PUBLIC HOUSING

BACKLOG, VANDALISM HINDER REPAIR EFFORTS

I want to thank The Advertiser for drawing attention to the Kuhio Park Terrace elevator problem in your editorial on May 24. It's a serious and frustrating situation for the residents, the housing officials and the elected officials of the district. You imply that the Legislature should have appropriated the administration's full request of $15 million instead of $5 million for the repair and maintenance of public housing elevators.

The Hawai'i Public Housing Authority has a backlog of over $600 million in public housing repair and maintenance projects, including elevators. This terrible situation was inherited from the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawai'i, an agency that was so overwhelmed, and in my opinion ineffective, that the Legislature split the public housing function away from it.

It is the administration and its departments that implement the funds appropriated by the Legislature. We are not going to resolve the backlog of repair and maintenance by continuing to appropriate more and more money. We need to help the HPHA in prioritizing the workload and finding ways to systematically reduce the backlog.

Regarding KPT, whenever the elevators are fixed, they soon become inoperable or unsafe due to heavy vandalism. We cannot afford to continue repairing these elevators on such a frequent basis. Before throwing more money at this problem, we must get to the root of it, and we must get work done in a timely manner from our contractors. At the very least, we would like to see better security measures in place.

COPPER THEFT

THE BILL IS ENFORCEABLE IN ITS CURRENT FORM

Jim Henshaw hit state Rep. Tommy Waters with a low blow by asserting that Waters lied as to the enforceability of HB 1246, a.k.a. the copper theft bill, because Waters defended the bill as enforceable by saying that it "was introduced by the attorney general" after saying it was flawed, which would necessitate fixing it next session (Letters, May 22).

State Attorney General Mark Bennett opined that the bill as written is indeed enforceable (Honolulu Advertiser, May 11). In that same article, Waters states that he agrees with the attorney general's opinion, but that he'd be happy to "clarify" HB 1246 if necessary. Henshaw conveniently omits these facts from his letter.

Henshaw continued to imply that the lawmaker may "fool" his constituents into re-electing him, but "he certainly won't fool the defense attorneys who would beat" HB 1246 in court.

Being that Waters, by profession, is a defense attorney, I believe the representative is far more qualified to opine on the defensibility of HB 1246 than is Henshaw. Furthermore, Waters doesn't need to "fool" his constituents — he's an honest, effective and community-minded legislator who was re-elected with 75 percent of the vote in 2006.

Waters and I ran against one another in the primary election of 2002, an election won by Waters. Nonetheless, I recognize an exemplary public servant when I see one, just as I do an unwarranted and meritless political attack.

NATIVE SPECIES

GILL NET TAKES THE LIFE OF ENDANGERED MONK SEAL

Hawai'i's endangered monk seal population numbers one less today after an adult male needlessly drowned just offshore of Makua Beach, victim of the lay gill net wrapped tightly around its body. The surf washed the dead seal ashore where it was followed by a female who appeared to be grieving its loss. Its mate, perhaps?

Happening in the wake of recent press reports of scientists wanting to cull the Galapagos shark population in an attempt to help give the monk seals a boost serves only to heighten the senselessness of its death.

There is something seriously wrong with our plans to protect this species when we designate national monuments and propose to kill another species for the seals' preservation, yet turn a blind eye to a practice that so completely ravages the marine environment, including these majestic animals.

The time for a complete ban of lay gill netting is now!

LEGISLATURE

CRITICS SHOULD OFFER SOLUTIONS OF THEIR OWN

As a participant on the 2007 session legislative staff, I saw our politicians working hard to get bills enacted and the budget passed. This is not a clear-cut process.

When a legislator writes a bill and attempts to get it passed by both houses and then signed by the governor, a lot of obstacles exist along the way. For instance, a bill could die because no committee hearing was scheduled, or the bill did not get the votes needed to pass due to a power play. Even if the bill passes through both houses, the bill could then be vetoed by the governor.

Politicians do listen and do consider the future because ultimately their future depends on you and your vote. If you are not happy, get active and make an appointment to meet with your representative. If you are going to criticize, then offer a solution as well.

The politicians will listen, but it is not up to one politician to come up with the end result you are looking for. So if it doesn't work out the way you want, at least give him/her credit for trying and try again!

KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS

ALL HAWAIIAN CHILDREN SHOULD BE ALLOWED IN

Clearly, Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate should be held to a higher standard and follow the will. It also should be held accountable for mismanagement because it is blocking many Hawaiian children from attending because these children have to pass a test and pay high tuition. All of the Hawaiian children are deserving of a chance, if they want to go to Kamehameha Schools, and they should not be blocked by testing and tuition costs. It's time to follow Pauahi's will, for real, and stop wasting her money.

LEGAL TACTICS

ATTORNEY DID NOT DESERVE PUBLICITY

Whether or not we agree with him, certainly it is in the public interest to hear the perspective of the attorney suing Kamehameha Schools. But to publish his outright solicitation for new clients is an outrage. Let him get clients the old-fashioned way, not by giving him thousands of dollars in free publicity. Shame!

NATIVE HAWAIIAN KIDS DESERVE ASSISTANCE

How fortunate the children of David Rosen are. Their father is taking on a battle which will ensure that they aren't "second-class citizens in their own home." They are also privileged because with the wealth from his "busy legal practice," surely he's able to amply supply for their every want and need, and send them to whatever private school he wishes.

Native Hawaiian children aren't as fortunate. Most of their parents can't do the same for them. Native Hawaiians are disproportionately represented in the prison system, foster care system, welfare system, special education system and every other "system" there is in Hawai'i. There must be a more deserving cause for Mr. Rosen to take on, other than the admissions policy of the only school whose mission it is to "assist people of Hawaiian ancestry to achieve their highest potential."

Children of Hawaiian ancestry deserve a chance so that they aren't "second-class citizens in their own home." This is what Kamehameha Schools offers. What Mr. Rosen's children deserve is to have a father who fights a battle that can make them proud. This one's not it.

RIGHTS OF BENEFICIARIES SHOULD BE PRESERVED

This letter is in response to the May 27 commentary by attorney David B. Rosen.

Rosen makes the pretense that he is not "anti-Hawaiian." I prefer the term "anti-kanaka maoli" to describe Mr. Rosen's statements.

He insults people of Hawaiian descent by stating that "there is a need for another lawsuit" to challenge the Hawaiian preference admissions policy at Kamehameha Schools.

Rosen further makes that pretense that he is willing to work for $1 so that his children do not grow up as "second-class citizens in their own home." Rosen fails to recognize that Kamehameha Schools is a private estate directed by the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The princess had no children. Her will specified that her beneficiaries are children of Hawaiian descent, just as her natural children would have been. She desired that her children would receive an education. What mother would not desire to help educate her children?

How would Mr. Rosen feel if his estate was sued and the court decided that his children had no rights as beneficiaries? How would Mr. Rosen's children feel if their rightful estate was taken from them and given over to someone else? Is taking money for education away from children of Hawaiian descent the type of action that Mr. Rosen's children will feel proud of?

COURT'S BENT WOULD NOT ENSURE HAWAI'I JUSTICE

Attorney David Rosen tells us that it was Kamehameha Schools' decision to settle the Doe case rather than risk an adverse U.S. Supreme Court decision that prompts him to seek new plaintiffs to challenge the schools' admission policy.

He argues that the trustees should have allowed the case to be settled by the "highest court in the land," and that had that happened, it would have settled the matter for him.

Such reverence for law and judicial process would be much more respected in the Hawaiian community if it didn't come more than 100 years too late.

If Mr. Rosen doesn't understand that Kamehameha Schools and the resources of Princess Pauahi's lands were designated for our lahui when we were still a nation-state and constitutional monarchy, before we were invaded and occupied by the United States and before a foreign government was imposed on us against our expressed wishes by an American Congress that supposedly respected the rule of law, he might ask one of our high school students to educate him.

But Rosen's admonitions appear more cynical when one realizes that he wants a ruling from a high court with an ideological bent even more favorable to his thinking than the one that ruled against the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in 1999.

Rosen thinks that Kamehameha should seek a just ruling from a bench that has reached a peak of conservatism and from a federal system that has been distorted by right-wing politics under George W. Bush. Personally, I'm glad the trustees are not that stupid.