From today’s Kokua Line column in the Star-Advertiser
Auwe
To the state Airports Division. I fly interisland and to the mainland two to three times a month. The moving walkways between Terminal 2 and the agriculture checkpoint are always broken. The flight information board at the Hawaiian Airlines interisland lobby and several video screens over the interisland gates and security area are out of service. Windows and glass panes are filthy and dust is present behind the seats and along the windows. Not a very good impression for our visitors! — Frequent Traveler
I couldn’t agree more. It seems it’s like this every time we go to the airport.
It’s like this quite often in Hawaii. We’re good at building things, because those CIP funds are handled differently from operational funding. We build. We have real problems maintaining. So the airport system may be in the midst of a billion-dollar building boom, but I’ll bet there’s no good plan for keeping the new stuff clean and in working order over its expected lifetime.
My fear is that the proposed rail system will get built but end up the same way. Those long escalators needed to move people up to the elevated platforms at all the stops, then back down to the ground, are sure to be a maintenance nightmare. At least when the airport’s moving sidewalks stop functioning, it doesn’t mean going up and down a very long flight of stairs. I can see train passengers who aren’t up to the Stair Master test getting stranded in those elevated stations.
Oh, well.
OpenSecrets.org has updated its analysis of personal finances of member of Congress, based on their annual financial disclosure statements.
About 1 percent of all Americans are millionaires. In Congress, that number regularly hovers between 40 percent and 50 percent, meaning elected leaders generally need not worry about the economic pressures many Americans face – from securing gainful employment to grappling with keeping a family financially afloat. Decide for yourself if these congressional millionaires are adequately representing your financial interests.
A press release from Open Secrets says that of 261 Congressional millionaires, “55 have an average calculated wealth in 2009 of $10 million or more, with eight in the $100 million-plus range.
WTF? The National Rifle Association has a pending lawsuit in Texas arguing that teenagers have a constitutional right to carry concealed weapons.
The lawsuit, filed by the National Rifle Association, claims that the Second Amendment requires that states allow teens and young persons ages 18-20 to carry loaded firearms in public. It seeks to overturn a Texas law that generally prohibits the carrying of loaded, concealed weapons by people under age 21.
Still in court…first the Supreme Court recognized corporate “free speech”, meaning a right to spend corporate cash to support or oppose candidates. Now the Supreme Court is taking up the question of whether a corporation can claim “personal privacy” protections provided by the Freedom of Information Act (FCC v AT&T,Inc)
Several organizations, including Public Citizen and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, have filed a brief in support of the FCC, which opposes the privacy exemption for corporations. Free Press, a nonprofit media reform group, filed its own brief in the case.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Our own DLNR is proposing lowering the age to hunt to 10 years
(j) Establishtheageofhuntingas10yearsold,incompliancewithHawaiiRevisedStatutes
(HRS) 183D, Section 28(b)(2)(c).
DLNR also wants to list peafowl as a hunting resource.
Comments will be accepted until 11.29.10
http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/rules
Profanity (WTF) isn’t any more acceptable in its encapsulated texting form. Just saying. LOL
Why would bureaucrats want to maintain public facilities? Their contractor friends would have less contracts. They let buildings run down so they can build a new ones with million dollars contracts.
Just look around. Preventative measures like fixing here and there and painting is not in their psyche.
Even some painting would lengthen the life of the buildings. I can think of two in your region of the top of my head.
There is a building next to the Chinaman Hat’s park. I’ve noticed there were a few ferns growing in the gutter. No one bothered to clean it. That patch is growing bigger. They are going to have to replace the whole roof when that little patch turns into a forest. Surely the workers who drive in and out of that place have noticed it.
The Hauula Fire Station would look much better with a few cans of paint. Would they allow the firemen to display their pride and paint themselves? Oh, I forgot, that is not their line of duty.
The airport is a disgrace. We wonder why many people think of Hawaii as a substandard place compared to the Mainland. Well look at what you see when you step off the airplane! Walkways that don’t work. Dirty windows and jetways. Dark and dreary baggage claim. Contrast to the airport the left back home.
