Letters to the Editor: 8-7-16

Kenoi accomplished a lot during tenure

It disturbs me to see letters to the editor that come in the form of personal attack and distortion of the facts regarding accomplishments of Mayor Billy Kenoi and his management team — accomplishments that would not have been achieved without the positive and can-do leadership of Billy and his team.

Billy came into office at a time of our major economic downtrend with major strategically planned capital improvement projects and newly born services on the drawing board. What we needed was smart management and ways to move forward, and we got it. The long list includes building and upgrading new parks and recreation facilities that places emphasis on providing improved social services for all ages especially our youth, transfer stations taking on a new look, a state of the art West Hawaii Civic Center, and an overall focused effort to improve county services not just for now but also the future.

County leadership has provided a clear message of one island together, working in harmony with a positive attitude that has overcome the divisiveness of the past. The ugly political scene of East vs. West has been replaced by a new vision focusing on everyone’s best interests.

As a retired human resources professional, I also feel it’s important to recognize the Mayor’s management leadership style — one that understands the importance of county staff morale and it’s relationship to providing quality services. This applies to all employees, from the clerk behind the counter to department heads, a major improvement from the past.

So, my hope is that people resist the message of personal attack and negativity and continue the county’s good management that brings people together with positive leadership when they cast their votes in the remaining days of the election season.

Joel Cohen

Waimea

No collaboration a familiar theme for Ige administration

A familiar theme of no collaboration or just downright inaction is developing throughout Gov. David Ige’s administration and state departments. According to a story in the July 25 edition of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, OHA is now planning to sue the state and the University of Hawaii for mismanagement of Mauna Kea.

The suit is being brought only after OHA was “rebuffed in its attempts” to resolve the issue. It appears the only time Ige and his team are collaborative is when they are forced to be through litigation. Gov. Ige, stop acting like a baby!

Kalani Motta

Hilo

Time to start planning for global sea level rise

In 1969, it was said that if the Greenland and Antarctic ice were to melt, global sea level would rise 200 feet, and 40 years later, that ante was upped to 220 feet. Greenland ice is melting, Antarctic ice shelves are calving at an unprecedented rate and already some low-lying islands are facing evacuation. Once all of that carbon that was buried deep underground that made this a habitable planet was extracted in the form of coal and petroleum and reintroduced into the environment, the once delicate carbon dioxide to oxygen balance has become an indelicate imbalance and the hacking down of large forested areas has not helped the situation at all.

It’s a slow process and you probably won’t notice it until there are stingrays in your front yard, but high tide will eventually wash over coastal roads and when it covers the runways at high tide, what kind of knee jerk response will it evoke? Until they are permanently covered, will flight schedules be based on the tides? Will someone with foresight start buying sea planes and flying boats for the airlines with routes to, from and within Hawaii? Will someone consider a dike, like they have in the Netherlands? Even theirs won’t be able to survive this in the long run.

The full 220-foot raise will take decades to happen, and although it should be included in the planning, I wouldn’t count on it.

Dave Kisor

Pahoa