If you had 15 minutes with Mufi Hanneman…
If you had 15 minutes with Mufi Hanneman, the mayor of Honolulu, what issue would you like to discuss with him and why.
If you had 15 minutes with Mufi Hanneman, the mayor of Honolulu, what issue would you like to discuss with him and why.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Our society asks many ethic questions. Should there really be “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?” Is it okay to spank young children as punishment? What about huge issues that our leaders like mayor Mufi Hanneman of today face? Issues such as sewage, homelessness, public safety, education, and the sustainability of our Ahupua’a?
Studies show that many colonized people in jail today, were once proud people of their land. Native Americans, Hawaiians, and other colonized people are the most represented group that abuse drugs and alcohol. This is because their land, their people, and culture were taken away from them. It’s as if their whole history was erased. What was once a healthy, green, ahupua’a is now housing three of the countries most toxic sites in Honolulu.
In the future, I see myself as a leader who may not be the most powerful, but with other people who share the same opinion at my side, together we can make a difference in Hawaii. I know who I am and who I want to become. I will work hard to be the best leader I can be by giving my persistence, care, and attention in understanding the problem and fixing it.
In addition, a good leader should be pono and set a good example for their people. They should also be wise and open-minded to other’s ideas. Another tribute to being a good leader is to be compassionate and understanding towards their people.
If I had 15 minutes with Mayor Mufi Hanneman, I would discuss with him about the negative effects on our aina and our people since the 1700s. Our land has become a dumping ground, our people are loosing their grasp on Hawaii’s culture and religion, and our native species are slowly becoming extinct as well as our whole aina.
The lesson I learned from seeing Hawaii today is to leave the aina better than it was when we got here so that our future children and even our grandchildren can see and experience the healthy, flourishing, Hawaiian Islands.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
If I had 15 minutes with the mayor Mufi Hanneman then I would ask him what he could do to convince our president to help save our planet. I would discuss this topic with him because this topic is very important. We need to save our planet. To do this we need to try to cut down on our use of gas, and other hazardless things that harm our environment. We need to help our planet. We want our great grandchildren to be able to see a polar bear not just remains of the last polar bear!
February 20th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
If I had fifteen minutes with Mufi Hanaman, our mayor, I would ask him about the troubles of the Hawaiian culture such as building on ancient burial grounds, littering and pollution, and all the troubles of the Hawaiians. Not only do a lot of Hawaiians don’t have a good education, we also have the most people with diabetes. I would want to ask him how he feels about this problem, and if he is planning to do anything about it.
I would ask him this because there are so many Hawaiians with this problem. Some of my relatives are some. I am sure that he would, or is doing some work on it immediately because he knows that Hawaiians are looked down upon as heathens because in the state, we have the most people in jail, the most drunkards, and have the least educated people. This has been going on since when we were annexed to the United States. Nobody wants to be called heathens. That is why Kamehameha Schools is for Hawaiian kids only because our founder, Pauahi, believed that the Hawaiians could be powerful again.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
If I had 15 minutes with the mayor of Honolulu, I would ask him about the issues of homelessness and unemployment in Hawai’i. I would ask this because there are many people in Hawai’i who are homeless are unemployed. I would also ask this question because I would want to know if he has any interest in trying to help these people that aren’t as beneficial as us. If he is, it would be a great thing because he would he helping out a many people.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
If I had 15 minutes with Mayor Mufi Hanneman, then I would ask him what he is going to do about the homeless people that are living on the beaches because most of them are Hawaiian. I am concerned with this because Kamehameha School’s main plan is to educate the descendants of native Hawaiians. If Kamehameha Schools could get the children of these people educated then they wouldn’t be homeless and that would lower the population of homeless Hawaiians.
I would also ask him what he is going to do with all of Hawaii’s pollution because Hawaii used to be beautiful with fresh water streams and now, they have flesh-eating diseases. I want to experience having fun in a fresh water stream.
