• Money not all that matters • Government stand back • Ridge project has drawbacks • Smiles make the world go round Money not all that matters Isn’t it interesting that just about all the people who are speaking up
• Money not all that matters • Government stand back • Ridge project has drawbacks • Smiles make the world go round
Money not all that matters
Isn’t it interesting that just about all the people who are speaking up against Bill 2491 are connected financially to the GMO seed companies? To them, it’s all about money and jobs. Yes, these things are important, but without good health and a clean environment, we have nothing.
I am urging the County Council to pass Bill 2491 at their next meeting. Listen to the people who are speaking for the aina, the people and especially the children, the plants, the air, and the water. These are the treasures of Kauai that we truly need to protect.
More and more scientific evidence points to the dangers of these pesticides and herbicides. The latest findings implicate pesticides used in these GMO seeds and sprayed on the crops as the likely cause of Colony Collapse Disorder for honeybees.
Please do all that you can to protect our island and people from this ecological disaster in the making. If it’s all so safe, as the seed companies say it is, why will they not disclose what and when they are spraying? If they really do care about Kauai’s people, why won’t they disclose the information about these restricted use poisons?
I’m glad to know that the seed companies give their employees good benefits. What about the rest of us?
Maren Orion
Kilauea
Government stand back
I’m sure that I’m not the only one who feels the encouragement when reading about “Coco Palms to be reborn” with new investors to breathe life into the iconic resort.
It’s a wonderful thing to finally see the investors’ aggressive moves to pull demo permits and move the project forward.
I remember reading a few years back about the “Friends of Coco Palms” lynching mob headed by “Mr. Pro Government” controller himself Gary Hooser. He was trying to arrange a taxpayer grant to get the legal ball rolling to take the property away from the past owner in order to obtain another public property much like the rest, which are always in need of maintenance money that the state never seems to have enough of.
This project belongs to a private sector owner and unlike our leaders of “pro government,” will conduct a positive business, create real jobs, not government stimulus jobs, pay taxes and help push a positive future for our island economy.
If our government learns to step back, just maybe this project will pan out for all involved. I wish you all the best of luck.
Steve Martin
Kapaa
Ridge project has drawbacks
I cringe in regards to The Garden Island’s latest plug showcasing Pierre Omidyar’s pursuit to develop Kauakahiunu Ridge. The rhetoric again dilutes the enormous impact this altering development will inflict, then diminishing opposition as a secondary concern.
Ohana’s PR facade is working hard disguising the dialogue keeping us trusting their endeavor as if beneficial for all. Underwriting swim events, handing out logo hats, sponsoring classrooms, emotional kupuna endorsements, nostalgic flashbacks of failed Club Med are honorable status and cunningly convince that they are pure in intent. Some are neutral or unsure if opinions matter. Others rigid due to direct payoff. Regardless of genealogy, they got theirs so I’m entitled to mine, we all impact our island.
Having the audacity to challenge this “conscientious development” is branded hostile, misinformed, not living pono. Seeking to self substantiate Ohana’s “we care” blurs actuality. Realize they will clear-cut all the shoreline’s false kamani trees deemed “non-native,” resurrect Puupo’a to their liking, a staggering amount of material endlessly trucked out, artificial landscapes, runoff, walkways with quasi “educational” signs.
Revitalization only ensures the treasured ridgeline viewplane isn’t tarnished by an unappealing stagnant marsh background. Congregating hordes of Ph.D.-credentialed experts to enhance their pseudo-conscientious posture would inspire if an authentic cultural entity were properly reviving the sites.
It’s a stealthy ploy to slowly slant opinion in their favor, their only focus to ease it through permitting and sustain Pierre’s philanthropic posing, enriching pockets.
I have no adversity to abundance. Compromise? Conservation.
Michael Lyons
Kilauea
Smiles make the world go round
We are all going in circles when the traffic gets very congested on the busy roads in Kapaa town. On a small island with only one road, it is hard to get the cars moving at a steady and smooth speed, since we are all trying hard to get to town to work and do grocery shopping.
I was talking to uncle Joe the other day about the issue and he had a great idea to keep going in circles by using the bypass and having the main road go in one direction. By doing this, there won’t be so much time wasted on the traffic lights and the transfer will be smooth. Let’s use the bypass efficiently by going in a circle and connecting it by Coconut MarketPlace, heading north and connecting again by the roundabout.
This is a great idea and it will save time, gas, and money, because it will not cost the county thousands of dollars to hire a fancy consultant.
We need more people like uncle Joe who has brilliant ideas to improve our Kauai living. Smile. Be Nice. Aloha nui loa.
Goretti Perdue
Kilauea
