Category Archives: Family

Culture, Family, Lifestyle, Parenting

Bad Landords: You Pay, They Prey

2 Comments

Relationships between landlords and tenants are naturally tense: tenants buy the use of someone else’s home for a fixed period of time, and it’s all fine and good until something breaks or gets damaged. Tenants want quick repairs and a stable, safe place to live. Landlords want to minimize costs, steady income and the ability to retake possession at any time.

Laws have been enacted to manage these conflicting interests. In Hawaii, we don’t have rent control, like New York or San Francisco, which gives renters rights equivalent to owners. Instead we have something called the Landlord-Tenant Code. I’ll tell you more about it in this series covering horrific landlords and what to do about them.

(Quiet, private 2/1 for rent in Hawaii. Will consider rent reduction in exchange for yard work. Pets poss. Outdoor shower. $1200 + util.)

Why not cover bad tenants, too? To put it simply, I’ve had years of personal experience with bad landlords in Hawaii and in my dealings with them, I’ve compiled an archive of resources for stranded and screwed tenants. Maybe one day if I ever become a landlord, I’ll write about bad tenants.

The Hawaii Landlord-Tenant Code outlines the responsibilities and remedies for both parties. Unfortunately, the language is vague enough and with enough loopholes that landlords can easily game the system and abuse their tenants. In other words, tenants have to pay to preserve any of their rights while bad landlords prey on tenants’ vulnerability to eviction.

Everyone hates to move, and landlords know this. If tenants are working full-time to make ends meet, can’t afford to walk away from their security deposit, or have kids or pets, moving feels nothing short of daunting and keeps many tenants in dysfunctional or even hazardous housing.

The problems between landlords and tenants are chronic enough that the State Office of Consumer Protection established a free hotline. If you’re having trouble with your landlord, this is the first stop:

Residential Landlord-Tenant Volunteer Center (Hotline)
586-2634 (from Oahu)
8:00 a.m. – 12 noon
Monday through Friday, except State holidays

From the neighbor islands (toll free):
974-4000, ext. 62634 (from the Big Island)
274-3141, ext. 62634 (from Kauai)
984-2400, ext. 62634 (from Maui)
1-800-468-4644, ext. 62634 (from Molokai & Lanai)

If you leave a message, a volunteer will call you back usually within 2 business days. It helps to have a list of specific questions and documented issues ready when the return call comes.

Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. If you have a serious dispute with your landlord or live in hazardous conditions, consult an attorney who specializes in landlord-tenant issues.

Family, Health, humor, Politics, Random

No Health Insurance, Taking Dog’s Medicine

4 Comments

As politicians eagerly point out, about 40 million Americans do not have health insurance. I am among them. As a self-employed and generally healthy writer health insurance is not affordable, unless I don’t mind not eating. So I don’t have health coverage and haven’t for years now. No big deal most days.

While ringing in 2009, there was also a ringing in my ears. It was coming from a sinus infection that I picked up recently while on the Mainland. It’s winter’s gift that keeps on giving. Now back in Hawaii, I am taking a litany of over-the-counter remedies–from antihistamines, to cough medicine, to tea tree oil–but the infection is getting worse.  My cough has become productive, which in medical speak means that I’m coughing up yellow stuff. Gross.

Rather than shell out $5oo for an emergency room visit last night or $200 for an urgent care appointment today, I rummaged through my refrigerator to see what leftovers I might have from previous health crises. I hit pay dirt when I found my dog, Poky’s, extra bottle of 500-mg amoxicillin capsules. (His vet suggested keeping a bottle in reserve because of all of his curious adventuring, but that’s another story.)

I compared the label on Poky’s green bottle with an older, empty orange bottle of amoxicillin that I still had from a tooth infection a few months ago. The instructions were nearly identical, except that Poky was to take one capsule twice a day versus three times a day for me. A quick Google search revealed that the generic manufcturer, Teva, made them both. My dog’s prescription had cost $5 plus a $50 vet visit. My Rx, now long gone, had cost $8 plus a $100 dentist visit.

I’ve already taken two capsules of my dog’s amoxycillin. So far, so good. No ill effects, and I am beginning to breathe a little easier. In case you’re think of doing the same, I don’t recomend it. This is not medical advice. However, it’s cheaper for my dog to get health care than it is for me. And in 2009, this will be an issue to watch.

Environment, Family, Health, Lifestyle, Politics

Hawaii Residents Eat Cheap in Hard Times

2 Comments

(Added 9/30/09: If you’re looking for the best burger or cheeseburger in Hawaii, read this review.)

Residents of Hawaii frequently eat cheap food away from home and those cheap foods carry a high hidden cost in the form of heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer while increasing profits to fast food companies.

According to Angelina Ahedo, lead author of a study published in 2007 on how frequently members of different ethnic groups living in Hawaii eat fast food:

Native Hawaiian [study] participants ate at fast food restaurants more frequently than Chinese, Caucasian, Filipino, and Japanese participants (p < .05).

Her study also showed that participants with higher BMIs (an indicator of obesity) ate more frequently at fast food restaurants. She also found that gender, income level, of Native Hawaiian ancestry, consuming away-from-home foods, and dieting to lose weight were significant predictors of high BMI.

A second study recently published this week by The Cancer Project looked at rocketing sales of “Value Menu” items offered by fast food chains. They found that five most popular cheap eats are:

  1. Junior bacon cheeseburger – Jack in the Box
  2. Cheesy double beef burrito – Taco Bell
  3. Breakfast sausage biscuit – Burger King
  4. McDouble – McDonald’s
  5. Junior bacon cheeseburger – Wendy’s

According to a 2005 report from the Institute of Medicine on the marketing of junk food, the main targets of Value Menu marketing are teenagers, young adults and minorities — in other words, most of Hawaii. Add in hard economic times, and it’s easy to see why the sales of McDonald’s Dollar Menu raised over $5 billion in revenue five years after it started.

Such huge financial gains to companies come at a high price to individual and public health in the form of chronic diseases. When taking the ill health effects into account, I wonder how much does that 99-cent McDouble really cost Hawaii?

Sources:

1. A. Ahedo et al. Californian Journal of Health Promotion. 2007; 5(2):1-12. Available at: http://www.csuchico.edu/cjhp/5/2/001-012-ahedo.pdf . Acccessed 12/15/08.

2. The Cancer Project. Cheap Eats for Hard Times: The five most unhealthful fastfood ‘value menu’ items. Winter 2008. Available at:  http://www.cancerproject.org/media/news/081208.php . Accessed 12/15/08.

3. Institute of Medicine. Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?.  December 6, 2005. Available at: http://www.iom.edu/?id=31330&redirect=0 . Accessed 12/15/08.