DOGGIE PEE, DOGGIE DOO: It won’t be long now until dog poop is once again on the lips of the citizenry what with the expiration of the experimental “bikes on the dog path” law and the new law before the council promising a long hot summer of dog path hearings a-comin’.
So get out you doggie-doodoo-bag and pin it to your shirt because it’s already being spread pretty thick on the pages of the local newspaper- all before the public hearing on the bill to expand dog-crapping to the entire path and also before the required survey is available.
Just this weekend we’ve already been hit with a flaming bag-o-crap lobbed over the wall in a predictable disinformation campaign from the brownshirts of the so-called stakeholders committee: Dr. Randall C. Blake, Sue Hansen, Thomas Noyes, Dr. Becky Rhoades.
Even Joan Conrow- who is usually more concerned with topics of real importance such as her upcoming Honolulu Weekly piece on the latest from the Naue burials debacle- has been busy with watching where she walks after describing a little walk on the “linear park”
After a meeting of the persons if not the minds between her and Councilperson Tim Bynum, who has introduced the latest dog path bill and was an original proponent of the path, she wrote:
Koko and I found ourselves meeting Tim at Lihi Park — the southerly end of the section where dogs are allowed — yesterday afternoon.
Now, readers of this blog know that I am no fan of the Path, but it was a lovely day and the ocean — turquoise and glassy under an offshore wind — looked absolutely ono. Of course, I couldn’t legally access it for a swim so long as Koko was at my side, so I focused instead on the task at hand: listening to Tim.
For those who don’t generally delve into underworld of the anonymous trolls in the comments section of Joan’s blog, it’s pretty much of a zoo where the bored, lonely sophomoric and adolescent-minded baboons gather to mindlessly throw their own feces at each other and Joan.
And today, after mentioning the lawsuit against KIUC for refusing to do anything but talk about stopping their wholesale slaughter of Shearwaters, she wrote about what one particularly dedicated defacer posted over the weekend:
This topic always makes me think of the thoughtful “f the birds” comment left by the shift-key impaired, short dash-fixated “dwps” — aka “mainland mentality,” “Darwin was pretty smart,” “young white atheist male” and “anonymous” — who recently left the comment:
“only here, and a few weird places on the mainland populated by strange people, would a bike path be seen as some sort of bag thing. its bizarre”
I’m assuming he meant “bad” and not “bag,” so let me spell it out for him. A bike path that is part of a road system, so as to truly facilitate alternative transportation, could be seen as a good thing.
But a bike path that runs over a beach or burials, is constructed of coastline hardening concrete, delivers hordes of people to places previously untrammeled, exposes you to possible $500 fines and puts you on the radar of an over zealous enforcement officer riding a bicycle with a poodle in a basket, well, in my opinion, that’s a bad thing.
Although we generally skip the troll-fest we happened on this one and maybe not so coincidentally it stood out to us too.
So a little Kealia and island history is in order.
In 1976 a Japanese developer wanted to put a resort where the Kumukumu camp- right across the highway from the beach- had recently been shut down.
People fought like hell to stop it and did so successfully but at one point those who opposed it but thought it inevitable had suggested Kealia be officially designated as a county beach park to “protect” it from development.
Being malihini at the time we at first blanch didn’t get it. But on second thought we had been around the island long enough to have seen the pattern and saw what happened whenever a “park” designation was made.
Many local people knew full well what happens on Kaua`i when you make a beach or any other gathering place into a “park”.
Where people once had free reign to camp, fish, even drive right to the camping spot and generally be free of rules and restrictions, all of a sudden we now had permits, rangers, prohibitions- including against bringing dogs- and generally had to go somewhere else to relax on weekends ad holidays.
So we stopped the beach park at Kealia. Some of us tracked it for decades and every time the proposal came back up we nipped it in the bud.
Now comes the bike path- that had it’s origins in Kealia Kai- and we thought we had nixed the beach park idea again with a plan that would have the path just run along the old haul cane road.
But Bernard Carvalho- then head of at first the Parks and Rec Division and later the newly-created Department of Parks and Rec- unbeknownst to anyone including the council until it was a done deal, formed a secret committee (later called the stakeholders committee), filled it with bike path proponents and then “secretly” built illegal un-permitted pavilions along the bike path because they had “extra money” (don’t ya just love that one?).
Finally they had to tear down and re-do some of the pavilions that dotted the path. But instead of leaving well enough alone, when the “dog path” bill came along all of a sudden Bernard and his cronies had somehow “declared” the bike path with pavilions to be a “linear park” where dogs would be automatically banned,
Even though by law official designation of parks is supposed to be done by the council- not to mention that no one had ever heard of a “linear park” on Kaua`i before and in fact the term didn’t appear anywhere in our charter, ordinances or administrative rules- their “done deal” stood, especially when Bernard became Mayor.
So through the back door Kealia has essentially become a “beach park” despite citizen vigilance, all due to Bernard’s lack of foresight and bending and breaking of laws, rules and regs and the lack of anyone on the council willing to challenge anything having to do with the bike path since Mel Rapozo and Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho left
That’s just one of the corners cut and reasons why we have an ugly ribbon of concrete running along the beach instead of the natural unspoiled shoreline we used to enjoy.
As with many Kaua`i institutions, its not “bike paths” in general- or electric power co-ops or a dozen other mom-and-apple-pie ideas- it’s THIS bike path that causes us to have to sidestep another stinking pile.
Showing posts with label Bike Path Kaua`i Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bike Path Kaua`i Corruption. Show all posts
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
GLAD WE DIDN’T STEP IN IT
GLAD WE DIDN’T STEP IN IT: Abso-freakin’-lutely bizarre.
What else can you possibly say about the county’s decision that, after all these years of putting everyone through convoluted conniptions so they could run the “coastal” bike path across the busiest highway intersection on the island and through the Safeway and Foodland parking lots, they’ve decided to start from scratch and do what they said was impossible- run the path along a makai route where it belonged in the first place.
Or, maybe not so bizarre.
The brief announcement from the county was pretty vague- and buried to boot. After a comparatively long and final “screw you” to those who want the path entirely off Wailua Beach, way at the end it says:
The mayor also noted that due to the cost and safety reasons, phase three of the multi-use path, from Lydgate to Lihi Park, will be aligned makai to avoid crossing Kūhi`ō Hwy. and the mauka leg will be postponed until a later date.
This change will require several additional steps including: land acquisition; a supplemental Environmental Assessment, a special management permit; and design work.
Even reporter Mike Levine of the local newspaper- who presumably hasn’t been around long enough to know a tenth of the background of the various scams that caused the mauka route to be chosen- wasn’t buying county’s obfuscation and wrote his own lede stressing the “new alignment”.
After apparently obtaining a county map he writes:
The new leg would head makai from Papaloa Road where it meets Coconut Marketplace, between the Kaua`i Sands Hotel and the Aston Islander on the Beach, before turning north and staying behind the Kaua`i Coast Resort at the Beachboy and the Aston Kaua`i Beach at Makaiwa, a county map shows.
Those who have followed the long and winding corridor’s saga will remember that it became obvious through testimony before the county council by Department of Public Works Building Division Chief Doug Haigh- going back to the Maryanne Kusaka administration and continuing through Bryan Baptiste’s reign- that the mauka alignment was chosen after a convoluted deal was struck with Safeway and Foodland to give the county land for the path in exchange for concessions from the county over the infamous “Safeway Bridge”.
For those that don’t remember, in 1979 when the Foodland and Safeway shopping centers were granted their commercial zoning one of the requirements in the ordinance was that they build a pedestrian bridge connecting the two stores so as to divert at least some traffic from the highway.
Citizens demanded a vehicular bridge but those were the days when corruption was even more rampant than today and public input meant diddly-squat when countered by developer’s demands.
But even the “compromise” condition was never satisfied and in the late 90’s the two owners tried to get the council to throw out the conditions because it was holding up a lot consolidation the Safeway owners needed to sell the shopping center.
It was supposed to be a done deal until a member of the public, Tracy Murakami, came forward at the public hearing on the bill and objected saying she wanted the bridge so she didn’t have to drive every time she wanted to shop at both stores.
That started a groundswell of support for the bridge especially from council regulars and set off the Battle of the Safeway Bridge.
People were outraged that the condition was ignored for 20 years and both sides started coming before the council over a period of months, the public with evidence of cover-ups and lies by the two corporate owners and the owners, with the backing of the state DOT, trying first to say the narrow, four-foot walkway on the highway bridge- with no guard rail and traffic whizzing by inches away- was good enough (even for a stroller with her newborn baby in it when Murakami brought it up), then saying there was nowhere to put the bridge- which Murakami and others pictorially showed just wasn’t true.
But after Kaipo Asing- then still a champion of the people- went out, tape measure in hand, and did his own investigative work and one of his famous “Kaipo Explains It All” presentations, the council refused to remove the requirement and even passed an ordinance saying “build it now... or else”.
But the “or else” wasn’t really specified. So cut to almost a decade later when Councilpersons Mel Rapozo and Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho got wind of the lack of enforcement.
The council then went through the whole thing again- and again said build it “or else... and we mean it this time”.
Then cometh the bike path and Haigh, the county’s chief cook and bottlewasher on the project, came up with a plan that would both fund his bike path and settle the bridge controversy.
