Submit water board to real authority

Kudos to City Councilman Ikaika Anderson for proposing oversight for the Honolulu Board of Water Supply ("Council seeks power over agency budgets," Star-Advertiser, Aug. 6). It is long, long overdue.

I don’t understand why or how it has maintained its semi-autonomous status for so long. That has allowed it to unilaterally raise water and sewage rates to consumers, tack on a bogus fee when changing to monthly billing, and give officials bonuses at taxpayer expense.

Let’s hope that the Council acts quickly and decisively to create an oversight mechanism with real authority.

Kent W. Comstock
Kailua

Road paving great but add 1 more fix

If you get over to the East side, take a drive through Mariner’s Cove. Our newly paved roads are wonderful.

On a recent afternoon there were kids playing, people jogging, boys skateboarding, families biking and parents pushing strollers with dogs in tow. And, yes, there were cars driving alongside.

I do have a suggestion for the crosswalk markings at the intersection of Hawaii Kai Drive and Lunalilo Home Road: Revert back to the old style of crosswalks, where the lines go the opposite direction. It’s a visual signal that you need to stop.

Perhaps the reason we have so many pedestrian fatalities is because we’ve changed to a crosswalk design that doesn’t have the same visual impact to drivers as the older crosswalk markings did. Anything to save a life is worth a try.

Lane Woodall
Hawaii Kai

Support of equality a test for Democrats

I’m straight and I’ve been the treasurer of the Hawaii Democratic Party GLBT (gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender) Caucus since 2005.

I’m a caucus officer because I went to a meeting and met a group of wonderful people.

What the issue regarding Sen. Mike Gabbard and Rep. Sharon Har boils down to is DINOs, or Democrats in Name Only.

Our nation’s founding documents say that all men (and women, too) are created equal. If elected public officials are unable to get behind their party’s goals, and find it difficult to represent all of the voters in their districts, including homosexuals — because we should all be better than that — then my advice is to resign from public office and seek other careers.

Thomas Dickey
Salt Lake

Hit back hard after terrorist attacks

I cannot believe that we closed our embassies because someone threatened us.

A platoon of our fighting men could hold off an attacking force until we bring to bear a massive punitive action.

A terrorist attack that is completely decimated would send the message that attacking our embassy would be like committing suicide.At the very least it would show that we will not be intimidated.

Warren Fukushima
Pearl City

Walkers at night should carry lights

Your editorial said to walk wise, arrive alive ("Pedestrian safety everyone’s kuleana," Star-Advertiser, Our View, July 25). That’s very fine.

I wish to add one small suggestion: Walkers at night should walk with a lighted flashlight, swinging it forward and backward so they will be viewed by cyclists, drivers and other pedestrians.

Paul Maligro
Ewa Beach

City officials should ride bus themselves

I challenge the mayor and City Council to ride TheBus exclusively for one week and experience what thousands of us do daily.

Live far from a bus line? Walk to it and then transfer two or three times to your destination.

Look at the old man with a cane and leg brace unable to sit, as every seat is already taken by other elderly and disabled.

Observe the shortage of vertical poles and short people struggling to reach the horizontal overhead bar.

Catch the old lady tripping over the walker of another.

Pack your groceries carefully into one small folding cart, struggle to stand with it in the packed aisle and wonder if the refrigerated and frozen items will be safe to eat after a half-hour wait in the hot sun.

Take a No. 2 Waikiki bus and listen to tourists complain. After alighting, brush off the bug that jumped on you from the unhygienic person who was pressed against you.

Will they accept the challenge?

Emerence West
Makiki

Does law allow cops to drink and carry?

How interesting that one can be armed while on duty and drinking.

Are there any law enforcement manuals, be it federal, state or county, that allow one to drink with a handgun regardless of being drunk or not?

Is murder defendant Christopher Deedy not a trained professional? Discharging a gun versus using bare hands is reasonable force? Auwe.

Berni Chu
Hawaii Kai

Effort to cut traffic good but overdue

"(State) transportation officials say they are working with city officials to time the traffic lights on surface roads …" ("Night work on H-1 likely to entangle traffic for up to a year," Star-Advertiser, July 26).

Presumably, this is to reduce traffic congestion due to increased usage during construction.

It also impliesthis is something that could have been done years ago to reduce traffic congestion, at the very least during peak hours. The question is why it hasn’t already been done.

Joseph A. Holtzmann
Pearl City