North Shore isn’t getting enough attention

I have been generally happy with the changes of The Garden Island, with the

exception of the persistently dump-on-Gore, pro-big business slant of the

editorial page. I can read that drivel in any of the corporate media, and it

mostly forgettable.

But I have to object to the lack of coverage of the

packed public hearing that took place in Kilauea last Thursday. That room of

people in no uncertain terms rejected the new Kaua’i County General Plan as

rewritten by the most conservative elements of the business community, with its

extravagant estimates of the amount of pain the county is willing to inflict on

its local people by increasing the tourist count from our present 19,000-21,000

to 28,000-34,000 a day.

Kauai’s future for its local people is at stake

here.

It’s a fact that the tourists themselves don’t want to see this,

don’t come to Kaua’i to experience overcrowded and trampled trails, etc.

Kauai’s reputation is that of a green, beautiful place where there are fewer

people and you can be closer to nature.

Greed by the tourism industry is

destroying what once was a beautiful reality here. Our reputation will catch up

with us, and this greed will destroy us if left unchecked. Look at Maui. Look

at its traffic problems. Tourists beg us every day: Please don’t let what

happened on Maui happen here.

Are we being good stewards of our

treasures?

The business community itself is divided on the merits of the

General Plan, as I hear from people in the building trades who care about the

island and have the foresight and brains to see that we are shooting ourselves

in the foot and ruining our home with this foolish plan.

When the people of

the North Shore turn out in such large numbers to tell the County Council that

they are rejecting the corporate-based and written plan for Kaua’i, the effort

they made should at least be dignified with a brief mention in the

paper.

For most people on the North Shore, this was the only chance to

express themselves on the future of our island home, as most hearings are held

in Lihu’e, which is too far for most of the people who work too much much and

too hard.

North Shore residents rarely see any council members up here.

Maybe that’s a good thing for the council, for they are very unpopular in these

parts. We see them as ruining the island as fast as they can. The selling of

Kaua’i is a popular sport in Lihu’e.

Liz Randol is a North Shore-area

resident and is active in Kilauea Neighborhood Association.