Waianae, Third City

The Waianae Coast still offers a beautiful panorama of sights along with its own share of troubles. Road construction is always in progress, temporary road repairs last for months, and the roadway is replaced with steel plates that damage car tires and suspension. And everyone understands that the Rail Catastrophe will make things worse. Our representatives have no clout in the sacred halls of Honolulu and the Big Money is on the Rail Crisis. Sam Slom seems to be one of few with enough guts.

"Difficult does not mean impossible, it just means that

you have to work a little harder."

Think of the good it would do for so many on the Waianae Coast to have

a few Business Parks like this one in Pearl City which does wonders

for the residents of Pearl City. How about for "our" citizens of

"our" community instead of the Fat Cats in Honolulu.

"I coulda been home in 20 minutes."

Since there is only one road in and one road out, cars have no option but to drive over the steel plates. And the resulting traffic jams are inevitable, because of the Rail expenses. And there are many old buses with bad suspension, but fortunately we have bus drivers with good attitudes and they know much more about Public Transportation than the wheels that are running the enchilada into the Big Bucks. It's the bread, Fred.

The beautiful #93 bus from Makaha to downtown Honolulu. Many had been thinking it would be better to take it to downtown instead of the car. You can get to town in 90 minutes. The Rail Disaster is not going to beat that in a million years or 20 Billion dollars. And "I coulda got the bus right around the corner." No feeder buses, rail stations and 21 stops to Honolulu and then another feeder to get where you are going. Three hours? The Fat Cats in Honolulu call it "Rapid Transit."

"Beautiful Kauai" by Don Ho

Driving down the Farrington Highway through Waianae’s small towns you can get a view of million dollar homes next to rundown shacks, overgrown weeds, rusted out broken down cars and trucks and on any given day discarded furniture or waste sitting on the side of the street that is disheartening. Along the beautiful stretches of beach scenery may be rows and rows of dilapidated tents with homeless families and their pets living on the beach and at the end of the road you pass the town of Makaha which was a full blown “tent city” with families of homeless living a day to day existence.

Similar to a mainland urban ghetto, the small Waianae towns are peppered with convenience stores, liquor stores and fast food establishments. They know that when the Fat Cats in Honolulu say "keep the country, country" it means no shoe stores and no sidewalks. That stuff is only for the first class deluxe citizens of Honolulu.

"Blue Champagne" by Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra

Drugs are closely interwoven into this landscape with methamphetamines (“ice”) being the preferred choice of self-destruction. “Waianae Chronics” is the moniker for the people trapped in this endless downward spiral. “It’s all about the high.” Meth addiction is a serious blight on the Waianae Coast. Fortunately, many of the young know they are ignorant but they can learn. The Fat Cats in Honolulu couldn't care less, Da Rail Mess is where the Big Bucks are. All we can do is emphasize the importance of shaping public policy and the perception of crystal methamphetamine.