Deal with HSTA will help save Race funds

The proposed agreement between the state and the Hawaii State Teachers Association to extend learning times for students in the "Zones of School Innovation" is definitely a step in the right direction.

The proposed agreement directly affects our schools that need the most support, and will help to boost student achievement.

Research shows that extended learning times can help teachers make a greater positive impact on their students.

The additional hour more per day, Monday through Thursday, along with 12 added professional development days, and a 17 percent pay increase show that the state is making a big investment to support our dedicated teachers.

This agreement can help to save Hawaii’s $75 million Race to the Top grant. Federal officials will visit Hawaii next month, and a ratified agreement by the teachers would help demonstrate our state’s pro-gress and commitment to transforming our public education system.

We hope the teachers in the zones ratify the proposed contract. It’s what our students need and deserve, and it fairly compensates teachers for the longer school day.

Terrence R. George
Harold K.L. Castle Foundation

Christopher J. Pating
Kamehameha Schools

Christine Van Bergeijk
Hawaii Community Foundation

Charter panel pick is inappropriate

The state Board of Education’s recent decision to appoint to the Charter School Review Panel an employee of Myron B. Thompson Academy (MBTA) is inappropriate and ill-advised.

The board made this decision even though it knows state agencies are investigating MBTA, and even though it has read or should have read the state auditor’s analysis that MBTA’s "possibly fraudulent and abusive practices have the potential to erode public confidence in the school and the public school charter system as a whole."

The BOE’s decision does a disservice to the many charter schools in Hawaii that are doing an excellent job.

These schools are transparent, accountable and good stewards of the public trust. They play by the rules, and they use state funds wisely and effectively in pursuit of their educational goals.

The BOE has itself eroded the public’s confidence by appointing to the panel an employee of a school whose questionable practices warrant investigation.

Ruth Tschumy
Former chairwoman, Charter School Review Panel
Moiliili

Don’t give brokers monopoly on condos

As a former resident and frequent visitor to Hawaii, my husband and I decided to purchase a condominium in Kihei.

We use the condo for our own visits several times a year, contributing to the Hawaii economy. When we are not using the property, we rent it out to friends and relatives and to vacationing tourists, using the website vrbo.com to do so.

We are registered with the state of Hawaii and possess business licenses in good standing. We pay Hawaii taxes totaling 13.42 percent and we have submitted taxes as required by law.

If we are forced to use a real estate broker as a go-between for our guests, their fees (routinely 2540 percent of gross receipts) would cripple our modest operation.

House Bill 1707 is a travesty and is a vehicle to enrich brokers at the expense of those of us who have invested in Hawaii in good faith and who follow the rules.

Lisa Lippincott
Grass Valley, Calif.

Elections awash in spending by ultra-rich

The much-reviled Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case extended the constitutional protection of freedom of speech to corporations, labor unions and other groups.

It has led to a tidal wave of spending in the current presidential election campaign by so-called "Super PACs" on political advertising.

Individuals have always had the right to spend unlimited amounts of money in exercising their freedom of speech. Now ultra-rich individuals are using the Super PACs to pour unprecedented numbers of dollars into the campaign — directly, not through corporations.

The theory that corporations, unions and other groups do not have free speech rights was absurd because the people who constitute those groups unquestionably have such rights. But even with a reversal of the Citizens United decision, the flood of individual spending probably would be unaffected.

The only condition appears to be that the spending is not coordinated with the candidates.

Carl H. Zimmerman
Honolulu

Steel-on-steel rail is proven technology

Clever messaging by some anti-rail detractors have people believing the choice of steel-on-steel for Oahu’s rail transit system amounts to using 200-year-old choo-choo train technology.

Ever ride the modern Japanese bullet trains? They are fast, comfortable and quiet. They are also steel-on-steel.

The Chinese are building a state-of-the-art, high-speed rail system linking their cities. Europe and the rest of the world are connecting their countries and cities with high- speed, medium-speed and low-speed rail. What do they all have in common? Twenty-first century steel-on-steel technology.

State-of-the-art steel-on-steel technology is used worldwide because it is the most reliable, time-tested and cost-effective technology now and for the foreseeable future.

We cannot allow the fear of the possibility of new technology years from now paralyze our decision-making today.

Roy Kamisato
Niu Valley

HECO energy study was within a context

Recent coverage of the costs of renewable energy highlights how much better off Hawaii will be by replacing expensive petroleum oil generation with all types of renewable energy at fixed and stable long-term prices ("Wind power is cheapest green energy option, HECO says," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 19).

However, it must be noted that the study cited was not evaluating the cost effectiveness of all renewable resources in Hawaii. The conclusion that wind is the most cost-effective was in the context of a regulatory proceeding that looked at comparable alternatives likely to be available in similar time frames to the project being considered.