The main appropriation for the bike path- the original $40 million in “transportation, not recreation” federal funds needed matching funds from the county. The Kusaka administration had worked a deal to use the “gift” of the Kealia Kai mauka region land to offset a good chunk of it.
But they still needed more.
The deal was that in exchange for rights to a strip of land for the bike path to run through their valuable commercially-zoned land, Safeway and Foodland would only have to pay a nominal amount for the actual bridge itself and the county would maintain it as part of the “coastal” bike path which would now cross the highway and wend its way through the busy parking lots.
Haigh told the council that it would be impossible to get all the land for the path to go through the Coconut Marketplace and all the hotels in the makai area and detailed other physical barriers. There was no choice but to go west.
But as everyone knew the county couldn’t just decide not to build that portion because “the path must go on” to make sure that it would be “continuous” from Kealia to Lihu`e- a requirement since a “transportation” path couldn’t very well have breaks in it.
So why the change? Or more to the point why the change now after buckets of money and time have been invested in the mauka alignment and other plans are already in place along the canal- having been piggy-backed onto the bike path- for things like the Pouli Road connectors to ease vehicular traffic?
For one possible explanation you might look at the agenda for the February 17 council meeting under “Legal Documents”. There you’ll find this:
C 2010-46 Communication (01/15/2010) from the Director of Parks & Recreation, requesting Council approval to secure a shared-use path easement at the Kaua`i Shopping Village (TMK 4-4-3-08:14) in exchange for a parking and pedestrian access easement at Waipouli Drainage Canal.
This is apparently the land deal that finalizes all the previous contortions and now that all is in place the county has it’s “value” to be able to reap more of the matching funds required for the federal grant.
Of course the actual time and money the county has put into this now apparently defunct portion of the bike path is probably quite staggering although the real accounting is still in limbo.
The actual figure for cost to date was one of those “29 questions” that the council asked and which the administration has yet to answer regarding the bike path. The questions were left unanswered when Rapozo and Iseri left the council and no one else - especially original bike path zealot Tim Bynum who now chairs the Parks/Public Works Committee and has no interest in the questions, having said they were “all answered” as far as he was concerned- seems concerned about where the money went and where it’s going in the future.
Of course the county says the mauka portion is being “postponed” but when in the heck do we need an unconnected-to-anything bike path through a parking lot for now. In Kaua`i government parlance postponed usually means when hell freezes over. And of course they have to say that or it would make all efforts to secure the mauka route the farce it really was... apparently all along.
If that isn’t the answer what exactly changed so dramatically in the couple of weeks since the council approved the land deal? Either way they go some ‘splainin’ to do although no one is holding their breath.
Egad- we feel like Paul Harvey.
Correction: Tim Bynum is the Chair of Public Works and Elderly Affairs Committee, not Public Works and Parks. Lani Kawahara is the Chair of Parks and Transportation.
What else can you possibly say about the county’s decision that, after all these years of putting everyone through convoluted conniptions so they could run the “coastal” bike path across the busiest highway intersection on the island and through the Safeway and Foodland parking lots, they’ve decided to start from scratch and do what they said was impossible- run the path along a makai route where it belonged in the first place.
Or, maybe not so bizarre.
The brief announcement from the county was pretty vague- and buried to boot. After a comparatively long and final “screw you” to those who want the path entirely off Wailua Beach, way at the end it says:
The mayor also noted that due to the cost and safety reasons, phase three of the multi-use path, from Lydgate to Lihi Park, will be aligned makai to avoid crossing Kūhi`ō Hwy. and the mauka leg will be postponed until a later date.
This change will require several additional steps including: land acquisition; a supplemental Environmental Assessment, a special management permit; and design work.
Even reporter Mike Levine of the local newspaper- who presumably hasn’t been around long enough to know a tenth of the background of the various scams that caused the mauka route to be chosen- wasn’t buying county’s obfuscation and wrote his own lede stressing the “new alignment”.
After apparently obtaining a county map he writes:
The new leg would head makai from Papaloa Road where it meets Coconut Marketplace, between the Kaua`i Sands Hotel and the Aston Islander on the Beach, before turning north and staying behind the Kaua`i Coast Resort at the Beachboy and the Aston Kaua`i Beach at Makaiwa, a county map shows.
Those who have followed the long and winding corridor’s saga will remember that it became obvious through testimony before the county council by Department of Public Works Building Division Chief Doug Haigh- going back to the Maryanne Kusaka administration and continuing through Bryan Baptiste’s reign- that the mauka alignment was chosen after a convoluted deal was struck with Safeway and Foodland to give the county land for the path in exchange for concessions from the county over the infamous “Safeway Bridge”.
For those that don’t remember, in 1979 when the Foodland and Safeway shopping centers were granted their commercial zoning one of the requirements in the ordinance was that they build a pedestrian bridge connecting the two stores so as to divert at least some traffic from the highway.
Citizens demanded a vehicular bridge but those were the days when corruption was even more rampant than today and public input meant diddly-squat when countered by developer’s demands.
But even the “compromise” condition was never satisfied and in the late 90’s the two owners tried to get the council to throw out the conditions because it was holding up a lot consolidation the Safeway owners needed to sell the shopping center.
It was supposed to be a done deal until a member of the public, Tracy Murakami, came forward at the public hearing on the bill and objected saying she wanted the bridge so she didn’t have to drive every time she wanted to shop at both stores.
That started a groundswell of support for the bridge especially from council regulars and set off the Battle of the Safeway Bridge.
People were outraged that the condition was ignored for 20 years and both sides started coming before the council over a period of months, the public with evidence of cover-ups and lies by the two corporate owners and the owners, with the backing of the state DOT, trying first to say the narrow, four-foot walkway on the highway bridge- with no guard rail and traffic whizzing by inches away- was good enough (even for a stroller with her newborn baby in it when Murakami brought it up), then saying there was nowhere to put the bridge- which Murakami and others pictorially showed just wasn’t true.
But after Kaipo Asing- then still a champion of the people- went out, tape measure in hand, and did his own investigative work and one of his famous “Kaipo Explains It All” presentations, the council refused to remove the requirement and even passed an ordinance saying “build it now... or else”.
But the “or else” wasn’t really specified. So cut to almost a decade later when Councilpersons Mel Rapozo and Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho got wind of the lack of enforcement.
The council then went through the whole thing again- and again said build it “or else... and we mean it this time”.
Then cometh the bike path and Haigh, the county’s chief cook and bottlewasher on the project, came up with a plan that would both fund his bike path and settle the bridge controversy.
The main appropriation for the bike path- the original $40 million in “transportation, not recreation” federal funds needed matching funds from the county. The Kusaka administration had worked a deal to use the “gift” of the Kealia Kai mauka region land to offset a good chunk of it.
But they still needed more.
The deal was that in exchange for rights to a strip of land for the bike path to run through their valuable commercially-zoned land, Safeway and Foodland would only have to pay a nominal amount for the actual bridge itself and the county would maintain it as part of the “coastal” bike path which would now cross the highway and wend its way through the busy parking lots.
Haigh told the council that it would be impossible to get all the land for the path to go through the Coconut Marketplace and all the hotels in the makai area and detailed other physical barriers. There was no choice but to go west.
But as everyone knew the county couldn’t just decide not to build that portion because “the path must go on” to make sure that it would be “continuous” from Kealia to Lihu`e- a requirement since a “transportation” path couldn’t very well have breaks in it.
So why the change? Or more to the point why the change now after buckets of money and time have been invested in the mauka alignment and other plans are already in place along the canal- having been piggy-backed onto the bike path- for things like the Pouli Road connectors to ease vehicular traffic?
For one possible explanation you might look at the agenda for the February 17 council meeting under “Legal Documents”. There you’ll find this:
C 2010-46 Communication (01/15/2010) from the Director of Parks & Recreation, requesting Council approval to secure a shared-use path easement at the Kaua`i Shopping Village (TMK 4-4-3-08:14) in exchange for a parking and pedestrian access easement at Waipouli Drainage Canal.
This is apparently the land deal that finalizes all the previous contortions and now that all is in place the county has it’s “value” to be able to reap more of the matching funds required for the federal grant.
Of course the actual time and money the county has put into this now apparently defunct portion of the bike path is probably quite staggering although the real accounting is still in limbo.
The actual figure for cost to date was one of those “29 questions” that the council asked and which the administration has yet to answer regarding the bike path. The questions were left unanswered when Rapozo and Iseri left the council and no one else - especially original bike path zealot Tim Bynum who now chairs the Parks/Public Works Committee and has no interest in the questions, having said they were “all answered” as far as he was concerned- seems concerned about where the money went and where it’s going in the future.
Of course the county says the mauka portion is being “postponed” but when in the heck do we need an unconnected-to-anything bike path through a parking lot for now. In Kaua`i government parlance postponed usually means when hell freezes over. And of course they have to say that or it would make all efforts to secure the mauka route the farce it really was... apparently all along.
If that isn’t the answer what exactly changed so dramatically in the couple of weeks since the council approved the land deal? Either way they go some ‘splainin’ to do although no one is holding their breath.
Egad- we feel like Paul Harvey.