I hope that in the future, the U.S. Government will do something that will help the Native Hawaiians and not just the Native Americans.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
If I had 15 minutes with Mufi I would ask him why we don’t have a lot of recycling programs when we are just an island. We need more recycling programs because if we don’t stop global warming, it will be unstoppable and we will all die. The water in Hawaii will reach our elementary school if we do not do something now.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
If I had 15 minutes with Mufi, I would ask him why we don’t do anything about Pearl Harbor. We should do something about Pearl Harbor because it is very polluted and there is lots of trash floating in the water. With Pearl Harbor being polluted, it may lead to people thinking that it is okay to litter and pollute anywhere they please. We should at least try to not make Pearl Harbor a Superfund Site anymore. Also, if I had 15 minutes with Mufi, I would ask him why there are so many dump sites on this small island. We need to start recycling more because if we don’t, then we might run out of resources very fast. We should do something about the dumping because they might run out of space for the dumpsites and start destroying the wetlands, and killing all of the native birds and animals on this island. These are just a few issues that I would like to discus with Mufi Hanneman.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
If I had fifteen minutes with Mufi, I would talk to him about global warming and ask him how we could fix it so the land becomes clean again. The main reason why I would talk about this is if we don’t do something now and put out the little fire, it is just going to keep building and one day in the future the land might be so polluted that we could not even live on it. Global warming is not only harming us, the people, it is hurting the animals that need the land for food , water and shelter.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
If I had 15 minutes with Mufi I would tell him the stuggles of the Hawaiian people and all that was taken from us: our land, our history, our people and our culture. I would ask him if he could do something for our people. I would also ask about Pu’uloa, if we will ever have it back because it is becoming more and more polluted. Soon it will be almost impossible to clean up. I would ask him about our recycling programs because we need to recycle. We are a little island and don’t have much room to put all our trash. I would ask him to enforce the laws about illegal dumping.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
If I had 15 minuets with Mayor Mufi Hanneman one topic that I would like to discuss with him is what will you do to help the Hawaiian people? The reason I want to know how he will help the Hawaiians is I want to know how much he cares for Hawaii’s native people, and how he will help restore our population.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
If I had 15 minutes with our mayor Mufi Hanneman, I would talk about our rail transit system. I would talk about what the feasibility study said about the rail transit. The feasibility study is when groups of people assess an idea and see if it is possible or feasible. I would tell him that the study said that the rail transit system would not fulfill their goal of easing up traffic. My only question would be why are you spending a couple billion dollars to make a system that does not ease up traffic.
If I had to ease up traffic with a couple billion dollars I would make more boat systems that would get people in and out of town. Also I would make more roads over water. These are my ideas of easing up traffic.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
If I had at least 15 minutes with mayor Mufi Hanneman, I would really want to ask him questions about why the city and county don’t do anything about all of the global warming, instead of just preaching about it. The major things that I would ask him would be why doesn’t the city and county make more recycling programs around the island? I would also probably ask why don’t more people or cleaning programs go out to the beaches and parks more often? I would ask a bunch of other questions, but I only have 15 minutes.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I would also talk about the transit center like Chris and also what are some of the benefits that he thinks Hawaii will get from the Superferry.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
If I had fifteen minutes with Mayor Mufi Hanneman I would ask him why the government does not like the Hawaiians and why they keep putting dumps where we live and then taking our land. Mostly, I would ask about what we could do as a choice for pu’uloa that the government would allow. I would ask about why they keep making it hard for the Hawaiians because you see the hardships every day at Maili Beach Park where many tents are holding a whole family. Another reason why I would ask about Pu’uloa is because it was one of our best natural resources. The last reason for all of these questions is everywhere the government goes, the land loses its resources like in Hawaii. When the government of America takes over resourses, we move back a few steps but it takes so much time to make up for those steps that were taken away from the people. My question in general would be how can we make up for those steps.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
If I had 15 minutes with Mufi Hanneman, our mayor, I would discuss with him why the Hawaiian people are not getting help. I would also ask about why the Hawaiian land is getting taken away. The Hawaiians are very smart people, but most of them are poor and cannot afford to buy a house for their family to live in. They cannot buy food and the things they need and want. They can’t buy the simple necessities of everyday life. Their land that was once their kupuna’s are now getting taken away for our selfish needs which hardly supplies the things in everyday life for the Hawaiians. I would ask if he could make some arrangements so that the Hawaiians could live a better life. I would ask if he could give back some of the native land so that we could survive in this world. This island was once our land and it is getting used up and is dyng. If I still had a little bit of time left, I would ask Mufi if he could make some kind of law or help us out with spreading the word about Global Warming. It would really help our ‘aina!!!
