No more toleration for Oahu's urban blight

Funny how life works. Here we have O'ahu bending, some would say breaking, with unchecked development, the subsequent overpopulation and an almost unperceivable urban blueprint.

Too shortsighted to plan for future generations, we continue the mass degradation of O'ahu, complete with an eroding quality of life.

Lo and behold, who should rise up and save us from ourselves? The ancients, whose bones and spirits will no longer tolerate the blight of rampant development on the lands they once wandered.
Pat Kelly
Honolulu

Starwood courting resort on Oahu

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is negotiating to purchase or partner in the expansion of the Turtle Bay Resort, which could include up to five new hotels.

Oaktree Capital Management, owner of Kuilima Resort Co., which includes Turtle Bay Resort, is negotiating with Starwood, Kuilima spokesman Nathan Hokama said yesterday.

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Don't let resorts take over the island

I'm a student from Germany who had the great opportunity to spend half a year in Hawaii during a six-month internship.

You are living in paradise and you should definitely not only think twice but a couple of times before you give permission to or plan to build a resort on one of the most beautiful stretches of coast, along Oahu's North Shore.

One thing that makes Hawaii still special is the fact that it hasn't seen too much development compared to other tourist regions in the world. You should keep it that way.

On the island of Lanzarote, Spain, for example, they have a law that you can't build hotels, resorts and the like higher than a palm tree. The island benefits because they don't have these huge hotel complexes standing in everybody's way and making the landscape ugly.

Please reflect on this and also think about your kids who will not have the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful place like you and we have.

Holger Stripf
Munich, Germany

Turtle Bay - It's absurd to allow old plan to be in force

Bob Nakata's June 19 commentary listing all the good reasons for the city to deny building permits to Oaktree Capital Management LLC should be read out loud to our City Council and Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

It is absurd to allow Oaktree, or anyone else, to build anything with a 20-year-old agreement.

Anyone who has come to the North Shore during the last 20 years has noticed it can now take up to two hours to get from Hale'iwa to Sunset Beach.

There is also a huge housing shortage and shops and restaurants have a hard time finding workers. And our ocean is full of sediment from developments that is killing our coral reefs and fish.

Whatever legal reasons the Circuit Court judge had for allowing a 20-year-old agreement to stand without another environmental impact statement does not mean that the city has to ignore the obvious changes on the North Shore in the last 20 years.

The short-term benefits that any politicians, or a handful of North Shore residents, might have for supporting Oaktree's expansion are far outweighed by the problems that this project will bring to our state.
Lorenn Walker
Waialua

Oahu can't support Turtle Bay expansion

By Bob Nakata

The proposed massive expansion of the Turtle Bay Resort by Oaktree Capital Management LLC, and its subsidiary, Kuilima Resort Co., threatens to turn O'ahu into one continuous urban center. The huge impact it will have on traffic will make it impossible to feel like you are in the "country" anywhere on O'ahu.

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