Speed bumps for Christmas
All I want for Christmas is a stop sign and speed hump above Lei Ohana housing on Manawale’a Drive off Ane Keohokalole Highway.
I have been told by Council woman Karen Eoff’s office that the Public Works Director has declined speed humps because “Manawale’a serves as a secondary arterial road, so a speed hump is not allowed.”
The new extension road is steep so it’s only a matter of time until it becomes a speedway. There’s no question this road is needed, but let’s do this right. Before a child or slow moving senior crossing that road gets hit.
Can we be proactive and come up with a common sense solution to head off a disaster? I humbly ask Mayor Kim to please take a drive to Kona and look at this situation. Thank you.
Carrie Borge
Kailua-Kona
Tribute to great movie man, Andy
Anyone who goes regularly to the theater at Makalpua in Kailua-Kona knows there’s a man, Andy, who sits by the door to collect moviegoers’ tickets. Unfortunately to everyone’s bereft, Andy recently passed away.
I took notice of Andy more than a dozen years ago when we moved here to Hawaii. At first I wondered why would someone want to sit there and collect tickets? Then as time went on, I began to understand. Andy was so much more than a doorman. He had a unique presence, always welcoming, and doling out silent love blessings that brought joy to adults and kids alike. My wife, Desirée and I always looked forward to seeing Andy. Really, he was the best part of every movie.
For several years I had the thought that our local newspaper should run a feature story about Andy, and I often wondered why they hadn’t. Then one day it dawned on me to call the newspaper and suggest they run such a story. Unfortunately, I don’t believe they got to it in time. But it’s not too late. I would encourage others to write the newspaper now using this link and share your favorite “Andy” moments: https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/letter-to-the-editor/
And maybe the theater can dedicate a memorial plaque to Andy and place it on the wall so that his presence lives on in the place where he gave so much.
Farewell, my friend. You will be missed.
Mark Watson
Waikoloa
DWS fails real world test
I’m no hydraulics engineer, just a retired business man who spent over 50 years in the mechanical manufacturing world, coordinating contracts for support needs. Thursday’s article concerning the DWS is infuriating to veteran private business people who are/were employed due to their ability to achieve well coordinated contractor deliveries and overall good program management.
In the non-public works arena, a statement that “Bids for repairs at Palani Deep Well have yet to be advertised but are set for award sometime in early 2019,” would immediately cause management to evaluate an employee’s performance. Wasn’t there an announcement that this bid was announced in March 2017? In that world, each piece of equipment that had a history of failure would, at the least, have a prepared quotation with specifications, that would need minimal modification to cover requisite repairs. It’s not as if these wells don’t have a history of failures. Why isn’t a request for proposal (a bid) issued within a day or two?
This is not business as usual, this is an emergency. Again, in the real world, Derrick’s Well Drilling would already have been sued for non-performance and let their insurance company pay for the pump retrieval. Why the prolonged hesitancy to address Derrick’s failure after all this occurred in 2017?
Further, the increase in salaries for DWS chief Okamoto and his deputy Uyehara in successive years is an insult to the taxpayers. While I understand the argument to pay market level salaries, there is the issue of performance, or lack thereof.
If the salary commission is concerned about comparative salaries, at the least, it positions Hawaii County to offer a competitive wage for competent replacements for our inept DWS leadership. Why does Mayor Kim tolerate the lack of performance at the DWS?
Pete Webber
Kailua-Kona