Rail plans leading to mini-Honolulus

Our City Council recently voted 9-0 to approve a huge project, including five residential towers with 1,500 condo units at the old Kam Drive In in Aiea.

Of course, the zoning changes needed to proceed with this project were pushed through because of the"increased density" conceptassociated with the rail project and proposed nearby rail station.

Our leaders seem to think that building mini-Honolulus around each rail station is the way to go and that a large share of the folks living in these areas are going to walk down to the rail station each morning and get on the train for their daily commute.

I think we all know that this is unlikely to happen.

Several months ago we received a mail-in survey as well as telephone survey asking if we were likely to use the rail to commute to work, go shopping,for leisure activities, etc.

The funny thing is,we’ve never heard the results of those surveys. Could it be that theresults were not favorable to the rail projectand were simply buried somewhere?

Tim Stout
Aiea

Hawaiians can gain sovereignty on own

The reality is that a Hawaiian government is emerging, the Hawaiian people are uniting, wanting to learn and understand more about the overthrow and the political, economic, social and cultural aftermath.

I support whatKamana‘opono Crabbe did, in his capacity as a high official of the state of Hawaii.

Someone finally had the courage to ask the hard question.

Through my past experience with the federal government, the criminal (U.S.) will never give an opinion on the crime (the overthrow) it committed.

We do not need the U.S. government’s permission, advice or opinion to move forward.

What we need is to find a way to govern ourselves, and we don’t need a foreign system to do that, either.

The resolve will be through the Act 195 and the Hawaiian National Convention, which has more than 125,000 kanaka maoli signed up and ready to participate in the process.

Bumpy Kanahele
Waimanalo

Homeless a danger to our public health

The homeless are a public health problem who should be dealt with accordingly.

That is reason alone to have them removed from public areas.

Their living in squalor is a personal decision, despite resources, and should not be accepted by the community.

The homeless should not have a choice, and must be required to conformto live indesignated sanitary areas.

Paul Miller
Kaneohe

Little has changed after ‘crackdown’

Every Monday, I go to Kapiolani Park in Waikiki.

When I read the Star-Advertiser’s front-page headline, "Crackdown sweeps through Waikiki" (May 12) that reported hundreds of street people being arrested, I thought I’d truly notice a dramatic improvement this week.Yet little appears to have changed or improved.

The very same people, with their bags, carts and tents, remain entrenched exactly where they’ve been for months or longer.

What now?

Stephen Molnar
Kailua

Kudos to mayor for cleaning up Waikiki

As a resident, I walk the streets of Waikiki for a couple hours every day.

I have written to suggest that it be free of people living on the streets, who are begging, threatening others and sleeping on sidewalks or beside points of interest and the beach where tourists pay to come and play.

Kudos to the mayor, his staff and the police for finally bringing it about. I can hardly believe the difference that occurred over just a few day’s time.

Today I noticed tourists actually taking pictures at points of interest, where before they would have been unable to get close enough because of all the unseemly individuals occupying the space around them.

Keep it up, Mr. Mayor, and shame on the City Council and legislators for not providing funds to safeguard this most valuable center of our tourist industry.

Gordon Wolfe
Waikiki

State must block importation of bear

Caging and transporting bears from one venue to the next and exposing them to public contact is cruel ("Keep bear act out of state fair, group says," Star-Advertiser, May 9).

Bears shun contact with humans, and being subjected to constant interaction and close proximity with people is stressful and frightening.

They have no quality of life and are denied everything that is meaningful to them: the freedom to roam at will, foraging and exploring, and engaging in behaviors that are critical to their species.

Spokesperson Donna Smith of E.K. Fernandez Shows Inc., which operates the fair, said the company only deals with outfits that abide by government rules and regulations.

Yet public records show that the operators of A Grizzly Experience were cited by federal authorities for failing to properly secure a bear that escaped from his cage.

The exhibitor has also been cited for keeping a bear in an enclosure where an inspector measured the ambient temperature and humidity at 110 degrees.

The state fair must take decisive action to keep animal abuse off the midway.

Jennifer O’Connor
PETA Foundation