Letters for June 24, 2015

Letters for June 24, 2015

Development will ultimately hurt Kauai

I live in the Wailua Houselots in Kapaa. It is unimaginable and I think completely irresponsible to consider allowing agreement for this development (by re-zoning ag to urban land use) before we have the infrastructure in place to accommodate the increased traffic, waste treatment, and classroom overcrowding, not to mention whatever other unforeseen negative impacts on our rural Kauai lifestyle the proposed increase in island resident and tourist population will bring.

We must be righteously committed to only sustainable growth here on Kauai. Developers promises of environmental sensitivity and sustainability have no basis in what actually happens. Their concerns are on the profits they will make. Not on any ill effects that the community will suffer because of what they have built here.

This particular developer has pointed to written safeguards and allowances that are ambiguous at best with no tangible dates, financing, or definitive plans. Pie in the sky hopes that will only turn into mud on our faces.

Just today the bypass was considerably backed up, going south. Market day on Wednesday in Kapaa is already a horrendous traffic mess. Adding 1,600 cars from the Hokua Place development right smack into the congestion that already exists there can only lead to a total nightmare for us.

The waste treatment substation at Haleilio Road already smells like you know what. The traffic light can last 6 minutes with a bunch of cars having to sit right next to that stench. If we can’t manage our waste now, what will happen as the proposed Coco Palms opens its doors — especially with the existing plan to route their guests right onto Haleilio. Then there are the Waipouli Hotels planned. Do we really need three new hotels in Kapaa? With no beautiful beach to offer their customers, none will be hanging out at the hotel. They will be on the roads from dawn till.

Numerous times I have ventured out along Haleilio planning to go south or north only to turn back not wanting to deal with the traffic congestion and delays. The post office can wait. I’ll get that food I need later. I hope my bank balance can wait to deposit this check another day…

Do you really think tourists (who remain Kauai’s bread and butter) will continue to flock here to sit locked in traffic congestion while they have to smell noxious waste treatment failures?

This is such a no-brainer. Our future is in your hands. We have entrusted you to watch over our a’ina and island community needs.

Please deny the application for a zone change form ag to urban for the proposed Hokua Place Development.

Thank You!

Joan Levy

Kapaa

Guns are not the problem

Here we go again. I just read Steve McMacken’s letter about disturbing images out of S. Carolina. He opens it with his obvious disdain for the Confederate flag and what it represented in the past. OK, so far so good.

But than he then ends it with a comment regarding firearms and smears Dylann Roof’s father. He calls Dylann Roof’s father a cretin by giving his son a gun for his birthday.

My father once gave me a gun for my birthday as I’m sure countless other fortunate youngsters. Steve makes it a point to say it was a .45 caliber handgun. Yeah, so what? It was Dylann Roof who had the evil intent. To vilify his father and the handgun is ridiculous.

So, what if he use a baseball bat? A meat cleaver? A tire iron or a car for that matter. Would Steve McMacken still be making it a point? Probably not. Stop blaming the inanimate object for cryin out loud! I have a safe full of guns, not a single one has shown a desire to maim, maul or kill anyone! Even when loaded.

Evil does not exist within a meat cleaver, a baseball bat, a car or a gun. Evil exist in the person who pulls the trigger for evil purposes. Period! Had only one parishioner been legally armed lives could have been saved. All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.

People nowadays have conveniently shifted blame on the tool instead of the operator. I also understand this is a highly emotional subject as well. However there is no gun problem in this great country. There is a morals and accountability problem in this country. We need to find our way again by getting back to moral basics. Getting back on the right path lead by the tried and true moral compass. This country has lost its way and we need to find our way back. I am by the way, still damn proud to call myself an American!

Stephen Shioi

Veteran, USAF

Kapaa