HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0032.098 2006-2008 Message Yage I of 3
From: Roy R. Thompson [mailto:royt@hawaii.edu]
-
Sent; Wednesday, October 17, 2007 11:55 AM
Ta: kapilago@co.hawaii.hi.us; ~jaco@co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: FW: Superstore legislation
----Uriginal Message-----
From: Roy R. Thompson [mailto:royt@hawaii.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 11:29 AM
Ta: 'kpilago@co.hawaii.hi.us'; 'shiga@co:hawaii.hi _us'; 'jjacoC~co:hawaii _hi .us'
Ce: 'psur@hawaiitribune-heraki.com'; 'sandys.asato@hawaii.gov'; 'Melia@haw_ aiirepoRer.com'
Subject: FW: Superstore legislation
To our county council members:
I am forwarding to you an email I sent to the planning department several months back that explains my
feelings about the superstore issue, and also, about a faceless and nameless organization that is conducting
mass mailings to the Hawaiian members of our community about the superstore issue. These unidentified
individuals continue to provide misleading and erroneous statements and innuendo in regards to the function and
spending of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands organization. 1 tried to view both of the websites to find out
who these members of the "Kanaka Council" might be, but one website was inoperable and the other contains
absotuteiy nu iniouuation on who is involved whir lire organizauon or where its opereIiny funds wore from. I smelt
a rat. The new mailing also has nn return address, nor are there any email addresses at the website to enquire
further about the organization. The latest flyer is disrespectful, slanderous and racially inappropriate. Those are
not Hawaiian values.
1 Think we should ask the Attorney heneral for the Slate of Hawaii to investigate the origin o1 these mailings and
tell us who is orchestrating this program, and what their true agenda is.
!f ycu dart interfering with fhe ability of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to acquire and r_onsummate
leases with major national and international businesses you will be taking us backwards, towards the days when
you could only get your Toyota parts at Servco Pacific, and your General Electric appliances at Amfac. I
remember those days, and dealing with insolent sales people peddling overpriced merchandise, secure in the
knowledge 4hey had a monopory on Yheir goods. Hawair Eras already gone through a period when the businesses
were virtually all locally owned, and many of those businesses abused their relationship with the people of Hawaii,
which is why national discount stores have become so popular here in such a short period of time. Your efforts to
restrict free trade in Hawaii are helpful to special interests and harmful to the Hawaiian people. If you see
members of the Hawaiiar community in your meetings supportive of anti-Wal-mart or anti-big business legislation,
as it regards use of Hawaiian Home Lands property, they likely don't understand the ramifications of what they are
asking and have been mislead by persons such as those who have mailed out these flyers and whose motives
aiKi ideutiiiea are unkiown. Oiueis may have a tridden ayertda.
A vote to restrict DHHL from making 4he best deals it can on its prime commercial lands is anti-Hawaiian. S
X
Rey Thmm~s~n E?~
.-r
-----Original Message----- N
From: Roy R. Thompson [maifto:royt@hawaii.edu] ~
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 12:23 PM ~ o
To: 'planning@co.hawaii.hi.us' ~ g e
Subject: FW: Superstore legislation ~ r' G
K h
T'o Whom tt May Concern:
Someone who lacks the moral courage to put a return address on their correspondence has sent my wife (and
probably thousands of other Hawaiians) a misleading fryer that intends to inflame emotions over the pending
superstore tHlls. Many who lack suffident skepticism or factual background will probably be taken in by this.
literature and you may have seen some of them at the latest meeting. In the brochure it outlines that 30,000+
Hawaiians are on the waiting list while stores like Wal-Mart are moving onto prime lands. tt neglects to point out
http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.corn/dcllaunch?.rand=fdae92165dvui~ - t0/17/2007
Message Yage 2 of 3
that the homestead program is self-sustaining, and that the only way to generate income to develop housing for
those native Hawaiians is to lease out prime lands to for-profit entities. The brochure also implies that the pending
legislation will, in some way, impact the pending construction of the new Wal-Mart supercenter, athough the
newspaper has already pointed nut that that is a moot point, as the r.ounty planning rommission has no
jurisdiction over DHHL property. By the way, the flyer was mailed from Honolulu, which in7pfies to me that
someone from another island is attempting to tamper with our local politics. No menfion is made as to why they
think there is a connection between the graves discovered at the site of the supercenter on Oahu, and the
devekupurent ui such a faciFiy un Ehu Hawaiian hurrw lands in Hilu.
As far as anybody can tell, this could just be an effort from local businessmen to stave off competition from an
entity known to bring lower prices into communities where lack of a competitive market has albwed a small clique
to benefit unfairly at the expense of consumers. it has been my observation that the presence of Wal-Martin Hilo
has acompanied (and probaby significanty assisted) Hilo's economic revival over the last ten years, that native
Hawaiians have benefitted disproporfionatety from its presence in the form of jobs, training and lower prices
(since native Hawaiians statistically tend to have bwer incomes and a higher propensity for consumption over
savings) and, through the lucrative lease arr<zngements, homes and streets. Gone arc the days when local
businessmen ftiendty with the governor can get sweetheart leases in prime locations for far less than market
value, to the detriment of the DHHL beneficiaries. The last ten years have seen an enormous increase in the
number of families put into homesteads after decades of stagnation on a waiting Est that seemed to be going
nowhere. Where were the local businesses during the first seventy-five years of the homestead program? This
smear campaign does a tremendous disservice to an organization that probaby employees more native
Hawaiians than any other retail company in the state.
By the way, you might say I could be a tittle biased. My wife has worked for Wal-Mart for thirteen years, and
although she's onty an assoaate, she has a very generous compensation package, comparable to that of many of
my co-workers at the university. My daughter tried for months to get a decent job at many of these small
businesses with no avail, but Wal-Mart hired her and trained her and she is making more than she woukf have if
sl7e irad yore to any mom-and-pop operation 87 Hik7. rViy sun worked at Wal~iart on Oahu for about eight years
- -
and, though he now works in the construction industry, I'm sure the discipline and sldfis he acquired as a
department manager in Wei-Mart have helped him significantly in his current posfion. My daughter-in-law still
works for Wal-Mart and her pay is relativety generous, which helps immensely with their growing family. All of
them are native Hawaiians.
And for those, Nke our former council chair, who tout the benefits of working for momand-pop operations, I
have something to say. If you really believe that N's better working for them, you are probably in one of two
categories: 1) Your mom and pop, uncle and aunty, etc. were running the store or 2) You never worked in one.
My first job (for 18 months) was in a neightwrhood supermarket. I was the only non-Asian working there. For 18
months, onty one person worked in the parking lot all day Sunday cleaning out the garbage cans full of discarded
plate lunches, partially consumed sodas, etc. Although new employees came and went, I stayed on garbage
detail. Younger high school students hired attar me got pay raises and training to be cashiers. I got to do the
once-weekly emptying of the upstairs apartment trashcans (think six-day-okf pampers and discarded kitchen
garbage). I was roufinety verbally abused by the owner's nephew from Japan (He was a former pro boxer and he
once threatened to kill me. 1 told him to give k his best shot.) ,compelled to work in the reefer with no warm
clothing (although they came in to check on me with fur-lined jackets), and the onty employee in the store
scheduled to work until closing on every holday and holiday eve two consecutive years, from Thanksgiving
Eve through New Year!.'s..-Eye.
{ y6t tU GS1ei7 t0 niy W$$' Sw7 argue with a cook at their nearby restaurant BkYOUt 17is pay one evenh7y. TPre cook
wanted minimum wage ($1.60) and the organization would onty pay him $1.10. This was several months AFTER
the state labor department give the owner a record fine for violations of the minimum wage law. I'm glad my
daughter never had to go through that. Growing up in Leeward Oahu in the '60s we had little choice, as the vast
majority of the opportunifies were only available at mom-and-pop operations that favored their own ethnic group
over all others, and expected non-members of their group to take a decidedly secondary role in the business, if
they were even lucky enough to get a job. People like me were hired to do work that they didn't want their
sons/daughters/nieces/nephews doing. I'm sure it's improved a tittle since then, but your average high schooler or
recent graduate hired at amour-and-pop has virtualty no chance at upward mobility at most of these operations.
