CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Kaimuki residents held a sign-waving demonstration at a city Building Board of Appeals meeting at Mission Auditorium in June to protest construction of a “monster home” in Kaimuki.
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Please add demolition to the penalties in Bill 44 (“Honolulu City Council bill targets lying to get ‘monster home’ permit,” Star-Advertiser, July 19).
Nothing short of demolition will have the desired effect, but very few (perhaps only one) demolition will suffice to deter future wrongdoing. That first demolition also will help break Hawaii’s go-along-to-get-along mindset, so ably analyzed by Randall Roth in his recent Star-Advertiser commentary (“‘Going along to get along’ leads to government corruption,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, June 29).
If City Council elections were publicly funded, and the Department of Planning and Permitting was adequately staffed and compensated, problems like monster houses would vanish as if by magic. The time required to process permits also would decrease, perhaps to such an extent that Gov. Josh Green would not feel the need to create a parallel bureaucracy in order to build affordable housing.
Neil Frazer
Kailua
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