• Correct ‘facts’ • Respect Hawaiian culture, protect the beach • Keep the path on the beach Correct ‘facts’ With respect to former Judge Laureta, I must take issue with the facts you stated under the section you titled Fact
• Correct ‘facts’
• Respect Hawaiian culture, protect the beach
• Keep the path on the beach
Correct ‘facts’
With respect to former Judge Laureta, I must take issue with the facts you stated under the section you titled Fact No. 1. (“County dictator,” Letters, Nov. 29)
You state that all the presidential elections “except one” have been decided by popular vote. This is not true; All presidential elections are decide by the Electoral College, not the popular vote.
In fact, in at least three presidential elections — 1824, 1876 and 2000 — the “electors” voted for the candidate that did not have the most popular votes in the nationwide election.
In my opinion, when you added the section (except in one presidential election he was declared the winner by the electoral college), which I related to the 2000 election, you are bringing partisan politics into a county-wide issue, deemed by our charter to be non-partisan.
Let’s take the politics out of the issue at hand — county manager — and inject constructive debate in which our island can grow from.
Mahalo for your many years of service in the community.
Rob Abrew, Wailua Homesteads
Respect Hawaiian culture, protect the beach
The fate of Wailua Beach, one of the island’s most notable beaches, is in the hands of the mayor.
Building a 12- to 14-foot-wide boardwalk on the sand dunes at Wailua to serve as a recreational bike path will put this beach at risk. These flat dunes, currently covered by vegetation, are vital to preservation of the beach as they store sand for future beach replenishment. Undermining the natural beach replenishment process threatens the beach’s existence.
Wailua Beach is considered by Native Hawaiians to be the most culturally, historically and spiritually significant place in the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as Mahunapu‘uone, which means “the sand dunes that conceal the bones.” A path on the beach would be a profound insult to Native Hawaiians and would be contrary to the recommendation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Regarding the issue of beach access, there is already permanent public access with sidewalks and two parking lots at both ends of the beach. The shoreline has always been accessible to readily walk along.
There is a very viable alternative to putting the bike path on the beach. It is a “mauka route” on an existing paved road that connects Kuamo‘o Road with Haleilio Road along a scenic, peaceful county right-of-way behind Coco Palms.
Both the mauka route and the beach route would cross Kuhio Highway the same number of times.
Both routes would travel along the canal mauka of Kuhio Highway. The mauka route would simply turn inland less than a quarter of a mile sooner, thereby avoiding the culturally significant and environmentally sensitive Wailua Beach.
The mauka route was studied in the Environmental Assessment; therefore selecting this route would cause minimal delay to the path project. None of the $4.2 million federal incentive grant would be lost because the shovel-ready portions at the other end of this phase can move forward.
ADA access is provided by both routes as a portion of the path would run along the beach from Wailua Bridge to Kuamo‘o Road. Lydgate Beach Park provides ADA access to safe swimming.
Please let the mayor know that you support the mauka bike path route, which will respect Native Hawaiian culture and protect the beach.
The Kaua‘i Group of the Hawai’i Chapter Sierra Club, Executive Committee
Keep the path on the beach
I work part-time for a Native Hawaiian Health Care organization. My primary objective is to increase the number of Native Hawaiians who are exercising.
We have tried group classes, nutrition classes and incentive programs and have found that the Ke Ala Hele Makalae was the best tool we had because it is good for everyone and easy and safe to use.
Families don’t have to worry that their child will run out in the road or that some car will wipe them out from behind. The path on the beach route is a safe path.
Crossing the main highway at Wailua is dangerous. A path that has a safe route like Wailua Beach is most useful to our work to help prevent chronic diseases.
I grew up on that beach. Every weekend and every day in the summer we would go straight to Wailua Beach. Many winters the waves would come in and eat up the entire beach and often the road too along with everything buried there.
I respect the findings of La France Kapaka-Arboleda and all who have participated in the process. I don’t want to throw what they worked for away. She felt the least impact would be via the beach area and that iwi kupuna would be buried further mauka from this open ocean area.
I also feel that as Hawaiians we may have different opinions but we should not divide ourselves into categories like royalty and maka‘ainana.
We should not go up mauka.
Nalani Brun, Kapa‘a