Correction: Tim Bynum is the Chair of Public Works and Elderly Affairs Committee, not Public Works and Parks. Lani Kawahara is the Chair of Parks and Transportation.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
MIA
MIA: In two days it’ll be two weeks since Mayor Bernard Carvalho pulled his little Friday afternoon press release scam to flim-flam those opposed to putting the bike path on Wailua Beach before he conveniently slipped town all to avoid answering questions about the bogus, mealy-mouth lie that the new plan will put the path on the highway and take it off the beach.
That was exacerbated the next day by the gross negligence by the local newspaper in presenting a patently false headline and a misleading article – one still not corrected or clarified- repeating the misleading words of the mayor’s press release without digging deeper to get to the truth of the matter.
It’s understandable that that ace reporter Michael Levine may have been confused at first but its inexcusable that there’s been no update to inform an ill-informed public, especially since the arbitrary “comment deadline” of Feb. 25, set by the administration, has come and gone.
Other than the “he said, she said” style quote from Judy Dalton late in the original article claiming it’s still on the beach there’s been no inkling in the paper of the fact that the path will still be on the beach, leading many of not most on the island to believe that the mayor has now miraculously given in and realigned the path to keep it off the beach.
While the on-line community has been on the story with our Steaming pile on bike path the following Monday, Joan Conrow’s visual depiction Tuesday and a widely distributed letter from Dalton on Wednesday it’s been nothing but silence from the primary news source and “newspaper of record” on the island except for a letter to the editor- one that seems unsure of itself- from Wendy Raebeck of Wailua yesterday.
But while the newspaper certainly should take some of the blame for perpetuating a lie it’s even more baffling as to what happened to the dozens of activists who brought the issue of burials to light and the hundreds if not thousands who were outraged enough to get the mayor to put out his bogus realignment announcement.
Were they similarly bamboozled? Have they just given up?
The officials in this county have shown that they will stonewall, obfuscate and even outright lie in order to get people to just go away so that they keep their corrupt little party going. And when we give up- as many apparently have in this instance- we become just another guard at the gates of the minotaur’s labyrinth.
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We’ll be taking a long weekend again unless something really sets our hair on fire- see ya Monday.
That was exacerbated the next day by the gross negligence by the local newspaper in presenting a patently false headline and a misleading article – one still not corrected or clarified- repeating the misleading words of the mayor’s press release without digging deeper to get to the truth of the matter.
It’s understandable that that ace reporter Michael Levine may have been confused at first but its inexcusable that there’s been no update to inform an ill-informed public, especially since the arbitrary “comment deadline” of Feb. 25, set by the administration, has come and gone.
Other than the “he said, she said” style quote from Judy Dalton late in the original article claiming it’s still on the beach there’s been no inkling in the paper of the fact that the path will still be on the beach, leading many of not most on the island to believe that the mayor has now miraculously given in and realigned the path to keep it off the beach.
While the on-line community has been on the story with our Steaming pile on bike path the following Monday, Joan Conrow’s visual depiction Tuesday and a widely distributed letter from Dalton on Wednesday it’s been nothing but silence from the primary news source and “newspaper of record” on the island except for a letter to the editor- one that seems unsure of itself- from Wendy Raebeck of Wailua yesterday.
But while the newspaper certainly should take some of the blame for perpetuating a lie it’s even more baffling as to what happened to the dozens of activists who brought the issue of burials to light and the hundreds if not thousands who were outraged enough to get the mayor to put out his bogus realignment announcement.
Were they similarly bamboozled? Have they just given up?
The officials in this county have shown that they will stonewall, obfuscate and even outright lie in order to get people to just go away so that they keep their corrupt little party going. And when we give up- as many apparently have in this instance- we become just another guard at the gates of the minotaur’s labyrinth.
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We’ll be taking a long weekend again unless something really sets our hair on fire- see ya Monday.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
A LEG UP ON THE BONEHEADS
A LEG UP ON THE BONEHEADS: Joan Conrow’s blog has been the go to place for all things bike-path boardwalk-on-Wailua-Beach lately. But one click away from her most recent thoughtful reporting and opinion is a shit-storm of racism, white privilege and outright genocidal blather from a group of trolls we pretty much banished last year.
Joan’s whip and chair approach has tolerated a group of anonymous “I think that” commenters- hilarious in it’s not-so-oxy moronic content- that have gravitated to her site and caused most sane readers who want to stay that way to avoid clicking that comment button lest they boil their own blood.
But not Ann Punohu who has recently started up her Punohu’s Politics, Environment and Culture Blog and made the mistake of visiting Joan’s repository of wretched rhetoric.
Never one to back away from a good fight over cultural slights, Ann has posted a series of responses to some of the worst examples of why the word “haole” is often preceded by a certain adjective and awarded her Racist Residents Of The Year Award for 2009 to a couple of malahini morons.
“Al and Judy” actually said:
We certainly haven't come to Hawaii for the "culture". We hate Hawaiian music, food, cultural (pagan) practices, etc.
We love the ocean, air, tropical environment.
We've come here for years and now own property on a couple of islands. I'll make a bleedin' fortune in the next development boom with one of them.
Wouldn't mind if it looked like Malibu Beach, though.
Ann’s hilarious response was:
OK, It is official. Racists have landed on Kaua`i. And I don't mean the garden variety racist, I mean the full blown I am so proud of myself white supremacist racist
These people own property, and like the path on the beach. And they HATE Hawaiian history, or so they say.
Joan has a slight uku infestation on her blog. A group of "anonymous" posters who just like to yank everyone's chain.
Some of the posts were so ludicrous I really did think they were jokes.
Apparently though, these people are serious. And serious racists. They certainly tried to cook me over an open fire. Didn't work though. I give em right back...
Apparently Romper Room was in session over there, and the kids were throwing spitballs at the teacher, me.
I was just trying to stuff a little knowledge into their apparently racist heads, but they were so full of hot air there was no more room between their ears.
The question that must be asked in light of the divisiveness of the issue is a political one- why on earth would Mayor Bernard Carvalho risk his all-but-given reelection next year with two “that’s my story and I’m sticking to it” recent decisions, guaranteed to not just make people think twice before voting for him but to actually lose votes without any apparent political gain.
The decision to put the new landfill on arguably the most profitable in-use ag land on the island was bad enough but at least there it’s a matter of fulfilling a campaign promise and could even be seen by some to be a courageous decision that has been avoided by mayors and councils since Uncle Tony Kunimura’s days.
So why the boardwalk on the beach?
First of all we have to remember a key fact- one that the “multi use path” proponents would like to forget. In order to fulfill the requirements for initial $40 million in federal funds the path has to be primarily “for transportation, not recreation”.
It’s apparent by now that there is only one factor that matters in that determination and it seemingly has nothing to do with what anyone in government says about the path in selling it to the citizenry.
To be for transportation the path has to go from point “A”, just north of Kealia, to point “B” in Nawiliwili in a contiguous manner with no “breaks” .
People say “well why not go mauka as the path already does by going through the Safeway/Foodland parking lot and extend that “canal route” portion all the way past Coco Palms and simply re-cross the highway at the Wailua Homesteads traffic light rather than the Wailua Houselots light”?
Seemingly that wouldn’t be a problem and a decision by Carvalho to do so would be a politically wise one considering this is one of those “I’ll never vote for him again because of this” issues.
So what’s the catch? Well once the ins and outs as the path winds and wends it’s way through Kapa`a are settled there’s the matter of what happens to it at it’s current terminus at the Kamalani Bridge at the end of Lydgate Park when it currently loops back on itself.
Few were apparently paying attention to the future plans when the administration first made it’s proposal for a boardwalk on the beach, not on Wailua Beach but to get past the Wailua Golf Course.
It seemed that the alternatives were all bad ones when the administration went before the council a few years back to present the initial alternatives for the golf course section.
For anyone who hasn’t been down there the golf course goes right up to the beach where the greenery and grass ends and there’s a drop off onto the thin section of beach.
One proposal was to run the path along the edge of the grass. But that would be a lawsuit waiting to happen as soon as an errant golf ball hit one of those on the path. One solution proposed was to put up a 10 foot high fence but of course one of the most attractive things about the course that at one time won national honors is that you can see the ocean as you play and lose your ball in the ocean if you’re not careful.
That’s when the words “boardwalk on the beach” were first mentioned although the idea appeared ludicrous due to the continuous natural erosion of that strip of beach and land and the coming raise in sea levels that threaten coastlines all over the world.
Nonetheless that was when the “temporary” boardwalk, one that can be removed when a storm is threatening or if erosion catches up with the construction became the favored solutions despite concerns raised before the council by experts on coastal erosion about after more permanent sections were already completed, along with predictions of maybe a 10 year span of life before they become inundated.
The “it can be removed” part of the boardwalk concept is actually part of the EA no matter how apparently silly it sounds.
People opposing the boardwalk have missed a valuable argument in the fact that the “stakes” that are dug over the ‘iwi will not just be dug once and left there but could conceivably be taken up and put back on a semi-regular basis, especially if the waves themselves remove them
So the Wailua boardwalk is actually a test- one on a much wider section of beach- that, once it has been approved and laid will serve as a precedent when it comes to getting the path past the golf course.... and on down the coast where the topography is much the same and where the cost and difficulty of obtaining the land won’t be the impediment it appears to be now.
(By the way- does anyone know the status of a Conservation District Use Permit and/or DLNR approval?)
