‘Just accept it’
Why does the Central Fire Station look terrible? It’s on purpose.
In government, there is a capital improvement committee. They have so many projects to prioritize, and when they approve one, it definitely isn’t for this calendar year, or maybe even next year.
Once the mildew has set into the paint, pressure-washing will remove enough of the paint to require it to be repainted. So, in order to get anything done at all, instead of maintenance you must let it become very dilapidated. It is the way the system works.
Remember, the Hawaii Fire Department has pressure-washers and bucket trucks and trainees. But that’s not the way it can be done. It would cost them future budget allocations.
If you go to the Kamana Senior Center, the roof is slowly becoming completely black. At this point, it could be saved and repainted to last another 20 years. That is not going to happen.
A major capital expenditure will happen four or five years from now to replace the entire roof, because by then it cannot be pressure-washed clean for a proper paint adherence.
Another thing they will do is, in the name of lowering the temperature inside the building, repaint the roof the worst color possible in rainy Hilo (which is white). If they painted the roof an earth-tone brown that fairly matches the mildew color (which it will undoubtedly become), it would double the length of the time required before replacement. Yes, there is the issue of energy efficiency, but in government buildings the ceiling is insulated.
Procurement is a choice job, because everyone wants to become your friend. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is not even a single former contractor on the committee with hands-on experience on what to do and how much it really should cost. Hopefully, I’m wrong about that.
This is how it works, and thanks to the publicity of the Tribune-Herald’s letters to the editor, Central Fire Station’s priority has jumped to the top of the list.
And that is also how it works.
We know it seems wrong, but this is how our bureaucracy functions. Just accept it.
The majority of the county government buildings are maintained in reasonably good condition. Maintenance is always cheaper than capital improvement. Considering the nature of governmental bureaucracy, they are doing a fairly decent job.
Michael Xavier Mamczarz
Kurtistown
Gun accidents
There are many more people injured and killed by gun accidents than murders or mass shootings.
That these things are dangerous is obvious. How do we make them less so?
Almost everything we buy today has a microprocessor in it. Why not hand guns and long rifles?
An RFID chip in a ring could make these inherently dangerous weapons less so. Also, the guns that are stolen would be useless. The ring could be a badge of honor at the shooting range: Look, I’m safe. How about you?
Brian Daniel
Volcano