatment and if an area is not cordoned off but treated, its is a scene equal to or greater than the one caused by cordoning off an area. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Meanwhile, the parks and sports fields turn into gigantic weed patches. Without fertilization and weed control on a programmed basis, that is what happens.
“The governor is making a big mistake if he vetoes HB 1850. He’ll lose much-needed tax revenue, and hurt hotels and legitimate operators like me.”>>>….allowing illegal operations to thrive at your expense so what have you learned from this? Maybe they’ve learned something that more and more Hawaii business owners have learned about what you have to do to survive Hawaii business taxation here when Hawaii’s govt props up those don’t comply at your expense. Kind of like car registrations. They don’t do anything to really enforce the registration requirements and when revenue falls short – they just raise the registration fees on the honest fools.
Yes…speaking as an honest fool, I get so sick and tired of seeing the swine in town driving around casually with expired safety/registration and without an apparent care in the world. And usually chatting away on their cell phones, too…
We can’t discuss vacation rentals in Honolulu. It’s too controversial. But we should still collect state taxes on these businesses. Ige is too timid here.
“We have a huge problem with our Judiciary, which puts no value on human life. Our judges routinely show more compassion for the guilty than for those killed or injured.”>>> THIS is what happens when you have “appointed” judges vs the cities where judges have to run for office. In THOSE cities, judges RUN with slogans like “tough on crime” or “fair but firm” to appeal to the PUBLIC to whom they have to ANSWER to for their JOB. Obviously not the case here.
Agree. I had to testify in a civil case at the court on Ala Kea street.
The list of hearings were people busted for public drunkenness or violating a TRO. The judge threw out most of the cases with a warning for the offenders to “not drink in public” anymore or to not go near the person who filed for TRO. No consequences. Our police wasted their time arresting the offenders and the judges wasted tax payer money with their decisions.
Try traffic court sometime. Throw out everything if you show up with a CURRENT insurance/registration and they then IGNORE the penalty for not having a valid one at the time. Then they just go home and cancel their insurance again. No penalty – why not.
“Saying the report uncovered “no evidence of wrong-doing” does not make her bald-faced lying right.”>>> But apparently the FBI’s quote of “exceedingly careless” is good enough for a Clinton.
…and a potential President?
This would kill her candidacy if her opponent wasn’t even worse. How both major parties have ended up with two prospective nominees who are so unlikable as to be unelectable, if not for the other, is a national disgrace.
“The public welfare, and even public health and safety, are of no concern, and clearly subordinate to profits.”>>> Public welfare? Health and safety? HOW has he demonstrated disregard for either?
Dear Chuck R., I agree, but you have to know that the Bigoted WH says”illegal Mexican aliens are special, they’re better” Everyone else especially other races(legal applicants)” “go to the back of the bus”. The Mexicans are are better, they are special, they don’t even have to be legal.
The Dems and Wh who declare everyone else is racist, are themselves the most racist.
George Nakamura, you forgot a most important quality of Mr. Trump, it is called Leadership. Also, Mr. Trump knows how to establish a clear objective, organize, coordinate, execute, and complete projects on time and within budget. Ms Clinton does not understand how to complete a project. Mr. Nakamura, can you name one project Ms. Clinton has completed on time and on budget?
Please spare us the glowing praise for Donald Drumph (Trump). He may have checkered business experience, but none in foreign policy or even politics. He’s a bad, scary joke. If the Dems had a decent candidate, he wouldn’t have a prayer.
Let’s recall that the current resident in the WH had no foreign policy experience, let alone job experience. And, upon review of Cankles 4 years as SecState, she does not have foreign policy experience.
Trump doesn’t seem to learn from his business experience. He keeps going into chapter 11.
Let me get this straight— a CEO responsible for business operations, meeting financial targets, bringing projects, manufacturing, or business agreements to fruition while managing (sometimes) thousands of people and complying with law doesn’t amount to experience valuable to the presidency—-but flubbing our nations foreign policy, lying repeatedly to the public, and accomplishing essentially nothing, does?
I’m must be really confused about what it takes to be chief executive.
POTUS not = ignorant, bigoted, dishonest, vindictive narcissistic real estate developer with a history of repeated failed projects
Hillary = ignorant, bigoted, dishonest, vindictive narcissistic with 30 years of criminal activity. Prison yes..
Exactly my point.
