Ratepayers should be HECO’s owners

Hawaiian Electric Industries’ surprise announcement of its sale to NextEra Energy is just the latest in a series of disingenuous moves confirming the fact that HEI holds the interest of its stockholders above that of the ratepayers it is supposed to serve.

That should come as no surprise, since the function of a corporation is to maximize the profit of its shareholders. But, why should we believe that a corporation from Florida, a state with a poor renewable energy record, will be any better?

Now is the time to create a new Hawaiian Public Electric Utility with a 21st century business model — one that takes full advantage of the latest technologies, including renewable and distributed generation, smart metering, time-of-use pricing, grid energy storage, and energy conservation at all levels.

The most progressive utilities in the country are owned by the people they serve. We deserve nothing less.

Alan Ewell
Tantalus

Mopeds are noisy and dangerous

Monday morning I was using a crosswalk. I waited until there was some space so that cars coming from both directions could slow and stop safely. There was a moped rider behind a car and instead of slowing and stopping, he gunned his motor, whipped around the stopped car and went through the intersection fewer than 5 feet from me, nearly running me over.

I yelled at him and he yelled an obscenity back at me and kept going. In our neighborhood, mopeds are speeding and ridden dangerously, are incredibly noisy, leave trails of smoke and park illegally. No one seems to know how to control them. I am sick of them. They should be banned.

Moped riders can take the bus.

David Vornholt
Kapahulu

Encourage building of mobile homes

The city should consider mobile-home parks as a truly affordable rental housing option for low-income residents to help Oahu’s homeless problem.

There are areas of land that could be privately developed and managed as mobile-home parks. Tax incentives could be extended to mobile-home park developers just as they are to other developers who build high-rises with portions of the residences earmarked as "affordable housing."

Oahu needs truly affordable housing that could be afforded by a single person working a retail job in addition to alleviating the homeless situation. The law needs to be changed to allow for the development of mobile-home parks in specified areas. It’s time to focus on what is truly helpful to residents for a change.

Kalei Schoenstein
Hawaii Kai

Only magic will get rid of the homeless

Mayor Kirk Caldwell got his sit-lie bill passedafter making parks off limits and blocking Thomas Square with planter boxes.

Raids by city crewshave taken most of the possessions of the homeless, as well as their IDs and birth certificates.Those without IDscan’t get into the Institute for Human Services or housing.

Caldwellobviously is catering to tourism, which we need, but also to the youngprofessional and wealthy who will surely move hereto buythe expensive condos under construction. Hence the real reason forthat new King Street Cycle Track.

Now that the poor and homeless can only stand in place, he’s going to need to hire a magician to make each one go "poof." Otherwise, his major goals of putting Honolulu and Waikiki back on the map for mainland retirees, wealthy Japanese and Chinese nationals, plusattracting more professionals, will never be met.

Cassandra "Sandy" Aoki
Kaneohe

Kudos to Suzuki for lighting decorations

Thank you for the story about Sheryl Quon Suzuki, a graphic designer at the Honolulu Board of Water Supply ("Light reign comes to an end," Star-Advertiser, Dec. 5).

Kudos to her for her more than two decades of creating beautiful outdoor light displays at the downtown BWS building and on the truck that is part of the Honolulu City Lights Electric Light Parade. I have admired and appreciated her displays each Christmas season, and now the public knows who has been responsible and can say mahalo.

I wish her well in her retirement and trust she has trained colleagues to continue this beautiful holiday tradition.

Peggy Lau
Wilhelmina Rise

Ho‘opili OK reflects flawed process

I had been thinking that the Ho‘opili housing development was a settled issue, so I was surprised to find that there were more hearings before final approval.

Maybe with the new administration on board, it might be possible to re-visit the flawed process by which the previous approvals have been granted, and save the best agricultural land in the state from development.

In particular I am referring to the testimony from the state Department of Transportation that there would be minimal impact from the development, and the testimony from the Department of Agriculture supporting the project as it lies within the urban core.

Once these precious and irreplaceable lands are developed, they will forever be lost to agriculture.

Furthermore, the combined addition to traffic from Ho‘opili and Koa Ridge will not be minimal, with upwards of 30,000 cars per day added west of the H1-H2 merge.

Jack Arnest
Maunalani Heights