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The announcement by the Hawaii Medical Service Association that it is “outsourcing” hundreds of jobs to places like the mainland, England, India and the Philippines (“HMSA to outsource, cut jobs for about 285 workers,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 29), is just the latest insult to the workers of Hawaii who have wanted only a fair wage in our island home.
HMSA thus joins the outsiders, like the hotels built by foreigners for foreigners, that give plantation pay to their workers that is so low many must work two or three jobs to survive. Sure, corporations can save even more when they leave the poorly paid Hawaii residents behind or work them on the aloha plantation, only to take the profits out of state.
But the time has come for a concept called “Hawaii for Hawaii,” in which the riches from tourism and the billionaires who are buying up our aina are distributed in a way that the workers of Hawaii can afford to live here themselves.
Walter Wright
Kaneohe
Oppose plan for 180-day short-term rentals
The city Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) has a new director who has stated that the rules related to a 30-day vacation-rental booking are not enforceable. Yet hundreds of cities/counties through the U.S. have successfully enforced a 30-day rule. He claims that only a 180-day period will be somehow enforceable.
I believe he is incorrect, as I can point to numerous locations where code enforcement is enforcing a 30-day rental period. I propose this is not really an issue of enforcement, but an issue of not wanting to implement Bill 89.
If Bill 89 is to be discarded, it is not fair to do it during COVID-19, when people can’t attend meetings in person. During the recent public planning meeting, only 3 out of 4 of the “voices” got to be heard because the remote system does not work well for residents.
The solution is to limit all stays to homes with the owner living on-site — then the so-called “problems” all go away.
Cedar Kehoe
Waialua
Aquarium trade rules helped renew fish stock
It is clear from Claire Trester’s letter her knowledge regarding the commercial aquarium trade is lacking (“Time to end trafficking of fishes for aquariums,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 26). Mine is not: I ran Oceans Hawaii Corp. from 1970 through 1982, when I shipped Hawaii saltwater tropical fish all over the world.
The state-imposed regulations were exhausting. Commercial fishing licence. Tropical fish collecting permit. Mesh net size. Every fish we selectively harvested had to be reported to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources on a monthly catch report.
Next to my work in the U.S. Navy in underwater explosives, this was the most dangerous occupation I could have chosen. Rough seas, the bends, aggressive predatory sharks.
We did it because we selectively farm the ocean: Our “crop” would completely regenerate in eight to 10 months, and we could harvest it again. This was a renewable ocean resource we managed and took great care to maintain.
This was our way to feed our families — pay our bills and make a decent but very difficult living.
Deane Gonzalez
Hawaii Kai
Skepticism, ire raised over HPD traffic actions
With video evidence and eyewitness testimony of Honolulu Police Department (HPD) officers chasing a car in Makaha without warning lights on that resulted in a crash that badly injured six occupants, the city saying the driver was at fault just makes things worse.
Wasn’t there just a $10 million payment awarded to the wife of a doctor who was killed because of a similar incident, where a HPD officer did not follow procedures by having warning blue lights flashing? I myself have been tailgated by two different officers so closely I could not see their headlights; they eventually turned on their blue lights only after some time of tailgating.
I believe this is a tactic they use in hopes the person they’re chasing will commit more violations. With all the millions of dollars paid out by us taxpayers, and probably more to come, they want to raise money off traffic fines for more money for HPD? Haven’t we paid enough?
Lloyd Yamashiro
Ewa
Set term limits on all, not just some, offices
Why are there term limits on certain political offices and not others? Term limits on all would go a long way toward curtailing the cult of personality that is so undemocratically pervasive today.
Political ambition should be an avocation. No term limits leads, as is obvious, to avarice and manipulation of our fragile democracy toward autocracy.
Jeff Bigler
Wailuku
Explain why mistaken sirens went off, again
On Monday, government officials accidentally set off Oahu’s emergency sirens about 20 minutes before a monthly test was due to take place.
These two sirens alerts bring back memories of January 2018, when sirens went off alerting residents, erroneously, that missiles were on their way to Hawaii.
What is needed are in-house practice sessions among those responsible so that January 2018 is not repeated with a mistaken alert affecting thousands of residents.
Even the latest ones made me doublecheck on why two siren warnings were needed, but no clear explanation was forthcoming on TV.
Jay Pineda
Waikiki
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