• Lifeguards deserve a boost • Public servants • Be safe on Canyon Road Lifeguards deserve a boost Most everyone on this island is affected by our surrounding waters. I need not go into all the uses, loves, survival modes
• Lifeguards deserve a boost • Public servants • Be safe on
Canyon Road
Lifeguards deserve a boost
Most everyone on this island is affected by our surrounding waters. I need not go into all the uses, loves, survival modes and economic impact it would have on all of us if we take these waters for granted.
Yet a Union that supposedly looks after our gatekeepers of the beaches, ocean, and its safety for our residents and visitors has done just that, stemming most likely from union decision-makers on Oahu, at least that is what I gathered from the quotes in the Garden Island Newspaper.
All I can say is here on Kauai we not only need our lifeguards to be treated like any other lifeguard on any other island, but we actually need MORE lifeguards in more places because of the nature of our island, and those that frequent our beaches.. The visitor bureau marketing theme this year is tranquility, peace and rejuvenation. Without lifeguards at many of our beaches such tranquility can translate many times to tragedy. This union treats our guards as third-class citizens, which doesn’t surprise me, because the priorities and decisions made on Oahu are always for and about Oahu, always have been, always will be.
But whining is for whiners, and I would like to propose a solution. In the summer there are an average of 30 luxury boats and yachts that dock in Hanalei Bay on a daily basis. These recreational boaters utilize our County resources and beach parks daily, just ask the Parks and Recreation people, the state of the Pavilion and Black Pot bathrooms from June through August.
The minuscule fees they pay to throw anchor and call Hanalei home for up to 90 days in the summer goes to the State. Why not add a County surcharge daily, at $50 a day? Vacation rentals along the beach go for $500 a day, so these boaters would still be getting a bargain.
What those fees amount to is $1500 a day (based on 30 boats) times 90 days. Those funds could go directly into a specific lifeguard fund for pay raises and expansion of their overall services. Solutions we come up with together as an island is what separates the whiners from the leaders. Governing leaders, it’s your turn to come up with a solution to this problem.
Andy Melamed, Hanalei
Public servants
This opinion is in regard and addition to The Garden Island’s Dec. 19 editorial, “Pay raises deserve public explanation.”
County council members need to represent the people that elected them.
Salaries are extravagant at $56,000.00 a year, (the chair at $63,000.00) approximately $500.00 a month car allowance and health-care most would sacrifice their mother-in-law for.
The seven council members by law have only one requirement, that is to attend the weekly Wednesday meetings.
The current management of the way the council handles our concerns is in a carte blanch system of disarray.
There needs to be a territorial factor where each of our county council people would represent a section of the island, similar to the Senate and Congress but on a local level.
Back in the 1990s county council members made $12 per hour, currently they make in access of over $1,000 per meeting, this is criminal for a part-time job as a “public servant.”
It’s time we hold our public servants accountable, remember we pay their salaries and they work for us.
Most our council members are retired with a nice pension or have professional jobs where they do quite well, may I recommend while budgets are being slashed across the board that our public servants do what is pono and revert back to the good ole days of being public servants with humble salaries or even volunteering.
There is a frequent contributor to this forum who ran for mayor in 2008 and promised if he won the election he would donate his salary of $107,000 to charity. It’s a shame more politicians cannot think outside the box. Rolf Bieber was that candidate and although we don’t agree on all issues Rolf is my kine (sic) of politician!
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a
Be safe on Canyon Road
There are walkers and joggers at early morning, before the sun comes out, on Waimea Canyon Road.
Just a reminder to those people: Be sure to wear reflective clothing and/or some kind of flashing light.
The road has a lot less curves and no shoulder for walking/jogging. Also, it is divided by solid double yellow lines on most of the drive, and it is pitch dark. There is no room for a driver of a vehicle for sudden crossover on a double solid yellow line — to cross on a double solid yellow line is illegal.
If there are vehicles in both lanes, it makes it even more dangerous for walking or jogging. The driver cannot see you until she/he is right up close to you, approx. 5 yards away. Anyway I’m pretty sure you all see the danger in this picture.
So here’s just a friendly reminder again: Use reflective clothing, flashing lights, and always walk/jog against traffic, so you can see ahead.
Be safe, don’t get run over and die!
On another note, on route 552 Kekaha Road to Koke‘e there are a lot of boulders — baseball size or bigger — and some small debris from the recent heavy rain fall on the side of the road.
Bicyclists traveling on that route should be careful and alert for those hazards and vehicles.
Howard Tolbe, ‘Ele‘ele
