Judge is right about planned rail route

Thanks to U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway for reminding us of the obvious: The current rail route is designed mainly to serve those who will profit from its construction.

It doesn’t serve people traveling to the airport, Waikiki or the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus.

It reminds me of the route of the H-3 highway, with its original purpose of serving the military by connecting Pearl Harbor and the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station.

If the citizens of Oahu receive any benefit from the rail system, it will be incidental to the lucrative gains obtained by developers and real estate owners.

John Wythe White
Haleiwa

Judicial branch not for making policy

U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway would determine the rail transit route and force the city to raise property taxes without the consent of voters or duly elected leaders?

What next?

I don’t believe our forefathers had this in mind when the judicial branch of government was formed.

Roy Kamisato
Niu Valley

Greedy corporations driving globalization

I liked the letter, "Good U.S. jobs lost to globalization" (Star-Advertiser, July 11), because the writer is correct: Many of those lost jobs will never return.

The reason Walmart and other outlets can sell us so many things cheaply is because those things are made overseas where raw material costs and wages are much lower than in the U.S.

The writer mainly blamed the government for "imposing" globalization (I guess through its free-trade policies encouraging outsourcing). But finally, at the end of his letter, he wisely mentions "greedy corporations." While government has played a role, globalization is mainly an economic process driven by corporations and financial institutions.

It has been going on for centuries, but it has recently intensified and accelerated to the point where Iwonder how long Americans will be able to continue to buy things, even at Walmart, if our economic production keeps declining.

Like in Hawaii, for example?

David Chappell
Kaneohe

Homeless have right to keep their things

Surely the homeless have the right not to be subject to unreasonable seizures of their property, as all citizens have under the Constitution.

Everyone has treasured things that they cling to and seek consolation from when times are tough. How much more important such mementos must be to those who have lost their homes. Or is the shameful treatment of the homeless described by Michael Groholski all for the sake of business ("Homeless being treated shamefully," Star-Advertiser, Letters, July 11)?

Woe and shame to these isles, now like the mainland, for the sake of business.

Peter Barmus
Kailua

Cut pay of politicians to avoid raising taxes

The pay raises for police, bus drivers and teachers are justified.

Not justified are raises for CEOs and politicians. As a matter of fact, I would suggest a major pay cut for them. Politicians seem to be eager to stay in their job until they drop into the grave, so I assume it must be very easy and not stressful at all.

Do not burden us with more taxes, and get rid of the looming albatross that is the rail transit system. And don’t think that federal contributions are free Monopoly money. Taxpayers pay for the federal contributions to any state.

Ursula Meyer
Hawaii Kai

Don’t blame police for higher taxes

David Shapiro’s "Volcanic Ash" column every Wednesday in the Star-Advertiser is a must-read example of excellent journalism. He offers clear and unbiased analysis of the politics of Hawaii.

This past Wednesday, he brought the 16.8 percent police pay raise headline that caused a knee-jerk emotional reaction back to reality ("Brouhaha over police raises just a pretext to raise taxes," Star-Advertiser, July 10).

The reality of the agreement is a 4.2 percent raise per year over four years. This is a 0.2 percentage point increase over the 4 percent awarded the much larger Hawaii Government Employees Association and United Public Worker unions. This 4.2 percent raise a year will not put much in the pocket of the police officer (who puts his life on the line for us) to pay his rising utility bills, mortgages and grocery bills. Don’t blame the police for higher taxes.

Marianne H. Au
Waialae-Kahala

Hawaii should adopt clean-elections plan

Will Hawaii County’s "clean elections" program survive?

This will be decided by the state Campaign Spending Commission by Sept. 1.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, money is flooding into campaigns. Those who buy the expensive TV ads, robo-calls, mailers and public relations can anonymously control the results of elections.

The antidote to this threat to democracy is Hawaii County’s successful clean elections pilot program. But clean elections have hidden enemies.At the last minute, a conference committee of the 2013 Legislature stopped the program from being available statewide.

There is more than $3 million in the public elections fund (accumulated from our $3 donations on tax forms). The 2012 Big Island clean elections cost less than 7 percent of the money in the fund.If our legislators won’t support clean elections — and the commission doesn’t renew them for 2014 — who’ll be running the government?Will it be the corporate rich or "we the people"?

Noelie Rodriguez
Ninole, Hawaii island

Motorized vehicles break the rules, too

As an American who uses a bicycle as his sole means of commuting, I understand that my actions marginalize me in the worldview of my neighbors, and I accept the consequences. I am one; they are many.

