Condos highlight rising inequality
The lead article on your Money section was surely well-placed (“Grand condo living at Ward,” Star-Advertiser, April 8).
Illustrated with a rendering of a private rooftop pool, it highlights a $36 million price tag for a penthouse atop the new Waiea condo tower.
In keeping with the Star-Advertiser’s ongoing and excellent coverage of homelessness, it would have been fitting to juxtapose a photo of one of the many families camping out on nearby Kakaako sidewalks. It would have graphically portrayed the escalating inequality between rich and poor — contrasting obscene luxury with abject poverty, and demonstrating a root cause of Hawaii’s housing crisis.
When will we start building affordable housing for our people to live in, and stop lining the pockets of high-end developers, investors and speculators?
Wally Inglis
Palolo Valley
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KCC chancellor a poor leader
I commend the Faculty Senate Executive Committee at Kapiolani Community College for finally addressing the poor leadership of Chancellor Leon Richards (“KCC chancellor under fire,” Star-Advertiser, April 9).
Richards has been incapable for years of making timely or effective decisions on budget, personnel and the conditions of campus buildings.
His tenure has created a hostile work environment and low morale, leading to a diminished educational experience for KCC students.
He has failed to serve the needs of the faculty, who, in reality, are the ones in charge of education at any campus. No faculty? No students.
I was a faculty member at KCC for 11 years and left because the hostile campus environment there wouldn’t let me do my job.
My gratitude goes to the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly for creating a survey that enabled UH faculty to voice their concerns about campus administrators, which led to this action at KCC.
Kevin Roddy
St. Louis Heights
KCC’s Richards highly respected
The recent article about the action taken by the Faculty Senate of Kapiolani Community College stated some of the facts, but nothing was mentioned about the students (“KCC chancellor under fire,” Star-Advertiser, April 9).
I recently retired from KCC after approximately 30 years. I worked closely with KCC Chancellor Leon Richards to develop one of the best international college programs in the nation.
Richards cares deeply about individual students and knows students by name. He is not only highly respected in the United States, but in China, India, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, Micronesia and Morocco. His light is the first to go on and last to go off at KCC.
He also received the University of Hawaii Community Colleges 50 Finest Award.
Richards began teaching at Waianae High School and his students still remember him with respect.
Linda Fujikawa
Retired professor of Japanese, Kapiolani Community College
Hospital is issue of life and death
Our political leaders need to exercise some common sense.
Is having a hospital and emergency room nearby a matter of life or death?
Certainly. Hospitals are a necessary and valuable community resource, providing a wide range of medical services from pediatric to geriatric care, treating low-risk to high-risk injuries and diseases.
Wahiawa General Hospital does all this, including emergency care.
The fact that most of us may not live in Central Oahu or on the North Shore should not lessen our ability to make rational decisions, especially when dealing with issues of health and safety.
Our politicians must support Wahiawa General Hospital because for someone who lives out there, this is a matter of life or death.
Susan Okamura
Mililani
Travel ban sends loud message
After North Carolina and Mississippi passed laws to discriminate against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, the LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii reached out to Gov. David Ige and Mayors Kirk Caldwell, Bernard Carvalho, Alan Arakawa and Billy Kenoi to ask them to issue travel bans for their public employees.
We asked for the ban for several different reasons:
>> Protect our LGBT public employees who may be required to travel to these states as part of their jobs.
>> Ensure that our taxpayer dollars aren’t being spent to support states that have made discrimination their core value.
>> Send a message loud and clear that the Aloha State does not support discrimination.
Could it be that those who don’t understand the need for the ban don’t get it because these laws don’t target them?
America has already had the discussion about who can sit at the lunch counter.
Michael Golojuch Jr.
Chairman, LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii
‘Bathroom law’ is common sense
I applaud the state of North Carolina for passing a bathroom law that will protect our children, daughters and sons.
Predators will take advantage of the idiotic idea that it is OK for opposite sexes to share the same bathroom.
