As we end 2006 and move on to 2007, I have been reflecting on my first six months on Kaua‘i. It has truly been a wonderful experience for my family as we began a new life on the Garden Island.
As we end 2006 and move on to 2007, I have been reflecting on my first six months on Kaua‘i. It has truly been a wonderful experience for my family as we began a new life on the Garden Island. It is somewhat of a homecoming for us. My wife, Lisa, was born on O‘ahu and raised in Kailua. As I write this, she is on O‘ahu with our three kids, Zachary, Tyler and McKenna, enjoying the holidays with her family. Myself, I have had the good fortune of living in Hawai‘i on three other occasions.
New to Kaua‘i, we had heard of the difficulties associated with finding housing. The first four months were spent moving from condo to condo attempting to find a house to rent or buy. We were fortunate to meet several great people who contacted aunties, uncles and friends to assist in our housing dilemma. With a lot of help, we found a house in Kalaheo, where our kids attend Kalaheo Elementary.
The support from the community for the paper and my family has been fantastic. I have met several great people and had the opportunity to help a few organizations with fund-raising. We have also aided numerous organizations in bringing awareness to their causes and events over the last six months. The Garden Island has been in existence since 1902. Over that time, our advertisers and readers have assisted in making Kauai Publishing Company the success it is. As such, I believe it is important for the paper to give back to the community. Over the next year, we will continue to be a local business actively assisting organizations with their events and fund-raising to add our part in helping others and making Kaua‘i a great place to live.
In 2007, The Garden Island will continue its commitment to improving our customer service, both for our advertisers and readers. We have made several improvements and added staff in key areas to make this a reality. In advertising, we added a position in our classified department, making it easier to place an ad. We have also added new features to our Web site to assist those looking for employment or in finding a rental. In circulation we restructured the department to improve service to our readers and have upgraded service on several carrier routes. One major improvement in the last six months is our press. Between August and November, the paper invested more than $200,000 in a press rebuild, allowing us to provide our advertisers and readers with better color reproduction and registration.
This past year was a great one for the paper, thanks to you and the commitment of our staff. We had many successes. I am excited with the opportunity to be part of this community and the future for both the paper and Kaua‘i. The paper will continue to add products and services over the next year to better serve our readers and advertisers. I am also very interested in your suggestions on how we can improve. Any suggestion you might have can be sent to publisher@kauaipubco.com.
Mahalo to all those I have met for making the transition to the Garden Island easy. For those I have not met, I truly look forward to getting to know you in the near future.
Thank you for your support of The Garden Island and Kauai Publishing Company in 2006. I wish you all much success and happiness in 2007.
• Mark Lewis is president and publisher of Kauai Publishing Company.
