Rail is not only pressing issue

Rail is indeed a large issue that will dramatically affect Honolulu, but the emphasis put on this decision as far as electing our next mayor has become overblown.

Honolulu faces many pressing issues, and rail is only one of them. Honolulu media have pushed rail to the top of their agenda and left other issues by the wayside. Both sides of the rail issue have become so obsessed with their stance that they are likely to exaggerate or spin statistics to encourage the public to vote for their mayoral candidate.

Perhaps if the media had more stories on other issues Honolulu faces, such as education, the public would have more information to choose their candidate wisely.

Katie Nishikawa
Downtown Honolulu

Article ignored local families

Our nonprofit agency works with financially distressed families in an effort to help them avoid the loss of their homes to foreclosure.

Since 2008, more than 63 percent of the more than 12,000 people seeking our help have been financially derailed by unemployment or underemployment; 10 percent suffered uninsured medical crises; and 12 percent experienced divorce or separation.

They are painfully aware of the precarious state of their housing situation, but short of giving up all hope and abandoning ship, they’re left with few options other than to stay put and pray for a miracle in the form of loan modification.

In short, they in no way resemble the investor from California who was highlighted in Sunday’s article ("Law comes with deluge of problems," Star-Advertiser, Aug. 5). CCCS doesn’t see "deadbeats." Instead, we are inundated by families desperate to restore their sense of financial stability, keep their home and get back on track. They number in the thousands. It’s a shame these local families were not represented.

Wendy Burkholder
Executive director, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Hawaii

Why not accept rejected pact?

Regarding the standoff between the state and the teachers union, addressed in Richard Rand’s commentary ("HSTA should go back to bargaining table," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Aug. 5), I suggest that there is one crucial, specific question that remains unanswered:

What was so wrong with the contract agreed to by the state and teachers’ negotiators in late 2011 that the state now adamantly refuses to accept it?

Rand is certainly correct that once the teachers rejected the contract, there was no longer an open offer that they could later accept unilaterally and make into a binding contract.

But there is absolutely nothing that prevents the parties from taking a proposed but once-rejected agreement and saying, in effect, "Given the benefits of ending this bitter dispute and getting an agreement in place, we now accept the agreement we were willing to accept anyway just a few months ago."

Why is continued dispute and litigation preferable to the agreement that you wanted the teachers to approve just a few months ago?

David Webber
Nuuanu

Health care act attacks freedom

It comes as no surprise that the commentary, "Hawaii’s health care revolution and you" (Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Aug. 5), a transparently partisan piece about the "benefits" of the Affordable Care Act, was co-authored by three shining examples of state leaders in big government. ACA is arguably the most egregious attack on individual liberty in the nation’s history. And just what the heck is a "health transformation coordinator," anyway?

Steve Hinton
Haleiwa

Vote principles, not candidates

On Saturday, we will be voting for congressional, state and city representatives.I hope the voter turnout will be significant and not as anemic as in past elections.

Why? Most of those selected will have a face-off in the general election in November. This presidential election is about two conflicting cultures. These two cultures — further steps toward socialism, or further steps toward turning our country back to the Constitution and our historical roots — could not be more contrasting.

You can also cast the differences as promoting further dependence on big government, handouts and subsidies, or promoting policies and opportunities to independently improve your position in life by taking responsibility for your own decisions.

Vote for candidates who represent your choice between these two cultures and forget who the candidate are.

Tom Fragas
Kailua