letter to editor:This Year is the Time of Giving

The end of the year has come and only a few weeks are left until Christmas. I am happy to see more people reaching out to other families during our Economic Recession. This year we have had to endure changes and tightening of our financial belts. We are all in this Economic Crisis together. Let us all ‘kokua’ each other.
This year let us all focus on what is important to us. Not the material things, or the ton of Christmas gifts under the tree but the people who is important in our lives. Say thank you to the mail courier, ‘opala pickers and maintenance workers. Give your loose change to the Salvation Army’s red bucket.
I am not a rich person, but I am a mom and very busy like most, but would it hurt to stop and take a breath. With so many families struggling because of layoffs, and cutbacks, the need for ‘kokua’ is so important. This year I am asking “all of you” to help at least five individuals or families. If each one of use ‘kokua’ maybe we can lessen the families who are struggling this Holiday Season and every day. The benefits that you will receive will be much more rewarding than any other gift.
I have given to Lokahi, Salvation Army and I will be helping at Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Center. I have two more places to go. How many do you have? Please reach out and give.
Mahalo.
Ipolani PU

The thought of our schools closing down

First and foremost, my one concern is our keiki in Hawai‘i. And education is one of the biggest keys for our keiki to follow on with in getting their degrees.

The superintendent of our schools of Hawai‘i; Patricia Hamamoto; will move quickly with this studies. They would like to act now so things will move forward in deciding which schools should be decided upon closing. It’s just sad on how we have to see which schools to close to save more money.

By 2011, Linda Lingle plans to start in closing schools. If schools are closed down, then where would our students go? And it’s hard for our ‘ohana on the five islands that are being studied. They have been talking about closing down small schools and the ones that are not in use. I understand that closing the schools that are not in use is reasonable, but really do we need to close down the one that are in use? With closing these schools on the islands, they would save millions of dollars from the billions that they have in the $2.4 billion that the state had for the year budget.

I understand that there’s an economic downfall in all of Hawaii. My main concern is that our keiki still are able to receive the education that is needed. My mana‘o is that if they want to close schools down to save money, then shouldn’t they also stop building more businesses and private schools? We can barely make it through these rough times as it is. Our keiki need their education. Our kids need to continue the footsteps of our ancestors and spread the knowledge they learn to the next generations. And with that, they need their education and a place to do their studies.

“Ua ao Hawai‘i ke ‘ōlino nei mālamalama.”
Hawai‘i is enlightened, for the brightness of day is here.—Hawai‘i is in an era of education.

School + education= knowledge, success, degree!

Hawai'i: Rail Transit System

I am in the middle of both for and against the Rail Transit System. I want to know if the others agree with the transit or will they disagree with it? Well, there’s a chance for them to finally have a say to whether or not they agree with this big project. There will be hearings for the first time in O‘ahu for the community to share their mana‘o on this big plan to build this “Rail Transit.” They will have a total of five hearings/meetings in the first and second week of December. However, what about the outer-islands? These issues apply to not only Oahu, but to us too. So I believe that we should have a right to share our mana‘o with everyone as well and have them hold a hearing for each island.

The plan to start building this rail transit system is projected for the late 2009. It costs about $4.3 billion and will be from East Kapolei to the sides of Ala Moana. The transit line is limited from West Loch and Waipahu would begin in the late 2013, and a full service will follow by the end of 2018 to Ala Moana. However, some wishes that they could have it from the West side as well. People will still have to drive, but their thought is to cut back the traffic by building this transit system to eliminate cars on the roads.

Is the Rail Transit a good asset to the people of O’ahu? Will it be costly or will people be able to save by utilizing this method of transportation? There’s the good and the bad to it all. Price will or is suppose to be the same prices at TheBus as well as TheBoat. Some say that it’s good because it won’t pollute the air; it will run only on electricity. On Blogger, I found an entry from someone making a good point with the transit system being run on electricity. They could somehow find one host to supply them with renewable energy source using wind, solar, and/or bio fuels (Free Public Transit: Hawaii-Support rail transit). I kind of agree with this person’s point of view, because that is a great idea if approved to use a renewable energy source. On the other hand, I don’t agree with this whole thing, because they want to build more and more things on the island. Then they try to explore more options to ways that we can eliminate cars on the road. That’s a good idea don’t get me wrong from their taxi’s in the water to adding on more busses. However, in reality people would still have to drive to some of the destinations for these services such as the boats.

