• Let’s implement some new ideas • You’re fired! • Good luck against the profiteers Let’s implement some new ideas In a previous Forum letter labeled “Explore proven alternatives” I implored the County to investigate alternate methods of transporting people
• Let’s implement some new ideas • You’re fired! • Good luck
against the profiteers
Let’s implement some new ideas
In a previous Forum letter labeled “Explore proven alternatives” I implored the County to investigate alternate methods of transporting people other than by the Kauai Bus system, a system which our tax dollars are subsidizing to the astronomical sum of $5.5 million a year and growing.
I mentioned a young lady by the name of Debra Kekaualua who had driven taxis and buses on Kauai and tour buses on the Big Island. In a Forum letter of 6/2 “A win-win for all” she goes into great detail about the efficiency of the Big Islands transportation system over ours.
Debra has “been there and done that” and her suggestions certainly deserve serious consideration. She hits hard at the lock step system we have in place but her words and advice are not self serving, they are meant to put in place a plan that benefits not only those who cannot drive but all citizens whose tax money this policy promotes.
Wouldn’t it be great if our mayor personally reviewed Debra’s fine suggestions, met with her and implemented some of these ideas which have been proven to work?
Glenn Mickens, Kapa‘a
You’re fired!
Last Tuesday, the new Bryan Baptiste bridge had a dedication ceremony during peak lunch rush hour after a three-day holiday Memorial Day weekend which had traffic at a standstill from Kealia beach to the new Wailua bridge (approximately 4 miles of standstill traffic).
We all suffered stress and headaches with major traffic jams for four long weeks when the Kapa‘a bypass road was closed. Now, to have a bridge ceremony during peak lunch hour is some of the worst planning ever. Talk about the bridge over troubled waters, Kaua‘i County wins by a landslide.
I would like to quote one of the many comments which appeared with the TGI online story, “Mayor Baptiste memorial bridge dedicated.”
“Holding a blessing and dedication ceremony in the day when commuting is at its peak is absurd. For what? Posing, stroking of egos with government and political puppets patting each other on the back is unnecessary to say the least. Hold the dedication when traffic is less severe … even if it is at night! What’s so wrong with that? Oh, that’s right. No one can see the dog and pony show if its dark! That bridge has brought us nothing but headaches. Just get the darned thing over with!”
I talked to a friend who was on the bus from Friendship house to her final destination of Walmart and it took a little over two hours for an 11-mile bus ride that usually takes 25 minutes.
Politicians need some sort of political education before taking office. Lawyers must pass a very difficult bar exam and doctors must intern and serve a residency on top of eight years of school before being set free to practice on the public.
In contrast the only requirement to be a local county council person or even run for mayor is to reside in the county for at least two years, be at least 18 years of age and if you ever had a felony conviction you must have received final discharge from your crime. A person can be a high school dropout, or someone with no business experience or people skills, or someone who with a felony conviction that has been dropped.
This major traffic catastrophe could have been so easily avoided. One way to help avoid this type of insanity in the future is to start by changing the minimum requirements to run for public office and stop making elections a popularity contest but rather look at it as we are the employer looking for the best person to manage our company and make money.
Whoever set the schedule for the bridge dedication needs to heed the words of Donald Trump, “Your fired!”
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a
Good luck against the profiteers
“Healthcare is a good and is no different than cars, clothing, food, gas, houses and all the other things we must pay for”…? (“Right or wrong,” Letters, May 24). That statement is wrong in so many ways and on so many levels I don’t even know where to start.
Healthcare can literally be a matter of life and death for your loved ones or yourself.
Healthcare, in more civilized countries, is a service that the government provides to all citizens because even the haves agree that the have-nots are deserving of at least a basic level of care out of respect for humanity.
If those against healthcare for all are claiming that money or the lack of is the reason we cant have universal healthcare they are ignoring the reality that the result of uninsured citizens is the sick going to the emergency room for issues that could have been prevented for far less cost by providing basic healthcare in the first place.
This issue like so many others is crystal clear when you remove the blurring lens of the monetary system that clouds the minds and vision of so many. We all can agree that if we lived in a society that had evolved beyond the need to accumulate wealth that our first common goal would be to provide for the basic health of one another.
We all want long, healthy lives for ourselves, our friends and our families. But, good luck trying to accomplish that goal while profiteers are more focused on how to get theirs.
Jason Nichols, Koloa
