Letters for Tuesday March 08, 2005

• Regarding “Costco”

• Auwe channel

• Classical music

• Olohena Bridge

• Big boxes

• For Akaka Bill

• Affordable housing

Regarding “Costco”

I can’t wait for Costco. It’s not going to hurt this island. It has already been done – Wal-Mart (love it), Home Depot (love it). I would rally like to see Target opening here as well.

Gayle Hunter

Hanalei

Auwe channel

It’s obvious that very few, if any, of the ferry advocates have ever sailed these channels. The channels between O‘ahu and the outer islands are not San Francisco Bay. That’s the real Pacific Ocean out there and it can be fierce. Trust me, I’ve sailed them dozens of times. Unless the ferry is the size of the Lurline, you will have numerous cancellations and more seasick passengers than you can count. Neither of these events will be good for business.

One can ferry around the Auau Channel between Lanikai, Molokai and Maui, but don’t count on a pleasant journey crossing the Kaua‘i, Kaiwi and Alenuihaha Channels. Old sailors called the Alenuihaha, Ale as in jolly, nui as in phooey and haha as in crutch.

Bettejo Dux

Kalaheo

Classical music

Diana West’s column bemoaning the loss of classical music on her public radio station published March 5 was a riot. Ever since the conservatives grasped the purse strings in this country, funding for public radio, public television and the arts in general have been first in line for tax cuts. Their line has been that if the public really wanted these services, they would survive in a competitive marketplace. When the competitive marketplace shoves aside classical music, she flails around for someone to blame. Just look in the mirror.

David Stewart

Lihu‘e

Olohena Bridge

We read with horror the letter of Saturday, March 5, on the rerouting of traffic during reconstruction of the Olohena Bridge. How absurd is this?

We, too, live on upper Waipouli Rd, and had heard the rumors but knew that the folks we had carefully selected to sit on the County Council, along with the local police, would surely see that the alternative route of our already congested and dangerous (due to incredible speed of both truck and automobile traffic) would surely provide them the excuse of funding an alternative bridge during construction of the badly needed replacement Olohena Bridge.

Please – if only for the kids and the animals, slow down, and attend the public meeting this Thursday afternoon. Somebody doesn’t have to be killed to solve this problem, let’s do it now before another accident occurs!

Su Haynes

Kapa‘a

Big boxes

We on Kaua‘i are going to discover what is meant by “unintended consequences.” When our Planning Commission approves Costco, and that seems like a “done deal,” that will make it a virtual certainty that we will have other big boxes; e.g. Kohls, Target, etc., because having approved one, it will be difficult to discriminate against the next one.

There is no arguing the point that Costco and the later additions will bring enormous inceases in traffic as residents from other parts of the island come to the Lihu‘e shopping area. That has been the experience on the Main-land time and again, where people are willing to travel hundreds of miles to northern Virginia, southern Pennsylvania, southern Minnesota to shop at the big box villages. Lihu‘e will experience disproportionate wear and tear on the local roads, but Lihu‘e will not receive a disproportionate share of road repair funds.

And that is only the beginning. When the superferry makes it easy to come from the other islands to our big box village, we will rue the day, but it will be too late. Our beautiful island will be less beautiful.

Theodore Drews

Lihu‘e

For Akaka Bill

In reading the article about the Akaka Bill in Monday’s front page story, I’m reminded of how short-sighted people can be. Those who are against this bill perhaps should reconsider. For example can they imagine how much money could go to native Hawaiians if they are able to put up gambling casinos like the Indians do in many of the other States? Can they imagine how much money from the profits of selling cigarettes, without taxes, on Hawaiian lands could be.

And all of the other “perks” that come with that bill. Provided that the profits are equally distributed among all native Hawaiians, each one of them could be living in mansions and driving whatever car they wish. It makes me wish I was a native Hawaiian.

We could have private schools that teach the native language and would be like Kamehameha Schools for every native Hawaiian child run similar to public schools but without the U.S. government intervention These are just my thoughts, I might be wrong, but as I see it what an opportunity for native Hawaiians.

Gordon “Doc” Smith

Kapa‘a

Affordable housing

In reading the (The Garden Island March 7) Viewpoint “affordable housing solutions” but sadly, no solutions were presented – just more government bashing. The letter writer says builders and landowners might be scared off by the big, bad government.

However, County Planning Commission has approved several thousand high-end homes and condo’s in the Po‘ipu/Koloa area alone. The impact on infrastructure, traffic, water, sewage, etc, is going to be tremendous in Po‘ipu.

Because smaller, affordable housing projects are being developed in ‘Ele‘ele or other parts of the island, residents going to and from work each day will really pack these roads. Tremendous speculative development is growing on Kaua‘i, where cash-poor landowners are able to get large loans to develop their best properties for high-end prices and a big return on the investment. One for instance, the A&B Kukui‘ula development is a 1,000 acre project for 1,500 homes priced far above what the average Kaua‘i resident can pay. Contractors and land owners practicing speculative development are going to make huge profits on the high-end developments on Kaua‘i while externalizing major costs of the infrastructural impacts on the community at large. The author is a licensed contractor. The writer does not disclose any real solutions, and appears to be an “anarchocapitalist” where, by definition, the unregulated free market is the only compatible economic system. Too bad this simplistic economic philosophy is fatally unstable.

Carol Bain

Lihu‘e