I am appalled that some of our politicians, famous athletes and companies decided to boycott North Carolina for standing firm on common-sense righteousness (“City trips to 2 states banned over laws,” Star-Advertiser, April 8).
It is not surprising that since same-sex marriage was allowed, homosexual groups have continued to push their agenda of creating an America that mirrors Sodom and Gomorrah.
Ramon Garza
Kekaha, Kauai
Rail car seems overly expensive
An “affordable” 988- square-foot, one-bedroom condo in Kakaako cost $442,246, while a rail car costs $2.2 million (“Officials tout arrival of 2 rail cars,” Star-Advertiser, March 25).
Why does a rail car cost almost five times that of a one-bedroom condo?
Dennis “DJ” Freitas
Kaneohe
Big Q on rail missed real issue
David Shapiro’s column would seem to squash any talk by the City Council or the public of stopping the rail at Middle Street (“HART schemes to end talk of cutting short rail’s reach,” Star-Advertiser, Volcanic Ash, April 3).
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation now says the Middle Street segment won’t even be ready until just before the opening of the entire rail system in 2022.
The Star-Advertiser’s Big Q of April 5 raised a moot point: “When the rail’s first segment starts running from Kapolei, supposedly in 2018, how far should it go?”
Asking readers if they want rail to begin operating to Aloha Stadium or Middle Street is pointless, as it is not possible.
The Big Q should have been: “Should rail continue to be built with continued cost overruns and years of delay, or is it time to recognize that costs are out of control and it needs to be stopped?”
Gerri Pedesky
Nuuanu
72 responses to “Condos highlight rising inequality”
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IRT Dennis DJ Freitas “Rail car seems overly expensive” – Way to go with the apples to apples comparison. I hope this isn’t indicative of the critical thinking skills we’re teaching our kids in school these days. A more appropriate comparison would be Oahu’s rail car vs. BART’s rail car or NYC’s subway car. Your current comparison is equivalent to “Why does a city bus have to be X-times the cost of a bicycle?”
$442,246 would buy a lot of homeless tents!
The poor planning and management by HART has been much more costly than these rail cars.
Actually, his comparison is more like, “Why does a city bus have to be X-times the cost of a pizza?”
Iapu. Apples and oranges
I agree, I agree, I agreeic, not iapu
IRT Michael Golojuch Jr.: You’re a pariah on society. Not because of your homosexuality, but because you believe that somehow you deserve special treatment and special rights. Get over yourselves.
I believe what the mayor said was that “Nonessential taxpayer travel to those states would be stopped.” The point is–why the heck do we have nonessential taxpayer travel at all??
peanut….nicely stated and I agree with you 110%. I don’t like the transgender, anti-religious, LBGT, etc., life style pushed on me. Maybe the people of those two states feel the same. We, American citizens, don’t owe you people crap. Federal government has toooo much over-reach now thanks to Oblamo, and it will only get worse under either Killary or Bernie. What happened to States rights? If you don’t like what NC & MS has done, don’t visit there. You still have freedom of choice, at least for the time being.
The lifestyle is not pushed on you. You’re still free to remain hetero. There’s your freedom of choice.
Women who do not want men coming into the bathroom when they are using it – where is their freedom of choice?
http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-obama-powers-the-transgender-movement-1460502253?mod=trending_now_3
“Attempts to accommodate transgender people with separate facilities or private stalls have been rejected by the Obama administration and LGBT activists, who deride such compromises as akin to the return of Jim Crow. Advocates insist that supporting separate bathrooms and showers for men and women is the equivalent of supporting separate drinking fountains for blacks and whites. A year ago this month, the White House opened the first gender-neutral bathroom, but its use is optional. According to the administration, transgender people should be able to use any bathroom they choose, an option not open to the nontransgender community.
“It is clear that the ultimate goal here isn’t accommodation but special protection for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” under the law. The argument, which amounts to a denial of human nature, is that gender is fluid and that biological realities don’t matter. But historically, laws targeting sex discrimination have never granted members of the opposite sex regular access to single-sex facilities. And courts have rejected the novel interpretation of Title IX that the administration is using to pressure public school districts.”
