Mayor, please reconsider
The lanes between Puu Nani Drive and Lakeland won’t be resurfaced as a part of the current Mamalahoa Highway widening project in Waimea. There is apparently no political will by the current administration to execute a change order adding this work.
The Hawaii County Department of Public Works wants to simply complete this project as soon as possible — even if it won’t be finished 100%. As it stands, this segment of highway is badly deteriorating. The next administration will have to wait until late 2021 or early 2022 to resurface this area if this work is not added to this current project.
This will leave a black eye on the current administration for being penny wise and a pound foolish. Funding this change order shouldn’t be an issue. The county has been assessing the residents of this island the increased general excise tax surcharge for transportation-related projects.
I hope Mayor Harry Kim’s administration will reconsider resurfacing this segment of Mamalahoa Highway.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
Angels come in many forms
My husband and I want to publicly acknowledge a really wonderful act of kokua that we received last Tuesday when our car had a flat tire on Queen Kaahumanu Highway, a couple of miles south of the Waikoloa Beach Drive intersection.
Our spare tire and jack were basically immovable from not being used ever and being rusted in place. After a few minutes of our unsuccessful struggling, a car made a U-turn and pulled behind us to help.
The driver’s name was Kevin, and he was on his way north to meet his mom. His license plate was RPU-317, a silver Honda. He had the strength and willingness to stay and fight the battle of less-than-willing auto parts. After at least 45 minutes of efforts on his part, he made certain we knew of the gas station on Waikoloa Beach Drive to add needed air to the spare tire before going on his way.
Angels come in many forms and modes of transportation, but we certainly felt we were blessed by his willingness to aid two senior citizens in their hour of need.
Mahalo nui loa, Kevin.
Gene and Carol Sperry
Waikoloa Village
Waikoloa needs venue for hula, music festivals
The west side of the Big Island isn’t called “The Gold Coast” for nothing. I envision a Maui Arts and Cultural Center-type of arena in Waikoloa where hula and musical festivals can make “The Gold Coast” become a reality soon.
Japan has over two million registered professional hula dancers and over 2,000 hula halau. Staging monthly hula festivals where halau from all over the world could be invited would be an economic boom for the socioeconomic fabric of the west side of the Big Island. In addition to that, music concerts could be in the mix so we Big Islanders don’t have to travel to Oahu to see the likes of Janet Jackson and Hall and Oates.
Waikoloa is a rapidly developing area and an arena where hula and music festivals can be made a reality should be in the plans. It’s a win-win situation and the bigger the arena, the better. Why not spread the aloha spirit all over the world?
Dean Nagasako
Honokaa