‘Da Shadow’ still seeking to set things right

My name is Jerome Freitas, but I enthusiastically and honorably accept the title of Da Shadow, the name given to me by the people who know and appreciate what I do.

As a retired state worker for 15 years, I have voluntarily taken on the task of finding and reporting any problem on Kauai that has or could impact the safety of our citizens. Problems like fallen safety signs, roads that need stripping or restripping, guardrails in disrepair, crosswalks where no proper noticing is done, potholes not being fixed, on and on.

In the aloha spirit, I love doing this task, using my own time and taking hundreds of pictures to document these happenings.

My frustrations with these matters are twofold. First, the taxpayers are paying a lot of money to public works for their department heads and employees to take care of these problems, some ongoing for years and still not fixed.

These people can or should see these problems the same as I can, plus the hundreds of people who call me and email me regarding them. But why this is not happening is my second gripe.

There is no person or persons held accountable or responsible for these problems where it is improper maintenance or wrongly purchased equipment. I know that we have some good conscientious county workers, but the leadership to guide these workers is sorely lacking.

I have researched a council/manager style of government that is now being proposed and completely support its implementation.

With an experienced manager addressing the problems that I and the public have presented to the county with sometimes no resolution, a layer of efficiency and accountability would be added to a system that is, for me, broken.

Please tell our council members that you want this issue on the ballot and then vote for it.

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Jerome “Da Shadow” Freitas writes a column for The Garden Island that is published every other Sunday.