There is nothing sicker than 2 grown men going at it in public and it seems like Golojuch is a fan of LGBT. I wonder why??? what you do in private is your concern but when you try and change mother nature and influence our children SHAME ON YOU and please bend over in front of a gorilla. Sick is one thing but trying to attract more into your sick lifestyle is another. SHAME ON YOU GOLJUCH, GOD IS WATCHING and the DEVIL IS ON YOUR SHOULDERS
Mayor Caldwell should focus on Honolulu issues, like the broken street sign banging in the wind outside my house that I reported to the City months ago. But, no, he’d rather pander to transvestites in North Carolina. He will realize how “nonessential” his services are after the next election.
IRT Ramon Garza. I wish people would actually read the bible before making incorrect quotes. Sodom and Gomorrah never mentioned homosexuality. It mentions general promiscuity. Do you really think that a sexual predator is going to stop because of this bathroom law?
Three bathrooms would solve the problem. Men, Women and LGBT. Now everyone can go to NC and Ms.
Good reasoning but not a reason for an added expense. Maybe over time but not yet. If you got a ding ding go to the mens room, simple.
It is that simple. Even simpler: Male body parts in bathroom A. Female body parts in bathroom B. Modified body parts, A or B as modified—– whatever it takes to separate our 10 year old daughters from the opposite personal plumbing.
Creating a third restroom would be special treatment wouldn’t it?
Even someone who identifies as LGBT is still of a male or female gender.
You don’t seem aware there are zero instances of a trans person assaulting or harassing anyone in a bathroom.
Nor do you seem to be aware that the sponsor of the Tennessee bill has been accused of harassing 34 women so much so he was actually kicked out of his office and forced to move across the street.
Nor do you seem to be aware that this bill forces trans people who clearly look male or female to use the opposite gender bathroom. There are plenty of trans people coming out posting pictures of themselves that look nothing like their birth gender who are now forced to use the bathroom of the gender they do not look like at all. It’s hilarious now how social conservative pandering fools are forcing burly tattooed looking trans women to use the women’s bathroom and very feminine looking trans men to use the men’s bathroom.
I can’t wait for those states to be sued for millions of dollars because someone called the cops on a trans person using their legally required bathroom or assaulted or harassed them. Seems that Republican legislators don’t seem to mind blowing millions of dollars to defend laws that seek to correct a problem that isn’t a real thing (while ignoring how the people who write these bills have engaged in serious transgressions themselves). Maybe then their voters will stop voting those fools into office?
The bottom line is regardless of whether they are confused about their gender, they are still either male or female.
I don’t see why the government passes laws and then expects private business owners to rush out and build a separate restroom facility because a tiny percentage of the population are confused or identify with a gender that they did not have at birth.
Or Keolu….they could have done nothing, saved themselves the future millions in lawsuits and had the same outcome they’re trying to prevent.
All this bill does is pander to the extremist religious fascists while wasting taxpayer dollars. If you actually cared about government over reach and waste, you’d be against this.
You’ve been a bathroom with a trans woman. You didn’t know it. Did any problems arise?
choyd I can remember the mahus at Queen Surf and the Natatorium beefing all the time.
“””You don’t seem aware there are zero instances of a trans person assaulting or harassing anyone in a bathroom.”””
choyd, since when you do speak in absolutes? Do you realize if there was a single incident, you are wrong? And I can tell you that you are indeed wrong.
I have seen someone who looked like a tran (no, I didn’t actually verify) who was making some lewd comments to some guy in a men’s restroom.
The “victim” just said if you don’t want to be knocked into next week I suggest you go hit on someone else.
Keolu, if that is really your concern, we’d start first by banning anyone who’s harassed others from public places as that is a FAR greater regular occurrence. Like the Tennessee Legislator who’s harassed 34 women. Who’s sponsoring a similar bill to NC’s.
