Housing is a Human Right

On July 19, 2021, Stand Up Maui, Maui Tomorrow and Share Your Mana rallied in Kahului and Wailuku in support of the Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan developed by Hawaiian Community Assets (HCA) under contract with the County of Maui.

That plan is currently being discussed in the Affordable Housing Committee of the Maui County Council. HCA found that housing is needed most critically for residents earning from 0 to 50 percent and 60 to 100 percent of Area Median Income. These residents at the lowest income levels include the homeless, disabled, ex-inmates, veterans, abused women, low-income workers and those without a support system to meet their housing needs.

Gabe Johnson, chair of the Affordable Housing Committee, has proposed that the Maui County Council approve a housing plan of action based on the concept that Housing is a Human Right regardless of income levels. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has underlined that the right to adequate housing should not be interpreted narrowly.

Rather, it should be seen as the “right to live somewhere in security, peace, and dignity.” Monsignor Terrence Watanabe, writing in the Civil Beat on July 24, 2014, stated, “I believe we can build housing that our families can afford, and as a Catholic priest, I know we have an obligation to do so.”

I, Stan Franco, senior deacon of the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, therefore call on Chair Alice Lee and the Maui County Council to come together by the end of 2021 as a body to create a housing policy that housing is made available to all residents.

And, in addition, that Mayor Mike Victorino and the County Administration implement the new housing policy within three months from its receipt from the Maui County Council. I

Ask Maui County church pastors from all faiths and their membership to send your e-mails to Gabe.Johnson@mauicounty.us, Alice.Lee@mauicounty.us, and Michael.Victorino@mauicounty.gov affirming a county housing policy based on “Housing is a Human Right” for all residents regardless of their level of income. Thank you for everyone’s work for the people.

STAN FRANCO, President, Stand Up Maui

A vaccine solution for government workers

The governor and the mayors want all employees to have Covid shots in order to keep working for the government. Some exemptions may be given, but some may lose their jobs.

Now the unions are into it. I might have a solution. If you have the vaccine, get Covid and must quarantine for 14 days, you can use your sick leave to get paid time off.

If you don’t have the vaccine and get Covid, you can’t use sick leave but other comp time if you have to keep getting paid. This way, no one will lose their job or have to quit.

STEVEN B. ASHFIELD, Lahaina

Rules are set for Napili Bay Civic Improvement District

(The following letter was sent to county officials.)

AFTER HOURS of listening to various testimony on a lot of different subjects, the County Council just passed Bill #64, amending the language of the Napili Bay Civic Improvement District so that:

No new structures in the district can exceed two stories and 30 feet in height;

No new short-term rentals are allowed in the district; All existing businesses proceed as usual.

This is my paraphrase of the legal language, but THANKS to Councilmember Paltin and Planning Director McLean for updating the language to better reflect what is wanted and needed for Napili Civic Improvement District buildings.

PAT LINDQUIST, Napili

Conduct an election audit in Hawaii

A full forensic audit of the Hawaii federal, state and county election will prove once and for all that Joe Biden and other candidates won the election.

May we please move forward with a full forensic audit?

RICK SODEN, Lahaina

Why put a price on carbon?

Back in the early days of the environment movement, we could hold a local chapter meeting of most organizations in a phone booth. Environmentalists were widely ridiculed as “tree huggers,” and environmental initiatives were routinely ignored and allowed to quietly go away without any significant action.

That was then. This is now, and things have changed. Both the environmental community and the environmental condition have grown in size, scope and influence.

Perhaps the best example is the environmental energy that is coalescing around the positive strategy known as “carbon pricing.”

Carbon pricing proposes to charge large industrial and institutional users of carbon-based fuels — gasoline, diesel, coal, oil, natural gas — a fee which will go directly into a trust.

Then, on a regular schedule, the funds generated by the fee will be distributed to every American with a Social Security number.

Thus, the rise in prices for carbon-intensive products and services, which almost certainly will be added to the price of the affected products, will be lifted from the backs of consumers, who will be made whole.

This tactic has been supported by a huge U.S.majority. Other countries have already created their own versions, and more are in various stages in the process. Most environmental organizations and individuals are also in support.

Finally, this is an opportunity for us all, individually and collectively, to become part of an historic coalition.

Experts have endorsed the finding that adoption of the carbon pricing legislation now under consideration by the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives will result a reduction in U.S. greenhouse gases of 40 percent in the first 12 years.

This will affect everyone, and anyone can affect it. Learn how — go to www.cclhawaii.org published by Citizens Climate Lobby, a leader in the carbon pricing movement.

JEFF STARK, Member, Citizens Climate Lobby