• Property rights stripped
• Public schools are fine
• An extraordinary moment
• Manager system needed
Property rights stripped
A few months ago we were informed by our property management company that after March 31 they would no longer be able to rent our single family home because it is on land designated agricultural and built after 1976.
Twenty-five years ago, we decided to look for land. We hoped that by renting out our home we could afford to purchase property we knew we would only visit a few times a year. We considered ocean destinations such as Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, but we were concerned that our property rights might be taken away by government edict.
We purchased a single family lot on Kaua‘i because of its spectacular beauty and it was the United States. We purchased our lot in 1985 and built our home in 1990. For 19 years we have rented our home and paid GE, TA and property taxes.
For 25 years we have returned to Kaua‘i over 60 times and brought friends and family members to our island that would never have visited otherwise. Several families have rented our home for the same two weeks for over 10 years and had reservations for this year and for 2010. We had to cancel their reservations and return their deposits. Several have decided not to return this year.
We never thought that we could have our property rights taken away by government decree in the United States of America.
Shame on you Kaua‘i County Council.
Barney and Julie Feinblum, Boulder, Colo.
Public schools are fine
I am in seventh grade at Kapa‘a Middle School. I am wring because there is nothing wrong with any public middle school. I am happy and content.
Yes, there have been drugs, but all those people who did them are suspended for a very long time.
The security is also very strict. We are not allowed to have iPods, phones or other electronics, unlike some other middle schools. All those troublemakers don’t even dare act in front of the teachers. Also, all those stories about people getting high are not all true.
There are a couple of fights every once in a while, but those are just if two people are giving trouble to each other. As for the bathrooms, they do not smell like cigarettes, at least for the year I was there.
Bullies do not go around sack whacking other boys anymore. Those people are all either expelled or suspended. To top it all off, everybody gets along pretty well at our school.
Rachel “Asia” Kaden, Kapa‘a Middle School
An extraordinary moment
Patsy Mink was my number one hero in politics because she personally took the time to encourage me, helped pay my way to Washington, D.C., in the late ‘90s, and gave me the opportunity to make my first speech in front of hundreds of important women from around the country.
She told me: “Wow, you are tall, arn’t you? But you need to have a big voice. Speak out! Look at me, I’m short, but I have a big voice!”
Then, she looked up at me, with her signature look, and said: “And I bite if you get in my way!”
Then, she gave me a great big hug, and said: “You’re all right, you’re a good girl. You’ll know when the time is right. But you must run, you have to speak out. No matter what anybody says, just do it.”
When she died, I was inconsolable. I didn’t have the money to attend her funeral on O’ahu, and I was upset that there were no services planned for her on Kaua’i, so I did a memorial for her on the front lawn of the Historic County Building.
The Garden Island showed Dennis Chun on the front page along with dozens of county, state workers and regular folks that were able to pay their respects to her during their lunch hour.
At the recent film event at KCC I was able to present to Kimberlee Bassford, the producer of the film, a campaign sign of hers that was quite old. It was an extraordinary moment in my life.
Anne Punohu, Kalaheo
Manager system needed
Thank you Walter Lewis for another fine article (“Kaua‘i still waiting to employ county manager system,” Forum, March 7) on what it takes to make “A Better Kaua‘i.”
And thank you, The Garden Island, for putting his article in print so that the people have ideas for moving our island forward.
The county manager system that Walter so well details is a time-tested, successful form of government used by 60 percent of the municipalities across the U.S. and is one that will benefit all the citizens of Kaua‘i.
Please read his article carefully and support the learned and wise Carol Ann Davis-Briant on the Charter Review Commission to help her gain the support of the other six members on that commission to get this measure on the ballot for all of us to vote on.
Our county has a $220 million operating budget (CIP included) and with all due respect to our new Mayor Bernard Carvalho and all past mayors, their only requirement under our Charter for being elected and overseeing this huge amount of money is being a resident and being 30 years old.
If you personally had a portfolio of this size, wouldn’t you want an experienced, well qualified person to manage it for you? Of course you would. And this is exactly why so many other successful governments use the manager type system and why we need to follow their lead.
Glenn Mickens, Kapa‘a