All politics is about comparative choices. Even if I accept your list, Clinton still does not fare well. Incompetent, compulsive liar, unaccomplished, and, really, untested.
Grabauskas for president!!!!
Lol,meeting financial targets. Does multiple BANKRUPTS and firing thousands count? Lol.
Our Government does not go bankrupt. They just raise taxes.
Until there is no one available to take money from. Actually our government would not now pass the stress test.
Dear Carl B.: Could it be that these 2 subjects ts are always discussed and covered daily because they:
1.are disasters
2.no one in Gov. seems to have a clue as to what to do solve the problems before they blow up!
3.People are concerned because the Dem polit-bureau will not do anything to solve the problem and its effecting their lives
Regarding grass in the stadium, if I’m not mistaken the original field was grass but due to issues that resulted from heavy rains and use the field was often unplayable. There’s also a significant cost to maintain the field. Remember, the maintenance crew are all public union members so there’s probably ten guys watching one guy mowing the grass.
I remember that Original Real Grass – What a Bad problem it was.
In regards to Ellie Knopf “HB 1850 doesn’t shield scofflaws”; did she actually read the bill? Or more likely just listen to Airbnb’s propaganda? Governor Ige legal team has analyzed the bill and has determined it will allow illegal vacation rentals to proliferate in our neighborhoods. These illegal hotels reduce the housing stock for our local residents. Having homes for our residents is more important than making the paperwork easier for vacation rental operators to fill out!
HB 1850 wouldn’t make life easier for unpermitted vacation rental operators, it would generate tax revenue by increasing their cost of doing business. Taxing an activity adds a disincentive, making a product or service more costly and less attractive to customers. A veto is an instant 20% off the price for illegal operators who don’t pay their taxes. This will encourage more visitors to use them! A veto gives them an advantage over law abiding, tax paying operations (permitted BBs, hotels, etc).
Not only are opponents backassward about the tax incentives/disincentives, but some are mistaken about what would happen if we could stop all unpermitted vacation rentals.
If C&C were to shut down all vacation/short term rentals there would still be housing problems, plus some new ones:
1) Our hotels have been consistently running at capacity, and unless more are built there’s no room for all the visitors who have been using short term vacation rentals.
2) A marked decrease in accommodation capacity on Oahu, will result in fewer tourists, reduced tourist spending, reduced business revenue, fewer jobs, more unemployment and more difficulty affording housing.
3) Many visitors who seek out short term vacation rentals serk out such accommodations and will not come to Honolulu if they were forced to stay at a hotel/resort.
4) Neighborhoods that complain about increased activity from tourist rentals, will now have increased activity from long-term renters.
4) Long-term renters often have to share space with family or roommates to afford it. This meaning more people, more cars, more street traffic.
5) Some long-term tenants are disruptive, with wild parties, barking dogs, loud domestic arguments, thunderous motorcycles, etc… They can be hard to evict. Some are vindictive or threatening. Such nightmares next door can go on for years.
6) An onoxious Airbnb guest will be gone in a few days. This is rare because guests have a “profile” that is used to screen them and to keep them honest.
7) Visitors who rent via AirBnB or VRBO tend to be quiet older folks who turn in early. Many are relatives of nearby residents who are visiting for family events. They have luggage and a rental car. Tourists who want to party and make noise tend to go to Waikiki where there’s nightlife.
8) Currently, homeowners are incentivized to keep their homes looking good by the same online rating system used for guests.
9) Many homeowners who relied on vacation rental income (which is more than for long-term renters) will struggle to pay their mortgages, and will be less able to afford landscaping and home maintenance costs.
10) Homeowners who don’t need the extra income that much, will reject the hassles and liability that often come with long-term renters and all their stuff.
11) Some long time residents will choose to to sell their homes to wealthy investors or buyers from the mainland. This is already happening in Kailua and similar neighborhoods, and without extra visitor rental income, this will accelerate.
12) With reduced GET, TAT and economic activity after so many visitors are turned away from our tourism-based economy, the State will be forced to either raise taxes on residents or cut back on services.
If Honolulu County refuses to allow short term vacation rentals, visitor numbers will plummet, with reduced economic activity, fewer jobs, reduced tax revenues, more strain on social services, and increased homelessness. There may also be a decline in the quality of life in our neighborhoods. These are some of the reasons why Maui county decided to expand approval for short term vacation rentals.