Take a spin down to our own locally-owned supermarket chain and check the organizational chart. It's no
coincidence that everybody at the top comes four the same ethnic background. I'm sure most council members
won't have to worry about that, since sorrieone will fix their kids up with a good job, no n7atter what. Our fan7ily
had to do it the hard way.
Thank you, Wal_Mart.
http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?.rand=fdae92165dwi 10/17/2007
~ ~ Y'
~a. tis gti iU > .
~z ~ ~
~
~ ~
N i ~ ~ ~
' ~iQ .J ~
C ~ rat-' i = ~ ~ _ x.
~ ~ 4-
F `eif '
- ~ is y-~ - i cv r._- hm'l A 'a. ~F~~~
~
r
rn 'c" dg
~ ~ O ~
rn
c ~ . W
Ley V
`i ry i ,p~~ ~S7 "'r YE7
{f"1 . ~ v1 7C' Sri ~ ~
i. `c: p~ cn
`t`~ I~ W - ] f~ ~4 - ~y Vii.....
r'
r, ~ ~
jq
,a.. ~ ewes i~ t.R m %._L. ~i 1~, ,
~9
~ ~
~ ~ r.. ~ 1~
i ~ ~
F ~ ~ _
.a..<
~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ o ~
i ~ .
"fhat's how many l~awaiians remain on vaaitirg hst for Ilawaiian Homeland Parcels
~rs_
As thousands of Hawaiians as wiihout a home, prime Hawaiian Homeland is beine leased to
ca~rspani~;s lilis; ~F~IaI-i~~la~t in Vila, z~alYa, and'~.apolei.
Hundreds of acres of Hawaiian lands are going is mainland corporations
- i}iEit tik<Flt t liC!? ?iud.-v.li(sli FiUEswfutiUJ ~v .v ak~ 1S~4: u.tiuii'v Fa iSii tE`vS~.3~.a.alGE~'r 1.1~F.tz lliillE::a'
7!. ~ • ~ s ~ T ® 6~l • • .
WHY SHOUI:D WE CONTINUE T(3 ~'TI't/E QUIZ LAND Tt.} A COxPORt~TION THAT DOES
ttilil {ii~`yE":.Sk.i <}C.iEi h41~ii:E.:i sttEi~1: i s,r-t6i.. I.H h f fi; 3 t iY`, S 4'~+F ~ Eik~k~ ~~'f'~i1 ~ l{~1. ~.ii1/it',:j;
Thn Wal--Mart ronctructinn n~ Ft nnaumn/cu ,Ctrnat an HnnrelT>rlrr caw ar®mnrnue
el~ims c~,j~desecrrrted rFtnr~i~s, tv,~th ~r~ti~ag ra child°s skull avath ir~delt'hle red zn~
taping a child's teeth to ara irides; card, using duct tape and mndelin,~ claay trt held
re~acrrzs ta~~c>tE~~ir €rnel a.~reEing the n~vrrls °~cer~dlicc~ ~,rsuis i'uitt€~n atf a paper ,~trck
that contained' a human hand. (,~IQnnlulu Star Bulletin = Nov 19, 21105)
. ~,o
attend the County Planning Commission and support Hawaiian's right to lisre on
TT_W .,I..L ~'..7
- A3i%a3 z-~..karSk:.3h1 - -
Pass TAE $AN ~N s~~Plxs~rax~;s ON xn~ta~~ To PxoT>1cT
utxe~tl~r.a~rnc+
~ ~ ~ x_~; ~ .
~vleeting ~'~rn+v; ;L~~O a.m.
tl~eeting ~oeatic~n: Aupuni Center ~C®ra!#`e~ence
F:,„~...,
ax
~~YIC~ 1':~stit]1011~ ~(~:~~~t'tClitit~(t~C~.l"i~i~laii:~11.US