County needs be hire people with experience
Congratulations to Kealii Kanahele for his fine article, “How can we trust the candidates?” TGI Nov. 19.
His article highlighted the dismal shape our parks and recreation areas are in and referenced our Parks and Recreation director as the person responsible for their terrible condition. Yes, this director is in charge of them and the buck does stop at his desk. And as Mr. Kanahele points out, this person is now running for mayor so if he cannot properly do the job he now has, how are we going trust him in a higher position?
In fact a recent poll in TGI asked the question, “Are you happy with the condition of Kauai’s Parks?” The response was quite revealing. Total votes: 414.
Yes. They’re in fine condition. A credit to the Island. 56 or 13.5 percent.
No. They’re often dirty. An embarrassment to the Island. 336 or 81.2 percent.
I don’t go to the parks so I don’t care. 22 or 5.3 percent.
Thus an incredible amount of people, over 81 percent feel that the person in charge is not doing their job. And, why is this?
Mainly because some of the people we hire for key positions are not experienced or qualified for these jobs and the tax payers are short changed. And not just in the parks example, but in so many other county jobs where people are chosen for political reasons and not for their qualifications.
If the person, man or woman, at the top has no experience or knowledge in whatever field they chose to be in, then those under that person will never be able to successfully run that operation.
And, we certainly cannot blame an inexperienced person from taking a job that is offered to them but we can demand (at the ballot box!!) that the person at the top doing the hiring is held responsible for positive results.
Glenn Mickens, Kapaa
most people that are experienced and in a great career, are not running for office;
not always, but most of the time, as they do not want to take a pay cut;
therefore, we are stuck with folks that see politics as a job that they can make a career out of; term limits would help with that;
do you really think that a successful doctor or CPA or business owner etc…. is going to give all of that up, to work in politics ? some folks might, because they want to truly help the country/patriotic duty etc…, same with joining the military these days; but not very many……
There are many places in what is called the Third World where public rest rooms are very clean and sanitary. That is because they have attendants and people who are willing to do that particular job.
Such a situation used to exist in the USA; but, no longer. The best situation is a place such as McDonald’s where maintenance is scheduled and management is usually available for complaints. It really cracks me up to hear people say this is a Kauai problem. These provincials really don’t get out much. The entire USA is one big filthy public restroom. How often do you see people raging at the employee who has closed the needed bathroom to do the cleaning? People in the USA just have a generally selfish and poor attitude about public restrooms and consider this: it usually takes just one of these people to create the mess that repulses you. Those that follow make “accommodations” that worsen the problem. They certainly don’t do anything to fix it!
In case you haven’t noticed, society has spent the last 50 years becoming more casual and less refined, or at least, less respectful of refinement. Now we have a President who views refinement as a weakness! He’s not alone; it was destined! Public restrooms aren’t going to be “great again” any time soon!
There is a solution, even on an island with less than 2% unemployment. There is a teenage workforce and a homeless workforce that is often spending their time in the park already. Yes, that would need some real meaningful supervision and people who can effectively train and motivate others. What it really would require is a wage that would actually attract this unused workforce; and perhaps even a tip jar to take things to the attendant level.
True, plus with manpower dispute of one working more then the other doesn’t help
Mr.Mickens says that there are many county jobs where people are hired for political reasons instead of their qualifications. This is a perfect example of why we have a council running the way it does and is a direct reflection as it has shown what takes place when you kick the can decade after decade and then you need a consultant to first show you the problems and then require the county to hire a private corporation to implement solutions and some creativity.
For these reasons why do we keep putting on popularity
Contests for our elections. We keep getting the same results.
Let’s hire 7 professionals to run the show that are hired all on
The same page to move us forward with creative motivated
Results and solutions for our needs and services
Pose the same question about the roads and I’ll wager the results are even more negative. The County and State politicians and bureaucrats should be ashamed of themselves for the condition of our roads. Instead of taking care of the roads and public parks, they waste scarce resources on wasteful endeavors.
RG DeSoto