The Rail Transit can affect so many things in Oahu not only for the people but for the society as well. With the economy being so down at the moment, this will put most people in a downfall. We have so many problems going on nowadays from unemployment to money problems. In an article that I read from the Honolulu Advertiser, Linda Lingle said “This clearly will require revenues beyond what we have today…We’ll have to have some sort of tax increase to pay for them. I want to be up front about that right now.” I don’t agree with the fact that this “project” will be a burden on so many people... They want to raise the tax to fulfill their needs for this rail transit, but not ask the opinions from the people themselves? The tax increase will hurt most of us from Oahu to the outer islands especially with the downfall of the economy.

And now, people have been going at it from one side to another on agreeing or disagreeing with this matter. Some supporters are saying that it’s a good idea; because they would open up more job opportunities construction wise, better the economy,they wouldn’t have to drive, they can save money on gas and time, better for the island, etc. And the ones, who are against it, are saying that it is a bad idea to start building more things on the island with it being so over populated as it is, higher prices in things, more traffic than the others realize, etc. The non-supporters have a site that I went on as well, and they also had a lot of good points made.

On the site Stop Rail Now, I obtained the following information: “For the November General Election ballot question on rail the vote was 50.6 percent in favor and, as we like to think of it, 49.4 percent were not in favor. Consider the amount of money they threw at us and the political risk they took with the reputations of the entire congressional delegation telling us ("believe me" they said) that it was to take care of traffic when they all knew full well that traffic congestion in the future with rail will be worse than it is today. It is surprising that they did not get a greater favorable vote.” I kind of agree with this matter, because I do agree that there will be more traffic with the transit up. Cars will be going all over as well as still waiting to get through to other areas. However, I still think its a good way for people who hate waiting for the busses, it will help students, working families,etc.


my sources:
1)City Council Approves Rail Transit
-By: Darren Pai
-http://www.khnl.com/global/story.asp?s=5786643
2)Honolulu Rail Transit
-http://www.honolulutransit.org/
3)Free Public Transit: Hawaii-Support rail transit
-http://frepubtra.blogspot.com/2008/08/hawaii-support-rail-transit.html
4)State, city proposes $2.6B rail transit system: The Honolulu
Advertiser
-By: Mike Leidemann
-honluluadvertiser.com
5)Stop Rail Now
-http://www.stoprailnow.com/

Restoring Waters to our Streams

Education in Hawai'i

Education is really important in Hawai'i as well as other places. We must work together to keep our keiki in school and out of trouble. We must make sure that our keiki of all ages get through with their education, so they can share that knowledge with their family, friends, and others who don't know what they know. We have a low average rate of graduates, because they choose to do other things and not school. And we need that average rate to get higher and see more of our keiki graduate.

However, how can they do that if we are losing teachers? And how can we go to school if there’s some that are closing down? Without education we can't go that far. We need degrees and certificates to say where and what we can do for a living. We can’t teach/work if we don’t have the papers that say we are qualified to do what we want to do. I just want to see the next generations complete their school with the right teachers and believe that there are a lot of possibilities and opportunities for them once they finish their education.

And now we have all these candidates who are running for office that is saying they want to improve and see that things for education will follow through. They all claim that education is important and would like to work at fixing that problem. Some sounded convincing and some sounded like they did not know what they were talking about. When we see that the schools and education is improving then we know that some of these candidates are doing the right thing. Then they bring up the con-con. I didn’t know what that is and I still don’t know. I do know that many who’s running for office is against it, because the con-con is taking funds away from certain things and educational faculties are one of them. They want to fix the budgets for schools to open more private schools? I don’t agree with that, because we need our teachers and we can’t do that if their money is being taken away. And we don’t need more private schools to be open, we have enough. What we need are more educators to teach our keiki and give them the education that they need.

