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Letters to the Editor

Letter: Wrong for rest of island to decide on Kihei STRs

The Maui County Planning Commission is hearing Mayor Richard Bissen’s plan to de-list the Minatoya properties.   This action will have the greatest effect on South Maui because nearly 5,000 of the 7,000 properties are located in Kihei.  Since the list’s creation in 1989, Kihei’s entire economy has grown up around servicing these affordable vacation rentals and the tourists that stay in them.   The loss of these tourist’s dollars will profoundly affect the restaurants, bike, shops, surf schools, skate shops, small stores, and other small businesses in Kihei, but the ...

Letter: US economic giant still expanding, strengthening

I applaud our collective good fortune. In 5,000 years of recorded human history, no country, no kingdom, no society on earth has ever experienced an economy like America enjoys right now. This economic giant is still expanding, strengthening. Anyone whining about inflation, not having enough money or feeling left behind, or other economic gripes needs to take personal inventory. Jobs are plentiful; wages are up; stock markets are regularly soaring to new heights; economic opportunities abound. More millionaires and billionaires are being created now than ever before. People ...

Unprofessional response to victims’ allegations

I read the story in today’s The Maui News about the carjacking/armed robbery/terrorizing case with less shock and surprise than perhaps I should have.  Apparently, the victims were not believed, at least at first, and this is very troubling. That first responders, including a supervisor, could then allegedly display such unconcealed victim-blaming seems to be par for the course here, and speaks volumes about the professionalism, judgment and training of at least some of the employees of these two agencies. There is always another side to every story, but I doubt if the police ...

Letter: Iao Valley’s Kepaniwai Heritage Park

Over the 4th of July weekend holiday , I had the privilege of doing a local boy scout tour with some of my off island friends when I noticed the huge number of local families enjoying the facilities at Iao Valley’s Kepaniwai Heritage Park. I also noticed that all the children were playing in the cold waters of Iao streamed which can be a very dangerous situation proned to flash floods periodically. I then asked myself, what happened to the two swimming pools we once had at the Heritage Park. One was a small pool for toddlers and one a regular pool for older children and adults. I ...

Begging county to clear squatters from beaches

I am a real estate broker, and was trying to help the people of Maui with housing, only to be met by bullies forcing me to leave. Literally, a client asked me to look at a vacant lot in Kahana to add a modular home so Lahaina could house a displaced family. When showing the prospective buyer (via FaceTime), we saw the ocean nearby, so the prospect asked me to show him the beach. I drove around the block and parked legally on the street in front of the beach park, a beautiful little cove. As soon as I approached the beach, squatters on the beach approached me and started ...

Biden’s attributes sorely lacking in his opponent

The yard sign reads, “Age Before Dictatorship.” As an octogenarian, I am dismayed by Joe’s debate performance, but undeterred in my belief that he possesses wisdom, experience and humane qualities of a statesman that are attributes sorely lacking in his opponent. If we must be given to accept that the frailty of the human body is reason to dismiss a person’s worth, then we must pause and inventory his/her deeds and accomplishments before claiming the person as worthless. Joe’s list of accomplishments is unquestionably admirable. What he failed to do in the debate was ...