• Sit back and relax • Consider unintended consequences • Have our senators been bought? • A great alternative Sit back and relax I recently read an article in The Garden Island newspaper that stopped me cold. This article featured
• Sit back and relax • Consider unintended consequences • Have our senators been bought? • A great alternative
Sit back and relax
I recently read an article in The Garden Island newspaper that stopped me cold. This article featured some complaining about the timing of the filming in Hanalei the other day while offering up some of the positive aspects of the film crew being here.
I was surprised about the complaints. After all, the Hollywood filmmakers bring money and jobs — albeit temporary — for many who are unemployed right now. In the future, there will be tourism because of the location shots they did here. Tourism is still one of our main sources of income. So, for a few hours of inconvenience, we reap the benefits from these film crews now and in the future.
I, for one, am a little tired of all the complaining about traffic stoppages. We live on an island with one two-lane road around it. You have to expect delays.
I hear complaining about the traffic stoppages, complaining about widening the road, or putting in a walkway. The walkway will create a safer place for people to walk and bike. The traffic stoppages to repave the roads offer more safety and less wear and tear on your tires and your vehicle, ultimately saving you money. Widening portions of the roads will help expedite travel. Additionally, these activities provide jobs, which infuse money into our ailing economy.
Maybe the next time you are sitting in traffic, try turning off your engine, sitting back, and enjoying your radio. Carry a can of almonds or a protein bar and a book, magazine, or notepad with you for these unexpected delays.
I know how frustrating it is to be delayed, as I am on the road a lot in my business. However, I try to focus on the positive outcomes these activities ultimately bring to the many (including me) and I offer a smile and a shaka to the flagman and the workmen. If you try it, I’ll bet you’ll feel better and you might just brighten someone’s day.
Nance Nunes Overton, Princeville
Consider unintended consequences
As a visitor I would normally hesitate to offer an opinion regarding a local issue but, as this is my 12th trip to Kaua‘i, I hope readers will understand that I offer this with nothing but love for this place.
A few years ago I was able to spend a month driving around Ireland. The first three nights were at a B&B in Galway where I got to know the proprietor fairly well. At the end of my trip I decided to come back to Galway and spend a few more days. One of the topics of conversation with the owner was regarding the tremendous amount of trash I saw everywhere I went on that spectacular island.
The B&B owner said it had not always been a problem but began when the government started charging people for trash pickup and also for dumping at the local landfills. Many people refused to pay it and began dumping their trash in trash cans everywhere and, when those cans were full, they simply left the trash on the ground next to them where it ended up scattered to the four winds.
Walking along a beautiful beach one day I suddenly found myself walking in mounds of trash consisting of old furniture and clothing, oil cans, disposable diapers, and household garbage that had been tossed off of a cliff above the beach where it was invisible from the road.
The Irish people are as proud of their island as I’ve found residents of Kaua‘i to be but I fear that there will be some people who will take the same attitude as some of the Irish did when told that they can no longer dispose of their trash cheaply or for free. It was obvious that it was not a one time event but the place had become a favored dumping spot for more than a few people.
Hopefully my fears will be unfounded and my future trips will continue to prove this island to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. But you must consider the fact that the decision to increase fees for disposal of trash might make a mattress tossed over the side of the old dump near Glass Beach seem like a minor thing once this fee increase is put into effect.
Jim O’Toole, Anchorage, Alaska
Have our senators been bought?
Hawai‘i Sens. Akaka and Inouye both voted to support big banks (by voting ‘no’ on the Brown-Kaufman bill).
The six big banks (including Goldman-Sachs and Bank of America — sometimes referred to as ‘banksters’) were responsible for the meltdown of our economy at the end of 2008.
We, the people, are in serious danger of losing everything we own if the banks that are “too big to fail” are not downsized and/or strongly regulated.
Perhaps our senators have a different plan? I hope they will reveal it soon.
Appearances give the impression that they have been bought.
John Zwiebel, Kalaheo
A great alternative
I have been a regular rider on The Kaua‘i Bus for the last eight years.
I believe the bus is a great alternative, saves gas, saves the environment, helps control traffic and saves stress — no worry about getting pulled over, no worry about insurance.
Please increase service to include Sundays, and make room for more than just two bikes per bus.
The Safeway plaza bus stop wastes alot of valuable time, may I recommend that the bus stop be put in front on the highway as they do in front of Kapa‘a Big Save.
The bus is really a great alternative.
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa’a