Again, this is nothing but overreach by states to regulate our lives according to fascist extremist religious ideas. And you don’t have a problem with that. What does that say about you?
There is a reason why Libertarians have abandoned the GOP.
Tell me, do you know how many times you were in a bathroom with a trans person?
Answer is obviously zero.
So why is this a problem at all?
You, like Keolu, seem not to mind states spending millions on frivolous laws that are seeking a problem to solve. Funny how he’s so anti-rail, but so pro wasting millions to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.
There were a lot of problems at a marina where I used to have my boat. A male transexual who was living on his partner’s boat was using the woman’s washroom to shower etc.
The women were generally very upset about his doing this.
His partner died of aids and he moved on. Very sad story, but it was hard to feel any empathy for the guy’s behavior – certainly he had none for the women.
This was a while ago. I suppose today he would be allowed to do it and the women would have to find some other place to shower etc.
“The women were generally very upset about his doing this.”
Which is exactly now what North Carolina is forcing trans people who don’t look like women to use the women’s bathroom.
Genesis chapter 19 records the two angels, disguised as human men, visiting Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot met the angels in the city square and urged them to stay at his house. The angels agreed. The Bible then informs us, “Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom — both young and old — surrounded the house. They called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.'” The angels then proceed to blind all the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and urge Lot and his family to flee from the cities to escape the wrath that God was about to deliver. Lot and his family flee the city, and then “the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah — from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities…”
In light of the passage, the most common response to the question “What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?” is that it was homosexuality. That is how the term “sodomy” came to be used to refer to anal sex between two men, whether consensual or forced. Clearly, homosexuality was part of why God destroyed the two cities. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to perform homosexual gang rape on the two angels (who were disguised as men). At the same time, it is not biblical to say that homosexuality was the exclusive reason why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were definitely not exclusive in terms of the sins in which they indulged.
People at the time have thought that homosexual sex is normal behavior. So a more accurate reading would be that the people are being “INHOSPITABLE, ABUSIVE, and Disrespectful” to strangers. In god’s eyes, this is the big sin.
wiliki, you really don’t know what you are talking about.
Historical context Keolu. The Bible was written thousands of years ago.
I have heard this attempted equivocation before and I think it is a phony distortion of plain speaking.
If you mean it was “normal” in the sense of morally acceptable, then I think the evidence is that you are dead wrong. (Which is what you would be if you were caught doing it, according to the stated punishment in Leviticus).
In ancient history, it seems to have been acceptable and forbidden at different times. The Egyptian Book of the Dead contains a set of 42 negative declarations which the deceased must affirm if they are to pass over. Most authoritative versions have one or more declarations that condemn homosexual behavior.
Is that story from Aesop or Grimm?
” Sodom and Gomorrah never mentioned homosexuality.”
Then to what do YOU impute the origin of the word ‘sodomy’, eh?
Michael Golojuch, Jr. LGBT reached out to Gov. Ige and Hawaiis Islands Mayors to issue a travel ban for public employees. This should include Hawaiis a Congressional. The ban should include travel to ISRAEL and other countries because ” discrimination is their core value”.. AMNESTYUSA.org, Jewish Voice for Peace reports, “The right of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly is being met with imprisonment, harassment, and violence by the State of Israel”. Let’s expand that ” lunch counter” discussion please when talking about discrimination.
You are just full of it. The Israeli Arabs, full citizens of Israel, are the most free of that ethnicity in the Middle East. The Palestinians, on the other hand, are dedicated to the violent destruction of Israel, an intent they demonstrate over and over again with various forms of murder and terrorism such as the current wave of stabbings or previously the rocket attacks on Israel’s civilian populations. That Israel reacts with lethal force is a blindingly obvious necessity.
When the Palestinians drop the requirement that Israel be destroyed a real peace process can begin. Until then, Israelis have the right to defend themselves.
Let me ask you a question:
Can you explain what role the Haredim play in Likud’s political power base and how that role impacts Likud’s strategy towards land in the West Bank?
