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Corona Considerations – MidWeek April 22, 2020

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Summertime- with the hopeful minimization of the most drastic COVID-19 safety measures and concerns- brings Hawai`i’s hurricane season (June – November). Remember when that ominous window was our biggest annual life/lifestyle/economic local concern? Near-misses from major Pacific storms have been near-miraculous over the past 20+years, but we must always remain vigilant and prepare well ahead of time (sound familiar?). A few thoughts:

  • A byproduct of watching daily coronavirus (national) news coverage is witnessing the numbing parade of drugs available for various ailments. And everyone’s smiling! The pharmacological alphabet soup (these names aren’t from the “Alice in Wonderland” poem, “Jabberwocky”) includes Humira, Ibrance, Xeljanz, Eliquis, Truvada, Ozempic, Xarelto, Dupixent, Farxiga, Otezla, Cosentyx, Chantix, and Trulicity. Possible drug side effect listings take up more ad time than the drug’s positive aspects (legal requirements). Big Pharma concoctions with lots of Xs, Zs, and Qs, plus other strangely aligned letters. Maybe these tongue-twisting names evolved from Superman’s home, Krypton, or from a mid-1960s “Star Trek” episode?
  • And you thought people’s usage of/addiction to digital devices was severe before we all went to our respective rooms? An April Atlantic magazine article by commentator Maya MacGuineas proffers: “The average person taps, types, swipes, and clicks on his smartphone 2,617 times a day. Ninety-three percent of people sleep with their devices within arm’s reach. Seventy-five percent use them in the bathroom”. Smartphone program engineers know- via likes, followers, friends, replies, positive reviews, thumbs up and all- how to tap into our brain’s areas for wanting and desiring, bypassing our judgment and reasoning brain areas. Reassuring, yeah? Let’s all play Parcheesi instead- mo’ bettah! Time to kick the digital dependence…
  • And finally, when the novel coronavirus’ major threat eases, the last thing we should all do is party. I’m not a killjoy, but physical distancing must remain top-of-mind (and body) even after this isolation mandate dissipates. The last thing we need is a COVID-19 rebound (now playing in Asia). Let’s continue to practice our newly-honed, sanitation habits and norms, as they might even help us stifle the 2020 flu infection rate a bit. Flu season starts in earnest in about six months.

Think about it…

 “Think About It: Ideas And Inspiration For Today’s Hawai`i”, my new book, is now available to order online from Watermark Publishing locally (including FREE shipping) at: https://www.bookshawaii.net and is also available at many local bookstores

Who’s On First? – MidWeek, March 11, 2020

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You might think by now, after a decade of delays, snafus, mis-statements, cost-overruns, false promises, and personnel shuffles, that the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) and the City of Honolulu would make sure that vital public pronouncements and updates are released in harmony and in tandem. Not happening…

Six weeks ago came a public pronouncement by a HART official that not only would the first segment of the rail be ready, as planned, by late December, 2020, it would actually be ready to transport fans between Aloha Stadium and Kapolei by mid-October- during UH football season! That very same day came a plea/counter from Honolulu’s mayor, asking those kolohe rail personnel to stop making premature statements about start dates, as it’s the City of Honolulu that has to actually operate this choo choo! 

And then three weeks ago, HART announced plans for upcoming traffic restrictions along Dillingham Boulevard, while the City’s transportation department said, “hold the bus” (or the train), because the City had not yet seen an official traffic control plan. HART responded that it had proffered a Dillingham traffic management plan, and the city transportation department very clearly responded that “…we are waiting for the proper submittals”, according to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser report. This plan should be black and white- like written on paper- but here we have two opposite versions of reality offered by HART and by the City, a comic pair who, far too often, mimic Abbott and Costello as they play out this transit “Who’s On First?” routine. “I Don’t Know… third base!!” (Please, YouTube it- it’s a classic Vaudeville routine)

At the very least, by 2020, following a decade of setbacks, worrisome federal feedback, plan pushbacks, cracked concrete columns, cracked canopies, cracked blue plastic shims, etc., you would expect that a simple phone call, email, or text would occur between the “partners” before public statements are made, as too often those initial missives are quickly contradicted, negated, or questioned by the other party.

Speaking of a party, if this project was a party, we’d all be suffering from a long hangover, as quality hosts or caterers would’ve figured out by now what and how to best serve us; after all we are the paying clients. But that’s not the case as rail bantering and bickering goes on with little relief, agreement, or a firm start date in sight.

Think about it…