• Kapa‘a ranks most fuel efficient?
• Considering being homeless
• Hooser deserves better
Kapa‘a ranks most fuel efficient?
I read with confusion, and a bit of dismay, the July 14 headline article stating that Kapa‘a ranked “most fuel efficient” in a survey done by Mapinfo Corporation. I have placed calls to Mapinfo Corporation to try to better understand the actual survey that was done, and I am awaiting responses. This news troubles me because it sounds misleading — it definitely doesn’t jibe with what my eyes tell me.
Also, the information was then mixed up with information about the brisk sales of large, gas-guzzling trucks in a way that someone not reading the article very carefully would think they have leeway to drive less fuel efficient vehicles. And to have someone state that “gas mileage has never sold me a car” is just disgustingly cavalier in this time of peak oil.
I think the problem goes to the issue of “registered vehicles.” The survey showed that “Kapa‘a has the highest percentage of registered fuel economy vehicles in the nation.” Just because people have fuel economy vehicles registered, though, doesn’t mean that they are actually driving them. The article states that in 2005, there were 78,511 registered vehicles on the island. The population of the county in 2005 is estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau to have been 62,640. Considering that some of those people were children not old enough to drive, elderly or sick people not able to drive, etc., this would leave A LOT of registered vehicles undriven. Nor does the presence of fuel efficient vehicles mean that those vehicles are maintained in a state or driven in a way where the rated fuel efficiency is actually realized. In addition, the Kapa‘a-Wailua corridor has the worst traffic on the island, and it is only going to get worse still, further cutting into any benefits.
Finally, it seems to me it would make a lot more sense to report the data on an island-wide basis, since the population of the entire island more closely resembles the population of other areas that might have been in the study (i.e., cities — for heaven’s sake, Honolulu was ranked fourth and it has about 100 times the population of Kapa‘a).
I guess I am saying I would not be so quick for the island or even Kapa‘a to give itself a collective “pat on the back.”
Considering being homeless
In view of the fact that the counties and the state will do nothing to remove the “squatters’ from the beaches of Hawai‘i, I have decided that perhaps I should sell my home. Then I will be homeless. I have a small equity in it of about a half-million dollars. I will then buy me one of those really neat tents with a portable propane stove and a porta potty and a solar water heater.
Then I can set myself up on the beaches of Hawai‘i without a building permit and enjoy beachfront living that I otherwise cannot afford.
This will be wonderful — I have always wanted to live where I could just walk out into the ocean. Now I will be able to do it.
I’m so glad that the counties and the state are so considerate of those of us who are homeless. Especially those of us that just don’t want to follow rules and regulations. Mahalo nui loa to these wonderful officials. I can hardly wait for my house to sell.
- Gordon “Doc” Smith
Kapa‘a
Hooser deserves better
I was a bit surprised by today’s article by Lester Chang about the Kaua‘i nurses strike. Mr. Chang seems a have a skewed view on the nurses strike, and perhaps a biased eye for Mazie. As Mr. Chang points out, Sen. Hooser “marched with nurses on the first day of the strike, June 24,” but he neglected to mention Hooser marched with them again yesterday on O‘ahu right in front of HPH. However, all of a sudden, Mazie is the champion? I understand trying to give equal media coverage to each of the candidates, but I think Hooser deserves more than a side note for his efforts on behalf of the nurses — if this is to be a political opportunity, which is another issue all of itself.
