All-female roster?
All-female roster?
Health Director Dr. Virginia Pressler deserves some congratulations for being the only woman to make Gov. David Ige’s roster of “key” team members representing their departments Tuesday night at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. She was one woman among some 20 men showcasing our state’s governance. That’s 5 percent, so maybe we should celebrate another “Year of the Woman.”
At the polls this week and in November, many Big Island voters will have the chance to level the playing field a bit by voting for a complete roster of women.
In the District 1 lineup: County Council (Valerie Poindexter), state House representative (Heather Kimball), U.S. representative (Tulsi Gabbard) and, yes, for the first time, a madame president — Hillary Clinton — is among your choices. They would join state Sen. Lorraine Inouye and U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono.
I’m not suggesting you vote for them just because they are fantastic, smart, progressive women. I’m just saying that in a supposedly Democratically held state that couldn’t manage to pass an equal pay bill this year, this is a team I could root for.
Springer Kaye
Honomu
Slow down in HPP
An interstate can be defined as a public-access thoroughfare without traffic stops.
Makuu Drive in Hawaiian Paradise Park runs 4 miles toward the ocean without stop signs on the 32 intersecting cross streets.
However, Makuu is a residential road with a speed limit of 35 mph, and the county considers this road to be substandard since it doesn’t have adequate shoulders for pedestrians or bicycles. Yet, vehicles — commercial or otherwise — are using the four main roads in HPP as if it’s an interstate freeway, going at high speeds without consideration for the safety of pedestrians and other vehicles on the road.
Just to give everyone the scope of our situation: HPP is the second-largest subdivision in the United States, with 12,000 residents, and the Puna District is the size of Oahu. Yet, there are only eight police officers assigned to this district. There is practically no traffic police presence in HPP.
I’m asking those who speed on the main roads in HPP to slow down and consider the safety of pedestrians and other vehicles. Please honor the signs at the start of every main street in HPP: “Share the road.”
Janet Luh
Keaau