Take a stand to protect island
I would suggest to residents and the governmental powers that be to consider the possibility of expanding their thinking, their perceptions of growth, and tourism in our islands.
“Malama the aina” is a call the Hawaiians have been making for as long as I can remember, and is always easily dismissed as some sort of folksy saying. No one pays much attention to the people of this land or what they say … what they know.
Now the Earth, the sky, the ocean, volcanoes and the rain have gotten our attention — though perhaps in not the way they intended.
We have been given one of the most beautiful places on Earth to live, to visit and to care for. And a large part of that beauty lies in its fragility.
So consider this: It has been verified that pre-flood, 4,000 cars a day passed by the green church having visited Hanalei, going to and from Ke‘e.
Four-thousand cars on our delicate, two-lane road, with its charming, one-lane bridges. Now the powers that be, mostly from Honolulu and even Lihue, are replacing those bridges to be bigger, wider, to accommodate who?
Even more tourists, of course.
From Ke‘e Beach to the Dry Cave solidly, on both sides of the road, tourists park under “no parking” signs. Locals don’t bother to go there anymore.
I could give many more examples of the deterioration of the precious sense of aloha, the fragile-yet-majestic beauty of our island, as could folks from every neighborhood on Kauai.
But we all know what they are.
So what is the answer? No ack! You know what it is. The real question is, do we have the courage to be an example to our state, our nation?
Gina Mears, Hanalei
Single-use plastic is wasteful
I would like to publicly thank our Kauai County Planning Commission for making the right decision on not permitting a bottled water company from taking our public water and reselling it back to us.
The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that our county has the right to protect the “public trust,” and our Planning Commission did just that. Water is owned by the public, whether it is groundwater, stream water or wetlands. Individuals who divert water for their personal profit are stealing from the public.
The embarrassing crocodile tears and hand-wringing from our current County Council made it clear that they had personal friendships and sympathies for the “mom and pop business” that takes our water and resells it, but the Planning Commission upheld the public trust.
Years ago, the Surfrider Foundation showed the movie “Tapped” 11 times around the island. It is still available on Netflix. The film is, still today, an excellent expose of the bottled water industry.
It showed many incidences of these “mom and pop businesses” selling their water-taking rights to big corporations like Nestle and PepsiCo that continued to drain aquifers in spite of local droughts. Surfrider Foundation is trying to educate the public about the effects of single-use plastic on our ocean.
The bottled water industry is a poster child for the stupidity of single-use plastic. Our tap water on Kauai is excellent. If you don’t like chlorine (which is necessary), let it settle out for a few minutes or buy a filter, but paying for a use-once-and-throw-away bottle of tap water is something that defines silliness.
Gordon LaBedz, Kekaha
Gina Mears complains there are too many tourists. She ends with “So what is the answer? No ack! You know what it is. The real question is, do we have the courage to be an example to our state, our nation?”
I wish Gina had been more explicit about what course of action she wants. Here’s a dirty little secret about one way to cut the number of tourists. Beat them up when they go to a beach park or take a hike. Steal their stuff from their rental car.
This strategy might not be much of a secret. Those things already happen, and I think crimes against tourists are welcomed by certain segments of the community who view theft and assault as legitimate weapons of a war of terrorism against haoles and against America. It’s similar to how ISIS and some guerrilla groups use rape as a weapon of war to terrorize middle class and wealthy people — terribly unfair and ugly, but very effective. And the criminals know they can get away with crimes against tourists, because the tourists live far away and will not come back over and over again for each court appearance if, indeed, a prosecutor actually chooses to prosecute.
Aloha Kakou,
A comedian on TV said that a nation or community that bans grocery and store plastic bags but allows single use plastic bottles must be in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
Again, isn’t the elephant in room of congestion and overcrowding on Kauai the issue of many people moving here?
Mr Conklin
You have obviously either misunderstood Miss Mears letter or you have no knowledge about the condition of our lives here in Wainiha and Haena. Do you really think we live among a bunch of thugs and thieves out here? RAPE! REALLY??? Please crawl back into that hole the flood must have flushed you out of.
The point of his post is the fact that Hawaii is the most openly racist state in the nation. “But we all know what they are.”
More facts: The 4,000 cars park on the side of a road, because of no parking, no integrated shuttle, and no adequate parking. It’s a safety thing as people are going to continue to get injured walking along the road, in-between cars,
All the bridges should be 2 lanes. Another safety issue.
I’m tired of people living in the past, sacrificing the security and safety of people, so they can continue to yearn for the “olden days”.
Hawaii produces nothing. Tourists are the ONLY industry. I know, change is hard.
Yes, numilalocal! Reading these letters over the years, it seems the people who complain the most about development, the lack of affordable housing (they’re occupying and causing to become unaffordable), food security, traffic congestion and tourism are mainland transplants that are actually MOST of the CAUSE of these changes to our island. What hypocrites! Put your actions where your mouths are, Mr. & Ms. Transplant, and move back home if you really want to help Kauai and its kama’aina instead of just making unnecessary noise. Free up your house today for a kama’aina.
“Transplants” organize, save, plan, and put a lot of time into the process of moving from the Mainland, and the rest of the World, to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It takes guts, patience, and a lot of sacrifice. They don’t just walk off a plane.
Most “Transplants” have been living on the cheap for years, save their money, and actually burn some brain cells on how they are going to support themselves once on the island.
Change in inevitable. Progress is inevitable. I know, things were soooo great 30-40 years ago everywhere on the island.
“Traffic congestion” is relative. If you have lived anywhere on the planet, then you know the “traffic” on this island is a joke. 20-30 minutes extra, on average, is nothing. All the other aforementioned issues, frankly, are from people that yearn for the Plantation Days when everything was taken care of by the Company. Now that the state produces NOTHING, minus sand, sun, beach, waves, and the weather, the average brotha does not benefit from Tourism.
There are not Dragons and Monsters on the Mainland or the rest of the planet. I know, it is easier to complain about all the tourists, progress, construction, congestion, etc. that have “changed” your island. It’s like 6th grade on this island. “I was here first”. Stop the madness!
Yes Freddie, thieves, you know, ones who steal, so they can buy drugs, you know, from people that sell drugs.
You do know there are people that sell drugs, right Freddie???