Island DIY: Kauai residents don't wait for state to repair road

[Bob Hubbard]

Island DIY: Kauai residents don't wait for state to repair road

• Story Highlights
• Some business owners will be in trouble if park doesn't reopen
• Park closed after floods destroyed access road, facilities
• State didn't have money to make repairs, so residents did it themselves
• Business owner: "Something that took us eight days would have taken them years"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/09/hawaii.volunteers.repair/index.html

 

[Makalakumu]

Amazing isn't it. The state of Hawaii's government is perhaps one of the most broken bureaucracies I have ever seen. It would have taken the state years to fix the road...and there are countless other examples of things that state just sits on while reams of paper are signed and processed.

These "business owners" are big corporate maniacs taking bailout money from the fed. They are just average guys trying to make a living and they decided to take the matter into their own hands. The access to Polihale Park was very important to a number of tour operators and surfing companies and not fixing the road put these people's livelihoods at risk.

This is a great example where the government is its own worst enemy when it comes to keeping people employed.

 

[Nolerama]

Kudos to them!

I wish normal, everyday citizens would volunteer some time out of their days in order to help out their communities.

 

[Makalakumu]

Kudos to them!

I wish normal, everyday citizens would volunteer some time out of their days in order to help out their communities.

There are a lot of things that people could take a lot more responsibility for and things would go much easier. Government has a place, just not every place.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Rome built a study, safe, stable bridge over the Reine River in under 2 weeks and moved legion over them. Patton's men did it in less time and moved an army. NY's been debating building a bridge over the Niagara River for over a decade. Things move faster, cheaper and often better when government BS is removed.

 

[KELLYG]

I think that it is awesome that these folks took the initiative and did the work themselves. I like the fact that they got of there duffs and took care of business, instead of hand wringing and waiting on, the mysterious someone else, to do it. It probably gave them a since of pride that together, as a community, that they can take care of some things themselves.

 

[Makalakumu]

One of the cultural aspects of Hawaii is that everybody knows that nothing gets done unless...

1. You know someone powerful.
2. You form a hui and do it yourself.

The Hawaiian state government is basically an uber-nepotistic jobs program that leeches money off of the tourist industry. It doesn't do much and when it does, it does it in ten times the amount of time it should take.

It's interesting to talk to people who lived on Kauai when Hurricane Iniki hit it. The government was completely paralyzed and the people organized and just got it done themselves by pulling together the resources they had.

Contrast that with Katrina.

Anyway, I'm glad that this story is getting out into cyberspace. I hope people feel inspired. I do.

 

[Empty Hands]

Things move faster, cheaper and often better when government BS is removed.

Your Rome and Patton examples are both examples of governmental action. It seems to me you are arguing for better government, not no government.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

They represented the government, but without the bloated bureaucracy. I think those people need to find real jobs and work for a change.

 

[Phoenix44]

Your Rome and Patton examples are both examples of governmental action. It seems to me you are arguing for better government, not no government.

Yeah. And the Romans probably used slaves!

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Yeah. And the Romans probably used slaves!

Possibly. Did Roman Legions march with slaves?

 

[Makalakumu]

Yeah. And the Romans probably used slaves!

Lol, the native Hawaiians used them too. Except that they usually ended up in the stew pot when they were done with the job.