• ADU position clarified • On the line ADU position clarified I would like to thank The Garden Island newspaper for its recent coverage of an important issue which affects approximately 500 to 700 land owners on Kaua‘i and the
• ADU position clarified
• On the line
ADU position clarified
I would like to thank The Garden Island newspaper for its recent coverage of an important issue which affects approximately 500 to 700 land owners on Kaua‘i and the general public — the scheduled expiration on Dec. 31 of the Additional Dwelling Unit Ordinance which allows for an ADU to be built on parcels of land zoned Open, and on Ag-zoned land under four acres.
The article’s headline wrongly cast the impression that the Kauai Board of Realtors is in conflict with the county over this issue. Our intent is primarily one of public education — getting the word out to the owners of the affected properties, as we recognize that many are unaware of the “sunset date” despite efforts by our association, letters from law firms to their clients and public hearing notices in the newspapers.
We are in complete agreement with Councilman Jay Fufaro’s statement that it is important that the public attend the Planning Commission’s public hearings to air their concerns on all sides of this issue. The next hearing is today at 1:30 p.m. at the county Kapule Building in Lihu‘e.
Missing the Dec. 31 deadline to obtain a building permit for an ADU could surprise long-time land owners who might have mistakenly thought that the opportunity to provide an additional home for their children was a permanent feature of this ordinance.
Hardest hit might be the land owner who purchased a property which is reliant upon obtaining a home through the ADU process. Should they fail to obtain a building permit in time, their property would lose a substantial amount of value.
The original intent of this ordinance was to allow families to build an additional home on their properties to alleviate the shortage of affordable homes on Kauai at that time. Many have done just that, and many have used the ordinance as an affordable way to purchase a property in a rural setting with another family and share it. Some argue that the intent of the ordinance was subverted by people, Kaua‘i residents and non-residents, who profited from the ability to obtain the ADUs.
These public hearings give everyone the opportunity to discuss whether to allow the Ag and Open ADU Ordinance to expire, be extended, or be modified to keep the parts of the ordinance that work well for our community and change the parts that don’t.
Please attend and let your voices be heard on just one of many complex, land-use issues. If you can’t attend, submit your written testimony.
- Rick Shaw
President, Kauai Board of Realtors
On the line
I am one of the local striking nurses of Wilcox. The strike is on its second week and I’m proud to say that we the nurses remain very positive and continue to stand behind what we believe our Kaua‘i community needs to continue to have, that is safe care for our people of Kaua‘i through the safe staffing of the hospital.
There’s a lot of information regarding this issue put out into the press daily. Some of which is true and some is false. One in particular that caught my attention and one I took very offensively was the statement put out by Cathy Clark (CEO) and RN of Wilcox that stated, “Many of the replacement nurses have higher skill levels than our regular nurses, thanks to their experience in working with severely ill patients at some of the finest hospitals.” My response to this is as follows:
Kaua‘i is a rural community for the most part. Wilcox Hospital is the primary hospital the people come to in time of illness and/or emergencies. We are faced with the many illnesses/emergencies that some of the “finest hospitals” deal with. Wilcox Hospital differs from these “bigger/finer” hospitals in that it does not have specialized units/floors. Such as a floor specific for cancer patients, a floor specific for pediatric patients and neonatal intensive care, a floor specific for cardiac patients, an IV team which starts all patient IV’s, etc. Therefore, the nurses at Wilcox care for a variety of patients. We are cross-trained in these many areas of nursing which makes us much more skilled and more valuable than these replacement nurses. The Kaua‘i community should be confident and proud that our Kaua‘i nurses are well-skilled this way. One important factor we must not forget is that we LOCAL nurses understand the Kaua‘i culture. We live it! It’s not just business as usual. Here we are not just caring for anybody. Kaua‘i is such a small, closeknit community that we are caring for our families, friends that we consider our families and neighbors. We care for our patients as if they were our own and we want to make sure that this continues.
We are the nurses caring about our Kaua‘i ‘ohana 24 hours, seven days a week. We see the many changes happening firsthand. We feel these changes are not safe and do not fit the lifestyle of our Kaua‘i community. Do you think the management of HPH advocating differently see what these patients go through on a daily basis? I don’t think so. “They” may visit each patient five minutes max asking yes or no questions then they leave. They’re not there long enough to see these patients undergo sometimes an hour or two of not being seen by a nurse because their nurse was busy with her six other patients, one of which may be receiving blood and the other went critical on her needing to transfer this patient to the ICU. This is a nurse’s reality on the job. Then management comes back when a complaint has been filled because the patient’s call bell was going on for an hour or so with no answer and they have the gall to come and ask “now why did that happen and how can we improve?” They tell us to fill out incident reports for these missed calls and other errors. Then we’re left to wonder where these reports go because no changes have been made.
No one listened to the improvements we’ve been recommending and so here we are on the picket lines in hope that they would listen to us.
To our Kaua‘i community, the nurses are on the front line in caring for the people of Kaua‘i. We see what needs to be done for better, safer care.
We are not doing this for money as some may think. We are doing this for the safety of the Kaua‘i people. There are some of you who may not care because you are not directly affected. However, this surely affects everyone living here. We all try to live a healthy lifestyle. However, someday we or someone close to us may need some type of hospital care and we want to make sure that we are all cared for in a safe environment. This is a time that the Kaua‘i community needs to come together in support of this cause. We are doing this for our families, and for you, the people of Kaua‘i whi are OUR family.
It takes a lot of love, compassion, patience, caring and most of all skill to be a nurse. Not every one can fill those shoes. I chose to be a nurse, and I am proud to say I am one of the many fine local nurses here on Kaua‘i. I am well=skilled and do my best at what I do. I care for my patients as if they were my own family. It’s a humbling experience and brings me great joy to see my patients improve in status as I care for them, to see the joy of new parents as I assist them through the birth of their child, to provide comfort for families who have lost their loved ones, to educate patients if they don’t understand their diagnosis or a test they’re undergoing. These are some of the many things we nurses experience on a daily basis.
This strike is not easy on any of us nurses, we gave up a lot. Most of us have families to support. However, we sacrificed a lot because we truly believe in this. We care for the people of Kaua‘i too much to see “big business” take away the aloha / ohana that was once a part of Wilcox Hospital. As I’ve said, we nurses remain strong but, we still need the support of the Kaua‘i community. We have been ready to negotiate. However, they refuse to hear us. So, if we all stick together and continue to vocalize our support to this cause, then they may just hear us. Thank you.
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