• Path safety • Read the signs • Careless defined • Corporate bullies • The pending battle • Odd beliefs Path safety I was enjoying a walk on the new paved pathway by the Kapa‘a pool with many others. Runners,
• Path safety
• Read the signs
• Careless defined
• Corporate bullies
• The pending battle
• Odd beliefs
Path safety
I was enjoying a walk on the new paved pathway by the Kapa‘a pool with many others. Runners, couples and parents with children. We also shared the pathway with bicyclists, which brings me to my question. There seems to be a lack of bicycle etiquette in announcing their passing of pedestrians. Four bicyclists passed me and none announced their passing. Wouldn’t it be a good idea for a sign reminding bicyclists to announce passing of pedestrians before an accident occurs?
Ray Holmes
Kapa‘a
Read the signs
While visiting in the area of Moloa‘a on the North Shore of your wonderful island, I was greeted with many unsightly and bigoted signs that, as a visitor, were very disturbing.
I asked myself why would the local government and the tourist industry allow such a beautiful place be stained by the likes of signs that say, “Liars — Lingle, Baptiste, Bush, Inouye, Akaka, Realtors, Case, U.S.A.” or “For Sale Never White Man” or “Don’t Steal the Truth and Commit the Lie,” or “Freedom Like Iraq.”
I thought that the “Aloha Spirit” represented love, mercy, affection and was inclusive.
Whose problem is this? The mayor’s? The County Council? The Public Works department? The local residents?
Please consider the effect of such signs on your economy as well as our local law abiding citizens.
John Ord
Colorado
Careless defined
Careless: lack of thought, inconsiderate. Attitudes demonstrating little or no concern for what results. (American Heritage Dictionary) Carelessness results in many brush fires. Some are started by a carelessly tossed cigarette, or the sun shining on a carelessly tossed broken bottle, the sunlight focused by the glass can start brush fires. Careless neighbors burning trash, especially plastics which forms cyanide gas when burned and sugar cane fires burning plastic drip tubing produces toxic gases which adversely affect our health. Air pollution is bad for our health and Kaua‘i’s residents have a high rate of asthma, emphysema and cardiopulmonary diseases caused or aggravated by airborne pollution. Have a heart, think before you toss that cancer-causing cigarette butt or toss that bottle in the weeds after its contents has killed a few million brain cells (medically proven fact). Trash burning should be banned and sugar cane should be used as a bio-fuel to produce electricity.
Diseases are caused by ignorance and careless actions. Think before you act. Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are like seeds, you can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.
David Maki
Kekaha
Corporate bullies
It is very disturbing that people write into this Forum with the apparent belief that the county’s work at crafting public policy should be driven by the litigious nature of commercial bullies. If this doesn’t clearly represent capitalism at its absolute worst, I don’t know what does. These people will argue that the county is being disingenuous by passing size-limit legislation and allowing large resorts to be built, but these people are being equally disingenuous by saying the large resorts shouldn’t be built but retailers should be allowed to go as large as they want. You have been brainwashed by the promise of low prices, and it is sickening. Thirteen years has passed since the permit in question was awarded to Wal-Mart, and for them to come before the county and say that they have some right to sit on development plans for that long, and to expect they can dredge them up any time they want in complete disregard for the needs of the community they are in, is demonstrative of just how arrogant and non-community-focused they are. I don’t care how much money they have thrown at local schools or other groups — compared to their profits it isn’t even a drop in the bucket. If Wal-Mart wants to demonstrate its concern for the community, it can do so by behaving like an adult. The current law says no new single commercial structure over 75,000 square feet, it doesn’t say no new commercial structures. Stop behaving like a bratty little kid insistent on throwing a tantrum until it gets its way, and refurbish your expansion plans based on the constraints of the new law.
People of Kaua‘i … you know what you need to do to get Wal-Mart’s attention on this. I won’t state the obvious.
Michael Mann
‘Ele‘ele
The pending battle
Many Mahalos to Jill, Katy and the County Council for doing their homework regarding Wal-Mart. Just when I thought it was over (the big box being voted down) Wal-Mart wants to impose their corporate will, with a lawsuit, to again go where they are not wanted. Think they have the money to back it? Darn right. Think they would keep their prices low after putting the competition out of business? Hell, no. Think they care how much it costs Kaua‘i in turmoil and lawsuit? Big “No.” All you Wal-Mart shoppers, go see if the articles most people shop for are not creeping up already in price. Watch “The Wal-Mart Movie” and see what they have already done in communities around the country, after putting so many other stores out of business, with “their low prices” (kinda like Superferry prices, no?) then jacking them up high. Kaua‘i, do your research about the real Wal-Mart Corporation. They did not get to be No. 1 with strictly volume sales; it came from employees’ low wages, benefits and putting other stores out of business first. Want Super Wal-Mart here on Kaua‘i? Really? Guess you’ll be taking the inexpensive superferry across the mild channel to O‘ahu to shop for deals.
Sandy Kinter
Kapa‘a
Odd beliefs
Where do Kaua‘i architects get their weird beliefs? First we had Robert Ferris saying zoning is unnecessary and laws are not sacrosanct, and now Ron Agor saying that ignoring the laws requiring building permits before building is perfectly understandable.
Mothers, don’t let your children grow up to be architects.
Barbara Elmore
Lihu‘e
