Grouch against SUP This is in reference to Dr. Monty Downs’ Nov. 3 letter to the editor. After years of swimming at Po‘ipu Beach, Waiohai, I could not agree more with Dr. Downs. We have a very limited space at
Grouch against SUP
This is in reference to Dr. Monty Downs’ Nov. 3 letter to the editor.
After years of swimming at Po‘ipu Beach, Waiohai, I could not agree more with Dr. Downs. We have a very limited space at that beach for us to swim.
Many of us share this beach with snorkelers, boogie boarders, surfers, non swimmers that just like to float and talk story and occasionally with scuba divers. I never saw a problem sharing with all these variety of people doing their own thing.
Now the stand up paddleboarders arrived. Unlike surfers that have their own ethics and respect for swimmers, many of the SUP boarders don’t have common sense. They come towards us swimmers without realizing possible consequences.
Because of this, there should be some sort of regulation. A good place for these SUP boarders could be Kukui‘ula harbor.
Dr. Monty Downs, keep up your good work.
Andrea Crown. Kalaheo
Talkin’ some more trash
Although The Garden Island’s “Talkin’ trash” article deserves “job well done” recognition, a few issues need clarification and inclusion which may further enlighten the reading public.
“Talkin’ trash” states “that the Kekaha Landfill is set to close permanently by Dec. 2020 and that “the county is still struggling to find a new landfill” site. Let’s see: Kekaha Landfill Phase II opened in September 1993; this is 2011 which means it has taken our elected officials over 18 years to not find a replacement landfill site.
What have our elected officials been doing for 18 years other than building a bike path; installing lights in Vidinha Stadium that kill birds and can’t be used; raise taxes by over assessing homes; give themselves raises during economic hard times along with huge retirement benefits; give special treatment to special people, even to the point of breaking the law; depriving hard working taxpayers deserved dividends that could be obtained from public assets and local, State and Federal rules and regulations; catering to and even subsidizing special good ole boys fortunes to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars; hiring outside consultants for million-dollar repeat studies; buying new equipment for “a pilot program” for curbside recycling which was supposed to last one year and then canceling it because of necessary budget cuts.
Their record is pathetic if not criminal.
What our highest level “officials,” and the G.I., does not mention is: Who is going to pay for all this including a “consultant study under a $1.85 million contract” — that has been given the go-ahead to proceed with yet another (repeat?) Environmental Impact Statement for the new landfill?
Don’t they understand that the ideal location for a landfill is in a dry environment? Kekaha is dry; it already has a landfill there, and it has already had an EIS. Why not save $1.85 million?
Better yet, why wouldn’t our council and mayor at least listen to a $100 million plus offer in 2008 to install a new state of the art Resource Recovery Park at the Kekaha site to separate Kaua‘i’s waste for use in an alternate fuel pellet factory reducing use of fossil fuels? That recycling plant would have been built and up and running with new jobs right now if they listened; citizen’s electric bills would have been getting cheaper and cheaper by the month by now; but so much for the past. What about the future?
Checking the county engineer’s schedule is frightfully alarming. Elected officials and communities haven’t agreed on a site for 18 years; what makes anyone think they will find one in the next three to four years? Add that time to the engineer’s schedule and we are up to another 12 to 13 years of incompetence before we have another landfill; like 2024 or 2025!
Another question is do we need one if we can initiate a recycling/alternate fuel source industry? One does exist now and it will cost taxpayers zero dollars. Kaua‘i’s only obligation: buy the electricity produced at more than half the price we are paying for electricity now; 20 cents per kilowatt/hour with no added fossil fuel adjustment bill. KIUC is not interested.
The biggest question still remains: who will pay for a new landfill? Our $14 trillion-in-debt national government? China? Europe? Mexico? Greece? I doubt it. We can’t even pay for our Armed Forces; what makes one think government will even look at a landfill for Kaua‘i?
It’s not going to be pretty all because of politics, corruption, greed and our county government catering and subsidizing special parties.
With the likelihood of continued “political corruption and greed” it’s almost a sure bet that someday in the future Kaua‘i will find itself with a lot of garbage and no place to dump it, other than the ocean. It’s been done before.
The problem is that solutions are out there being intentionally ignored. One specifically which is ready to go but KIUC will not even consider it. Now that’s “Trash politics” — one man’s opinion with a solution. Aloha.
John Hoff, Lawa‘i
