Evaluation terms should be negotiable

In reading your editorial, "Time to settle on teacher evaluations" (Star-Advertiser, Our View, March 29), it is evident that you have no idea what is involved here and definitely should not be commenting on such.

Teachers have been asked to sign a contract that does not give any information whatsoever on how the evaluation would take place. However, it seems likely that a teacher would be evaluated on how well students in his or her class did.

With no input in the criteria used or which students would be placed in his or her class, the teacher is unlikely to be successful and would get an insignificant 1 percent increase in salary if all students did well, with all other teachers getting no increase.

So far, I have not heard that teachers would be involved in developing the criteria on which they would be judged. Instead, they are asked just to immediately sign the latest offer from the governor with no negotiation of the offer allowed.

Sara VanDerWerff
Kailua

Police enforcement has prevented deaths

The Honolulu Police Department has taken a firm stance on traffic safety islandwide.

Our Safer Roads initiative means that every district has stepped up traffic enforcement while performing our normal duties.

DUI checkpoints have been conducted on the Waianae Coast, with the specific locations and hours chosen to increase the probability of making contact with drivers under the influence.

Unfortunately, even with this enforcement we still have tragedies resulting from the carelessness of a few individuals.

We recently lost officers Eric Fontes and Garret Davis in traffic collisions, and we fully understand the importance of this issue.

To the writer who asked, "Where is the Honolulu Police Department?" ("Waianae needs more traffic cops," Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 2): Our response is: We are here!

We firmly believe that many injuries and deaths have been prevented as a result of the increased enforcement we are currently doing island-wide, including the Waianae community.

We thank residents for their continued support in making Honolulu the safest place to live, work and play.

Capt.Andrew Lum
Office of the Chief, Honolulu Police Department

Don’t grant variance to Symphony project

Mauka-to-makai views have been compromised a myriad of times in the past by locating high-rise buildings in Honolulu and Waikiki parallel to the shoreline.When surfing out in Waikiki, I barely notice the mountains behind the phalanx of hotel buildings.

Now, after a seven-year public-based effort by the Hawaii Community Development Authority to establish a more thoughtful process for locating new buildings in Kakaako to help preserve view corridors, the authority is asked to approve a variance for the new Symphony Honolulu tower to be built by San Diego-based developer OliverMcMillan.

No variance should be approved as there are no hardships to developing the property, according to the newly established planning parameters.

A desire to maximize return on investment by placing the building to maximize ocean views from the residential units is not sufficient grounds to approve a variance, and would set a troubling example for future high-rise development in Kakaako.

Kurt Wollenhaupt
Haiku, Maui

Health insurance also aims at freeloaders

A recent letter advances the argument that an individual mandate to buy health insurance is unusual because other insurance coverage, such as car collision damage, protects the buyer and so is optional ("Car insurance covers neglect," Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 4).

The writer contrasts that personal choice to buy that kind of insurance coverage with personal injury coverage, which is mandatory, because it protects others from bearing the burden of injury caused by the buyer.

What the writer overlooks is that not buying health insurance and then going into the emergency room is a form of negligence that injures others — people like myself who buy health insurance at rates that pay for that freeloader.

That’s how mandated health insurance is exactly like mandated car insurance.

Lunsford Phillips
Kailua

Obamacare mandate violates Constitution

A recent letter starts with a false premise ("Insurance mandate not that unusual," Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 2).

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not mandate that people have health care. It mandates that people purchase health care insurance.

This is a very different thing, and many, including perhaps five of the nine Supreme Court justices, believe that a federal mandate for the purchase of insurance from private companies is an overreach of power as delineated in the U.S. Constitution. It is as simple as that.

There may be many laudable features incorporated in the ACA, but the law as written appears flawed.

Mark Felman
Kapolei

Isle Democratic Party underestimates voters

As a registered Democrat, I am appalled at the lack of consistency and confidence in the voters shown by the party’s State Central Committee with regard to Laura Thielen’s state Senate candidacy.

Exceptions to the rule that a candidate be registered six months prior to filing candidacy papers are authorized by the party’s constitution and have been granted before.

Is the committee afraid that the voters are not smart enough to determine whether a candidate would represent their interests and those of the Democratic Party?

Lynne Matusow of the committee implies just that in her statement that, "People were just becoming opportunists to … run in the party because they thought they couldn’t win if they ran and didn’t have a ‘D’ by their names."

Don’t sell us short.A vigorous primary is how voters learn about candidates in order to make informed decisions.My party’s preemption of this process in an arbitrary way is both an outrage and downright insulting.

Joedy Hu
Kailua

Wide public support apparently ignored

Why is it so hard to get a bill with overwhelming community support passed in the state of Hawaii?

Affectionately known as the Bag Bill, Senate Bill 2511 did not make it past Rep. Marcus Oshiro’s desk this past week. This bill had impressive support from both the business community and the public. Total testimony submitted for SB 2511: 259 in support, and a whopping nine opposed.

Oshiro’s office admits it was inundated with phone calls this past week asking him to send the bill to the Finance Committee for hearing. Did Oshiro listen to what the citizens of Hawaii wanted?

How do we get a bill passed? We called and emailed, we submitted testimony and we showed up for the hearings. None of this worked for SB 2511. Why?

Dorothy Clegg
Hawaii Kai