• Kudos to KPAA, not the OED • We need solutions for Salt Pond problems • Are we prepared for a hurricane? Kudos to KPAA, not the OED The latest county council meeting included testimony from Diane Zachary, president and
• Kudos to KPAA, not the OED • We need solutions for Salt Pond problems • Are we prepared for a hurricane?
Kudos to KPAA, not the OED
The latest county council meeting included testimony from Diane Zachary, president and CEO of Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance.
Her presentation was an inspiring, even euphoric, vision.
Ms. Zachary obviously has invested the time and effort to develop expertise in the planning, design and implementation of a child and community development plan.
She quite capably explained the whys and hows, that we can track and measure child and community benefits, and provides the assurance she is using proven programs and a successful network of assets to develop and implement a county plan for Kaua‘i’s children.
I am impressed by her testimony, because she presented details of the intended outcomes, and then described the processes step by step that cause the outcomes to occur.
She demonstrated a greater understanding of what economic and social development through an incubation system can accomplish than any presentation ever made by the Office of Economic Development.
Compare the KPAA presentation with the incoherent and rambling presentation two council meetings ago by the OED. The mayor had an epiphany — do the opposite of the best practices the business incubator expert we hired recommended.
Our taxes will instead fund converting the county’s Big Save space into lunch restaurants and kitchens, a wholesale butchering and meat packing facility, a retail store selling Sunshine Market produce, a wholesale shipping operation for Sunshine farmers, open a Made on Kaua‘i store, and site an economic incubator with a commercial kitchen.
Our taxes will fund purchasing and building stores and other facilities, walk in chill boxes and freezers, butchering and packaging equipment, kitchen appliances, electrical, water, sewage, security and fire systems, and the total renovation of Big Save to accommodate these county economic development ventures.
An epiphany lacking even a basic business plan.
Unfortunately, the mayor has spent all but $15 million dollars of the $60+ million budget surplus he inherited.
How high will the county raise our property taxes to fund the mayor’s euphoric visions?
Lonnie Sykos
Kapa‘a
We need solutions for Salt Pond problems
A huge mahalo to Abby and Frank Santos for their vividly accurate testimonies at the March 6 council meeting about the problems that exist at Salt Pond Beach Park.
From sewage disposal problems to water ponding getting contaminated to hazardous coconuts potentially falling on campers to the shoddy condition that this park is in were all brought up by these concerned citizens.
The work that they and other volunteers that do the jobs that our taxes are supposed to be paying for was highlighted by their attestations.
Volunteers should always be encouraged to help with community projects to reduce the cost of work performed by paid workers.
But they are only a supplement to any job and should never be used to be a primary source of repairing and maintaining for what municipal funds are allocated.
Usually when a member from the public testifies before the council and is given a “reply” they say thank you and return to their seat. But Mrs. Santos would not take any “vague” or “non-answers” to her outstanding questions but badgered away and insisted on exact times that these problems would be addressed and who was the responsible party for solving them.
If a job is not properly done it is the responsibility of the supervisor to solve the problem.
Regretfully, we have many department heads here on Kaua‘i that are not qualified to deal with the problems like the ones that Abby and Frank have tolerated with for way too long.
The problems at Salt Pond Park are not the exceptions to so many issues facing our local government but sadly, more the norm.
We need more people like the Santos’ to actively protest these wrongs and demand solutions. As Ken Taylor said, we need a county manager style government where the manager is where the buck stops.
Glenn Mickens
Kapa‘a
Are we prepared for a hurricane?
If Kaua‘i’s North Shore is hit by a tsunami or hurricane, we are not prepared. Hurricane ‘Iniki was the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. state of Hawai‘i in recorded history. Winds reached 145 miles per hour and was a Category 4 hurricane.
There are some shelters in Kilauea at the schools, but Hanalei Bay, Ha‘ena and Princeville residents are a long way from them.
In September of 1992, thousands of homes were destroyed, at least six people were killed on Kaua‘i, and damages of 2.8 billion dollars were incurred.
A total of 1,400 homes were destroyed and over 5,000 were damaged. The Red Cross did an amazing job after the hurricane, but the lack of shelters hindered their activities.
Do you know where the nearest shelter to your home is? Our largest hotels will not accommodate North Shore residents over fears of liability.
Will our residents be allowed to enter their establishments for humanitarian reasons?
Their attorneys can easily draw up a Release of Liability Contract, which would absolve the hotel or time share from liability if anyone is taken in and hurt on their premises.
Surprise, surprise hotel owners, if you turn people away and they are hurt or killed by flying debris or in an accident trying to find a shelter, lawyers will sue you for your actions.
We simply can’t wait for the next hurricane.
We need answers now and we need more available shelters now. I would like the hotel owners and hotel managers to respond to this letter.
Also, the billionaires who want to build on the North Shore of Kaua‘i should consider helping our island by building shelters in case of a hurricane. Maybe our Princeville Library could install hurricane shutters on all windows?
Richard L. Turner
Princeville