However, when I dodge the increasing number of mopeds and scooters on the designated bike/ pedestrian trails on Oahu, I have to wonder just how much I must concede to the horse-powered. This morning, a new low: An SUV scof-flaw was barreling down the Pearl Harbor bike path like it was H-1.

I agree that it’s both lawful and sensible for bicycles to stay off the interstate highways and therefore ride accordingly. Why won’t motorized vehicles do the same on the bike and pedestrian trails?

Chris Matz
Pearl City

Smoking ban will be difficult to enforce

Three of the first things I learned when I was given a combination of responsibility and authority were:

» Don’t make rules you can’t (or don’t intend to) enforce.

» Don’t misuse scarce resources (such as the police) by diverting them from their primary purpose (safety and law enforcement).

» Don’t make a new policy that only draws attention to your inability to administer existing policies which, if enforced, already do the job.

The recently "enhanced" smoking ban violates all three and only highlights city government’s ability to waste both time and money while ignoring (or poorly prioritizing) core issues which actually require their consideration and action.

I guess we get what we deserve but I really thought we deserved better.

Paul Scheftel
Kailua

FROM THE FORUM

“Bumbling mars effort to tally, ID missing GIs,” Star-Advertiser, July 8:
>> Why has this expensive project been allowed to go on for so long with no results? Hundreds of millions of dollars down the drain.
>> It’s never a surprise when a government program fails to meet its objective. It’s usually the norm. The bottom line is, when there’s no accountability there’s no performance.
>> The basic facts of this poorly written article are that the field work isn’t being conducted scientifically, North Korea lies to us to get money, and JPAC (the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command) is dysfunctional. News flash: The wars were not fought scientifically, North Korea lies about everything, and all joint operations are dysfunctional.
>> This story is a great disservice to the military and civilian members of JPAC whom I have personally witnessed spend 10-12 hours days working their butts off in the worst conditions imaginable to bring closure to the families of our missing.
———

“Bill seeks leeway for judges in felony drug cases,” Star-Advertiser, July 9:
>> This is common sense applied to justice! Come on, people! Let’s all call the governor today and let him know we see it as such.
>> The reason we have mandatory minimums is because it used to be up to the courts and they blew it.
———

“City fills post of chief medical examiner,” Star-Advertiser, July 8:
>> Don’t worry, Be Happy.
>> We will see how happy Dr. Christopher Happy is after a few months on the job.
———

“Electronic cigarettes are gaining ground on traditional smokes, but they are still controversial,” Star-Advertiser, July 9:
>> Without the second-hand smoke argument, there seems to be no rationale for restricted use other than it’s bad for the user.
>> I would rather see people smoking these types of cigarettes with no smell, but it was really bad watching a movie at Kapolei Theaters at 9:45 pm Saturday and this guy lights the thing up about four times with no respect for nothing.
———

“Ige announces run for governor,” Star-Advertiser, July 10:
>> Go for it! Gov. Neil Abercrombie has been a big disappointment.
>> If Ige can get the word out with a really good grassroots campaign, including social media, and is convincing that he is the best choice, he may be our next governor.
>> “I’m an engineer by profession,” Ige said. No, sorry … you’re a state politician by profession. And after securing your nice taxpayer-funded pension, you decided to stick your neck out to “try something new.” Still, any challenge to an incumbent in welcomed.
———

“Mokulele Airlines wins $1.76M federal contract for Waimea service,”
Star-Advertiser, July 10:
>> The reason the federal government is subsidizing this route is because the trips are not economically feasible. I
already work hard enough to subsidize people who will not work, pay farmers not to plant certain crops, subsidize “poor” peoples’ cell phones and land lines, ad nauseum. This is why this country will never dig itself out of the financial hole that our politicians have dug for us.
>> How many passengers fly between Waimea and Kahului? Why not use the Kona airport?
>> Its 55 miles from Waimea Airport to Kona Airport one way. Kaiser, which has lots of patients on the Big Island, now flies a lot of its patients to Maui for medical reasons instead of Oahu. A lot ot these patients are old and feeble.
———

“Ewa Development Plan OK’d despite project’s opposition,” Star-Advertiser, July 11:
>>  The whole thing boils down to population growth and supply and demand for housing.
>> Demand for housing? I thought that’s what Kakaako is for.
———

“Zoning change for Koa Ridge wins approval,” Star-Advertiser, July 11:
>> All of this has been planned for decades and now with the right Council people and land board commissioners, everything is in place to make the final push.
>> The current Mililani Mauka traffic is horrible. I hope the state Department of Transportation makes sure that the developer does a better job for these homeowners. The ones in Mililani are not happy at all.
>> Let’s hope that many people will work in that area at the new hospital and schools and other jobs.