Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Did you vote for Mufi? Are you satisfied with his leadership? What qualities about this mayor do you most admire? Most revile?

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

hmmmm....15 views and nary a comment. Guess no one from the Gathering Place™ has logged on to HT today?

[adrian]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

hmmm... If I have registered to vote, then I'd vote for him.

To me, he's trying his best to clean up after harris, and he's doing a darn good job too. I feel like he's connecting to the people as a community man, instead of a politician. He's getting things done and started the ball on a few things that were long overdue, so I have no complaints.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

I didn't vote for him, and I wouldn't if he ran again. He reminds me of GWB. His first response to anything seems to be "Whatever the previous Administration did was all wrong."

Anybody who can say, when asked about sewer problems, "you should have elected me in 2000" is long on sarcasm and short on sense.

[poinographer]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

Good point. In general, voters do not like to be reminded of a poor choice made. We get it already, Harris blew it! Heh.

When asking "would you vote for Mufi again," it's not a very useful question without knowing who his opponent will be.

[Jewlipino]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

I'm not going to speak for voting for him again. We've had much worse though. I thought Fasi was corrupt, but at least things got done (occasionally). I didn't vote for Mufi (always thought he was a mayor-wannabee.... guess he isn't now that he's mayor), but for the moment he's doing ok. I think his lows so far are his handling of the the sewer/ala wai situation and the homeless situation (although that is a combination of county and state policy that is making things so horrible). I like that he told the council that they couldn't close the dump till they figured out what to do with the trash, but since I haven't been following the issue I do not know if it has been resolved favorably. I know that landfills are a major NIMBY issue, but I think its a dereliction of the council's responsibility as civic leaders that they have not come up with an effective solution as to what to do with our bloated waste-stream. On the other hand I haven't heard Mayor Mufi offer any effective solutions either.

Jewlipino

[1stwahine]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans


I am not voting for da man above...Mufi!

Auntie pUpUle

[Samurai123]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

The guys seems way to preoccupied with the previous administration. He hasn't shown much creativity - his response to addressing homelessness was to basically through the homeless out of Ala Moana Park (but first saying he was doing it because the State was moving the homeless out from under the airport viaduct), then washing his hands of the issue by saying it is a state issue even though the City receives millions in federal funds for homeless services and facilities. I agree with his decision to keep open the Waimanalo Gulch landfill, but he PROMISED the folks on the Leeward Coast that he would close it. The responsibility for finding an alternative landfill site rests with the his administration as well as the City Council. I did not hear the Mayor suggest or propose an suitable alternative landfill site or new technologies to eliminate the need for landfills. He looks more like Eileen Anderson the Frank Fasi.

[TuNnL]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

First, I think it’s unfair to characterize the relocation of the Ala Moana homeless by the Hannemann administration as “kicking them out.” Anyone who follows city business knows that the long-scheduled revitalization of Ala Moana park could not have been completed with those squatters living there.

Secondly, I think the mayor should be commended for forcing the State to live up to it’s responsibilities to the homeless. Affordable housing is severely lacking in Hawai‘i, and if you talk to these people, many of them have full-time jobs and are strongly motivated. They just need a place to live at a reasonable cost.

Finally, the fact of the matter is Jeremy Harris’ administration pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes on the city sewer system. He diverted money from the sewer fund to pay for fancy lightposts that didn’t need replacing, Sunset on the Beach and $295 million in “visioning projects.” He even spent city tax dollars to pay for a book about himself. He was warned that the aging sewer system was in desperate need of repair. He let it decline for more than a decade. Now Mufi gets the blame? How fair is that?

[timkona]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

Affordable housing is severely lacking in Hawai‘i, and if you talk to these people, many of them have full-time jobs and are strongly motivated. They just need a place to live at a reasonable cost.

Affordable Dwellings = basic economics

When the number of dwellings meets or exceeds the demand, the price will stabilize, or possibly decline. There is no way to build affordable dwellings if your definition of a dwelling is anything like a subdivision.

In Kona, it won't happen until the Politics of NO is stifled. The number of people who complain at the public hearings is just hilarious. Developers jump through layer after layer of red tape, adding cost to a dwelling.

If you truly want affordable dwellings, you should also be in favor of removing Environmental Impact Statements, Traffic Studies, and Zoning from the overall process. Ha, not likely in this liberal haven.

One thing is for sure. When I hear people talk about affordable dwellings, I never see them with a nail gun in their hands, selling dwellings at a loss. If you don't like the homeless situation, become a developer, build some dwellings, then sell them at a loss. Only then will you know the problems.

[Nalu]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

[I]If you truly want affordable dwellings, you should also be in favor of removing Environmental Impact Statements, Traffic Studies, and Zoning from the overall process. Ha, not likely in this liberal haven.

Actually limiting the number of outsiders who move here will do the trick just fine. Outsiders put an added burden on our infrastructure but add nothing but their ignorant opinions.

[Samurai123]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

It must be stated that the concept of "moving out the homeless was necessary to make repairs to the park" has long been shown to be a lie. I find it amazing that in the past the City was able to do new construction and significant renovation to park facilities without moving out the homeless. All the renovations and repairs the City did this time has been carried out in the past without closing down the park. So lets call it like it is, the City moved the homeless out because the general public and the City government simply did not want them there- hey that's cool, but stop lying about the motives. As far as the State living up to their responsibilities, did you know that practically every homeless shelter on Oahu is subsidized by the State. The State is the largest funder of outreach services, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment for homeless persons and families. Once again - Mufi needs cover so he blames the State and unilaterally states that homelessness is a State responsibility. However he neglects to inform the public that the City is very much in the homeless assistance business by virtue of the millions of dollars that the City receives from the federal government to assist the homeless because then he would have to admit that he shares the responsibility for finding real solutions versus just washing his hands of the matter and resorting to useless and misleading sound bites.

[sinjin]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

Actually limiting the number of outsiders who move here will do the trick just fine. Outsiders put an added burden on our infrastructure but add nothing but their ignorant opinions.

Would you know what percentage of homes are held by non-residents?

[Jewlipino]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

Timkona is right, construction of apartments (not subdivisions) needs to be expedited if we ever want to address the housing shortage and ridiculous prices. That and we need to make financially attractive to lower rents via restructuring the property tax system and through the use of tax credits given to the right parties. While the local xenophobe in me likes the idea of keeping outsiders from moving here the reality is that there is very little we can legally do to keep them from buying property here, etc.. Please reference the Interstate Commerce Clause if you want to know exactly why we can't stop the haoles from coming . (gotta qualify this, I'm hapa).

One final note about Mufi and the Mountain of Opala: I stated earlier that I thought it responsible that he told the Council that they couldn't close the dump. However it has to be noted that while Mufi was on the Council he shirked his responsibilities regarding the issue just as vigorously as the current Council is doing. More of the same I guess, now he gets to blame the Council for inaction that he colluded in when HE had the opportunity to do something about it as a councilman.

Jewlipino

[timkona]

Re: Mayor Mufi: Pulse check, O'ahuans

Outsiders love Hawaii. If you come to Hawaii with some skills, training, education, or credentials, it is easy to make your way here, because there is likely very few people in your field.

For instance, you cannot become a doctor on the Big Island. You cannot get licensed or credentialed in many fields on the Big Island. If you have never left the Big Island, there are many careers not available to you.

One of my dogs is named Nalu. That's cute.