• Why duplicate that here? • Polluted waters • Time for mass hypnosis Why duplicate that here? Mr. Mickens, I’d be happy to address your comment. To quote it: “Maybe Mr. Mann you will tell The Garden Island readers what
• Why duplicate that here? •
Polluted waters • Time for mass
hypnosis
Why duplicate that here?
Mr. Mickens, I’d be happy to address your comment. To quote it: “Maybe Mr. Mann you will tell The Garden Island readers what other more convenient and cost efficient means of transportation is now available or will become available in the identifiable future to take the vehicles place.”
What other more convenient modes exist? None. Duh! Isn’t that the whole point of the discussion on multimodal transportation? We need more than this status quo reliance on individual vehicles. You keep talking about what “95 percent” of the island’s residents do (as if that statistic is valid), but you don’t seem to understand this may be because they don’t have any other viable choices. What do you expect them to do?
I can tell you that people do ride the bus here — that includes me, some of the people I work with, many students, many elderly people, and others. Even though I think the bus is a bargain ($25 per month and you can ride anywhere you want as much as you want), I still don’t find the bus to be nearly as convenient as it could/should be. The bus is, by far, more cost effective from a personal expense standpoint than owning and operating a car here. It is definitely not as convenient, though, and that makes me pine for my vehicle frequently. I, however, don’t have the option of using my vehicle at the moment as it isn’t working. If the bus were as convenient here as it is in some other places, or if we had other options like a well-designed light rail system, I probably wouldn’t have a car at all or would use it only rarely. I’ve had multiple people tell me that they would ride the bus or ride it more if 1) it were more convenient, and 2) adequate bus shelters were erected. I firmly believe if other modes of transportation were provided, people would use them. You probably wouldn’t, but nobody said dinosaurs were good at adaptation. You’ve frequently argued that the bike path was a waste of money, despite the many letters written by people praising the path and the many people one can see using the path upon just a casual inspection!
Building more roads on this island is a surefire way of creating sprawl. It’s insane to even consider it. The only way I would support the construction of more roads is if a long term moratorium on development along those new corridors was put into place. I mean absolutely no development along those routes for at least 20 or more years. Without that, we’d end up with more development leading to more congestion. This has been played out before in other communities on the mainland. One could argue it’s why O’ahu is the mess it is. Why on earth would anyone want to duplicate that here?
Michael Mann, Lihu‘e
Polluted waters
Nathan Eagle is correct in that Kaua‘i is surely behind the times and behind Kona in its ocean purity and pristine coral (“A note from the editor,” Kaua‘i Times, Sept. 25).
We cringe every time we see small babies and children bathing below the Westin hotel in a severely polluted stream that very often turns a slimy green color.
Parents think it is a baby beach type pool and they don’t realize that it contains all the pesticides and run-off from the golf courses above. Local and tourists swim there all the time. We know because we have been picking up trash on Anini every day for the past 3.5 years.
Kaua‘i allowing cesspools in the 20th century was very shortsighted and ridiculous. Cesspools go back to prehistoric. It’s basically a hole in the ground allowing all of the sewage to go straight to the ocean. Add to that the ag district run-off and you have severely polluted oceans and streams. Witness Hanalei after severely heavy rains, ocean is extremely polluted.
Unfortunately, nobody will do anything unless it is mandated by our lawmakers, as he mentioned.
Cliff and Cecelia Waeschle, Kilauea
Time for mass hypnosis
Being the only species on planet Earth which can pro-create 24- 7, all year long, it’s no wonder that our species has reached monumental proportions for being so “pro-creatively active.”
With the ways in which technological advances have proliferated along with the scientific advancements which have made it possible for the human species to live longer, our numbers have increased. In spite of wars, genocide, starvation, pandemics, and natural disasters, the human species has increased by leaps and bounds whether conception has taken place “naturally” or on a petrie dish in a medical facility somewhere.
The ways in which food production has soared along with how obesity abounds among the “haves” may be clear indications that we need to come to grips with how nature will obliterate our kind for causing such havoc and imbalances on the finite resources on this terrestrial ball.
We may be headed towards becoming the next species that’s marked for extinction because we have taken “more than our share” of the natural resources available because there is just “too much” of us.
Those “raging hormones” might be the death of us all if “making whoopie” goes unabated. We’ve tried religion, the rhythm method, contraceptive varieties, abstinence, alternative methods, self- indulgence, and everything else in between. Nothing has really worked.
We keep popping out more buns out of that oven with relentless consistency. It may be time for something drastic like a “chill pill” or mass hypnosis!
Jose Bulatao Jr., Kekaha
