Article on term limits for council members was misleading
Relating to terms limits for the office of council members:
I have served 10 years on the Charter Review Commissions and I believe I’ve learned the process well enough to express my disappointment in some of the comments published in an article in last Thursday’s edition of The Garden Island newspaper.
The article implies that one person can introduce a charter amendment and get it on the ballot. That is just not possible.
An amendment must be introduced, seconded and approved by a majority of the County Council to get on the ballot. It is unfair to single out one council member as “self-serving.”
Since 1972, the issue of term limits for council members has appeared on the ballot at least eight times. In 2006, the amendment was passed, and today we are experiencing the effects of that decision. A large majority of residents are having difficulty selecting seven recognizable candidates, perhaps because their choices can no longer run.
Is it time to reconsider that 2006 decision? Our votes, rather than the charter, should limit the number of terms served.
Let’s be clear: Voting yes allows your votes to limit terms, voting no allows the charter to limit terms.
Carol Suzawa, Lihue
Politicians need courage, creativity to clean up island
Here I am back visiting my daughter in Kapaa for the third time in as many years, only to find the Garden Island more polluted, over-crowded and congested, with traffic back-ups everywhere. And my daughter tells me that the politicians running in this year’s election agreed there are no solutions to the problems. How sad! No research, no imagination, no guts.
How about making it economically feasible to improve conditions? Instead of thousands of cars with one person each filling the roads, offer free bus transportation with regular running electric buses that run often and throughout the island? And/or Uber/Lyft fleets that pick up patrons with county-supplied credit cards? And certainly a start to reducing traffic is free bus service for all students, as most schools on the mainland offer.
Of course the question always is “but how can we (the county) pay for free bus service?” The answer, of course, is by taxing gasoline and increasing registration/licensing fees on autos and trucks. These vehicles are ruining our air, water and land, and the owners need to pay for their largesse.
I’ve been on the island only a little more than a week and already have seen dozens of junk vehicles abandoned on roadsides and in driveways.
It takes courage to be a good politician, one who stands for change and new ideas. I think that’s why Bernie Sanders had so much support in the 2016 primaries. He had ideas for social, educational and economic changes. We cannot continue on the path of unlimited freedom to pollute, carry arms and exploit the Earth and the poor. I hope voters in Kauai have the courage to support change that preserves this beautiful habitat so that it continues to be a Garden Island and not the junkyard possible if the current trends continue.
Margaret Kolbek, Kapaa