A question return. Is it foreign to you that nation states have internal political conundrums which drive externailities? (Don’t waste my tiime.)
Considering how I actually answered your question with my own, you owe me an answer.
I’m so vast superior to you, I answered your question before you even asked it.
choyd says (inter alia):”I’m so vast superior to you . . . ”
One is tempted to hurl the jibe, “What a FAWLESS performance.”
Ergo not so much vast as half-vast.
Cue Thos and his sniping due to lack of any means of debate.
I guess Winston didn’t want to reveal just how little he knows by attempting (and then utterly failing) to address my question.
Guess you have the intelligence to know when to quit eh? I’ll give you that.
It’s a political thing. It’s a sure way not to get re-elected to congress – criticise Israel.
But do ban travel. Hopefully, they’ll catch on.
Pattyjane – Israel is much too busy to focus on anti-Semitic words from those like you. Israel’s focus is firmly on the Almighty – which keeps Jews busy enough. When you talk about “discrimination” have you comtemplated the importance of discriminating between right and wrong – between the holy and the profane?
And, Pattyjane, you reveal in your comments the evolving, new face of a Jew hater. They direct their hatred at the State of Israel rather than overtly at the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. It’s simply old hatred in new clothing – just racism and bigotry.
Thank you, Wally Inglish, addressing the obscene prices of the new development penthouse condos.VS the city/ state inability to provide adequate, affordable housing for the homeless of Kakaako. This reflects poorly on Hawaiis image.
Baffling logic (all of your logic is baffling). What does a wealthy condo buyer, probably from out of state or, more likely, a foreigner, have to do with the internal state’s homeless problem?
Actually quite a bit. But it requires an understanding of the interaction between limited land, developer money, expected profit margin, and projected growth markets.
Hence why you don’t understand.
Better off if you just stick with your video games.
Winston, did I hurt your feelings by using words you simply don’t understand?
No. You and your through-a-peephole, straw man mode of thinking are irrelevant to the greater questions and issues of the day.
Which is the non-answer most of us have come to expect from Winston.
Anyways, besides the fact that Winston is wrong on almost everything he talks about, it’s pretty simple to understand how a foreign luxury buyer contributes to the inability of the state to meet affordable housing goals. Winston of course isn’t anywhere intelligent or educated enough to get that (I’m sorry the DOE failed you so miserably).
The quick and dirty answer is that the limited land and limited developer monies will chase the highest profit margin development. Therefore, foreign buyers who seek to buy luxury units within the state will contribute to a functional floor of where many developers will allocate their cash. This economic floor ensures that very little developer money will be spent on affordable units, where in the absence of such foreign buyers propping up an economic profit margin floor, developer money would flow more to affordable housing. Prices will still rise, just not at the current rate. I’m not saying developers, in the absence of foreign luxury buyers will contribute all of that money towards affordable, but MORE would be used to build non-luxury housing. Right now we are seeing more affordable developments because the projected growth market globally for luxury is essentially flat lining. Developer money just can’t sit in a bank account so they are funding the next best profit margin projects. They just happen to be more affordable. And then there is the issue of reserve funding for condos that is driving maintenance fees and subsequently rent and how the luxury units are also setting a minimum economic rent floor in that.
Therefore, there is in fact an interaction between wealth out of state buyers and the state’s inability to meet affordable housing goals.
But like I said, it requires an understanding of the interaction between limited land, developer money, expected profit margin, and projected growth markets.
Hence why you, Winston simply don’t understand.
Lots of words, plausible, somewhat logical, all wrong. There’s no profit in affordable housing, unless by government subsidy. Meanwhile, the government tax structure acts as an anti-subsidy.
Developers go where the highest mark up is. Explanation: where people will pay for the most profitable development. What if developers are limited to a certain type of “affordable” class of building? They just won’t build it. The simple cost of materials is light years beyond affordability for most of our homeless.
You and PattyJane are inhabiting the typical progressive pretend world, where reality is suspended.
