Pedestrian safety not accomplished

The myopic, callous arrogance of Amarjit Singh is dismaying ("Now it’s time to rein in arrogant pedestrians," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, July 21). Is this the attitude our young engineers are being taught?

The mission to improve pedestrian safety has not been accomplished. As of last year, Hawaii still ranked first in the nation for senior-age pedestrian fatalities and 13th for pedestrian fatalities among all age groups.

According to the state Department of Transportation, the most common crash involving a pedestrian was crossing in a crosswalk, followed by pedestrians crossing with no crosswalk and outside of a crosswalk.

More important, his answer to "who really owns the road" is wrong. The public owns the roads, not people who drive cars. The state and city have passed laws for "complete streets," which require transportation agencies to develop and redesign roadways to accommodate everyone — not only motorists, but pedestrians, bicyclists and public transit users, too.

Singh should leave public policy to those who care about the public and focus on modernizing his lessons.

Scott Glenn
Downtown Honolulu

Power to tax needs to be limited more

At the beginning of our civilization, we bartered, exchanging our goods and services.

As our civilization advanced, we created small forms of government, which grew larger and larger with increased powers and controls, and increased taxes.

Such actions created disincentives to work, produce or build, weakening the inner strength of many individuals and our society as a whole, eventually leading toward the destruction of our once great, growing nation.

To prevent further destruction, one of the first steps is to enact a two-term limit for all elected and appointed government officials.

Next, overhaul our ethics, impeachment and criminal laws, ending all exemptions for anyone in our society, including elected and appointed officials.

We need to reduce the size of governments and its powers, especially its powers to tax.We must revert to a society of and by the people, not in the hands of a group of people who seek wealth and power at the expense of individuals within our society.

Wilbert Wong Sr.
Kaneohe

Stop punishing Hawaii’s homeless

Why can’t our state and city leaders just admit that Hawaii won’t even come close to providing enough affordable housing needed in the near future?

There’s a much better, far less expensive, more realistic, smarter solution: small but sturdy, secure and waterproof plastic sheds, for less than $800 each, with windows and sunroofs, located on vacant public land.

In homeless-friendly, resident-maintained and secured safe zones (and for a lot less money than is now being otherwise tragically wasted and lost), communal restrooms, showers and cooking facilities could be swiftly and relatively inexpensively built.

Hawaii can stop the very self-destructive and small-minded behavior of foolishly punishing the homeless. Instead, help these deeply humbled folks regain a sense of dignity, health and well-being, thus helping all Hawaiians live a better life.

David B. Cannell
Waipahu

Espero should quit his current position

Sen. Willie Espero would do well to show some respect for his constituents as he runs for U.S. Congress ("Espero to tout experience in primary candidacy for U.S. House seat," Star-Advertiser, July 21).

He and all the other congressional wannabes who are currently drawing a state or city paycheck need to resign their current offices instead of short-changing their constituents.

Not only would their resignations demonstrate their commitment to the higher office, it would allow appointment of replacements to do the work of their constituents and save the expense of a special election.

Why should we pay them to run for another office?

Garry P. Smith
Ewa Beach

An armed society is a polite society?

If Trayvon Martin had had his own gun, would the incident involving him and George Zimmerman been avoided, or would it have been much, much worse?

John Cheever
Kalani Valley

Don’t change lanes in an intersection

Changing lanes in an intersection is illegal and dangerous.

I see it happen so much that maybe Honolulu drivers think it’s perfectly legal.

To educate the public, the Honolulu Police Department ought to start ticketing for this.

I can recommend a great spot to catch reckless drivers — the corner of Pensacola and Waima-nu. People change lanes in the intersection and cross a solid white line, both in an attempt to cut in line and get a better position to turn left on to Piikoi.

Another great spot is the Young and McCully intersection. Tour buses trying to cut in line for the freeway are notorious for this rude and dangerous behavior, but private motorists do it, too.

Justin Hahn
Moiliili

Immigrants best off if they learn English

Sorry, enough is enough ("Petition urges changes to license exam," Star-Advertiser, July 20).

This is the United States. And even if we were still a monarchy, the only languages for Hawaii should be English and Hawaiian.

Grandparents of people my age, all came from Europe or Asia and had to learn English in order to survive. And they did it.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Joan Huber
Diamond Head