People are so focused on the cultural desecration involved that no one is even questioning the absurd engineering and environmental concept of putting a boardwalk on a beach that’s regularly inundated by the ocean..
Seems Bernard is apparently willing to take his lumps on this so he doesn’t have to answer for not completing the path.
Joan’s whip and chair approach has tolerated a group of anonymous “I think that” commenters- hilarious in it’s not-so-oxy moronic content- that have gravitated to her site and caused most sane readers who want to stay that way to avoid clicking that comment button lest they boil their own blood.
But not Ann Punohu who has recently started up her Punohu’s Politics, Environment and Culture Blog and made the mistake of visiting Joan’s repository of wretched rhetoric.
Never one to back away from a good fight over cultural slights, Ann has posted a series of responses to some of the worst examples of why the word “haole” is often preceded by a certain adjective and awarded her Racist Residents Of The Year Award for 2009 to a couple of malahini morons.
“Al and Judy” actually said:
We certainly haven't come to Hawaii for the "culture". We hate Hawaiian music, food, cultural (pagan) practices, etc.
We love the ocean, air, tropical environment.
We've come here for years and now own property on a couple of islands. I'll make a bleedin' fortune in the next development boom with one of them.
Wouldn't mind if it looked like Malibu Beach, though.
Ann’s hilarious response was:
OK, It is official. Racists have landed on Kaua`i. And I don't mean the garden variety racist, I mean the full blown I am so proud of myself white supremacist racist
These people own property, and like the path on the beach. And they HATE Hawaiian history, or so they say.
Joan has a slight uku infestation on her blog. A group of "anonymous" posters who just like to yank everyone's chain.
Some of the posts were so ludicrous I really did think they were jokes.
Apparently though, these people are serious. And serious racists. They certainly tried to cook me over an open fire. Didn't work though. I give em right back...
Apparently Romper Room was in session over there, and the kids were throwing spitballs at the teacher, me.
I was just trying to stuff a little knowledge into their apparently racist heads, but they were so full of hot air there was no more room between their ears.
The question that must be asked in light of the divisiveness of the issue is a political one- why on earth would Mayor Bernard Carvalho risk his all-but-given reelection next year with two “that’s my story and I’m sticking to it” recent decisions, guaranteed to not just make people think twice before voting for him but to actually lose votes without any apparent political gain.
The decision to put the new landfill on arguably the most profitable in-use ag land on the island was bad enough but at least there it’s a matter of fulfilling a campaign promise and could even be seen by some to be a courageous decision that has been avoided by mayors and councils since Uncle Tony Kunimura’s days.
So why the boardwalk on the beach?
First of all we have to remember a key fact- one that the “multi use path” proponents would like to forget. In order to fulfill the requirements for initial $40 million in federal funds the path has to be primarily “for transportation, not recreation”.
It’s apparent by now that there is only one factor that matters in that determination and it seemingly has nothing to do with what anyone in government says about the path in selling it to the citizenry.
To be for transportation the path has to go from point “A”, just north of Kealia, to point “B” in Nawiliwili in a contiguous manner with no “breaks” .
People say “well why not go mauka as the path already does by going through the Safeway/Foodland parking lot and extend that “canal route” portion all the way past Coco Palms and simply re-cross the highway at the Wailua Homesteads traffic light rather than the Wailua Houselots light”?
Seemingly that wouldn’t be a problem and a decision by Carvalho to do so would be a politically wise one considering this is one of those “I’ll never vote for him again because of this” issues.
So what’s the catch? Well once the ins and outs as the path winds and wends it’s way through Kapa`a are settled there’s the matter of what happens to it at it’s current terminus at the Kamalani Bridge at the end of Lydgate Park when it currently loops back on itself.
Few were apparently paying attention to the future plans when the administration first made it’s proposal for a boardwalk on the beach, not on Wailua Beach but to get past the Wailua Golf Course.
It seemed that the alternatives were all bad ones when the administration went before the council a few years back to present the initial alternatives for the golf course section.
For anyone who hasn’t been down there the golf course goes right up to the beach where the greenery and grass ends and there’s a drop off onto the thin section of beach.
One proposal was to run the path along the edge of the grass. But that would be a lawsuit waiting to happen as soon as an errant golf ball hit one of those on the path. One solution proposed was to put up a 10 foot high fence but of course one of the most attractive things about the course that at one time won national honors is that you can see the ocean as you play and lose your ball in the ocean if you’re not careful.
That’s when the words “boardwalk on the beach” were first mentioned although the idea appeared ludicrous due to the continuous natural erosion of that strip of beach and land and the coming raise in sea levels that threaten coastlines all over the world.
Nonetheless that was when the “temporary” boardwalk, one that can be removed when a storm is threatening or if erosion catches up with the construction became the favored solutions despite concerns raised before the council by experts on coastal erosion about after more permanent sections were already completed, along with predictions of maybe a 10 year span of life before they become inundated.
The “it can be removed” part of the boardwalk concept is actually part of the EA no matter how apparently silly it sounds.
People opposing the boardwalk have missed a valuable argument in the fact that the “stakes” that are dug over the ‘iwi will not just be dug once and left there but could conceivably be taken up and put back on a semi-regular basis, especially if the waves themselves remove them
So the Wailua boardwalk is actually a test- one on a much wider section of beach- that, once it has been approved and laid will serve as a precedent when it comes to getting the path past the golf course.... and on down the coast where the topography is much the same and where the cost and difficulty of obtaining the land won’t be the impediment it appears to be now.
(By the way- does anyone know the status of a Conservation District Use Permit and/or DLNR approval?)
People are so focused on the cultural desecration involved that no one is even questioning the absurd engineering and environmental concept of putting a boardwalk on a beach that’s regularly inundated by the ocean..
Seems Bernard is apparently willing to take his lumps on this so he doesn’t have to answer for not completing the path.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
I’LL SHOW YA HOW TO WALK THE DOG
I’LL SHOW YA HOW TO WALK THE DOG: The construction of the so-called “coastal” bike path has always been a harebrained. through-the-looking-glass experience.
But, to mangle a phrase, it keeps getting circuitous-er and circuitous-er as the path moves from Lydgate to the Kapa`a Boat launch at Lihi according to an informative piece by Juan Wilson at IsalndBreath who has been staying on top of the latest phase of the boondoggle.
He also reports a new wrinkle to explain what the rush is in deciding on one of the untenable options the county is considering- there’s $4 million dollars of federal stimulus money involved and if it isn’t used soon it will grow and spread wings, Big Island bound.
He reports
Some small, yet important adjustments can still be made to improve the overall plan. There is now a very short window of opportunity to having any affect on these plans because $4 million of funding has been obtained through the federal stimulus program and final plans must submitted by early August or those funds will be redistributed to the Big Island. Comments on this projected work must be in by August 7th 2009...
The major projects consist of two state components:
1) The widening to four lanes of the Kuhio Highway north of the Wailua River to the Kapa`a bypass.
2) The rebuilding of the existing cane haul bridge to accommodate two lanes of traffic and the bike pedestrian path.
It also consists of one County component:
3) The bike path from the Wailua river crossing north as far as the Kapa`a bypass.
Of course this won’t be the first county scam of questionable legality to redirect funds from needed transportation projects to supplement the bike path funding which dried up with only as small fraction the entire path constructed.
We blew the original $40 million that was supposed to build the whole shebang long ago and are well into the $10’s of millions in additional county funds, not including the other state and federal money stolen from other much-needed transportation and recreational projects.
Wilson continues:
The routing of the alternative transportation "bike" path between Lihue and Kapa`a has been a tortured history of misplaced priorities, hurried planning and bad decisions. The current state of the plans are as illogical as they will be impractical.
One must remember, regardless of what Thomas Noyes says, the federal funding for alternative transportation that is going to our bike path is not earmarked for a "coastal recreation trail". It is funding for transportation alternatives to automotive traffic.
Since we’ve been getting away with it for so long apparently we’re going to do it again. But we may not even wind up with a coastal path after all this if the best option among a lot of bad alternative routes is selected.
More from Wilson
Ideally, this alternative should be safe and efficient and not have negative impact on the environment or cultural sites. Some, including ourselves, have advocated mauka (inland) routes for the bike path.
One mauka scheme would lead through what were once cane fields from Lihue north of the Kuhio Highway, past Hanama`ulu and follow the base of Kelepa Forest Reserve, and cross the Wailua River just mauka of the existing highway bridge. The route could then follow the public right of way behind the old Coco Palms along the canal and hook up with the canal way that goes behind the Foodland in Waipouli. This route would never have to cross the highway and would avoid problems of other routes on cultural sites and sensitive beach environments.
Where we are today is stuck with a crossing of the Wailua River makai (seaward) of the cane haul bridge structure that will carry two lanes of the Kuhio Highway. This route will be narrow and close to heavy traffic with accompanying noise, dust, and fumes.
The bike path then is planned to run over the dunes and plants covering burial sites along Wailua Beach. It will then follow a twisted route up Papaloa Road, make a left at Lanikai Street, then absurdly backtrack east along the Kuhio Highway to Hale`ilio Street until it can finally line up with a mauka path to Foodland. This is a ridiculous and unacceptable plan.