Actually Winston, there is profit, especially with the current tax credits and subsidies that exist. But you have no understanding of development.
You also completely failed to address my actual argument.
Typical non-answer from Winston.
I just demonstrated an understanding of development. You failed to.
Anyone just notice how Winston called it “all wrong” and then agreed with it?
Wonder if he’s even reading anything he responds to.
Hey Winston, if I’m so wrong, why are we seeing several affordable housing condos being built right now and several more in developmental stages?
Furthermore, how many new luxury projects are in the works? I’ll give you a hint: 0.
I’m allegedly wrong, but all these developers are wrong too? You’re a joke and you know it.
By your as usual, asinine reasoning, we shouldn’t be see ANY affordable housing condos being built or in the works. Maybe you should go tell the developers of the half dozen to dozen affordables being built literally as I type this or in developmental stages that they’re doing it all wrong?
Winston, it’s not the wealthy condo buyer that’s the problem, it’s the building of exorbitantly-priced units instead of many affordable units. You throw around so many insults at those who disagree with you, yet you fail to understand a simple argument, which is so plain and obvious, it’s a wonder you can’t comprehend it. To use your term, it’s “baffling.”
Notice how Winston rarely ever actually gives a rebuttal.
His MO is personal attacks after personal attacks while avoiding the topic and then eventually running away like the coward that we all know he is.
Because Winston thinks he knows everything yet demonstrates absolute ignorance at every turn.
He thinks there is no profit at affordable housing. Maybe he should tell the owners of THE RESIDENCE AT MAKIKI, LP that they’re wrong for building their affordable 35 unit which is nearly sold out?
This is Wally’s solution?
“When will we start building affordable housing for our people to live in, and stop lining the pockets of high-end developers, investors and speculators?”
He should focus on the “speculators” who create the demand. We need developers and investors to build and to grow. Wally confuses effect for cause.
“affordable housing for the homeless of Kakaako” – there is no way housing can be built cheap enough for the homeless to buy. These homeless have already scre*wed themselves – no money, no job, and no credit.
It’s not meant to be.
It is meant to reduce the impact of middle class housing demands upon the less desirable housing that would otherwise service the otherwise homeless.
Basically, you get the middle class out of competing for those units and the price on those units drops.
“It would have graphically portrayed the escalating inequality between rich and poor — contrasting obscene luxury with abject poverty, and demonstrating a root cause of Hawaii’s housing crisis.” >>> Please keep in mind, whomever can afford that penthouse, it is likely they did not steal the money to be able to do so. It was earned in some fashion or another – maybe through generations of family earnings. I, instead, propose that we allow poor people the right to do the same.
Ramon Garza–How you going to tell who’s who? Mick “Crocodile” Dundee solved the problem, but that was a movie. Are you legalizing groping? Of course it would be profiling to grope someone based on profiling so you’d have to grope everyone. If you are lucky, the cops will pick you up before some woman takes you out.
IRT to high end condos: when will the leaders of Hawaii and the people realize that we have to start with a vision of what we want to be. How much growth, what kind of growth, what are the impacts on traffic, the infrastructure and overall quality of life. Without vision, translated into meaningful and implementable policies, you have what we have now.– disparate interests doing things in their own self interest. When will the people of Hawaii wake up?
We’ve had a thirty year plan for many years now. IIRC it was started by Gov. Lingle. Rail figures into this plan for the urban core. Environmentalists didn’t like it then. They don’t like it now.
It looks like they prefer the alternative – which is urban sprawl.
Fire Ernie he’s delaying rail
Too late, he’s delaying rail! But fire him anyway!
Just think of all the money we’ll save when building future schools, youth camps, fitness centers, etc…. instead of spending all that money on separate dressing rooms, they can build ONE dressing room and showers for everyone. Boys & Girls & Men & Women. 🙂
Heck even better save money buy not building have them all change in thge open outdoors.
Lucky we live Hawaii……….we get better as we overcome challenges?…..Imua.