Letter for Friday, October 26, 2018

Mel is the best choice for mayor

One of the advantages of having spent countless boring hours watching the common council meetings is that it has given me some insight into our two mayoral candidates. While I know neither candidate personally, I do believe that, in a way, I have come to know a lot about them.

1. Mel is definitely a fiscal conservative. He has spent years trying to defund open personnel positions that have remained unfilled for up to four years in some cases. Each time he is voted down by the council, after some department head testifies “we are interviewing next week.” The following year, same unfilled position, same story. He suggested that if the position is actually filled, the department simply come to the council for supplemental funds to pay for it. This approach frees funds for other immediate uses.

2. Mel has been criticized as he was the sole no vote on the excise tax increase. He was deeply concerned about the negative impact on our fixed-income and low-income residents. He also had concerns that the money would not be used for the stated purpose of “repairing, improving our transportation system,” but possibly be tapped for other purposes.

3. Without a doubt our traffic issue is the No. 1 concern of the people of Kauai. For 20 years we have been given lip service about how important our politicians believe this issue is. Yet after numerous studies and untold taxpayer dollars spent on them, the studies go in a drawer labeled as “too expensive “ or “not practical” and the problem still exists.

Mel has put forth a proposal that most agree with — an alternative route. He proposes utilizing existing abandoned cane haul roads that run inland of Kuhio Highway. He has laid the groundwork with the land owners and it is a potential solution. While it has been criticized as too expensive, at least it is a plan. The county employs a certified traffic engineer. Why not task him with investigating and doing a feasibility and cost study. Any action is better than what we have gotten in the past — inaction! In case of an emergency, an alternative route would be invaluable, should Kuhio Highway become impassable. The disaster on the North Shore should highlight the dangers of having only one access road. This is the type of solution that the increase in the excise tax was intended to fund. The project will take time, and must be done in steps, but it is a start.

More walking and biking lanes are not the solution. Our population has grown from 57,000 to 71,000 in the last 20 years, and we get over one million tourists a year visiting. Some real, tangible action needs to be taken, soon!

4. Now, Mel can be a bit gruff at times and tends to openly speak his mind. He is especially hard on department heads who he perceives are lax in their oversight and management. He has proposed a radical reshuffling of our administration, weeding out and correcting deficiencies, and squeezing the most out of the resources we have.

As I am sure you can gather, my vote is going to Mel Rapozo. I simply feel that Mel’s more aggressive, practical and less political approach to the issues at hand are what is needed to guide us toward the solutions we all have been longing for. As the old statement goes, “sometimes you need to break a few eggs to make an omelet.” Maybe broken eggs are what we need.

Barry Dittler, Kapaa