Yes. it’s already been decided that the “scenic” beach path is going through the Foodland and Safeway parking lots and crossing the highway at the worst intersection on the island. But one of the alternatives on crossing back over is even more absurd.
That was so we could get the property for the path by letting the two mall owners off the hook for 25 year of ignoring and delaying a required bridge to connect the two supermarkets. That was the reason for the path crossing the highway in the first place.
Wilson describes one alternative for what he calls the “canal route” designed to link up with the now urban corridor.
After exiting the cane haul bridge bike path would follow the mauka side of the rock wall dividing the highway from Wailua Beach until it is north of Kuamo`o Road. It would then ramp down to a pedestrian highway underpass (funded by the Coco Palms developer) and parallel Kuamo`o Road until it reach the canal where it could then follow the public right of way to link eventually with Foodland.
A highway underpass? 100 yards from the ocean about a foot above sea level? And depending on a developer- one who hasn’t done a thing about the rat infested ruins of the hotel and is apparently trying to sell the development rights after getting an extension from a bamboozled planning commission- to do it.
Yeah... that’ll happen.
The county is hell bent on completing this boondoggle no matter how much it costs and no matter how much disruption it causes because if it doesn’t then it will certainly never be able to claim that any transportation is happening, even though the only ones they have ever made that claim to is the DOT.
Wilson also notes the details of the latest illegally segmented environmental assessment up for approval- where a full blown EIS would be required if it wasn’t divided into small sections.
Oh- and despite lies Noyes repeated recently saying the DOT director has signed off on the “primarily transportation. not recreation” requirement for the bike path he still can’t produce the document.
The idea of putting a ribbon of concrete along the ocean to protect it and provide access has always seemed to us to be kind of like the kid who spits on his ice cream to make sure he doesn’t have to share it with his buddies. Yup he’s got your ice cream, disgusting though it may be
Still if we have to throw more money down this rat hole boondoggle, we’ve got to agree with Juan that moving it mauka is the least objectionable of the idiotic alternative.
Can’t anyone here play this game?
But, to mangle a phrase, it keeps getting circuitous-er and circuitous-er as the path moves from Lydgate to the Kapa`a Boat launch at Lihi according to an informative piece by Juan Wilson at IsalndBreath who has been staying on top of the latest phase of the boondoggle.
He also reports a new wrinkle to explain what the rush is in deciding on one of the untenable options the county is considering- there’s $4 million dollars of federal stimulus money involved and if it isn’t used soon it will grow and spread wings, Big Island bound.
He reports
Some small, yet important adjustments can still be made to improve the overall plan. There is now a very short window of opportunity to having any affect on these plans because $4 million of funding has been obtained through the federal stimulus program and final plans must submitted by early August or those funds will be redistributed to the Big Island. Comments on this projected work must be in by August 7th 2009...
The major projects consist of two state components:
1) The widening to four lanes of the Kuhio Highway north of the Wailua River to the Kapa`a bypass.
2) The rebuilding of the existing cane haul bridge to accommodate two lanes of traffic and the bike pedestrian path.
It also consists of one County component:
3) The bike path from the Wailua river crossing north as far as the Kapa`a bypass.
Of course this won’t be the first county scam of questionable legality to redirect funds from needed transportation projects to supplement the bike path funding which dried up with only as small fraction the entire path constructed.
We blew the original $40 million that was supposed to build the whole shebang long ago and are well into the $10’s of millions in additional county funds, not including the other state and federal money stolen from other much-needed transportation and recreational projects.
Wilson continues:
The routing of the alternative transportation "bike" path between Lihue and Kapa`a has been a tortured history of misplaced priorities, hurried planning and bad decisions. The current state of the plans are as illogical as they will be impractical.
One must remember, regardless of what Thomas Noyes says, the federal funding for alternative transportation that is going to our bike path is not earmarked for a "coastal recreation trail". It is funding for transportation alternatives to automotive traffic.
Since we’ve been getting away with it for so long apparently we’re going to do it again. But we may not even wind up with a coastal path after all this if the best option among a lot of bad alternative routes is selected.
More from Wilson
Ideally, this alternative should be safe and efficient and not have negative impact on the environment or cultural sites. Some, including ourselves, have advocated mauka (inland) routes for the bike path.
One mauka scheme would lead through what were once cane fields from Lihue north of the Kuhio Highway, past Hanama`ulu and follow the base of Kelepa Forest Reserve, and cross the Wailua River just mauka of the existing highway bridge. The route could then follow the public right of way behind the old Coco Palms along the canal and hook up with the canal way that goes behind the Foodland in Waipouli. This route would never have to cross the highway and would avoid problems of other routes on cultural sites and sensitive beach environments.
Where we are today is stuck with a crossing of the Wailua River makai (seaward) of the cane haul bridge structure that will carry two lanes of the Kuhio Highway. This route will be narrow and close to heavy traffic with accompanying noise, dust, and fumes.
The bike path then is planned to run over the dunes and plants covering burial sites along Wailua Beach. It will then follow a twisted route up Papaloa Road, make a left at Lanikai Street, then absurdly backtrack east along the Kuhio Highway to Hale`ilio Street until it can finally line up with a mauka path to Foodland. This is a ridiculous and unacceptable plan.
Yes. it’s already been decided that the “scenic” beach path is going through the Foodland and Safeway parking lots and crossing the highway at the worst intersection on the island. But one of the alternatives on crossing back over is even more absurd.
That was so we could get the property for the path by letting the two mall owners off the hook for 25 year of ignoring and delaying a required bridge to connect the two supermarkets. That was the reason for the path crossing the highway in the first place.
Wilson describes one alternative for what he calls the “canal route” designed to link up with the now urban corridor.
After exiting the cane haul bridge bike path would follow the mauka side of the rock wall dividing the highway from Wailua Beach until it is north of Kuamo`o Road. It would then ramp down to a pedestrian highway underpass (funded by the Coco Palms developer) and parallel Kuamo`o Road until it reach the canal where it could then follow the public right of way to link eventually with Foodland.
A highway underpass? 100 yards from the ocean about a foot above sea level? And depending on a developer- one who hasn’t done a thing about the rat infested ruins of the hotel and is apparently trying to sell the development rights after getting an extension from a bamboozled planning commission- to do it.
Yeah... that’ll happen.
The county is hell bent on completing this boondoggle no matter how much it costs and no matter how much disruption it causes because if it doesn’t then it will certainly never be able to claim that any transportation is happening, even though the only ones they have ever made that claim to is the DOT.
Wilson also notes the details of the latest illegally segmented environmental assessment up for approval- where a full blown EIS would be required if it wasn’t divided into small sections.
Oh- and despite lies Noyes repeated recently saying the DOT director has signed off on the “primarily transportation. not recreation” requirement for the bike path he still can’t produce the document.
The idea of putting a ribbon of concrete along the ocean to protect it and provide access has always seemed to us to be kind of like the kid who spits on his ice cream to make sure he doesn’t have to share it with his buddies. Yup he’s got your ice cream, disgusting though it may be
Still if we have to throw more money down this rat hole boondoggle, we’ve got to agree with Juan that moving it mauka is the least objectionable of the idiotic alternative.
Can’t anyone here play this game?
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
UNEARTHING THE BONES OF CONTENTION
UNEARTHING THE BONES OF CONTENTION: The Kaua`i County Council usually has seven committees that, like the full council, meet on alternate Wednesdays with each councilmember chairing one or another.
And pity the poor chair who has a hot-potato or political football dumped in his or her lap. Or pity the poor bill or measure because often it is deferred indefinitely to flounder forever in committee purgatory, usually awaiting a “response” to questions for the administration combined with a committee chair’s reluctance to “rock the boat”.
Such was the case with Bill 2149, which was supposed to allow camping at Lydgate Park when it was introduced in September of 2005.
But when the bill hit the council’s table it turned out that, in the finest “fire, ready, aim” tradition of the administration of the Late Mayor Bryan Baptiste, the campground had already been constructed without the approval- or even knowledge- of just about anyone.
Anyone that is except current Mayor Bernard Carvalho who, in Batiste’s haste to get the area south of the traditional Lydgate area “cleaned up” was appointed to a head a secret “Mayor’s Advisory Task Force” in conjunction with his appointment to a newly created (just to give Carvalho an important job) “Office of Community Assistance”.
The problem was that Carvalho and the handful of county employees who filled out the force failed to check with anyone and even had it built without asking anyone about American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirement... anyone including the Mayor’s ADA coordinator and the Mayor’s ADA Advisory Council.
It was even worse when it was found that the bathrooms were insufficient to handle the number of campers projected and there were no county employees to clean the place, much less enforce the camping regulations, much less provide 24 hour security for the area, much less a half-a-dozen other things.
At the time it was apparent that a few camping areas that were already built would have to be completely torn out and rebuilt to comply with the ADA. Plus the camp grounds were to become the first “paid” camping area under county administration and the scheme for fees and the number of campers in each area seemed to have been pulled out of someone’s er, sleeve.
After the councilmembers outrage subsided a bit, it became obvious that at least the issues would need to be resolved before anyone started camping in the area.
The last time anyone ever saw the bill it was deferred awaiting Carvalho’s answers to 11 questions posed on January 2006 when, a year or so later he was again asked to answer the questions in March of 2007.
