• Enough of the tired party lines • Thanks for beach clean-up • Where is the beef? • Sexism tough to tackle Enough of the tired party lines I would like to respond to the Saturday letter by Lonnie Sykos,
• Enough of the tired party lines
• Thanks for beach clean-up
• Where is the beef?
• Sexism tough to tackle
Enough of the tired party lines
I would like to respond to the Saturday letter by Lonnie Sykos, “Candidate questions soft.”
I would like to respond in a different way because after reading responses by both Lani Kawahara and Ron Agor in the same issue, I think Sykos makes a very good point.
All we ever get is the same old tired lines and nothing gets done except the selling of more Kaua‘i land. Especially oceanfront land. And once it gets sold it’s gone for good. Lost forever.
So here is an example of actually answering questions honestly and with specifics as asked of them:
1) Define what future development on Kaua‘i means to you. Please use specifics.
Future Development to me means that affordable housing will be built for residents of Kaua‘i. And by that I do not mean I will promise to build hundreds of houses and then only build a few. If I promise to build 1,000, then I would build 1,000.
Future development on Kaua‘i to me will mean building only what Kaua‘i needs, and not what the wealthy from other places needs.
2) What is your vision of the island in 10 years?
My vision of the island for the next 10 years would be:
a) 4,000 affordable single family homes built for residents, on 10,000 square foot lots for $195,000 each, with solar water heaters and two-kilowatt solar panels.
b) Widening the roads going through Kapa‘a and on the Puhi side of Lihu‘e, and putting in traffic circles instead of lights to lessen traffic.
c) A dirt bike path that extends from Anahola to Hanalei.
d) Recycle plastic, paper and glass, and have trucks come once a week to pick up just like the trash trucks so that our landfills do not fill up.
3) What specific credentials do you have for being a County Council member? Why are you the best for our county? Again, let’s get specific. What positions of power have you held in the past? What connections do you have that will benefit the county?
I have been a working class person my whole life. I have not led a sheltered or pampered life. Therefore I know exactly how every other working class person feels. I have seen what happens when people make empty and false promises and how it effects people on all levels.
4) How will you work with the other six members of the County Council if elected? Would like some specific tactics and strategies you would use to act on the county’s behalf within the larger group.
Work with them specifically and show up for all of the meetings, not just when its convenient to show up, and go with an open mind, do not show up already convinced of an opinion.
5) What is your history? Born and raised here? Mainlander? Family? Residence? Career? Education?
How has that mattered in the past when it comes to politics? Rich people and popular figures have been running their cities, states and countries into the ground throughout history.
6) What does open government mean to you?
Honesty and integrity and leading by good example.
7) What is the single, most important issue to you?
Being able to live your life with dignity and being able to share your life with your loved ones.
Now that is my idea of honesty. And not just spouting out some catch phrases. Or repeating old tired party lines.
Dennis Chaquette
Kapa‘a
Thanks for beach clean-up
Mahalo to Auntie Stella from the Grand Hyatt Resort and Spa who Friday evening, single-handedly pressure washed the comfort station area.
Bradlee, Trevor, Will, Austin, Kyler, David and I spent Friday and Saturday evening picking up two grocery bags full of cigarette butts and a large bag of rubbish from off the side bushes parking area.
Early Saturday morning, a group of adult volunteers cropped bushes and painted parking stalls manicuring the beach access areas. Snacks were provided by our neighbor, the Hyatt.
It was not all work because we were able to stagger many of the weekend’s surf sessions around this activity which included the best size waves of the year.
Early Sunday, we picked up after the regular adult partiers of this area. Shame that these same regulars didn’t or don’t wake up or ever lift a finger, lagging and disrespectful of our precious surroundings, Shipwreck’s.
Pohaku Wainalu
Kapa‘a
Where is the beef?
I’d like to thank The Garden Island newspaper for publishing County Council and mayor candidates’ answers to questions.
Unfortiunately, their answers are all the same rhetoric we have heard for years and years with absolutely no specifics. Just the same old, same weak general promises.
Who is going to get involved with alternate energy development to lower our obscene electricity costs? The use of diesel oil to generate 100 percent of our electricity is a century behind.
Our government must step in and force this do-nothing KIUC board into action, into developing alternative energy generation now, not years from now.
Robert A. Nesti
Princeville
Sexism tough to tackle
When Hillary sought the Democratic nomination, she boasted being the only woman in an “all boys club.” This is where sexism first came into play and many had to hold their tongues as Hillary threw everything — including the kitchen sink — at Barack Obama while claiming to be a victim of sexism.
It’s a hard position for a guy. Here’s a woman claiming to be tough enough to take on “the boys,” but quickly abandons “wanting to be treated like one of the boys” after finding that being treated as a “victim” gained her a better advantage.
Yes, there is a lot of sexism at play in politics, and much of that is played by women.
Now John McCain, who had claimed for months that experience is important, chooses Sarah Palin as his running mate.
This reminds me of Bush’s nominee of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Both severely lack in experience, yet no one suggests that sexism played a role in either nomination because acknowledging that sexism sometimes helps a woman would be sexist.
As for Palin, I watched the news for hours as many tried to explain her nomination. Many women who once supported Hillary now say they’re going to vote for Palin whose political views are completely opposite of Hillary’s.
The McCain campaign has already claimed criticism of Palin as a result of sexism, and no one dares to say her nomination was ever based on gender because that would be sexist.
Instead, they’re still trying to tout her experience which I keep missing because I occasionally blink.
Ryan Anakalea
Koloa
