Help me understand
Help me understand
Repairs certainly are needed for Waianuenue Avenue, but Ivy Ashe’s March 8 article regarding the decision to repave or reconstruct Waianuenue is confusing.
According to the article, cold-planing and repaving Waianuenue from Kamehameha Avenue to Kaumana Drive would cost about $550,000 and last 10-12 years.
By comparison, Ms. Ashe writes that reconstructing only the upper portion of Waianuenue (Kapiolani Street to Kaumana Drive) would cost about $12.5 million and last 20-30 years.
Given the numbers, it appears that the county could cold-plane and repave the entire length of Waianuenue three times over the next 30 years for more than $10 million less than the one-time cost of reconstructing only the upper portion of Waianuenue.
It would be helpful to know what is included in a “reconstruction” to determine if the significant additional cost is justified.
Pat Larson
Hilo
Stirring the pot
CNN’s Don Lemon defined “fake news” as “when you put out a story to intentionally deceive someone, and you know that it is wrong.” Max Dible’s article (Feb. 23, West Hawaii Today/Tribune-Herald) fits this description.
The Travelmag.com piece upon which Mr. Dible bases his article states that 50 travel media professionals were invited to name their three favorite towns in Hawaii, “in no particular order,” and that the top 10 towns were listed “in alphabetical order.”
None of that matters to Dible, who observes that “H” towns such as Hilo are listed ahead of “K” towns such as Kailua-Kona, and based on that analysis, invites West Hawaii residents and visitors to opine why their side deserves a higher ranking.
In addition to the usual comments about Hilo’s inferior weather and beaches, the West Hawaii Today version of the article states that Hilo has more hurricanes and no Costco. Also, some guy is quoted as saying, “I hear there are more sharks on the Hilo side.”
The article seems to be written for the sole purpose of generating controversy where none exists.
Hilo has many positive attributes the article omits – such as clean air and water, expansive parks, friendly people, spectacular sunrises and an affordable lifestyle. And the weather is neither too hot nor too cold. But apparently calling someone on the east side was beyond the reporter’s ability.
Though intended to be a lighthearted jab, Max Dible wrote his piece based on a deliberate misreading of an internet article that promoted our diverse island communities, and instead pitted two of those communities against each other.
The Tribune-Herald believes in correcting its errors. Will it fix this one?
Peter Sur
Hilo