•Akaka bill and American citizenship •Westside not ideal for a landfill •Looking for compromises •Maybe I can help? Akaka bill and American citizenship The present discussion of our Native Hawaiian population as an Indian tribe is ridiculous. Once again it
•Akaka bill and American citizenship
•Westside not ideal for a landfill
•Looking for compromises
•Maybe I can help?
Akaka bill and American citizenship
The present discussion of our Native Hawaiian population as an Indian tribe is ridiculous. Once again it brings up the idea of different classes of American citizenship.
This is reminiscent of the situation of naturalized citizens of Japanese ancestry before World War 2. There was a concept called dual citizen ship in which naturalized Japanese retained their Japanese citizenship.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor put an end to this and resulted in many residents of Japanese ancestry being interned in America’s version of concentration camps.
An American citizen is just that. Any attempt to classify us otherwise is wrong. Any attempt to create a separate government within our present constitutional structure to contain a particular ethnic entity is wrong and should not even be contemplated.
Native Hawaiians should be infuriated that anyone, especially a U.S. Senator from Hawai‘i, would imply that they were not Americans in every sense of the word.
Harry Boranian, Lihu‘e
Westside not ideal for a landfill
I attended the public meeting in Kalaheo in November regarding a new sanitary landfill for Kauai. There was a lot of intelligent testimony and we will need a new site in the next few years even if steps are taken to reduce solid waste.
It does appear, however, that the selection process for candidate sites may have been flawed, because all the other sites other than the Kalaheo Umi site were patently invalid for one reason or another, mostly because they were situated over groundwater.
Because the original candidate sites were improperly selected, we came up with the strange selection of an important agricultural land (Kaua‘i Coffee Plantation) which is private property and would take many years to legally condemn, and then millions of dollars to acquire.
It would require the sacrifice of hundreds of acres of mature coffee plants at one of Kaua‘i’s last viable agricultural operations. We need a new selection process soon to pick some candidate sites which are on state land, and not over groundwater.
The Westside is not ideal because it is served by only one two-lane road and landfill trucks only add to the congestion.
Robert Weiner, Kalaheo
Looking for compromises
It seems to me that “the path” that has been fraught with controversy may benefit from a combination of ideas. Why not consider a mauka route to complement what has already been established along the shoreline?
Could “holding areas” be held where users of the path may gather for respite or to “talk story” and/or to provide ways in which crossing the highway from mauka to makai or makai to mauka may take place in a safe and orderly way?
Might not having a path that meanders on a course that’s secure and scenic far better than a path that constantly competes with the traffic preferable over the constant points and counter-points being made?
Looking for ways in which compromises can be reached to give residents and visitors the best of what Kaua‘i has to offer may be the better way to go.
Jose Bulatao Jr., Kekaha
Maybe I can help?
I am writing to you because of the articles you published regarding the solid waste issues that you are facing on Kaua‘i. A good friend of mine lives in the Po‘ipu area and I have been visiting there for over 20 years, most recently in April this year.
I read about the problems you are facing with the landfill space on the island becoming filled up and that there is a desire to find a solution other than another landfill.
My company is an environmental engineering consulting firm based in southern California near Los Angeles and we specialize in solid waste engineering projects including landfills.
We have traveled all over the world with our clients to investigate new technologies to replace landfills. We are currently working on several solid waste technologies that treat or convert the waste into some type of product or commodity.
There are various designs and approaches to accomplish that goal and are all aimed at replacing landfilling. One relevant example is work we are doing on Catalina Island here in southern California.
They are facing similar issues as you are on Kaua‘i and have several options in the works. There are many technologies that are viable and it would be a good time for Kaua‘i to investigate them and see if they offer a solution that can work there.
Please let me know if there is an interest in obtaining some preliminary information and we can send it to you.
John McNamara, Irvine, Calif.
