Letter: Don’t bail out wealthy beach homeowners

I, for one, was appalled at reading the article about Senate Bill 1026, which would require the state (meaning the taxpayers) to buy back North Shore properties to bail out some rich homeowners, many of whom have been ignoring laws and fines for years (“Bill proposes the state acquire Sunset Beach lots hit by erosion,” Star- Advertiser, Jan. 29).

Their stalling tactics are finally catching up with them. The key piece of the article refers to “the state’s failure to enforce its own laws and uphold its duties under public trust doctrine.” Why make laws if they’re not going to be enforced? Instead, the government waits and wants the taxpayers to foot the bill, millions more for us to bear. Is there no end to the madness?

Here’s a suggestion: Let the homeowners know that if they don’t clean up their destruction of the beach with their sand burritos, rocks and more, then the city will send in a crew to do it, charge the owner for it and, if not paid along with the fines, then do the eminent domain thing.

At some point, the government needs to see that the extremely high cost of living in Hawaii is also of their own making, more spending and taxing. On it goes.

Chuck Dozier

Kailua

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