Accountability needed
The Hawaii County Board of Ethics is reviewing an ethics complaint pertaining to the county’s actions at TMT protest on Maunakea Access Road. Yes, I have read the Corporation Counsel’s legal opinion, which states the county largely has no jurisdiction up there — it’s a state issue.
The county took their cues from the state as far as any enforcement action on the protesters. I don’t have a problem with the latter, but I do have a problem with a singular county action that crossed the line. This was when county manpower and equipment, which is taxpayer funded, was used to lay and grade an aggregate material pad on the lava rock for the benefit of only the protesters. This not only broke state environmental laws, but also inappropriately used taxpayer funds for the sole benefit of one group.
I strongly believe the focus of the ethics complaint should be narrowed to investigate who approved the use of county funds to do this work.
These individuals should be held accountable for their actions.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
Nomination inappropriate
I am writing this letter because I am uneasy about the message Mayor-elect Mitch D. Roth is sending to the people who elected him. It does not appear that the residents of Hawaii Island are his first priority. If we were, he would be focusing on infrastructure improvements and how to fund them. We are choking with gridlocked intersections and standstill traffic. No one can deny that.
Roth’s nomination of a developer-friendly consultant Zendo Kern to be the director of our Planning Department is questionable in any scenario, and it is especially inappropriate now, as Hawaii Island’s residents and tourists struggle in the throes of seriously inadequate infrastructure. Kern is a consultant to developers with a history of fast-tracking west-side projects to plump island tax revenues that disproportionately benefit the east side.
Kern is currently a consultant to the Developers of “KV3”, a high density Residential Development that would front Queen Kaahumanu Highway, across from Pualani Estates. “KV3” is only a mile from another high density development, “Royal Vistas,” also fronting the highway. (Mr. Roth, please note that Queen Kaahumanu Highway has only one lane in each direction to absorb additional traffic, and it is already over capacity.)
Roth should be telling us his plan to address infrastructure improvements, and how they will be funded and prioritized before we study any new developments. Once we have infrastructure capacity, then the mayor should appoint a planning director who will navigate us to the greenest, best-use developments that benefit all of us.
Janice Kerr
Kona
Deprivation of options
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rise in the United States, we find ourselves living with many uncertainties. A few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine announced that she was having a baby. While everyone gathered around her with great surprise and joy, she stood there with a blank expression on her face. As her family members left the room, she told me that she felt selfish for not being happy about her situation.
There is a stigma attached to pregnancies; women should be ecstatic, glowing with this new life they’ve created, and looking forward to the arrival of their new born. This isn’t always the case, and society needs to recognize that women are allowed to feel however they need/want to feel.
With the stress of not having a job due to the pandemic, and her partner being furloughed, the thought of bringing a child into the world at this time has caused her stress and anxiety. To make a difficult situation even more upsetting, when she arrived at her doctors for a confirmation of the pregnancy she was met with disbelief. She asked her primary physician what her options may be in the event that she was not able to have the baby. Her doctor simply stated that “not having your baby is not an option,” and not to worry because “women always feel better knowing that they’ve kept their baby.”
Depriving women from being allowed to have options and making them feel guilty for a choice that should be theirs is unacceptable. Women need access to vital healthcare and everyone deserves comprehensive sex education. It is a basic human right.
Jessica Conner
Kona
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