Not Trump’s wall
I demand federal funding for the Hawaii wall. A lauhala wall.
Peter Easterling
Pahoa
‘Military footprint’
I strongly oppose increased military training on the Hawaiian Islands and the surrounding waters.
The United States should, rather, scale back operations currently in practice. The heavy militarization of these islands entails far-reaching consequences to the ecology of both land and sea, the culture of Native Hawaiians, the physical and mental health of Hawaiian communities, and the sanctity of archaeological and religious sites.
The heavy military footprint in Hawaii, rather than protect us, probably makes us more of a target to any would-be aggressor. But what country would dare attack the U.S. when it has a military budget dwarfing all other top military spenders globally?
Proposed expansion of military training is exactly what we don’t need. Let’s shrink the military and return its bloated budget to the American taxpayers!
Ray Newman
Hilo
Puna road hazards
Highway 130 from Pahoa High School to Leilani Estates is an accident waiting to happen. The right-hand side of the road going both directions is so deteriorated and dangerous — with endless dips, ruts, holes and rises — that most people tend to travel toward the centerline. It is hard on our vehicles and clearly a hazard to all.
Hawaii County, in its haphazard wisdom, opened up Pohoiki to the public, now a major attraction in lower Puna, without taking into consideration the very poor and substandard roads leading there.
Kamaili Road from Highway 130 to Highway 137 is barely two lanes and sometimes way less, with blind hills and curves, no paved shoulder and an edge of the pavement that drops severely. Not to mention that the road narrows to one lane at an “S” curve through someone’s yard. I noticed a substantial increase in traffic there since the opening of Pohoiki, and I don’t even live along that road.
The road from Kaimu to Pohoiki also is substandard, with no paved shoulder and no bike lane, yet the county allows bike rental companies to exist there. While I am sympathetic to whatever economic endeavors people try to scratch out what little the county allows us here, bicycling along Highway 137 is dangerous for the bike riders as well as the motorists, many of whom are residents here, because of longstanding neglect by the county of our roads in this long-neglected and now deliberately impoverished (vacation rental denial) part of Puna.
The county should either recognize us as taxpayers and bring our roads up to standard or ignore us and not put additional burden on us by bringing tourists and their substantial impacts on the substandard infrastructure, while at the same time denying us the ability to draw income from hosting them in our homes and properties, and thus bringing in the tax revenue to properly sustain us.
David Snover
Pahoa