"Another complete waste of taxpayer money ..." 'Glenn Mickens' (County Watchdog)

Glenn Mickens has lived on Kauai  with his wife Ruth for the last 26 years. Born July 26, 1930 in Wilmar, California, USA) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched in four games (two of which were starts) for the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers. He also played for five years in Japan, from 1959 until 1963 for the Kintetsu Buffaloes. There, he compiled a record of 45–53 with a 2.54 ERA.  Glenn also  served in the Army for 2 years and coached baseball at UCLA for 25 years. 
Last but not least Glenn would really like to see Kaua'i give the county manager style of Government a chance.
Above photo of Glenn Mickens courtesy of Kauai Garden island news, used with permission...

Mr. Mickens is locally known
as one of Kauai county's
political watchdogs
and Nitpickers...
Mahalos Glenn!

 Another complete waste of taxpayer money

 For those of you not familiar with the TIGER grant that our county just went after and obtained, let me brief you on what it does and does not do.

Kauai county was awarded about $14 million of Fed funds with our needing to put up $2 million of county funds to get it---Fed or local all our tax money. The stipulation to get this grant was, "Research, demonstrate or pilot projects are eligible only if they result in surface transportation infrastructure."

The Council has introduced Resolution 2016-57 which is solely for the reconfiguration of Rice Street in Lihue---taking away 2 of the 4 existing lanes and adding bike lanes, wider sidewalks, crosswalks and amending and establishing parking restrictions and bus stops.

Kauai county residents
Please vote for
Mel Rapozo!
Glenn Mickens
Kimo Rosen
and this blog
support Mel!

 

Since on a prioritized list of what Kauai needs to address the most, traffic would be #1 or #2. To spend our time and money to secure a $14 million grant is commendable BUT to get it for jamming up traffic on Rice Street is ridiculous.

Rice street was once 2 lanes and our engineers in their wisdom added 2 more lanes to keep vehicles moving without slowing them down. Now, with even more vehicles on the roads than there were when 2 lanes were added our "leaders" want to exacerbate the traffic problems and narrow the street even more than it once was!!

Please cast one of your 7 Kauai
council votes for Arthur Brun.
Arthur is on the left. Kimo Rosen
in da middle and Mayor
Bernard Carvalho jr. on the right.

The administration has also said that this Rice street reconfiguration will slow traffic down (VERY TRUE) and make it more conducive for people to stop and go to the stores and restaurants--not true!! 

The current Kaua'i
county council
about to change
after election day!

The businesses like Big Save market, Sears and all the others that were once there moved to other locations (Kukui Grove) and are not coming back. To say that we can use this grant to make Lihue a "Town Core Mobility and Revitalization" project is a dream and a complete waste of money. Lihue is now a government headquarters, county and state and not an area that people will flock to to walk, bike or shop. 

Norma 'Doctor' Sparks is a newcomer running for County council.
Please cast your vote for Norma! We call her Dr. Doctor!
Read the blog; "Dr. Doctor give me some news;
http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2016/09/dr-doctor-give-me-some-news-james-kimo.html

Like the gold rush days, when the gold petered out the towns became ghost towns and that's what happened to Lihue. It is what it is today and no amount of money will change it. Go after grants that we need and benefit all the people and not ones that will negatively effect us.

P.S.
Check out Glenn's Wikipedia page;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Mickens

Editor's note, Dakinetalk guest bloggers do not necessarily represent the opinions of dakinetalk. Guest bloggers are given space to express their beliefs and or opinions. We feel there are many roads and like to give people space to express their thoughts,after-all that's what dakine is...

Aloha, James "Kimo" Rosen---Blogger-n-chief, dakinetalk blog---

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i-Phone photo by James "Kimo Rosen

Hana Hou, (Encore)