LIHUE — A group concerned with major issues facing Kauai met Thursday night at Ha Coffee Bar.
Major concerns, said one of their organizers, Anne Walton, are affordable housing, transportation, traffic, water issues, climate change and the environment.
The purpose of the meeting, Walton said, was to look at where they would like to see changes made in both the election process itself and in the representation.
“We’re really trying to get a collective community consensus in the direction we want to move in,” Walton said.
Walton said the group was formed about two years ago by several individuals who were attending county meetings throughout the General Plan process, with many feeling like they weren’t being heard.
“So we decided to get together,” she said.
About 15 people attended the nonpartisan meeting Thursday. Most declined to be interviewed by TGI.
They used the vehicle of different neighborhood associations around the island, bringing them together as a singular voice, she said, about where they wanted to go with the General Plan, and have expanded from there.
Now that the General Plan has passed, Walton said, the group’s focus has shifted. They plan to do their best to have the proper representation elected in both the County Council and mayoral races.
“We realized if we don’t have the right elected officials this plan’s never going to become a reality. So because we were already formed and we were used to meeting all of the time, we decided to redirect our energies toward the 2018 county elections,” Walton said.
On the mayoral level, Walton said the group wants someone who is a visionary.
“Where we have a clear sense of how we’re going to move forward into the future and how we’re going to get there and has the leadership to take us in that direction,” Walton said.
On the council level, she said they are looking for people who have a wide range of expertise.
“A County Council that really has the ability to critically think about the issues that we’re faced with right now and the challenges and how to start to address with,” she said.
What it’s really about, Walton said, was the shift in the General Plan with the shift in representatives and politicians that we have.
“So that they’re aligned and that they’re moving forward together in synchronicity between the intent of the plan and the representation it’s going to take to get that plan in place,” Walton said.
Anne Walton…. It’s the system of how things are done here for many decades. “Locals” don’t like change period. They don’t care about everything you and 15 of your friends think should be changed. They are obviously because of history are fine with business as usual. Most will tell you anonamously that when you move here don’t bring your ideas of change because we like it just like it is and have for the past 58 years. The unmanagement of tourism is why things are the way they are. We have a tourism economy and because of it, it sells Kauai so people move here to compound the unmanaged problems. Most locals will say if you don’t like what we are about then go back where you came from. You can’t blame them because not to many years ago there wasn’t any of the problems we are having today. The most important thing for people here is to make sure your children get a good education so they can fully understand the consequences that exist and the educated creative minds will overwhelmingly see the changes that must be made. People enjoy the “popularity contest” of getting people elected. It’s all about being born and raised here, having the right last name, the right tone of skin, how big is your family and friends list, don’t care if you are smart or dumb,and be careful you may marry your cousin and not know it. I see your points, but you must look at the whole picture and realize it’s not as easy to fix as you may think it is.
Aloha Anne, mahalo for the efforts you and your group are making.
The tasks you have set for yourselves are quite insurmountable. But one changeable task, you did not mention, but I will mention it at the end of this letter.
1.) Affordable housing? High rise concrete apartment buildings, 4 units a floor, each unit occupying a corner of the building for nice views with good corner view decks for views and BBQ. Concrete to withstand dry rot, termite, rust, hurricane, and small tsunami. Would just a few buildings be enough for the would be lucky few who need housing.
But who pays for it, and maintains the buildings. How many floors, how many buildings, and in what neighborhoods. Will they become low income ghettos with nice views, parking lots filled with nicer cars (and boats even) than the taxpayers paying for this?
2.) Transportation with too big of busses, for the most part empty and you wait an hour for the next ride stopping at only limited locations…don’t work now, doubt it will work in the future.
Other countries have mini transportation vehicles, mini vehicles that stay within towns, and larger ones like regular only 7 (or more) passenger vans that move primarily between towns and are so many in number you only wait a few minutes for one to pull up wherever you are waiting or wanting to get off.
Inside towns mini vehicles that can take 2 to 4 passengers, like even the Filipino tricycles. The more vehicles the more people are supporting their families. The tourists will love them and the convenience …and what tourist wants to wait an hour to take the bus just to go shopping and take another hour wait to go back to the hotel or condo…so more cars on Kuhio and Kalanianaole.
3.) TRAFFIC…? We just covered that…!
