Jobs still scarce
As the years go by, the small town of Hilo is expanding and getting bigger than before. In the past three years our town of Hilo has gotten stores like Target, a bigger Safeway, and soon we will get our first Zippy’s in the summer of 2013.
The problem that’s still occurring is that even with all these stores that have been or going to be opening, people still don’t have jobs. With prices going up for food, clothes and almost everything else, it’s hard for the citizens of Hilo to pay the bills or to keep food on the table for our families. I just wish there was an easier way for us to get a job in Hilo.
Isaac Pacheco
Hilo
Mayor’s tax hike
Here we are folks. Our mayor is proposing an 10 percent property tax increase and a 25 percent weight fee increase.
The County Council and the mayor’s office refuse to review the property tax system in this county, perhaps to increase revenue without increasing taxes. Did we not just take a hit on weight and registration taxes on our vehicles?
We need a general audit of the county books to see where the waste is, and I am sure there is plenty to go around. What are they afraid of?
Bob Dukat
Pahoa
Thanks, HTH
The Hawaii Tribune-Herald’s Newspapers in Education is a program that benefits students from elementary through high school, and even students in higher education at Hawaii Community College.
Students in human services and social sciences benefit from receiving copies of the Tribune-Herald this semester. It is a useful tool to have students read community and national issues that are highlighted in the Tribune-Herald, and to compare it with their readings in their texts.
This semester, more than 30 letters to the editor were printed in the Tribune-Herald that were written by Hawaii Community College students. Thank you to the businesses and individuals for partnering with the Tribune-Herald to improve literacy and learning. More importantly, this program helps students stay informed and get involved in our community!
Claudia Wilcox-Boucher
Hilo
Cost of recycling
If you buy drinking water in plastic bottles (and pay the nickel deposit), then take those bottles to be recycled (expecting to be repaid the deposit), make sure you tell the person taking the bottles from you that you want them counted not weighed. Forty counted bottles are worth $2; weighed, these same bottles are only worth $1.45.
Yes, it’s only a small amount, but multiplied by the number of bottles bought every day, plus the number of bottles never redeemed (and plus the penny-per-bottle they take that is not refundable) it is a lot of money. Yet, I have heard that the state has said the deposit fee needs to be raised since the program is not self-sustaining. Where is all that money going? If the operating expenses are that high, perhaps the program needs to be audited.
Judith Grogg
Mountain View
