Public, not city, was ‘sucker punched’

Your declaration that the rail plan was "sucker punched" by the state Supreme Court does you no credit ("Disrespect to iwi isn’t rail’s intent," Star-Advertiser, Our View, Aug. 28). It displays your willingness to ignore the law when doing so suits your prejudices. This is unconscionable behavior for Hawaii’s only statewide print news daily. The Supreme Court applied the law. If anyone has been "sucker punched" in the increasingly sordid rail affair, it is the people of Oahu.

Peter Glick
Honolulu

Anti-rail activists ignore future needs

Here we go again! Opponents to rail will stop at nothing to ensure the project is killed, no matter the stakes and collateral damage.

It’s a shame that some are hell-bent on destroying a project that actually is looking to control future growth to help preserve the sustainability of Oahu in the long term. We have to be realistic. Growth will happen.

Rail is not perfect, and no project of this magnitude ever is — but more importantly, we are taking the initiative and moving forward. Experts in their fields have been working on this for years. Don’t let us throw all their hard work down the drain.

If rail does not move forward, then 10 or 20 years from now, for those of us still around, will we be looking back as we do now and say, "What were they thinking, to not do something when they could have?"

Ben Robinson
Honolulu

Kawaiaha‘o Church iwi are sacred, too

I am no fan of rail. However, I must ask, which is worse: accidentally uncovering long-forgotten unidentifiable iwi or knowingly and willingly digging up more than 100 known, identified and beloved family members in the name of progress?

The burial grounds of the Westminster of the Pacific, Kawaiaha‘o Church, are sacred. Many of the alii are entombed there. These final resting places are dug up, disturbed and the remains reburied. What credibility does the Hawaiian community have when it disrespects its ancestors in this way?

Maybe those in authority at Kawaiaha‘o can make room for the forgotten iwi that may be finally found and give them a respectful undisturbed place to rest in peace.

Pauline Arellano
Mililani

Bus routes should go to Waikiki Beach

Manoa, Palolo, St. Louis Heights and all the mountain and valley neighborhoods ought to be connected by TheBus to Waikiki Beach. The Nos. 9, 6, 4 and 14 should take residents to the beach and back. Not just to the mall, or to work, but to the beach and back. As long as we continue to elect Democrats, Republicans and business insiders, this can never happen. We are cut off from our beach — and parking will forever be a mess — because they prefer to drive.

Patricia Jo Longo
Palolo

PLDC a windfall for private partners

The Public Land Development Corp., created by Act 55, will likely turn out to be an expensive mistake, for the following reasons:

The board and managers of the PLDC will be neither financially rewarded for its success, nor penalized for its failure. They will therefore be tempted to reward private partners, anticipating more lucrative employment in the private sector when their terms are over.

Act 55 states that the PLDC is allowed to make a direct investment only if professional investors are unwilling. The PLDC is thus encouraged to invest directly in enterprises that sophisticated investors regard as likely to fail.

The PLDC cannot invest more than $500,000 in any enterprise unless it is likely to fail without an additional injection of capital. In other words, the PLDC must limit its investment in successful enterprises, but is not required to cut its losses in failing enterprises. Also, the PLDC cannot have a controlling interest in any enterprise unless it shows signs of failure.

In summary, the PLDC appears to be a vehicle for allowing developers risk-free access to public funds as well as public lands.

Neil Frazer
Kailua

Sewer project belongs on Mokapu

Edwin Uyehara, while aware of his neighbors’ safety and environmental concerns, makes property values a top priority when saying that a sewer project should stay off his street ("No wastewater along Mokapu," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 24). Those living at the base of Oneawa Hills are not facing the impacts to be felt by those closer to the project.

A sewer tunnel inside Oneawa Hills, involving blasting and boring, can cause damaging vibrations. Test borings by expert soil engineers at each end of the tunnel provide only limited knowledge of this remnant crater rim’s interior and demands a critical review of both geology and hydrology before any digging begins.

Fearmongering better describes the city telling Kaneohe Bay Drive residents and boaters that the project’s first choice was a pipe across Kaneohe Bay, quickly followed by the hill alternative. Had hill residents been included, they would have joined numerous environmental impact statement participants who voiced strong support to use Mokapu Boulevard.

Nancy Liedke
Kailua