Geothermal is clearly another very low-cost resource. Any expansion of geothermal must be done in close consultation with the Native Hawaiian community and the neighbors where such facilities would be located, among others.

We need a diverse portfolio of renewable resources, including intermittent resources such as solar, wind and wave energy, and firm resources available on demand, such as geothermal, biomass and waste-to-energy. That is why the Hawaiian Electric companies are issuing requests for bids for proposed geothermal projects on the Big Island, for up to 50 megawatts of firm renewable energy for Maui, and for a total of up to 500 megawatts of renewable energy sources for Oahu.

Colton Ching
Vice president of system operation and planning, Hawaiian Electric Co.

Study should have included cable cost

In "Wind power is cheapest green energy option, HECO says" (Star-Advertiser, Feb. 19), Hawaiian Electric Co. is said to have compared the cost of wind with solar and biofuels in its report to the state Public Utilities Commission.

But the article notes that "none of the scenarios factored in a proposed undersea transmission cable that would add a significant cost to any renewable energy project based on a neighbor island."

Hello? At an estimated cost of $750 million to $1 billion, I would think this would be an important consideration to factor in. Apparently the cost of the cable is not important to HECO, as it can pass on the cost to its customers.

John Floyd
Kailua

FROM THE FORUM

"Obama’s vow to veto earmarks leaves isles in the lurch," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 20:

» The days of earmarks and pork funding to support middle-class welfare and wasteful federal employee motions without real actions are over.

» Middle-class welfare? Haven’t you heard? They are the shrinking group. Maybe they do need some relief. They’re under assault from those higher and lower on the financial ladder.

» Why is the middle class the enemy all of a sudden? Like the rich and poor don’t get breaks, too?

» You wanted to cut the debt, so why criticize President Barack Obama for ending earmarks? And U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye has made a career out of doling out taxpayer dollars in exchange for political loyalty and slavery. As for the badly managed Bishop Museum: Why on Earth budget operating costs around special earmarks? Makes no sense.

» Dan, you can retire now. We don’t need you anymore.

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"Kauai police chief’s status unclear," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 23:

» Until the facts are made public we can only speculate. The public needs to know what is going on. After all, all those involved are public employees.

» My reading of the Kauai County Charter is that the police chief is under the authority of the police commission and not the mayor. In the past, when police chiefs served at the direction of mayors, it concentrated too much power into a mayor’s hands and contributed to nepotism, favoritism and corruption. It is not the mayor’s police force, it is the county’s, and it needs to be shielded from direct control by a politician.

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"Isles hold on to military might," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 21:

» You can thank U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye as head of the Senate Appropriations Committee for all the money coming this way. May you live a very long life, Mr. Inouye. You are indeed a living treasure to Hawaii.

» As long as there are perceived threats against the American way of life, both known and unknown, billions of dollars will be thrown around and the military complex will continue to grow.

» Pork and beans. The way elected officials are dishing out the pork, it won’t be long till all of us are eating beans.

» Hawaii was seized by the United States in order to ensure a stable base for projecting military power toward Asia. Our occupation becomes a stepping stone for yet further occupations and interventions. Meanwhile, local people are marginalized, disenfranchised and forced out to the mainland U.S., and more colonists arrive from North America and Japan.

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"Restaurants won’t go to dogs as concerns about health stall bill," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 24:

» Animals do not belong in eateries, end of story! Who is the dimwit that introduced such a bill? We have so much other stuff to worry about. Come on, get to work and cut this out!

» I’m a dog lover; always have been, but unless it is a working dog, I can’t see any reason why intelligent people would want to allow dogs into a restaurant. My guess is that if the law allowed it, the restaurants that allowed it would soon be out of business, catering only to those who brought dogs with them to dinner. And who’s at home guarding your property while you’re treating your dog to a night out on the town?

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"Shoppers recall mainstay of Oahu’s retail landscape," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 22:

» Part of Americana is being lost. I grew up on Kauai and the Sears wishbook (catalog) was in most of the homes. It sold everything a family needed. Then its stores appeared and changed our buying methodology. In the end, online shopping killed the old way to shop. Smaller specialty stores are the way to go.

» A retail dinosaur, doomed to sink in the tar pits. The really sad part is that the worthless CEO will probably get a big bonus while the little people go on unemployment.

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"More than 60 minor tremors hit Hawaii island in quake swarm," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 22:

» 12/21/2012 is near.

» Relax, we live on a volcanic island.

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"More than 28,000 participate in annual Great Aloha Run," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 20:

» It was a great opportunity for the community of Oahu to bond and show aloha for everyone and everything. The work week can be quite frenzied, and the pace is blurring. This race accomplishes so much and I support it 100 percent.