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Letters to the Editor

Life on Maui has become a hardship

Maui will always be our home, even after hearing so many negative comments about living in Hawaii and especially on Maui.   It is all true. Life on Maui has become a hardship, not only for visitors but especially for us local residents.  Costs of property taxes, garbage fees, car registrations, homeowner’s insurance, medication, water meters, utilities and even education have discouraged us from calling Maui our home. No, Maui is not the “best” at present. We can serve ourselves better by voting with more wisdom at the next election.  We need a local government ...

Kahului Harbor complete mess

Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources has once again dropped the ball regarding the ongoing deteriorating conditions at our Maui boat ramps. Kahului Harbor, for example, is a complete mess: No restroom or trash facilities, and the water pressure at the wash rack is a joke. The influx of homeless campsites there is out of control and poses both a health and safety hazard for our boaters and ocean enthusiasts. Maui boaters are all forced to pay higher prices for vessel registration and maintenance fees to use these state facilities. The lack of enforcement efforts to ...

Puzzled over fire station and Haiku park projects

My wife and I were blessed to find a home for our retirement in Haiku, but since moving here in 2020, there are a number of things I find puzzling. First, I heard a fire station was to be built close to our house near Haiku community park, but then protests against the buildings design stopped the project? The nearest fire station is in Paia, past the gulch, easily 15 minutes response to Haiku, but protests over the appearance stopped it? I don’t care if it’s butt ugly and looks like a fireplug if it can save my house and family. Second, what is going on in the park? ...

Wealthiest in country do not pay their fair share

A recent column published in The Maui News failed to mention the number-one reason for the surging U.S. deficit. The top 20 percent of U.S. wealth holders and income earners just do not pay their fair share of taxes. With those people who have multimillion dollar portfolios of assets able to defer, defer, defer tax forever, and others with annual earnings over $1 million having multiple avenues available to reduce their annual income tax bill, it is not surprising that the country faces the prospect of rising deficits. The top wealth holders and income earners in the country do ...

Newspaper sliding into obsolescence

As a former long-time journalist, still working in media communications, I’m saddened and distressed by the current state of The Maui News. The paper seems hell-bent on joining the hundreds of other local newspapers that have folded in recent years. Today, Dec. 21, there appeared one local news story in The Maui News. The front page could have been USA Today. The loss of two of the best writers in Hawaii, preceded by continued reductions in your editorial staff, does not bode well for local journalism on Maui.  Most news people understand that market and competitive forces have ...

‘Destroy the Roundabout’ party if bridge ever built?

Hawaii News Now reported 9/21 that the Hawaii Board of Education has $2 billion in unspent school construction funds gathering dust, and $500 million of that amount potentially expiring from the books unspent. Where’s the crossover bridge for Kulanihako‘i High School? And just out of curiosity, will the state and county sponsor a “Destroy the Roundabout” party when or if the bridge is ever built? Michael Kaipo Nye Maui Meadows