Hey, everybody, looks like Kaua’i has a newspaper! Did you notice the editor’s note after a recent Marge Freeman “Reader Feedback” letter (Oct. 28)? “All letters are published unless…etc.” So those are the rules. Same as what editor Pat Jenkins
Hey, everybody, looks like Kaua’i has a newspaper! Did you notice the editor’s
note after a recent Marge Freeman “Reader Feedback” letter (Oct. 28)? “All
letters are published unless…etc.”
So those are the rules. Same as what
editor Pat Jenkins wrote earlier: “You write ’em , we publish ’em.” Fair
deal.
There are two reasons there may have seemed fewer letters: A daily
Forum section rather than two times per week, and people may have given up
writing, thinking that their letters may not get published. So, I encourage you
to take advantage of this opportunity to be heard. Let’s fill those Forum pages
and make them worth reading.
Here I would like to report on three county
projects that work well, and put in my two cents for improving others.
(1)
Big mahalos go out to the good people who keep Salt Pond Park looking so clean,
neat and well cared-for. Tony Niehu in particular and his family and friends
who can be seen any time of day, starting at 6 a.m. working over the park. They
start very early to make sure the park is as clean as the new day, for campers,
joggers and early birds. Going well beyond the call of duty, the Ni’ihau group
has devised a pointed weeding hoe that can get the weeds out fast. This,
instead of spraying herbicides. They have even been going after the weed grass
species. Other parks could learn. In keeping with the Hawaiian tradition and
aloha, this small group often hauls out their musical instruments to play and
sing far into the night, much to the delight of campers.
(2) Not far from
Salt Pond is another successful county project: the Hanapepe transfer station.
Dean Nadatani has helped build up the project and has (also beyond the call of
duty) developed a little garden oasis at the entrance of the facility. The
operation is win-win: Green waste is diverted here and composted, instead of
ending up in the dump. River or beach sand is added to re-mineralize and enrich
the mix. When it is fully cured, the public can haul off this fertile, organic
compost for free. There is even an islandwide economic benefit for us to grow
our own food. Not only does the grower benefit economically, but others in the
economy do, too. Now the grower has cash in his pocket that he didn’t spend on
imported produce, that he can spend in the local economy.
(3) The county
camping permit office is a dream come true. The staff is consistently courteous
and very efficient. I think the main attendant’s name is Shani Saito. The
system has been set up so well that the last time I got a permit there, it took
only a minute. The permit comes in a neat, plastic sleeve with a tie – and a
smile. Pau. It can be so easy when people really care and enjoy what they
do.
The state camping office could learn a lot from the county. I’m
serious. By comparison, the state office is like walking into a black hole
where one can easily waste half an hour and still not get a permit, where
permits are often not available because of an inefficient system (it has been
reported for years in the media, and nothing has been done about it), where the
staff is usually on the defensive, barricaded behind their desks and seem to
enjoy turning people away, even those who travel half way around the world to
hike Na Pali.
But, as we know, the county has its own black holes that need
to be mended. Interestingly, they manifest in the higher-up echelons where some
people feel a self-appointed privilege to defy the will of the people and
follow their own agenda. You guessed it, I am thinking of the Planning
Commission and in particular Gary Baldwin, who saw fit to singlehandedly make
over 50 changes to the General Plan update that had been carefully crafted for
over two years by thousands of hours of community input and the Citizens
Advisory Committee.
If it were just once, okay. But this is Gary’s
consistent style. It’s as though Kauaians carefully built this collaborative
structure and along comes the neighborhood bully and tries to tear their work
down. Now, everyone is scrambling, trying to figure out how to mend the
destruction and save the thousands of hours of public effort. Mama Maryanne
simply stands by while the bully does his thing.
Since the members of the
Planning Commission are appointed, not elected, the commission feels licensed
to defy the public’s will. I hope all of us will work to change the commission
from appointed to elected, to avoid these blunders.
Gary is very bright and
very ambitious. He obviously loves development projects the best. I see this as
a great opportunity for the county, but not in the Planning Commission. Wrong
appointment. We urgently need someone with Gary’s credentials to tackle the
project that has stymied the county the most: He could develop, supervise and
execute a brilliant solution to Kauai’s abandoned cars problem.
See, the
county just needs to match the skills with the need and everything would run
smoothly. In this Kaua’i ohana, I think a little friendly teasing is quite
healthy. We can’t take ourselves too seriously. But you must admit, my idea has
some merit.
There is also a bully on the County Council. I don’t have to
tell you who. If we can get him out by electing one or more of the
women-in-waiting (we urgently need a woman’s point of view) and/or John
Barretto, Kaipo Asing and of course keep Gary Hooser in, we would have a pretty
good council.
But back to the three effective county programs. Good health
is easy to overlook until it fails. Therefore, we tend in our society to dwell
on the problems rather than the smooth hum of efficiency. I think the county
could learn a lot from a few phone calls to find out why the people in these
programs work so well. I suspect that these people all enjoy helping and
feeling effective at what they do. They are self-motivated and self-empowered.
The supervision (or lack of it) and the way the process is set up undoubtedly
have a positive effect.
Lastly, nothing except print and concepts are black
or white. We are all shades of color. More interesting.
ARIUS
HOPMAN
Hanapepe