It’s sad….but I don’t think that will EVER change. Our airports are very sub standard in comparison to others our size. We are good at doing cosmetic things like installing electronic departure screens but leave the rest in ruins…don’t even get me started on the Wiki Wiki. sigh…
Another example is the visitor center in Kahana Valley Stat Park. They rebuilt the old Kam Mon Store at a cost of over $320,000.00. It ran around 3 years over the contract time to build. They had no provision for anyone to clean it and are now asking residents to clean it. Plus since it was in the original concept that resident might be able to sell their own locally made handicraft items they leased the building out to a valley resident who only has the place open a few hours a week!
Of course adults ages 18-20 should have the same rights as other adults, in Texas and every other state. Calling them “teenagers” is technically correct but it’s also a scare tactic.
I went through my first firearms safety course at age 12. I was the only girl in the class. Good times! But I’ll never forget the important lessons I learned there and from my dad. And because I grew up with firearms (shotguns, mainly, for bird hunting, and yes, we ate our kills), I have a healthy respect for them. Not irrational fear — respect. Which is as it should be.
well, none of that translates into viewing carrying a concealed weapon as good public policy.
Utter nonsense! There is a real world out here.
Oh, and also … the Honolulu airport is somewhat of an embarrassment, as others have stated. But it’s also lovely, in its own kitchy way. The decor is ancient but the open-air walkways are nice. I think people enjoy them, even if they are somewhat noisy and full of jet-fuel fumes.
A little buffing up and elbow grease would go a long way toward restoring the beauty of our once-lovely airport.
Why do we call it “rail?” It’s a train.
Trains are noisy and dirty, and require lots of maintenance, just like ours will.
Trains also require massive parking lots, or no one will ride them.
We’re expecting people to (i) walk to the bus stop; (ii) wait for the bus; (iii) ride the bus to the train station; (iv) wait for the train; (v) ride the train; (vi) either walk or take the bus to the office/place of work.
No one will do this unless they have to, i.e., because they do not have a car, or because the City cancelled the bus route they rode pre-train.
How about a simply survey of drivers who intend to stop driving into work and riding the train? I haven’t met a single person who intends to do that. Not one.
You have very effectively outlined resistance to rail. Those who will never, never ride it do not want to pay for it regardless of the economy and support it will get from the “working class”.
I personally think steel rail is the wrong way to go but it may be to late.
1. To Bill, grow-up. Coarse language is the spice of communicating.
2. Exactly why are our airports not maintained? Don’t we have (a) Janitorial service contracts and (b) warranties on the machinery and such?
3. I am outraged at NRA. I am outrage at our weak-kneed politicians who will do nothing about the spread of gun as a lifestyle. And kids with guns? I am outraged at those who find shooting a gun great sport. I guess, in general, I’m outraged at the whole damn thing.
Ian, something as obvious as elevators will be installed in the stations. Re rail’s federal funding, here’s a quote from “Tea Party darling” Michele Bachmann (R-MN) in defense of earmarks:
“I don’t believe that building roads and bridges and interchanges should be considered an earmark.” In other words, she’s against earmarks except for transportation projects she likes. We’ll probably see a lot of that in the new Congress.
Of course, elevators can’t move the volume of people when escalators are out of service. Those stairs are going to get a workout.
IT’S A TRAIN: That’s a knee-slapper — your “no one will do this,” with “this” being commuting by rail alone or bus + rail. People do it all over the world every single day by the hundreds of millions, but according to you, it can’t happen here. Thanks for the chuckle….
On this one, I agree with Doug. People will ride it. I’ll ride when I can.
On that we agree, Ian. Despite anti-railers’ “it can’t happen here” forecasts, Hawaii is not THAT different. People are people, and our population wants to save money as much as any other — maybe more, since this is the most expensive state in the country.
Doug Carslon, you can disagree but you shouldn’t ridicule. It reflects more on you than the person you ridicule.
It’s a fallacy. Just because hundreds of millions do it all over the world does not have much to do with the rail in Honolulu.
Japan, Singapore, Europe, New York have lots of commuters and population base. We are Hawaii and the little rail distance is from Nimitz to Hoopili farm lands.
I will not ride it. It’s too inconvenient. I will not carry my shopping bags from point A to point B. I will not drag the children and grandma into this great inconvenience either.
Why are you comparing a State facility with what will be a City facility?
Board of Water Supply run by an independent board is a well run professional organization with a good maintenance record. The transit authority will be organized in a similar manner.