Sources:
-Maui Candidates
-Native Hawaiian Chambers of Commerce gathering

"Keep hawaiian lands in hawaiian hands"

While our people live on land that is free to the public, we have others standing and awaiting to take action. Before our generation, our ancestors have been on an ongoing fight for the freedom of our identity, our land, and our freedom as people. I was watching this video which I think is called “1985 Waimanalo Eviction.” This is a very sad video, because you feel depress and sad for the ways that the Americans felt about our people living off the land. These families fight and fight for what is rightfully theirs. How wrongful is it that others want to take it away from them? I cried throughout this video, because it really is a sad way to watch people tear down homes and arrest people who are of Hawaiian ancestry who have the right to stay on open grounds. Native Hawaiians “IMUA” they shout while their own kanaka and others take apart the hale that they had. And continuously they yelled out “keep Hawaiian lands in Hawaiian hands.” Why should we feel the need to fight our lands? In the days, our kupuna could roam free on these lands when they felt like it.

Our people have been fighting from generations to generations for their identity and the rights of our kanaka of Hawai‘i nei. I feel for them, because it’s hard to see and watch the pain and suffering that these folks are doing to our kanaka. We cannot continue to live like this; all of our people will be gone by then. Kekuhi Blaisdell said by 2044 our native “pure” kanaka will be gone! No more!” These people call themselves the good people, “protector of the lands.” If their good, then why are they separating us from our culture, our identity, our rights as people, and our own home lands. What is there left for us to do? How can we live our lives in a place where we can’t do as we please on our own land? This is absurd. I don’t agree with anything that has gone on, because they take our lands away and give to the military or to businesses. That is not right at all. And what’s even worse, is that we have to sign up to qualify for Hawaiian homelands and when awarded we still have to pay for owning the land?? I don’t like it at all, not the signing up part, but the fact that we have to pay for it under an agreement that was made.

Sources:
-1985 Waimanalo Eviction
-Kekuhi Blaisdell

economy down..money making for the fair..

Sherri Grimes was the fair director for the past three years. And this year was her last and final year as the lead person of the county fair. Her position is now open for selection of a new fair director. She had a good feeling that despite the economic downfall of gas and food prices, the county fair would end in a good turn out. She said that no matter the cutbacks that we the people of Maui had to make, the fair would have a positive take on it all.

In my opinion, I thought that this year at the County Fair was different. The prices went up, and everything was a change to the previous years, but all in all I felt that it was empty. A lot could not afford to pay their way back home from college perhaps? Or maybe some decided that the fair wasn’t for them this year. I thought that this year was empty of some sort. I didn’t feel that vibe of overload like I usually do at the county fair.

In the Maui News, I read that it was unbelievably packed at the 87th Maui County Fair. By Friday morning, all the food vendors had to go out and get more supplies because they didn’t expect a big turn out. They figured that they get the same amount as they did from last year. Little did they know, they had to rush out to get more supplies to fulfill the hungry needs of their customers. They were surprised at how this year had turned out to be. The food I might add was so delicious. I mean you can get them anywhere, but just the fact that they made it in the fair tasted way much better than the outside providers.
Everyone had their part in making this fair such a success and a good turn out. Although the prices went up and what not, the cash came rolling in from the people of Maui. Even though we are at hardship with this economy, we still support big events like these such as the county fair. We aren’t like O’ahu who has all these events like every month, so when the fair comes around everyone just uses their money. This is like a once a year deal for everyone to come together and relax and of course buy out the fair…

In the end, despite our economic downfall we were able to put aside our hardships and enjoy one weekend of fun before we had to go back to reality and face all these bills and prices that we have here in Hawai’i. And we made the people who put this fair together happy with all the money that they made. The turn out had put a smile on Sherri Grimes face for all her hard work and accomplishments.

My sources:
The Maui Newspaper