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Last but not least Glenn would really like to see Kauai give the county manager style of Government a chance.
To all Kauai County council members, HELP!
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| Mr. Mickens is locally known as one of Kauai county's political watchdogs. Mahalos Glenn! |
I understand that under council rules you cannot answer me directly/ I would none the less appreciate the courtesy of your possibly answering me or referring to my questions when the meeting is called back to order.
I want to know why Kauai county keeps hiring consultants to tell us that bikes, buses, shuttles and walking are the answers to solving our traffic problems? With all due respect to these consultants who are obviously hired to tell the administration what they want to hear they completely fail to give us answers to our major problem--traffic.
Over and over I repeat that the mass of the people will never abandon their vehicles for any of their so called solutions. They have not been able to show you any municipality such as ours (an island like Kauai with 70 thousand people) that has a system such as they propose that is successfully used.
You obviously know that the contraflow system some wise engineer put into use years ago works and works well. It is proof that if we had one more lane in that road traffic could be lessened just as it is with the contraflow lanes. By paving and using the cane haul roads all over the island for alternate routes, traffic will never disappear, but congestion might. Yes, our highways are state controlled but this is one island and we shouldn't have to point the finger at the state and them point the finger at us. We should have coordination with both entities. But where is the leadership? Leadership that a county manager could give us?
Shouldn't long range plans or pilot projects be done that show statistical success rates and not just speculative forecasts with no facts to back it up?
We did a pilot shuttle project on the North shore and it was a complete failure. Private enterprise tried to make it go and not enough riders were available to make it profitable. It needed to be subsidized but the hotels. The county when asked said, "no" and thus it folded. I have said many times we also did the pilot program with free bus rides for 1500 county employees and only 50 people used it--another failure.
So before we spend thousands of more dollars on consultants to tell us fantasy instead of facts lets hire people to factor in what is going to be done for the driving public which is here to stay. With a county manager we could solve problems and not watch them get worse by the day---for locals as well as visitors.
P.S.
Check out Glenn's Wikipedia page;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Mickens
Hana Hou, Shared from Facebook...
2 comments:
It's difficult to reply here. I have to remember all you've said and reply to what I remember. Sigh.
There are so many dimensions involved here. Creating more roads is only going to create more problems.More cars. More traffic jams. I really don't think you can answer for the 'masses', Glen. I really dislike that word. Many people would much prefer public transportation if it were good and reliable transportation.
Maintaining the roads is an imperative.
There are other solutions. Honest. Creative, doable, and responding to a future in which less defilement of the atmosphere--the environment-- is a MUST.
You seem to take it personally. I'd love to see a time when you'd be the only car on the road.
We'd all wave as you sauntered by.
More cars, more exhaust, more fumes, more CO2, more people are simply NOT the answer.
Think outside the box.
If more people could work at home, they'd not have to commute.
Home delivery would be splendid. I have my animal feed--horse food, dog food, cat food, bird food, delivered. The delivery man makes money, he helps me unload and store. Saves me time and money.
In a sane and workable community structure, people should be able to walk to the Post Office, the bank, a neighborhood clinic, a school, a library, a park, a store, a cafe.
Creating such a living space would be less expensive and invasive than building more roads. Buying more cars.
If tourists come to Kauai cruise main better they go to Los Angeles. Lots'a cars there. marvelous traffic jams.
Glenn, lots of work has been down on creating a better future. For Kalaheo, for Kauai, for the State, for the world.
We simply cannot go on making the same mistakes. We can't.
Suburban sprawl is insane.
Kimo,
Much mahalo again for printing my testimony--really appreciate it. And the fact that you are keeping the county manager system before the public really means a lot to us.
I am going to send you my testimony for tomorrow to the Council and you may want to use if when you find the space. This is about the proposed excise tax that is before the council and hopefully it will not pass---WE DO NOT NEED ANYMORE TAXES SINCE WE ARE NOT SEEING ANY MORE BENEFITS FROM THE ONES WE NOW HAVE!!!
Walter Lewis put a good one in the paper today and I gave him my input on it so, again, you may want to keep it before the public.
Mahalo,
Glenn
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