4.) Water issues…like water without poison…? Or enough water for irrigating food? Or current $25,000 water meters? Is there a way to stop the poison chemical companies from politicking and providing $$$ for the elected? Capitalism skunks Democracies…!
Score = Capitalism 10 vs. Democracy 0
5.) & 6.) Climate change and the environment ? Both of these issues are world wide and worse every where else outside of Kaua’i. We are the lucky ones no matter how bad it is here.
We do not have climate change or global warming, we have worldwide dirty rotten stinking filthy toxic pollution of the planet’s land, water and air. This could be addressed per square mile of the entire world. Fortunately on Kauai we only have a little over 500 squares to deal with and that is doable if the laws didn’t protect toxic corporate profits.
But Anne, in the short run and equal if not more important is the health of the individuals of Kaua’i. Nobody is talking about it. Doctors want more drugs, and the ones they were trusted with have caused epidemics “make scared”. TV Ads want more drugs to advertise, and they’re shorter than horror films. Farmers want more chemicals because the insects and rats are getting immune to the last batch of miracle expensive chemicals that no longer work requiring newer more toxic chemicals for next years insects and pests. When will it stop? For those making profit hopefully never, for those with the cancers hopefully yesterday and last year and if only it could have been the year before.
But look around, obesity is epidemic, perhaps fashionable. Overweight is everywhere you look, look in the mirror, at your family, in the stores, on the bus (oh it’s empty), try anywhere you look, it’s a fat world for too many. Overweight, fat, obese (those poor young girls gaining more weight every year after year of their life), obesity is the foundation for diabetes, heart and vascular disease (stroke), and now linked to many of the too many cancers.
But we have Not a Day in school teaching keiki how to Iive healthy, about their bodies, about the foods that become their very own bodies.
Environement? Try the grocery store, stocked with more chemicals in the food than all of the Westside corporate farms spray on the crops and schools.
There is one common denominator, one same thing, that all people do whether healthy or sick. They all eat food. It’s just that healthy people don’t eat what UN-healthy people eat. How do you make the right food choices when you don’t know the right choices. You need to be educated about life for life, it could start in the schools but not by people that would press the wrong button. The new field of teachers need to be natural nutritionists trained to educate the keiki and keep them healthy and free of sickness. Do you know that there are HEALTHY people on KAUAI and other places in the world who have not been to a doctor in 50, 70, 90 years? How’s that? We better ask them…!
It’s apparent that the people that eat unhealthy food have had no education and training in living, eating, exercising, and staying healthy. That’s called being deprived.
Health is not by luck, nor by shopping the best looking food wrappers and containers. Instead read the labels, if you cannot pronounce the words in the ingredients or the food did not come from growing or living on the ground or in clean water, do not put it in your body.
You cannot eat the same chemicals (including so many kinds of sugars) over and over and expect a different result than getting sicker and fatter year after year, and then needing to go to the current doctor system where they only give you more chemicals…? That’s not far ahead thinking. Health is about looking forward to disease Prevention and it ain’t Obama Care if it means going to the chemical distributing doctors.
And if you are eating typical food in the stores you are supporting and helping the world’s chemical companies make some of the world’s greatest profits year after year…Ask the Westside KAUAI corporation chemical companies.
Well Anne, you have a heck of a row to hoe…! We support you and the others because we want the best for the workers, the Kapuha and keiki…!
.
Have you noticed the health columns located at the top of the Garden Island called LIFESTYLES…Click on Health and Fitness, there are very good articles there written by 2 Kaua’i Nutritionists, they are excellent articles educating us about health. We and you need more of that. These women should be teaching in our schools and more like them doing the same.
Mahalo to all making the effort towards Health for self and all.
Charles
Republican or democrats? Who’s our next governor? Or don’t care. Democrats have been dominant since the plantation days in Hawai’i. Colleen or not. Or just who? Like I said, they might have to share campaign funds with you guys. Lt. Governor.
It’s like I said as an analogous interpretation about Kaua’i. Do you care about the local style life and diet, or are you willing to take a more fitness style life, vegetarians or Mediterranean diet. We call it the local diet. Better known as Hawaiian diet. Does this really make a big isssue in your group? Maybe. Is it an important goal to spread the “nutrition” message? Take a stand on something. I’m willing to see anything. Surely you can handle a change. Now what? One point of view is this topic.