Hawaii hooked on government

The headline said, "Economic harm looms for isles after shutdown" (Star-Advertiser, Oct. 21).

Oh really? Could that be because for 50 years the great Sen. Daniel Inouye and the Hawaii Democrats in Congress have managed to create a federal fiefdom that is incapable of standing on its own without being propped up by federal government largess?

Could that be because Hawaii has more federal, state and city government employees per capita than other states, many of whom are indirectly paid by federal dollars? This despite the fact that Hawaii is arguably the most desirable and sought-after vacation destination in the entire world.

Jack M. Schmidt, Jr.
Kailua

Install window air conditioners

The Legislature and governor said it will take three to five years to plan and install central air conditioners into our public schools. So what is wrong with installing window air conditioners into classrooms that need it now?

This solution would be much easier to install; does not need mechanical engineering planning; major planning and construction; be less expensive thus making is easier to approve it quicker. Central air conditioning will be way more expensive and take a longer time to be approved.

Maybe we should take away the governor’s and legislators’ office air conditioners for three to seven years and see how productive they are. If we made our politicians work in 90-plus-degree heat, I guarantee we would see air conditioners in our schools installed very quickly.

Jeffrey Ung
Wilhelmina Rise

No rush to build in Kakaako

What’s the rush?

On a KHET-TV Insight panel discussion in June, Anthony Ching, executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, offered a vision of Kakaako where residents would live, work, play and learn with less driving and more walking or bicycling.

The phrase "pedestrian-oriented development" was coined. The vision discouraged shortsightedness of developers who wall projects off with curb cuts and parking structures that butt up against streets.

The vision advocated complete streets and pedestrian-friendly experiences.

801 South Street, Phase 2 appears to be a short-sighted development. An over-massed parking tower and an unaesthetic 46-story condominium are being squeezed alongside another monster garage and 46-story condominium.

The project offers no sense of connectivity to the Kakaako community and has an unfriendly pedestrian experience.

Yet, the HCDA is determined to get the project approved in early December 2013. Instead, the HCDA should consult with our Legislature in January 2014.

Ronald Okamura
Waikiki

Public loses in special session

The legislative process has been circumvented. Our governor ignored both the Senate and the House members who didn’t want this important issue of same-sex marriage to be decided in the limited amount of time afforded in a special session.

Whichever side of the issue you fall on, the people of Hawaii are being short-changed.

Stop trying to fool the public with a religious exemption smokescreen and focus on the real issue, which is: "Let the people decide!"

Margaret Peary
Mililani Mauka

Support healthy relationships

I am a member of the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, and I share the commitment of our membership to promoting compassion, justice and joy. We are especially able to experience these values in our relations with our same-sex couple fellow members.

The good feelings this experience has involved has been particularly due to the healthy, loving relationships we see, for ourselves, these couples having with each other, with the other church members, and with their children, and the resulting healthy development of those children.

These couples’ positive rearing of their children is very much in line with strong evidence of the generally favorable effects of same-sex couples on their children’s development.

In an Australian study, 500 Australian same-sex-couple kids on an attitude questionnaire showed up as being as healthy, or healthier, in a number of respects, as non-same-sex-couple kids.

James Lomont
Kailua