Growth will spoil Kauai
Steve Martin has it right in his article in this morning’s paper (Feb. 3). While we bring in money, you will eventually see that we (tourists) cannot cover the expense of our being here but the life quality of residents will be damaged … note the traffic already.
Your roads and all infrastructure will bear a burden that cannot be sustained and the quiet green and garden isle that we loved is already becoming a thing of the past.
Dennis Hauff, Whidbey Island, Washington (another tourist destination)
District elections would be good
The most significant reason for NOT eliminating term limits for council members is the federal governments policy of no termlimits for members of Congress.
Career politicians have resulted in public approval ratings for them in single digits. New blood could bring new ideas that maybe more agreeable with the population.
Term limits on Kauai should be retained, and a county manager form of government should be initiated. If a manager hired bythe council wouldn’t be doing an acceptable job, he/she could also be fired by the council and improvements made.
With the present system, citizens have to wait for a new election to make changes. District elections of six council membersshould also be instituted.
The conflict between the mayor and council members could be eliminated with the mayor being the seventh member of thecouncil elected countywide, and serving as council president with a tie vote.
Cooperation on a single legislative body would serve the county better than the current executive/legislative arrangement thatresults in a good old boy system with firings that simply have those fired reassigned to another department.
Rich Hoeppner, Lihue
So what Mr. Hauff, are you and Martin advocating for an all pervasive state that further trashes private property rights? Or perhaps eliminates them?
I for one would much rather live in a state of liberty & freedom than under the boot of state “planners”.
Which do you prefer?
RG DeSoto
Amen
Great letter from Dennis Hauff- short and to the point, and 100% TRUE! Let’s work to save what’s left to save here.
RGDesoto…. What are you trying to say? Explain your point. My letter and mr. Hauff comments have nothing to do with trashing private property rights or eliminating them.
You get mixed up Steve. You don’t like government intrusion that’s obvious from some of your writing. However when you see something that troubles you, you then regress to the “government has to do something” mode which invariably means no more growth, which in turn absolutely means…trash private property rights. Deny people the right to use their property as they see fit. That was also the tenor Hauff’s letter.
You can’t have it both ways.
RG DeSoto
RG Desoto….. Growth is inevitable. What I don’t like is a “popularity contest” election that Leeds us decade after decade kicking cans with no true experienced professional management. This is why we are $100 million in back log road maintenance. This why we sit in growing traffic congestion. Because of no creativity we instead take the easy way out and raise the excise tax to pay for it which I will believe it when I see it. What does anything here have to do with denying and trashing peoples property rights? And what does anything you read above have to do with no more growth? Like I said growth is inevitable. How it’s managed is the problem. I think maybe you have it mixed up. RG Desoto