The bill has suddenly resurfaced at the request of Parks and Transportation Committee member Tim Bynum who had chaired the Parks and Public Works Committee at the time and had been snubbed by Carvalho with his 2007 request for info.
Bynum came to the council by way of his leadership of the “Friends of Kamalani”, the citizens group that took up unofficial but de facto leadership of the entire Lydgate Park and bike path project that snakes it’s way through the park until it hits the end of the campgrounds and loops back on itself rather than going on it’s merry way to Nawiliwili where it may, someday- if there’s a lot more money forthcoming- come to a final terminus.
The administration was granted a deferral again last Wed. and has promised to be there next Wed. to answer the 11 questions and probably many more.
But while a select few know what the rush was that caused the campgrounds to rebuilt without any regard to the issues it’s existence raised, most don’t.
So a little history lesson is in order.
It actually goes back to Mayor Maryann Kusaka’s crusade to chase the local gay community from Kuna- aka Donkey- Beach back in the 90’s which itself is intimately tied into the origins of the bike path and the rise of Kusaka’s protégé Baptiste.
Kusaka’s efforts to roust the gays who held weekly campfires at the beach were quite public including calling for their removal at a press conference where she held up apparently used condoms that she said she personally collected in the area.
Then she got a group from her church to cut down trees and brush that shielded the beach from view from the cane road, all without the necessary SMA permits, causing members of the public to call for a criminal investigation.
This effort led to the attempt to receive the “gift” of the beach area from Kealia Kai owner and developer Tom McCloskey who shared Kusaka’s homophobia and tried to attach restriction to the deed to the land that included 24-hour golf-cart-roving security and nighttime closings of the area so as to also create a private beach for those who bought million dollar house sites in his agricultural ocean view subdivision.
And it would relieve him of a taxable yet useless for development parcel and, with the restrictions, still maintain control of who used the park.
Baptiste was the councilmember who introduced the deed for the area declaring the deal to be ready for approval upon submittal. But then Councilmember Gary Hooser saw the Trojan (no pun intended) Horse nature of the deed and delayed it for months until McCloskey gave up on many of the restrictions on the “county park”, angering Kusaka and Baptiste.
When Baptiste was publicly embarrassed by the revelation that, despite his statement that he had “just met” McCloskey at the council meeting, he had had breakfast with him that morning, Baptiste- after meeting with the brains behind the operation, Kusaka- came up with the plan for a Bike Path.
It would begin at the “gift parcel” and go all the way to Lihu`e. It would be paid for with $40 million in a federal “bike path for transportation, not recreation” grant and the 20% county matching share would come from the value of the land “gift” from McCloskey.
Of course that money and match are long since spent and the commitment to finish the transportation bike path remains the county’s responsibility, thus far costing at least another $10-15 million just to complete the chunk that ends at Lydgate- about half of the proposed length.
But the bike path isn’t the only “connection” between Kuna and Lydgate
With the public scrutiny- and many “incidents” of threats and even assaults by other church members who were now alerted to the “’scourge’ of the gay community at Donkey Beach”- they found a new area to congregate... the overgrown area south of Lydgate Park.
That was too much for Kusaka who was now on a new additional crusade- not just to rid the new area of dreaded homosexuals but to do so by extending the “bike path” into the area and then opening up a new campground- even though Lydgate camping was shut down years earlier because of drunken rowdiness and reports of drug dealing in the area up by the “big” pavilion.
When administrations changed and Baptiste replaced Kusaka he put his protégé, Carvalho, in charge of putting in the campgrounds- and to do it quickly.
Baptiste formed a “take force” without telling anyone and before anyone really knew what was happening the campgrounds were planned, built and installed all with no notification of the public or seemingly, many on the council.
They had blindly gone about it without complying with county and state codes for things like facilities and of course ADA compliance. But in a fait accompli they had “developed” the area removing the “undesirable element”.
The bill will be take up at the Wed. June 10, at the Park and Transportation Committee meeting sometime after 9 a.m. in the council chambers at the Historic County Building in Lihu`e.
And pity the poor chair who has a hot-potato or political football dumped in his or her lap. Or pity the poor bill or measure because often it is deferred indefinitely to flounder forever in committee purgatory, usually awaiting a “response” to questions for the administration combined with a committee chair’s reluctance to “rock the boat”.
Such was the case with Bill 2149, which was supposed to allow camping at Lydgate Park when it was introduced in September of 2005.
But when the bill hit the council’s table it turned out that, in the finest “fire, ready, aim” tradition of the administration of the Late Mayor Bryan Baptiste, the campground had already been constructed without the approval- or even knowledge- of just about anyone.
Anyone that is except current Mayor Bernard Carvalho who, in Batiste’s haste to get the area south of the traditional Lydgate area “cleaned up” was appointed to a head a secret “Mayor’s Advisory Task Force” in conjunction with his appointment to a newly created (just to give Carvalho an important job) “Office of Community Assistance”.
The problem was that Carvalho and the handful of county employees who filled out the force failed to check with anyone and even had it built without asking anyone about American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirement... anyone including the Mayor’s ADA coordinator and the Mayor’s ADA Advisory Council.
It was even worse when it was found that the bathrooms were insufficient to handle the number of campers projected and there were no county employees to clean the place, much less enforce the camping regulations, much less provide 24 hour security for the area, much less a half-a-dozen other things.
At the time it was apparent that a few camping areas that were already built would have to be completely torn out and rebuilt to comply with the ADA. Plus the camp grounds were to become the first “paid” camping area under county administration and the scheme for fees and the number of campers in each area seemed to have been pulled out of someone’s er, sleeve.
After the councilmembers outrage subsided a bit, it became obvious that at least the issues would need to be resolved before anyone started camping in the area.
The last time anyone ever saw the bill it was deferred awaiting Carvalho’s answers to 11 questions posed on January 2006 when, a year or so later he was again asked to answer the questions in March of 2007.
The bill has suddenly resurfaced at the request of Parks and Transportation Committee member Tim Bynum who had chaired the Parks and Public Works Committee at the time and had been snubbed by Carvalho with his 2007 request for info.
Bynum came to the council by way of his leadership of the “Friends of Kamalani”, the citizens group that took up unofficial but de facto leadership of the entire Lydgate Park and bike path project that snakes it’s way through the park until it hits the end of the campgrounds and loops back on itself rather than going on it’s merry way to Nawiliwili where it may, someday- if there’s a lot more money forthcoming- come to a final terminus.
The administration was granted a deferral again last Wed. and has promised to be there next Wed. to answer the 11 questions and probably many more.
But while a select few know what the rush was that caused the campgrounds to rebuilt without any regard to the issues it’s existence raised, most don’t.
So a little history lesson is in order.
It actually goes back to Mayor Maryann Kusaka’s crusade to chase the local gay community from Kuna- aka Donkey- Beach back in the 90’s which itself is intimately tied into the origins of the bike path and the rise of Kusaka’s protégé Baptiste.
Kusaka’s efforts to roust the gays who held weekly campfires at the beach were quite public including calling for their removal at a press conference where she held up apparently used condoms that she said she personally collected in the area.
Then she got a group from her church to cut down trees and brush that shielded the beach from view from the cane road, all without the necessary SMA permits, causing members of the public to call for a criminal investigation.
This effort led to the attempt to receive the “gift” of the beach area from Kealia Kai owner and developer Tom McCloskey who shared Kusaka’s homophobia and tried to attach restriction to the deed to the land that included 24-hour golf-cart-roving security and nighttime closings of the area so as to also create a private beach for those who bought million dollar house sites in his agricultural ocean view subdivision.
And it would relieve him of a taxable yet useless for development parcel and, with the restrictions, still maintain control of who used the park.
Baptiste was the councilmember who introduced the deed for the area declaring the deal to be ready for approval upon submittal. But then Councilmember Gary Hooser saw the Trojan (no pun intended) Horse nature of the deed and delayed it for months until McCloskey gave up on many of the restrictions on the “county park”, angering Kusaka and Baptiste.
When Baptiste was publicly embarrassed by the revelation that, despite his statement that he had “just met” McCloskey at the council meeting, he had had breakfast with him that morning, Baptiste- after meeting with the brains behind the operation, Kusaka- came up with the plan for a Bike Path.
It would begin at the “gift parcel” and go all the way to Lihu`e. It would be paid for with $40 million in a federal “bike path for transportation, not recreation” grant and the 20% county matching share would come from the value of the land “gift” from McCloskey.
Of course that money and match are long since spent and the commitment to finish the transportation bike path remains the county’s responsibility, thus far costing at least another $10-15 million just to complete the chunk that ends at Lydgate- about half of the proposed length.
But the bike path isn’t the only “connection” between Kuna and Lydgate
With the public scrutiny- and many “incidents” of threats and even assaults by other church members who were now alerted to the “’scourge’ of the gay community at Donkey Beach”- they found a new area to congregate... the overgrown area south of Lydgate Park.
That was too much for Kusaka who was now on a new additional crusade- not just to rid the new area of dreaded homosexuals but to do so by extending the “bike path” into the area and then opening up a new campground- even though Lydgate camping was shut down years earlier because of drunken rowdiness and reports of drug dealing in the area up by the “big” pavilion.
When administrations changed and Baptiste replaced Kusaka he put his protégé, Carvalho, in charge of putting in the campgrounds- and to do it quickly.