This is what opponents of the airBnB bill (hb1850) failed to acknowledge. This will be the cost of enforcement of draconian restrictions on our supply of B&B/vacation rental permits.
Danno, They are not called “unpermitted vacation rentals”, they are called “illegal vacation rentals”! Are you afraid to say the word “illegal”? Your diatribe is bunch of nonsense. We don’t need illegal hotel rooms for vacationers in our neighborhoods, we need homes for our residents. That is why the Governor is vetoing the flawed Airbnb bill. The purpose of residential zoning is to provide housing opportunities for residents. If we need more vacation rentals, allow them to proliferate in resort zoning. Last week, Anaheim banned all vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods. Why? Because their residential neighborhoods were being turned into resort districts and their residents were being forced out of the community. New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego are all banning or restricting vacation rentals in residential zoning for the same reasons. Wisely, Honolulu made vacation rentals non-conforming in residential neighborhoods back in 1987. As an Island community, we knew that tourism sprawl could overtake our island and threaten our housing supply for residents. Now Airbnb is trying to circumvent our zoning laws with bad bills like HB1850! Our Governor won’t let that happen!
Vacation rentals are important for our economy. We should trying to discuss These issues rather than ignore them.
wiliki says: “Vacation rentals are important for our economy.”
Wait. Does this mean Mayor Caldwell is running illegal vacation rentals?
Kalaheo is going too fast? What a bizarre response.
“He’ll lose much-needed tax revenue, and hurt hotels and legitimate operators like me.” The key word here is legitimate … Lets put more energy into compliance.
IRT “Report made it clear Clinton lied” The job of the Secretary of State is to communicate or country’s point of view. Not tell to tell the truth. I remember an interview with Kissinger where he explained that the truth had little to do with what they said … it was being understood that was what was important.
Funny how the left wingers cannot let go of anything said by GW Bush but justify Shillary’s lying.
IRT “CEO skills don’t apply to politics” One is the payer and the other is the payee.
For now we’ll just have to be patient until James Comey answers Congress on the “Extreme Carelessness” the State department made.Because he made a lot of determinations on Hillary’s incompetence….and last i check, Ignorance is not an excuse. However, I have NO confidence in Congress in getting anything done. Be assured folks,they’ll drop the ball again!
“The FBI’s recommendation is surprising and confusing,” Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said. “The fact pattern presented by Director Comey makes clear Secretary Clinton violated the law. Individuals who intentionally skirt the law must be held accountable. Congress and the American people have a right to understand the depth and breadth of the FBI’s investigation.”
Comey said 110 emails in 52 email chains discovered on Clinton’s unauthorized server were classified at the time they were sent or received, including some that were “top secret.” He also said that while the probe did not prove Clinton’s server was hacked, it may have been – and he pointedly noted that she used unsecure devices while visiting countries hostile to the U.S.
Free preschool education for needy kids.
Guy, seriously? I tend to agree with your view that early education for all kids is a good idea. What I can’t understand is why you keep announcing your message daily to an audience of snarly Cranky Old Men? Are you lobbying the legislature? Have you met with your representatives to try to get bills submitted? Are you working to build coalitions of like-minded people in your neighborhood? Have you testified before your neighborhood board and asked for locally based input to develop solutions?
If your answer to the above is “no” then all you are doing is engaging in a bizarre form of verbal self-gratification.
It’s called free speech. It’s what “snarly Cranky Old Men” are good at. And this is as a good place to discuss this issue as any other place.
IRT “Speculations Don’t Equal Facts” Yes, of course. But that’s why Mr. Borecca column is in the OPINION section. Your read it for his opinion. It’s not a news report.
Agree with George Nakamura (CEO politics don’t apply to politics)…There is nothing in a corporate hierarchy remotely similar to the separation of powers in the federal government. A CEO can override board of directors’ decision; whereas a president has to deal with Congress to get much of anything done. A single senator can torpedo a president’s initiative through “filibuster.” Further, Corporations and governments have different goals; the former being profit oriented and the latter being service oriented.
This is probably why a lot of CEO’s are ignore on gov’t policy. They don’t know much about politics.
Regarding the Filipino vets – why are they having a hard time bringing their families here? Hawaii has lots of Filipinos and they make up around 23% of the total Hawaii population (second largest ethnic group) – the vets should do what they are doing to get into Hawaii.