No aloha
No aloha
Mr. Wade’s recent letter (“‘Dumb’ tourists,” Oct. 5) castigating tourists as dumb, stupid and with “bovine” intelligence is an embarrassment to our island.
Everyone makes mistakes and oversights and most of us have been a tourist somewhere, sometime.
Being in an unfamiliar place, jet-lagged and busy, surely brings out the best in nobody. The unfortunate man who contracted flesh-eating bacteria at the hot pond does not deserve such invective. Where’s the aloha?
Laura Buck
Keaau
Tutu in distress
Mahalo to the knight in the shining white truck who rescued me by changing my tire so I could get home safe. May your good deed make all your dreams come true.
Joan Wheeler
Pahoa
Keep public informed
The Hawaii Department of Transportation needs to do a better job in disseminating project information to the public at large. The HDOT public affairs office seems to be understaffed, as it takes a while to get a response and sometimes the information is not correct.
For example, recent articles about the Daniel K. Inouye Highway project contained inaccurate information concerning total cost, start location of last east side phase among other mistakes. I’ve had to jump through hoops to double-check that my information was correct as a result.
The HDOT public affairs office response queue times have also increased.
I recently asked when the Kuakini Highway widening environmental impact statement meeting would be held. I received a response stating it would take about a week to respond.
These issues started cropping up about mid-year when the Central Federal Lands Highway Division, HDOT and Federal Highway Administration referred all my inquiries regarding the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening and Saddle Road projects to Caroline Slyuter, the HDOT public information officer. I had to get any updates through alternative means because it usually took several days or even longer to get any updates through the public affairs office.
The CFLHD and HDOT have websites for the Daniel K. Inouye Highway and Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening projects. Both of these agencies need to do a better job keeping these websites updated, so the public is informed about these important highway projects. This would a great first step in properly engaging the public.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona