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I am asking people to name the top three issues with the state government that pisses you off.
Here's a couple of mine:
DLNR: absolutely useless on the Champaign Pond situation
Dept. of Education: funding charter schools at 50% of public schools
Procurement: Procurement laws and rules that limit competition, favor the politically connected and waste tax dollars.
Feel free to elaborate. And bye the way, How's Faye Hanohano doing?
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
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1. Rather than asking how Faye Hanohano is doing, ask what she is doing. The answer is nothing. All politics being ultimately local, I put Puna's lack of effective representation in the State House at the top of my list.
2. It's time we declare the State Department of Education a failed enterprise and start from scratch. The Governor's suggestion that the Board of Education be appointed instead of elected sounds good, but would only be a stop-gap measure. I like a suggestion that I heard somewhere that all the money being spent on public eductation in Hawaii be used to expand charter schools and/or provide tuition reimbursement towards private education. At first, I thought that suggestion was some looney Libertarianism, but the more I have learned about public education in Hawaii, the more I like the idea.
3. My last issue has to do with economic development. Rather than using the current budget and economic crisis as a springboard to bring in a new and improved economic model, the State seems hell-bent on maintaining the failed economic model of tourism, real estate development, and construction. I am enough of a realist to know that this can't be changed overnight and that tourism is going to be important for a long time to come. I do feel, however, that sustainable specialty agriculture, eco-tourism, renewable energy, and location-oriented scientific research (astronomy, tropical agriculture, geo-thermal, etc.) have not been sufficiently incentivized.
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Thanks, Rob, for posting the two threads. I believe constructive discussion on both these topics will be rewarding.
“A penny saved is a government oversight.”
"Q might have done the right thing for the wrong reason, perhaps we need a good kick in our complacency to get us ready for what's ahead" -- Captain Picard, to Guinan (Q Who?)
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1. Education system: It does not provide consistent results of excellence. The good news may be that the Charter system is offering a viable alternative.
2. Utilities: Regulation of the electricity monopoly is not doing enough to free the islands of oil imports and offer legitimate non-grid/distributed energy alternatives.
3. Control of County government. More Home Rule is needed.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
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Knowing that the number of students enrolled in the public schools has decreased (state-wide) by several hundred students over the last few years yet the number of non-teacher admin jobs has increased by several hundred anyway. It is like every lost student equates to a new person being hired.
What are all these extra people doing? Why are they being hired? Why are there not fewer non-teacher admin jobs if the student enrollment is down?
The number of students enrolled in private and charter schools has increased at a faster rate than the decrease in student enrollment in the public schools. The total number of students, state-wide, is up over the last few years.
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quote:
Originally posted by JerryCarr
1. Rather than asking how Faye Hanohano is doing, ask what she is doing. The answer is nothing. All politics being ultimately local, I put Puna's lack of effective representation in the State House at the top of my list.
2. It's time we declare the State Department of Education a failed enterprise and start from scratch. The Governor's suggestion that the Board of Education be appointed instead of elected sounds good, but would only be a stop-gap measure. I like a suggestion that I heard somewhere that all the money being spent on public eductation in Hawaii be used to expand charter schools and/or provide tuition reimbursement towards private education. At first, I thought that suggestion was some looney Libertarianism, but the more I have learned about public education in Hawaii, the more I like the idea.
3. My last issue has to do with economic development. Rather than using the current budget and economic crisis as a springboard to bring in a new and improved economic model, the State seems hell-bent on maintaining the failed economic model of tourism, real estate development, and construction. I am enough of a realist to know that this can't be changed overnight and that tourism is going to be important for a long time to come. I do feel, however, that sustainable specialty agriculture, eco-tourism, renewable energy, and location-oriented scientific research (astronomy, tropical agriculture, geo-thermal, etc.) have not been sufficiently incentivized.
Jerry,
You know my opinion regarding Fay and her lack of effort regarding our communities. We need to keep up the fight to get her out in November. Keep up the good work.
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free...now here come the taxes.....
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quote:
Originally posted by JerryCarr...I do feel, however, that sustainable specialty agriculture, eco-tourism, renewable energy, and location-oriented scientific research (astronomy, tropical agriculture, geo-thermal, etc.) have not been sufficiently incentivized.
I completely agree. In my perfect world -
Eco-tourism is something that really could be a benefit. We could have one of the best places to bike around the island. But right now it's not that safe to do - and car rental companies and big hotels would fight it. Why dont we have something like the PCT ? Our PCT could be the King's trail only it would not take 5-6 months!
As for specialty crops, yes! Also the specialty fish.
Now here's an idea (not original mind you) - what if all the medical marijuana was tagged - just like buying hunting tags - Buy a tag once every year for $250-500 and you can grow one plant. You can have one plant for every tag (with a max # of tags). One of the news channels said Puna has 4000+ med marijuana people - lets see $300 x 4000 = $1,200,000 versus begging feds for war on drugs money - money can go into ice/meth war instead or maybe (gasp!) into rehab/prevention of ice/meth.
And yes, make our UH Hilo a world class scientific university! Not sports school (which there is no money for!). The Iphone geeks need somewhere to go to school. UH Hilo should at least have some of the best summer programs at premium pricing for students from other schools to attend (Math,chem, physics majors from big time schools like MIT or Harvard that want to attend a summer program here!)
In addition work with the UH Manoa med school and every specialty (docs, RT's, PA, etc) graduating needs to have done a 1-2 month rotation here so they have the opportunity to practice rural medicine.
Thats it for this AM! Happy Easter everyone!
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