Planning ahead; what a concept
A little common sense and foresight go a long way — and when they affect people’s lives in a good way, they’re downright inspiring.
We refer to what’s happening at the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, where Executive Director Hakim Ouansafi is applying efficiency to get prospective tenants for federal low-rent housing prequalified and ready to move in as soon as units open up.
The advance screening process aims to have 200 qualified families with all the paperwork and deposits ready, with an average occupancy turn- around time down from 168 days to just 12 days.
What a concept: Being proactive instead of reactive. Other state agencies should get a clue. And can we get more public leaders like Ouansafi?
Driver licensing multilingual again
Hawaii is due by year’s end to rejoin the majority of states that offer the driver’s licensing exam in multiple languages.
It dropped out of that company in 2008, but now, five years later, it’s back.
The eight languages besides English available to test-takers are Tagalog, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Samoan, Tongan and Spanish.
That’s one fewer than the nine available previously, with no explanation for why Laotian fell off the list. And surely it would be useful to add some of the Micronesian languages, too.
The state has enough problems with language barriers in courts and doctor’s offices.
It won’t do to add another agency immigrants need to become wage-earning citizens: driver licensing.
