Letters for Feb. 14, 2016 Think differently, stop raising taxes to pay for everything After reading Ms. JoAnn Yukimura’s column, (TGI, Jan. 31) I find it hard to believe that our council could possibly come to agreement that it’s not
Letters for Feb. 14, 2016
Think differently, stop raising taxes to pay for everything
After reading Ms. JoAnn Yukimura’s column, (TGI, Jan. 31) I find it hard to believe that our council could possibly come to agreement that it’s not as important to find a solution to our congestion as it is to decide on what tax policy would be best to use to pay for the situation at hand.
Why is it we have elected council members who, for decades, always seem to show their final thoughts as being the only way to solve our financial problems is to raise the taxes and fees on everything they can think of? I’m totally against tax increase of any kind for our transportation issues.
The tourists are not at fault for the traffic congestion and the wear on our roads and maintenance. You can thank the Tourist Authority for spending millions on bringing our guest to our shores. And since there seems to be no end to the traffic congestion every time a plane lands, then I’m convinced that all the car rental businesses seem to have no restrictions on how many cars they can choke our roads with daily.
It’s that business that should be paying more fees. If it takes more than what I’m trying to say, then I suggest for a start that a pilot program for study purposes will tell the entire story.
New regulations that restrict how many cars can be rented at any time. It’s a no-brainer: If we take rental cars out of the daily flow of traffic, the traffic will move better. When we restrict the amount of rental cars, we must remember our guests and provide a better, more efficient and user-friendly shuttle system network that covers all the needs of our guests as well as residents’ needs. We need a better public transportation system.
There is such a thing as shuttles that will do a far better job moving people than what we must rely on now. Our goal should be to offer a public transportation shuttle that will allow our guests a vacation instead of sitting in traffic congestion.
Once people learn how to drive in roundabouts, just look, the traffic moves better. I would much rather see that we have exhausted any conceivable way to use creative, resourceful ways, better management and maintenance of our current roads and implement as many tools of contra-flow and other solutions to enforce it before we decide what tax policy should we use for raising the taxes again.
Steve Martin
Kapaa
Explain what happened to agribusiness report
Mr. Peter Adler, what happened? Taxpayers entrusted you with $100,000 of their hard-earned money to help us understand the impacts of the agribusiness (chemical companies) on humans, the environment and our oceans. In 10 months, at a cost of $10,000 a month, you could not provide us with a report? Not even a preliminary report? This is an insult to our community’s intelligence!
Shame on you and your committee, which was stacked with agribusiness people. Pay back the money and let us start new with a committee that is serious about the health of our people, environment and ocean.
Linda Bothe
Kalaheo
