• Downgrade a sign of a poorly run county • Sen. Schatz protects our monk seals • The climate is changing, so wake up
Downgrade a sign of a poorly run county
Sunday’s (May 11) TGI leading article “Downgrade” highlighted more than ever that Kauai County is badly mismanaged. This criticism applies to both the executive branch, i.e. the mayor’s office, as well as the legislative branch, i.e. the council.
The county’s credit rating is being reduced by the independent rating agency because “Expenditure growth has repeatedly outpaced revenue gains, resulting in recurring operating deficits and drawdowns in fund balance.” In other words, under the current county government, the county is spending money more than it takes in year after year. If you or I ran our personal finances that way we would soon be bankrupt.
As Jeff Demma pointed out so well in Monday’s TGI, if the county were a business it would soon be bankrupt.
The county is a $200 million dollar a year business — it is in the business of selling services to its residents and visitors. This business urgently needs a professionally manager, an experienced professional county manager.
Walter Lewis and others have eloquently written about the need for a county manager. The downgrade of the county’s credit rating because of county spending consistently exceeding revenue emphasizes the very urgent need for a county manager.
Let’s start the process of getting a qualified county manager before the current, inept county government taxes us out of our homes and businesses.
Peter Nilsen
Princeville
Sen. Schatz protects our monk seals
Our Hawaiian monk seals are the most endangered seals on the planet, and since they live entirely in U.S. waters, their fate is wholly in our hands. Without intervention and sufficient help, within a generation, the species could be extinct. Fortunately, the monk seal has a champion — our very own Sen. Brian Schatz.
Despite the hard won and significant successes of scientists in the last several years (which have reduced the rate of monk seal decline to almost zero in the larger population that lives in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration planned spending on the monk seal for this year included a cut of $1 million from last year’s amount, a decrease of 30 percent.
Thankfully, Sen. Schatz and his staff recognized the critical nature of our situation, and negotiated with officials to restore the budget to a necessary $3.9 million. With his help, our scientists can continue their important work and ensure that our iconic monk seals continue to be a part of our future.
Dr. Trisha Kehaulani Watson
Honolulu
The climate is changing, so wake up
On Sunday, The Garden Island published a guest editorial by Tom Harris, head of the International Climate Science Coalition. Nice sounding name, yeah? Must be trustworthy information.
But if you Google that organization, you will quickly learn it is a controversial front group of professional climate change deniers, linked to and partially funded by the Heartland Institute, one of the Koch brothers’ anti-science lobbying organizations.
Tom Harris himself has no experience in the climate sciences. He’s a mechanical engineer and communications specialist who’s most recent work has been as head of PR for Canadian energy companies. Interesting that on the very following page in Sunday’s paper was an excellent article on how climate change is already affecting Hawaii and will continue to have increasingly adverse effects on our islands! Time to get our thinking right, and recognize what’s right in front of our eyes.
Richard J. Laue
Koloa