Baptiste formed a “take force” without telling anyone and before anyone really knew what was happening the campgrounds were planned, built and installed all with no notification of the public or seemingly, many on the council.
They had blindly gone about it without complying with county and state codes for things like facilities and of course ADA compliance. But in a fait accompli they had “developed” the area removing the “undesirable element”.
The bill will be take up at the Wed. June 10, at the Park and Transportation Committee meeting sometime after 9 a.m. in the council chambers at the Historic County Building in Lihu`e.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
$43 MILLION- CHEAP
$43 MILLION- CHEAP: Tonight’s meeting on the future of the bike path- specifically the proposed segment between Lydgate and the Lihi boat ramp- should be a humdigner especially if a widely distributed email sent by Sierra Club stalwart Judy Dalton has any effect.
Seems she has joined the growing number of people who are upset over one thing or another but still “support the path”,
As we detailed a couple of weeks ago even though almost every single particular aspect of the ribbon of concrete has brought news of illegalities, boondoggles and just plain boneheaded lack of planning or cohesiveness, everyone seems to still be on the conga line to support the illegally conceived and executed costly monstrosity.
The latest absurdity is the proposal to put that path on a wooden boardwalk right ON Wailua Beach.
Dalton writes:
If you care about protecting beaches and would like Wailua Beach preserved in its natural, untouched state, please come to the Department of Public Works public informational meeting Thursday evening, December 4 at 7pm at Lydgate Beach Park.
Public Works will present plans for the multi-use path from Lydgate Beach Park to Kapa`a. One path segment includes a boardwalk to be constructed on Wailua Beach. The public could use the question and answer period to ask them to consider one of the alternate routes....
Since Wailua Beach is eroding and faces challenges due to global warming sea level rise, the boardwalk covering the sand dunes could jeopardize the beach's survival. Beaches are dependent upon sand dunes (dunes are flat there) to replenish lost sand. So, no sand dunes equates to no future for the beach.
To comply with environmental laws, a shoreline certification should be completed within 6 months prior to commencement of construction. The results from an up-dated shoreline survey could possibly preclude the boardwalk from being built on the beach, so we need to get assurance from Public Works that they will comply with the law and not allow the requirement to be waived under any circumstance.
But despite the controversies over shoreline setbacks, new illegally imposed “park rules”, the closing of portions formerly open areas, dog-walkers and a myriad of other results of having the usual gang of idiots in charge, one bit of information has escaped reporting in the local paper or anywhere else- the latest cost projections revealed in the council-required quarterly report presented to the council at their November 19th meeting.
The article in the local paper had plenty of information about the threats from then councilmember now Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri Carvalho’s equating walking on a closed portion of the path to shoplifting a blouse- and the implied threat to treat it as such when she gets such a case- there was nothing about Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Kaylan Dela Cruz’s report on how much more it’s going to cost to “complete” the path- a requirement of the original federal grant
According to Dela Cruz’s report that amount is estimated to be at least $42.431 million more and that is basically just the cost of the path’s planning and construction, not the purchase of the land below it or the condemnation process if the owners won’t sell.
The original $40 million that was supposed to cover the entire path from Kalapaki to Anahola came from a federal program designed to enhance “primarily for transportation, not recreation” bike paths which somehow has illegally morphed into what is now called a “multi-use path” by county workers and the lap-dog local press... making high speed bicycling an impossibility.
But that money is gone and guess what? The path- which was originally said to “not cost the county a penny”- is now going to cost taxpayers a pretty one.
To date the county has spent $347,000 according to Dela Cruz’s report.
According to Dela Cruz there is $7 million we’re trying to wheedle out of the state transportation “STIP” fund- money which, despite the desperate needs for money for highway expansion in the absurdly congested Kapa`a-Wailua corridor will now go to the bike path.
But the big news is that the Parks and Rec Department’s new head- Bernard Carvalho crony Lenny Rapozo- will be asking the council for at least $15 million that the county doesn’t have.
When outgoing councilperson Mel Rapozo- who with his pal Iseri has been the only thing standing between a total lack of transparency and accountability on the path for the last few years- asked where that $15 million was going to come from, Dela Cruz, in archetypical department head fashion answered” I’ll have to get back to you on that”.
Although it’s unclear where the other $21 million is coming from councilmembers added two and two and actually got four for a change, suggesting that perhaps we could tack it onto the upcoming bond float the county has postponed until more favorable conditions for it develop- most likely more than a year from now according to then Council Chair Jay Furfaro.
The bond float- estimated to be more than $100 million- will be going mostly to replace three aging wastewater systems that the federal EPA has told us we have to replace- and soon. It also has been proposed to do everything from fixing county roads to replacing stadium lights that are killing endangered birds (also a federal mandate) along with some other pet projects for which councilmembers don’t want to spend any money they are accountable for, but rather will be putting on the budget for future councils to deal with.
And there no telling whether the feds will wake up to what we did with their $40 million in bike transportation money by turning it into a dog walking path and ask for the money back.
Or whether the state or federal EPA will look at the illegally segmented environmental assessment process that measures only the impact of short segments of the path rather than look at the project as a whole. they could well require us to tear it out and start over again as has happened to projects done with similarly segmented assessments on the mainland.
So let’s get this straight- we’re going to go into debt, not to fix our dilapidated infrastructure and build new stuff to keep up with the lack of Planning Department’s willy-nilly development schemes, not to provide county services to those who will undoubtedly need them in the coming economic depression, not for a hundred other necessities but to finish building an illegal ribbon of concrete (or in the case of Wailua beach a wooden one) at the water’s edge (or in this case through the Safeway-Foodland parking lots and across the busiest highway intersection on the island).... one that has had community opposition to almost every aspect along the way.
Dalton’s plea for community opposition to the boardwalk at tonight’s meeting ends with a plea from a Wailua resident, He says:
I understand the intentions of the Path. I'm just committed to saving this piece of heaven before it's too late. The Path is one thing, the beach is another -- why combine them? Keep them as two wonderful, different things.
Once again schizophrenic Kaua`i speaks out of both sides of our mouth. The question is how can we blame the “What, me worry” county government for doing the same?
Seems she has joined the growing number of people who are upset over one thing or another but still “support the path”,
As we detailed a couple of weeks ago even though almost every single particular aspect of the ribbon of concrete has brought news of illegalities, boondoggles and just plain boneheaded lack of planning or cohesiveness, everyone seems to still be on the conga line to support the illegally conceived and executed costly monstrosity.
The latest absurdity is the proposal to put that path on a wooden boardwalk right ON Wailua Beach.
Dalton writes:
If you care about protecting beaches and would like Wailua Beach preserved in its natural, untouched state, please come to the Department of Public Works public informational meeting Thursday evening, December 4 at 7pm at Lydgate Beach Park.
Public Works will present plans for the multi-use path from Lydgate Beach Park to Kapa`a. One path segment includes a boardwalk to be constructed on Wailua Beach. The public could use the question and answer period to ask them to consider one of the alternate routes....
Since Wailua Beach is eroding and faces challenges due to global warming sea level rise, the boardwalk covering the sand dunes could jeopardize the beach's survival. Beaches are dependent upon sand dunes (dunes are flat there) to replenish lost sand. So, no sand dunes equates to no future for the beach.
To comply with environmental laws, a shoreline certification should be completed within 6 months prior to commencement of construction. The results from an up-dated shoreline survey could possibly preclude the boardwalk from being built on the beach, so we need to get assurance from Public Works that they will comply with the law and not allow the requirement to be waived under any circumstance.
But despite the controversies over shoreline setbacks, new illegally imposed “park rules”, the closing of portions formerly open areas, dog-walkers and a myriad of other results of having the usual gang of idiots in charge, one bit of information has escaped reporting in the local paper or anywhere else- the latest cost projections revealed in the council-required quarterly report presented to the council at their November 19th meeting.
The article in the local paper had plenty of information about the threats from then councilmember now Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri Carvalho’s equating walking on a closed portion of the path to shoplifting a blouse- and the implied threat to treat it as such when she gets such a case- there was nothing about Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Kaylan Dela Cruz’s report on how much more it’s going to cost to “complete” the path- a requirement of the original federal grant
According to Dela Cruz’s report that amount is estimated to be at least $42.431 million more and that is basically just the cost of the path’s planning and construction, not the purchase of the land below it or the condemnation process if the owners won’t sell.
The original $40 million that was supposed to cover the entire path from Kalapaki to Anahola came from a federal program designed to enhance “primarily for transportation, not recreation” bike paths which somehow has illegally morphed into what is now called a “multi-use path” by county workers and the lap-dog local press... making high speed bicycling an impossibility.
But that money is gone and guess what? The path- which was originally said to “not cost the county a penny”- is now going to cost taxpayers a pretty one.
To date the county has spent $347,000 according to Dela Cruz’s report.
According to Dela Cruz there is $7 million we’re trying to wheedle out of the state transportation “STIP” fund- money which, despite the desperate needs for money for highway expansion in the absurdly congested Kapa`a-Wailua corridor will now go to the bike path.
But the big news is that the Parks and Rec Department’s new head- Bernard Carvalho crony Lenny Rapozo- will be asking the council for at least $15 million that the county doesn’t have.
