Keep supporting local small businesses
We are fast approaching the holidays, and it feels like we are heading in the right direction in this pandemic. The timing of everything can really make or break things, especially in business.
It’s no surprise that when Kaua‘i got a Target, another big-box store, it got all the buzz going! For some people, it’s like hitting the jackpot, since Kaua‘i doesn’t have many options to purchase home goods. As a child, I remember traveling to O‘ahu to buy things from stores we didn’t have. We would go to “Targét” — pronounced with a faux French accent because apparently Target is an upgraded version of big-box stores.
The timing is perfect, especially for those who have been staying home, watching small businesses close, dreams and ideas being put on hold, community events being canceled, and normal life-ceasing. It almost felt like nothing new or better was ahead.
So, thank you, Target, for helping us see hope. Thank you for employing local people. Thank you for choosing local vendors and supporting local people and small businesses.
However, the real target or focus on Kaua‘i isn’t Target. The focus is the many local, small businesses that employ the majority of our local people on our island.
Many of them adapted and transformed to survive the pandemic. Many local, small businesses closed.
Target will have the spotlight for months — just like when Ross, Costco and every other big business opened here. PLEASE, don’t lose sight of your family and friends who ventured into entrepreneurship and created a service or product to help solve a community challenge through their small business.
Kaua‘i people, keep your focus on the community-led night markets, craft fairs, small pop-ups, family-owned stores, food trucks, restaurants, suppliers and all of the talented and passionate entrepreneurs we have on this island looking to intimately help our community with their products and services.
Sure, they may not have fancy commercials you see on TV or the extremely low prices. But they have something that most big businesses wish they had — relationships.
When you walk into the Tanaka Store, you will meet the family that has owned and run it for over a 100 years. You will meet the generations that your hard-earned money helped support. You will be supporting a local family, and because of the proximity, will probably be helping yours in some way that you can’t see. By supporting local businesses, we are keeping our money on Kaua‘i.
That’s the magic of our island and what small businesses do to keep Kaua‘i Kaua‘i.
The timing is perfect for us to continue to reshape our local economy, create better resilience within our community and to strengthen our overall outcomes by buying and supporting local.
Just a local boy encouraging our local people to keep supporting local.
Dr. Addison Bulosan, Lihu‘e
Keep ‘Hideaways’ access in perpetuity
Aloha and good morning councilmembers,
I’m respectfully writing this morning in response to The Garden Island story on the ongoing discussions about the Pu‘u Poa easement to “Hideaways” beach.
I find it extremely troubling to even suggest that needed funding and maintenance may not occur and potential closure is possible.
As I realize open discussions allow for better understanding, the article is troubling in keeping the end result as the hot-topic issue and NOT fighting for our right to access that shoreline in perpetuity.
To casually slant the dialogue is cavalier, and I am really unhappy with this ongoing assumption that Princeville, Pu‘u Poa and Starwood are in some kind of “best-interest” hui forcing the issue of closure.
It is your job, as well as the open-space commission, to find and use all means available to ensure this trail remains open.
I also respectfully dispute the callous comments that maintenance is only done by concerned community members, as if my hard work to keep that trail safe is downgraded and unappreciated. I and a few others spend our own money on the rustic trail.
My ongoing dialogue and emails with your membership and many in the public is convincing me that now is the time for me to ramp up my displeasure to keep this vital trail open. I cannot accept the other outcome.
I would greatly appreciate your county deputy attorney or a councilmember(s) spelling out all the intangibles within this debacle. I am aware of many specifics, yet a comprehensive outline would benefit my approach in taking on this dilemma.
Also, the debate on this particular easement encompasses the designated parking lot and all the traumas associated with overuse and lack of proper signage. It’s a daily battle for limited parking and harassment from Princeville security.
There are remedies for this and the other island-wide easements that are being pressured by private interests.
Please help me formulate a plan.
At your leisure.
Mahalo for your time.
Mike Lyons, Kilauea
Thank you Mike for the great letter. I am concerned about other access areas on Kauai. Is there a group or place one can get more information about the law and Kauai land/beach access issues.
First of all, who gave the county council any approval for funding? Just giving out money CIP to build a open way to the beach as in pavement? Secondly, if the county council are the ones to come up with a plan, then why hasn’t developers ask for any references or plan or experience in the area of zoning land and whatever needs to be done? Thirdly, how is this going to be paid back? If they are from CIP. Otherwise it is a deficit.