Cost of rail construction impossible to calculate

Anyone interested in seeing what rail construction will do to a community should come into Waipahu and Pearl City to see the devastation of businesses and the traffic jams created.

Cliff Slater pinpointed the huge cost overruns of rail (“Where are we with rail? Way over budget, as predicted,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Aug. 19) but the true costs cannot even be calculated. It will disrupt hundreds of businesses and cost thousands of hours for motorists stuck in construction traffic.

The City Council proposed legislation to mitigate costs to businesses due to construction of the project. The problem is it did not specify how much and where the money will come from.

As Slater pointed out, rail will remove two of every 100 cars coming from West Oahu, assuming no more housing development such as Ho‘opili, which will add 11,000 homes.

It seems like Slater’s predictions were right on the money.

Earl Arakaki
Ewa Beach

Email issue not looking good for Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton first argued that was there were no classified materials on her server. Then she changed her story, saying she didn’t send or receive anything that was marked classified. As secretary of state, Clinton presumably would know how to identify classified material.

If Clinton and her associates are indicted for conspiracy to violate the espionage laws of the U.S. by knowingly letting secrets get out, Clinton cannot say, “Well, it didn’t say classified on it.” That’s not a defense she can use in court. A CIA agent is spending three years in prison after deleting one classified document from his email.

Arsenio Ramirez Pelayo
Aiea

HECO and NextEra trying to slow progress

It’s becoming more obvious to me, and probably others, that Hawaiian Electric and NextEra Energy are running scared.

I am sure they realize that we do not need a large electric utility in Hawaii. HECO and NextEra also are worried about Florida. They will apparently do anything in their power to prevent people from easily installing their own rooftop solar to produce their own electricity, including making campaign contributions to elected officials and building large PV farms.

With new and improved lithium batteries becoming available, it is now easier and cheaper to install rooftop solar and battery backup systems for nighttime electricity. Disconnecting from the electric utility is possible.

Good luck, HECO and NextEra, it is coming. People are realizing it will be more economical to disconnect from the grid, and then convert our houses from AC to DC power, thus saving more electric power.

Ron Anderson
Hahaione Valley

Sand Island housing doesn’t promote privacy

As finalists on this project, my company offered not containers, but new steel modular units that are currently getting approved for legal homes in Hawaii (“Timeline, contract set for Sand Island housing,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 15).

We gave the residents the option to have more privacy. Not being social engineers, we did not think they would want to be so close to six other unknown people. Our idea was that they can hang out with anyone they choose to, and they can also have more privacy, if they want it.

We knew Kapalama and Kakaako folks hang out together to protect each other, play cards and watch kids and property. Now they will have a secure place to put their stuff, and life won’t be the same.

We wonder if folks can request to be situated together. That might work well if allowed. We’re hoping for success.

John Rogers
Affordable Portable Housing
Kailua