Flooded Kauai could use a helping hand

It’s too easy to write off the very cut-and-dried infrastructure problems of a place with the laid-back moniker, “The Garden Island.” And then nature comes calling with a deluge that reveals the vulnerabilities of Kauai.

Thankfully nobody was hurt in last weekend’s flooding, which made Hanalei Bridge impassable and sent dozens to emergency shelters. Not only do those shelters need to be kept up to snuff, but state leaders have to take a hard look at whether Kauai is getting the funding needed for highways and byways. Luckily, there’s still time to lock down funds at the Legislature; federal help, too, will be needed.

Believe it or not, city sanitation gets top marks

Maybe we have good timing to thank for Honolulu’s top ranking for sanitation in a recent survey by the international consulting firm Mercer. That reportedly takes into account a city’s waste removal, sewage infrastructure, levels of infectious disease, air pollution, water availability and quality.

Some of those criteria seem to fit. But the teams checking us out might have missed reports of sewage treatment plant problems, of park bathrooms being closed for repairs, of various issues with bulky item pickup.

When a compliment comes along, we’ll take it, but … sanitation?

Really?