Every year we hear about the number of legal fireworks permits sold here. And every year we invariably hear anecdotal tales about loud (illegal) booms that go on for hours (or days). Asking neighbors to narc on one another simply isn’t working well enough. The idea of plainclothes cops helps, but the reality of more injuries annually apparently isn’t enough to keep scofflaws from blowing up their wares and possibly their loved ones. Current law says using under 25 pounds of illegal fireworks could lead to a fine of $200 to $2,500. How about adding a zero or two to these fines? Tough as it is for neighborhood advocates who pray for a more peaceful and legal transition from one year to the next, they must step up anonymously…
Wanna know a bad week? How about Southwest Airlines relying on an admittedly antiquated technology for its reservation system, using a point-to-point scheduling system (vs. the more readily accepted “hub and spoke” method competitors use), and having thousands of flight and tens of thousands of bags and customers inconvenienced… and then having a Honolulu to Oakland flight turn around mid-flight on December 26 due to customer behavior issues! And you thought whiny relatives was a big deal at holiday time…
Visitor spending here through November, 2022, was up 9% vs. the same time period in (pre-COVID) 2019 while the visitor count was down 11%. Oh boy! That’s what many hoped for- get the spending up, but with fewer bodies in town. Which works, as long as pent up demand, hotel pricing, the actual experience, airfare convenience (see: Southwest), weather, economic factors, and other determinants all work in tandem. If this trend keeps up, you might not see those great kama`aina rates you’re always looking for when you want to travel interisland…
On Christmas Day, the Navy suggested it might take six to18 months to fix some of its malfunctioning cameras at Red Hill. Hmmm… couldn’t we ask four, techie 10th graders to get a reliable surveillance system wired up with iPhone 6s… in about 45-minutes? Fuel spills sans surveillance, fire suppressant gushing from a pipeline, more talks, conferences, meetings, discussions, suggestions, timetables, reversals, excuses, denials, obfuscation, etc. I’m not sure who’s in charge this week- Moe, Larry, or Curly- but the people living in this area (and many outside) are once again left wondering what, why, and when…
Think About It…