• Cigarette taxes • Raddison meeting • Olohena Bridge Cigarette taxes In response to the new additional taxes being recommended for cigarettes, I would like to suggest that it is a great idea, except all of the additional taxes should
• Cigarette taxes
• Raddison meeting
• Olohena Bridge
Cigarette taxes
In response to the new additional taxes being recommended for cigarettes, I would like to suggest that it is a great idea, except all of the additional taxes should be ear marked for a trust fund that would be used only to help insurance companies and hospitals cover the expenses of tobacco-related illness. This is not meant to give the insurance companies a windfall, but to encourage and require them to further reduce the insurance premiums for nonsmokers.
Gordon “Doc” Smith
Kapa‘a
Raddison meeting
The discussion on affordable housing was part of a membership meeting of the Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance, a nonprofit organization that brings community members together to work on issues selected by our member organizations. At the meeting, attendees were updated on KPAA’s programs to reduce drugs on the island and improve county and state parks, along with other programs in development. This was followed by the affordable housing session, with presentations and discussion on actions being taken to address the affordable housing shortage.
KPAA members and the public were invited. It was not a government-organized activity. KPAA invited the speakers, which included people from county and state government, the legislature and business. The meeting was attended by 74 people from business, nonprofits, government, and the community. KPAA covered the cost of renting the room at the Radisson and attendees paid a small registration fee.
KPAA is committed to providing opportunities to talk about challenges our island faces. We appreciate the participation of government representatives, along with those from the nonprofit and business sectors and the community at large.
Diane Zachary
President & CEO
Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance(KPAA)
Lihu‘e
Olohena Bridge
The Waikaea Canal Bridge is stamped with the year 2002; yet the workers were still working on it in early 2004. What confidence does this give us for the Olohena Rd. bridge’s completion and promises. This mini-bridge couldn’t be much bigger than 20′ x 20′, crossing a narrow stream whose this year flood level went above the bridge roadway; and while we must applaud the new plan’s construction process of 24 hours a day 7 days a week; a six-month process is still just a promise.
Leaving the existing bridge in place and spanning over it with 2 separate installed arched wide lanes would allow continued one lane use during the replacement process. 2 laid in place pre-cast roadways would preclude environmental safety issues regarding the stream’s water and fauna and flora and erosion.
Very many bridges on Kaua‘i (there are at least three more in the Wailua Homesteads alone), will in the future, be slated for replacement or upgrade. It would seem that we the people deserve an engineering firm with the forethought and capability of how to do this work without loss of a major road’s use.
The closure of any road to replace mini-bridges it seems would mean that we do not yet have the appropriate or most capable plans for the replacement of the Olohena Road bridge and the other bridges of Kaua‘i.
I seem to recall years ago an article in The Garden Island that of the U.S.’s worst 100 bridges, 15 were on Kaua‘i. How many years of traffic disruption can we tolerate for these inevitable processes.
I for one am ticked off at the lacka-daisical attitude that those in control are offering for the solution to this very serious inconvenience with potential far reaching negative effects mentioned by numerous writers to The Garden Island.
Jay Trennoche
Kapa‘a