When outgoing councilperson Mel Rapozo- who with his pal Iseri has been the only thing standing between a total lack of transparency and accountability on the path for the last few years- asked where that $15 million was going to come from, Dela Cruz, in archetypical department head fashion answered” I’ll have to get back to you on that”.
Although it’s unclear where the other $21 million is coming from councilmembers added two and two and actually got four for a change, suggesting that perhaps we could tack it onto the upcoming bond float the county has postponed until more favorable conditions for it develop- most likely more than a year from now according to then Council Chair Jay Furfaro.
The bond float- estimated to be more than $100 million- will be going mostly to replace three aging wastewater systems that the federal EPA has told us we have to replace- and soon. It also has been proposed to do everything from fixing county roads to replacing stadium lights that are killing endangered birds (also a federal mandate) along with some other pet projects for which councilmembers don’t want to spend any money they are accountable for, but rather will be putting on the budget for future councils to deal with.
And there no telling whether the feds will wake up to what we did with their $40 million in bike transportation money by turning it into a dog walking path and ask for the money back.
Or whether the state or federal EPA will look at the illegally segmented environmental assessment process that measures only the impact of short segments of the path rather than look at the project as a whole. they could well require us to tear it out and start over again as has happened to projects done with similarly segmented assessments on the mainland.
So let’s get this straight- we’re going to go into debt, not to fix our dilapidated infrastructure and build new stuff to keep up with the lack of Planning Department’s willy-nilly development schemes, not to provide county services to those who will undoubtedly need them in the coming economic depression, not for a hundred other necessities but to finish building an illegal ribbon of concrete (or in the case of Wailua beach a wooden one) at the water’s edge (or in this case through the Safeway-Foodland parking lots and across the busiest highway intersection on the island).... one that has had community opposition to almost every aspect along the way.
Dalton’s plea for community opposition to the boardwalk at tonight’s meeting ends with a plea from a Wailua resident, He says:
I understand the intentions of the Path. I'm just committed to saving this piece of heaven before it's too late. The Path is one thing, the beach is another -- why combine them? Keep them as two wonderful, different things.
Once again schizophrenic Kaua`i speaks out of both sides of our mouth. The question is how can we blame the “What, me worry” county government for doing the same?
Monday, May 12, 2008
AND WHEN I WAS DONE HE PICKED IT UP AND PUT IT IN A BAG
AND WHEN I WAS DONE HE PICKED IT UP AND PUT IT IN A BAG: Despite the lack of any required official provisions designating the coastal bike path as a “county park” the County is apparently ignoring the law and, according to an article by Nathan Eagle in the local paper it “considered a linear park and as such falls under a county ordinance banning animals without permits.”
The article states that “(a)fter a verbal warning process ended in March, the Kaua`i Police Department started issuing citations to owners walking their dogs on the multi-use path.”
It does not say what the outcome of these cases were or even if anyone challenged the citations, as many dog owners promised to do when we detailed the actual law in this space on March 3. We further elicited a promise from councilman Mel Rapozo on March 20 to determine, through the County Attorney, what the law is and how it pertains to the bike path and report back to us, saying “(a)s far as the park question, I can only tell you what we are told by the County Attorney. I have asked for a clarification on this concern, and will post the answer when I receive it".
Our research showed, as we said over two months ago:
The Kaua`i County Charter provides that “(e)very legislative act of the council shall be by ordinance except as otherwise provided”. which is now done now by amending the CZO (unavailable on-line) where “parks” are designated.It also says “The Council also makes all decisions on acquiring land”. And 4.04 says “ No ordinance shall be amended, revised or repealed by the council except by ordinance. No resolution shall be amended, revised or repealed except by resolution, but a resolution may be superseded by a subsequent ordinance”There has never been an ordinance or resolution making even any part of the Bike-Path a county parkAdministratively, the Charter’s 23.09 say that “unless otherwise authorized by law, all rules and regulations ... must first be approved by the mayor prior to going into effect”. The County has not reported public action declaring the bike path a park.
We have not heard anything yet but now, not only have County’s mayor and Council ignored the apparent lack of any legal provisions designating the “bike path” in general a park (where it doesn’t cut through an already designated park such as the Lydgate area) but they are set to compound the blatant disregard of our laws they are sworn to uphold by basing new bills on the existing flaws the County has promulgated.
Though we have asked Eagle to identify who told him they “considered” the path a park or what that means we haven’t gotten an answer to that question.
As we detailed previously, this is most likely another one of those “because I say so” laws that are a remnant of plantation mentality that still has it’s grip on the psyches of Council Chair Kaipo Asing, Mayor Bryan Baptiste and his protégé Bernard Carvalho, the newly deigned head of the Department of Parks and Recreation which many claim was created just to give him a job.
The bike path itself is a bright shining symbol of what many have publicly characterized as the “Fire, Ready, Aim” way of doing things on Kaua`i, especially in the Department of Public Works where the orders of the day routinely include facilitating the gravy-train revolving-door of corruption that costs millions in inflated contracts, a corrupt nepotism-riddled team of inspectors and, many have publicly alleged, kickbacks.
Even though the money for the path required a still non-existent sign-off by the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation that it is indeed not just a bike path but a bike path to be used strictly for transportation and not for recreation, the county has designated it a “mutli-use” path and wants to allow not just every imaginable human and mechanical obstacle to bicycling now they’re adding non-human impediments.
Maybe pet turtles will be next- or pet cockroaches... after all, they need somewhere to exercise. Can we bring our pet llama? What if it’s on a leash? Maybe you goldfish will enjoy the ocean view- bring ‘em on down
Hey, don’t give me a ticket officer- that’s not my chicken... it lives here.”
It’s no wonder the rest of the state shakes it head and repeats the mantra “only on Kaua`i”, the phrase universally used to describe the abject paternalism, authoritarianism and lack rhyme or reason in decision-making that has yielded a top-to-bottom corrupt modus operandi in the executive and legislative branches of so-called democratic governance here at the very end of human occupation (take it either way) of the island chain.
A separate kingdom indeed.
The article states that “(a)fter a verbal warning process ended in March, the Kaua`i Police Department started issuing citations to owners walking their dogs on the multi-use path.”
It does not say what the outcome of these cases were or even if anyone challenged the citations, as many dog owners promised to do when we detailed the actual law in this space on March 3. We further elicited a promise from councilman Mel Rapozo on March 20 to determine, through the County Attorney, what the law is and how it pertains to the bike path and report back to us, saying “(a)s far as the park question, I can only tell you what we are told by the County Attorney. I have asked for a clarification on this concern, and will post the answer when I receive it".
Our research showed, as we said over two months ago:
The Kaua`i County Charter provides that “(e)very legislative act of the council shall be by ordinance except as otherwise provided”. which is now done now by amending the CZO (unavailable on-line) where “parks” are designated.It also says “The Council also makes all decisions on acquiring land”. And 4.04 says “ No ordinance shall be amended, revised or repealed by the council except by ordinance. No resolution shall be amended, revised or repealed except by resolution, but a resolution may be superseded by a subsequent ordinance”There has never been an ordinance or resolution making even any part of the Bike-Path a county parkAdministratively, the Charter’s 23.09 say that “unless otherwise authorized by law, all rules and regulations ... must first be approved by the mayor prior to going into effect”. The County has not reported public action declaring the bike path a park.
We have not heard anything yet but now, not only have County’s mayor and Council ignored the apparent lack of any legal provisions designating the “bike path” in general a park (where it doesn’t cut through an already designated park such as the Lydgate area) but they are set to compound the blatant disregard of our laws they are sworn to uphold by basing new bills on the existing flaws the County has promulgated.
Though we have asked Eagle to identify who told him they “considered” the path a park or what that means we haven’t gotten an answer to that question.
As we detailed previously, this is most likely another one of those “because I say so” laws that are a remnant of plantation mentality that still has it’s grip on the psyches of Council Chair Kaipo Asing, Mayor Bryan Baptiste and his protégé Bernard Carvalho, the newly deigned head of the Department of Parks and Recreation which many claim was created just to give him a job.
The bike path itself is a bright shining symbol of what many have publicly characterized as the “Fire, Ready, Aim” way of doing things on Kaua`i, especially in the Department of Public Works where the orders of the day routinely include facilitating the gravy-train revolving-door of corruption that costs millions in inflated contracts, a corrupt nepotism-riddled team of inspectors and, many have publicly alleged, kickbacks.
Even though the money for the path required a still non-existent sign-off by the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation that it is indeed not just a bike path but a bike path to be used strictly for transportation and not for recreation, the county has designated it a “mutli-use” path and wants to allow not just every imaginable human and mechanical obstacle to bicycling now they’re adding non-human impediments.
Maybe pet turtles will be next- or pet cockroaches... after all, they need somewhere to exercise. Can we bring our pet llama? What if it’s on a leash? Maybe you goldfish will enjoy the ocean view- bring ‘em on down
Hey, don’t give me a ticket officer- that’s not my chicken... it lives here.”
It’s no wonder the rest of the state shakes it head and repeats the mantra “only on Kaua`i”, the phrase universally used to describe the abject paternalism, authoritarianism and lack rhyme or reason in decision-making that has yielded a top-to-bottom corrupt modus operandi in the executive and legislative branches of so-called democratic governance here at the very end of human occupation (take it either way) of the island chain.
A separate kingdom indeed.
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