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LETTERS for April 12 Issue

By Staff | Apr 12, 2012

Olowalu project would increase area’s problems

(The following letter was sent to the Maui County Council.)

West Maui has problems, but the development of Olowalu will only increase them.

Our schools are already at capacity, so many projects have already been completely entitled, and our single two-lane highway is dangerously overcrowded.

Pulelehua, Kapalua Mauka, Puukolii and other projects will more than meet expected housing needs in the district, and these and others within the proposed Lahaina urban growth boundary are much closer to the jobs and existing infrastructure.

These developers propose to add 1,500 units with many hundreds of additional ohanas that will generate 3,000 vehicles.

They offer a commercial area, but we have to build schools for the 460-plus expected students, a needed fire station, a police substation, etc.

They claim 4,700 more jobs, but where will the workers come from, and how will they get to the job site? These will come from somewhere else and will be traveling on our existing roadway, increasing gridlock and make it more difficult for both tourists and hotel workers.

The draft of their Environmental Impact Statement has so many unsubstantiated claimed benefits but closes its eyes on the problems that will be increased.

It asserts that 1,000 permanent jobs will be created with the project (but does not point out how they arrived at that exaggerated estimate).

Unfortunately, new Olowalu residents will add to the traffic by having to commute somewhere else.

Somehow, the developers believe that all this construction will not affect Maui’s largest pristine reef area, offshore Olowalu.

The Planning Department has recommended against the Olowalu development, and the County Council should not include it with the urban growth boundary.

GORDON C. COCKETT, Lahaina

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Roosters crow all night long

I noticed some recent letters in the papers about rooster noise.

I used to write in and contact whomever I could in years past, but more or less gave up… and we were here before our rooster-owning neighbor.

I only sleep well when they are conspicuously absent, about five times a year. They are loud and unaware of the time, crowing all night.

I might add our Honokowai roosters are in the middle of long- and short-term rentals, and they do have an effect on tourists.

They think it’s quaint for a night or two, and then they decide not to come back next year.

I don’t have any problems about owning animals and using them for whatever reason, but I do have a problem with the county leaders not taking action on a recurring issue that affects the vast majority.

ROBIN CURRY, West Maui

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Hospice Maui appreciates support

On behalf of our staff, our patients and their families whom we serve, Hospice Maui would like to extend our gratitude to the Maui community for coming out in such great numbers to support the “Sharing the Green” Golf and Bocce tournament on March 17.

Over 104 golfers, 80 Bocce players and 40 volunteers participated in this event to support Hospice Maui & Kamali’i School Back Pack Buddies, a keiki nutrition program.

With the help of Golf Event Host Mike O’Dwyer of Mulligan’s on the Blue and Bocce Event Host, Patrick Kilbride of Title Guaranty, and our generous sponsors, American Savings Bank, Title Guaranty, FIM Group, Mana Foods, Makani Nui-Kaheawa Wind Farm, CoGenra Solar, Matt Cerizo of Allstate, The Rand Group-Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Anheuser-Busch, and Cycle City Maui, we were able to raise net proceeds of over $7,000 for Hospice Maui and over $3,000 for Kamali’i Back Pack Buddies.

KIMBER CARHART, Hospice Maui, Wailuku

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Don’t be like California

Don’t emulate California, once the world’s breadbasket and seventh-largest world economy.

Don’t be like California and elect officials subservient to the United Nations.

Don’t be like California, whose elected state officials passed the country’s only climate change law: “The Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, SB375” and “The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, AB32,” implementing United Nations Agenda 21, which is a comprehensive plan of extreme environmentalism, social engineering and global political control.

DAN TITUS, Alta Loma, California

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Energy: Too important to leave to corporations

Coal and oil, nukes and gas… All make bucks for the upper class.

In some nations, electricity is actually generated and distributed by the government itself.

In some countries, oil and gas production benefits everyone, not just CEOs.

It’s pretty common for oil and gas companies to be state-run, profitable and successful. That’s the case in Brazil, Mexico, Norway, Venezuela, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

But in the United States, profits rule while the environment takes a back seat.

Big Oil and the banks spend liberally on political campaigns, propaganda and lobbyists, whose job it is to steamroll government regulators so that environmental and public interests can be shunted aside.

Battles are presently raging over natural gas “fracking,” the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline, mountaintop removal mining, Arctic oil drilling and nuclear reactors that have yet to be built or ought to be shut down.

Defending the public interest are hundreds of grassroots and nonprofit organizations.

Some European nations are even now responding to the ills of global warming, peak oil and nuclear meltdowns by making renewable energy a national priority.

Washington doesn’t have this option, since we don’t own our own energy, and the corporations that do aren’t inclined to opt for conservation or safety.

Sure, we’ve seen the Obama administration gingerly raise fuel efficiency standards and demand lower mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Yet most of the nation’s energy subsidies support our environmentally harmful fossil fuel, nuclear and ethanol industries.

The Great Recession has masked the growing hazard of our energy dilemma.

In a down economy, it’s tough for voters to focus on global warming and environmental degradation.

And with gasoline usage momentarily reduced and natural gas prices deflated, why worry about the environment?

Do what you can to conserve energy and support organizations fighting for a more sustainable approach to our energy needs.

They can rein in those scoundrels who own the mines, wells and reactors – the ones who are leading us swiftly to environmental perdition.

WILLIAM A. COLLINS, Via E-mail