February 20th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
If I had fifteen minutes with Mayor Mufi Hanneman I would ask him why he is not concerned about global warming. Why not try prevent global warming and let our people live a longer or better life instead of them dying in maybe 500 years.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
If I had fifteen minutes with the mayor, I would ask him who are you supporting in the presidential race. The reason for that is I want to see who could be president.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
If I had 15 minutes with Mufi Hanneman I would ask him why did the idea of a mass transit system start so late because if we had the idea a long time ago, we wouldn’t have as much traffic now. But since we started the idea now, we will have thousands of more people on the islands in the future and there will be just as much traffic as it is now. Also I would ask why buses are not as good as a transit system and if they aren’t, why not?
Also I would ask what is he contributing to stop global warming, and if they have recycling bins in state parks. Also, what are you doing to help students learn?
I would also ask how is he helping the Hawaiians thrive as a nation, and how he is helping them from giving up because the Hawaiians have the highest rate of crime and drug addiction.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
If I had fifteen minutes with Mufi I would ask him why do we only have one college and why can’t we make the University of Hawaii look nice. Why can’t we put money into the college so at least we can have a good time in college with nice classrooms, new dorms and a new field for the football players so we could be more proud of our collage. I think June Jones left because of how old are college looks like.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:00 pm
If I had fifteen minutes with Mufi I would ask him if he could help stop global warming and also to help save our planet. I would also like to ask him if he could help save our Hawaiian culture from dying.
February 21st, 2008 at 6:27 pm
If I had 15 minutes with Mufi, I would ask him to recognize the Hawaiians. This is our homeland, and I think we deserve to be known. I would ask him to donate money to Hawaiian charities and places trying to preserve Hawaiian history and culture. Also, I would ask him to lower prices on houses and taxes because many people can barely afford to pay their bills and some can’t afford a bigger home.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:00 pm
If I had 15 minutes with Mayor Hanneman, I would discuss the transit system with him because I don’t know if a transit system will really work. It may relieve traffic congestion a little bit but we still might have major traffic problems.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:26 am
If I had 15 minutes with Mufi Hanneman, I would talk to him about the homeless problem. I would ask him what he is going to do to solve this homeless problem because everytime they clear a beach the homeless just go to another beach. The homeless just keep moving.
I think that he should just make them a small shelter so they could at least have food, water and a roof over their heads..
February 24th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I know that Mayor Mufi is planning on making many changes on ‘Oahu, but I still have some questions on other problems in Hawaii that are very important. First I would I would ask him “ What are you going to do about Pearl Harbor which is a superfund cite and how are you going to prevent us from having anymore on ‘Oahu?” My second question would be “Do you think that public schools need a better education, if so what are you going to do about it?” My last question that I would ask the mayor is “ Since you are hiring more police officers will they be giving people tickets for littering because it is against the law?”
February 26th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I would ask Mufi about the problems of Hawaiians nowadays. I would ask him if he had 15,000 dollars, would he give it all to the Hawaiian kupuna or the young children? Also I would ask if he was helping out on Global Warming? Another question I have for him was why does he think that most of his voters voted for him particularly?
February 27th, 2008 at 10:41 am
If I had fifteen minutes with our mayor Mufi Hanneman, I would ask him why he doesn’t try hard to get the Hawai’ians recognized. A while ago when I was reading a TFK (Time for Kids), I read an article about how the United States said “it was wrong for us to take your land” to a Native American tribe. Why doesn’t the U.S. say “sorry” to us? We are invisable. If we we weren’t so invisable maybe we might get some of our land back.
February 28th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
If I had fifteen minutes with Mufi Hanneman I would ask him, why doesn’t he try to help the Hawaiian people? It seems like many people know that we are trying to get our ‘aina back so that we can take care of it the Hawaiian way. The Hawaiian way to take care of the land is to malama it as if it was your brother. I would ask Mufi Hanneman this question because we need to start taking care of our land. We don’t have to take care of it all at once. We can take care of it one step at a time. The first step, probably as big as we can get for now, is to write letters to Mufi telling him what we want to do to save the aina.