‘Waste of money’
I am in complete agreement with Kiki Rycraft and County Council Chair Aaron Chung (Tribune-Herald, Feb 27) regarding the construction of the facility at HCCC that it is a complete waste of money.
HCCC has outlived its purpose between Punahele Street and Waianuenue Avenue in Hilo and needs to be moved away from where it is located in a well-populated residential area with in excess of five schools with students from K-12 and hundreds of businesses in close proximity to the center that families visit to conduct business and/or enjoy a meal.
C’mon. We should not be adding any more facilities at this site.
I attended that meeting in January 2019 where the community expressed their displeasure about this plan, and here we are now, with the building being constructed. I wrote a letter to my legislators at that time. Shame on government for not listening to their constituents.
The addition of this new facility will not address the overcrowding issue at this facility. The only thing that would reduce overcrowding would be to build or retrofit an existing facility in Kona, near the new courthouse, to detain persons arrested in Kona to await their court appearance, instead of transporting those individuals to HCCC from Kona only to necessitate the transport of these same individuals back to Kona for their court appearance.
This process has been the practice for decades at much expense and time, with no one making the move to change the process. This one action would eliminate a lot of overcrowding by keeping those arrested on the west side of the island on the west side until they are sentenced.
$20.7 million would go a long way to accomplish this, instead of what is now happening for 48 inmates. This equates to $431,125 per inmate! Insane!
If this building must be built, it should be built at another location as suggested by Chung, with the eventual intent to move HCCC to where this new facility should be built.
Enough already! $20.7 million should be used to improve the process of dealing with those incarcerated with a new facility elsewhere.
Lucille V. Chung (no relation to Aaron Chung)
Hilo
Other alternatives
I am writing regarding the article about feral cats on Feb. 18.
I would like to note that there are other nonprofit and community groups that do routine spay/neuter clinics all over the Big Island.
PetFix did 1,660 sterilizations in 2021, observing the COVID protocols for their clinics, and continues to do them monthly in Ocean View and in the Puna district.
Advocats in Kona and Catsnip in Kohala also do frequent clinics. These clinics are either free or low cost. PetFix also does dog spay/neuter clinics monthly.
Of course, all of these organizations can use financial assistance to continue their work in the community, and all use volunteers except for the veterinarians who do the surgery.
I feel it is only fair to give credit where it is due.
Sandra Alstrand
Former spay/ neuter coordinator