Editorials
Thursday, October 17, 1996
Council's Aina Haina
cemetery rejection
IF there was any project in recent years that aroused virtually unanimous opposition, it is the cemetery proposed for Aina Haina. Objections to the cemetery, proposed for 95 acres at the end of Hind Uka Road, included funeral traffic on residential streets, unstable soils, inadequate drainage, noise and the presence of the ruins of a heiau.
The City Council Parks, Health and Safety Committee has voted to kill the project, with 200 Aina Haina residents on hand at Kalani High School the other evening to demonstrate their opposition. Also present to fight the project were Mayor Harris and state Reps. Barbara Marumoto and Gene Ward. This was clearly a popular decision.
The question is what happens now. Chairman John Henry Felix proposed a land exchange with the developer, National Housing Corp. of Hawaii. This might involve the city's "Block J" downtown, which is suitable for housing construction, but the mayor rejects that idea. If not Block J, some other parcel should be considered for exchange.
The city's Department of Land Utilization last May gave the developer tentative approval to subdivide the Aina Haina property for the cemetery. However, city lawyers advised that the City Council had to give its approval for the project to proceed.
Felix commented, "It goes to show that once a community comes together, nothing is ever a done deal." But the department's preliminary OK is not easy to understand in view of all the problems.
Farrakhan's message
VIOLENT crime declined nationally last year, and politicians naturally like to take credit. Various factors probably contributed to the lower crime rate, but those do not include the rantings of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in favor of black separatism and hatred of whites, homosexuals, Asians, Jews and Catholics.
Even a march carrying a message of peace and racial harmony would have had little effect on the nation's crime rate. Fortunately, Farrakhan's tirade did not cause an increase in crime, which hopefully means that his message is being rejected by those who hear it.
Dole lashes out
BOB Dole took off the gloves in the debate in San Diego last night and tore into Bill Clinton for the numerous ethical problems of his scandal-ridden administration. But the president suavely brushed aside Dole's thrusts as though the issues weren't worth discussing. Judging from the questions asked by the citizen interrogators, Dole's attacks had little effect. Not a single question dealt with these issues. In this sense, the format worked against Dole. A panel of journalists would surely have followed up with pertinent questions.
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