Obama library here would benefit many

I’m proud to be a part of the team that produced Hawaii’s bid for the Obama Presidential Library.

What I’m most proud of is that this has been a unified, collaborative effort, involving the University of Hawaii, our last two governors and lieutenant governors, our four mayors, our entire congressional delegation, the state Legislature, the City Council and education, business and community leaders across the islands.

Institutions such as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the East-West Center, Castle Foundation, Kamehameha Schools, Punahou School, the state Department of Education, the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the Hawaii Tourism Authority and the Hawaii Government Employees Association, among others, have been trusted partners in this initiative.

Together, we’ve developed and are recommending programs that would benefit our residents and our visitors: a K-12 Leadership Academy, an action-oriented Convening Institute, a Center of Community Organizing and an engaging, interactive Visitor Center.

It’s OK we’re the underdogs, as some have suggested. It’s reminiscent of another underdog — from the 2008 election. All Barack Obama did was become our nation’s 44th president, and the first from Hawaii.

Avelino "A.J." Halagao Jr.
Hawaii Presidential Center Initiative

Kakaako waterfront should remain open

I am opposed to building the Obama presidential library on the one-of-a-kind Kakaako waterfront area, which should be reserved for outdoor activities, not libraries and medical schools.

Just like the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation claiming that thousands of tourists will be riding the rail, the library promotors claim that thousands of tourists will visit the library.

Wrong on both.

Tourists will want to spend their limited, expensive time here enjoying our outdoors, weather, beaches and scenery, not sitting indoors looking at things they can see online at home.

We are continually being pressured to develop our limited agricultural lands and shorelines, mostly for outsiders’ profits. This will not stop until it is all gone.

Our government officials keep saying that we need to protect it all — but they don’t.

Fred Metcalf
Kalihi

Many questions about NextEra bid for HEI

Recent Star-Advertiser articles have highlighted the significance of the proposed Hawaiian Electric Industries purchase.

Foremost, Hawaii residents would be best served by a publicly owned utility focused on energy distribution rather than one privately owned, generating energy for profit.

We have an opportunity to make that choice.

Second are these concerns:

» NextEra’s large interests in nuclear power and natural gas, in direct conflict with our state’s energy goals (reducing fossil fuel usage and increasing use of local, renewable sources);

» NextEra favors decreasing individual photovoltaic systems, not supporting them alongside large-scale projects;

» NextEra’s history of eliminating local staff to lower customer costs;

» The uncertainty of a Florida-based company understanding our energy needs, goals, and community and environmental concerns.

We must urge the state Public Utilities Commission to seriously consider rejecting the NextEra proposal. We can rely on local people to solve our local energy needs.

John and Marian Heidel and Melody Heidel
Kailua

Sony should have rejected movie script

There is much more to the story about Sony’s production of the motion picture, "The Interview," than free-speech issues.

The film is a comedy about a fictional CIA plan to assassinate North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un. Any rational person would see the film as a spoof.

The problem is that the leaders of North Korea are paranoid. Sony has reminded and taunted North Korea’s irrational leaders about a familiar CIA scenario: reputed plots to assassinate heads of state such as Patrice Lumumba (Congo), Ngo Dinh Diem (South Vietnam), Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic) and Fidel Castro (Cuba).

Films produced in North Korea are certainly sanctioned by their government and they likely see us as operating under the same aegis.

This film easily can be seen by them as a veiled threat by the United States and Sony as unwittingly engaging in international relations.

Sony should have had its wits about it and passed on the script.

Joe Gedan
Makiki

FROM THE FORUM

Readers of the Star-Advertiser’s online edition can respond to stories posted there. The following are some of those. Instead of names, pseudonyms are generally used online. They have been removed.

“Oahu gas under $3 a gallon but isles still pay most in U.S.,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 15:

>> The real story is taxes and Hawaii wets its beak with every drop of gas that goes in your tank.

>> What goes down will come up sooner rather than later.

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“Sales of macadamias soar in Korea after nut rage,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 15:

>> So this was all a clever marketing ploy by Mauna Loa? Good job!

>> The Hawaii tourism bureau should capitalize on the buzz. Hawaii should offer nut tours for Korean tourists. Chartered flight from Korea to Hawaii, complete with arrogant first-class passengers, kneeling flight attendants and complimentary macadamias for everyone.

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“Mac nuts now all the rage,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 16:

>> However much Mauna Loa paid Ms. Cho for this publicity stunt, it was well worth it. Very creative marketing ploy, soon to be a case study at Harvard Business School, I’m sure!

>> Yep, they found their new spokeswoman since she’s looking for a new job now.

>> If another spoiled child of an elite can be induced to launch a poke bowl at a minion on an airliner, the Hawaii economy will soar. Perhaps one of the princelings will be accommodating.

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“Rich and famous find ‘perfect’ playground,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 16:

>> Ahhh, paradise sold to those who can pay out the piper.

>> Heck, if I had bucks I’d buy. Who wouldn’t?

>> Let’s just hope they keep the land for their own privacy and don’t sell it off to developers. 

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“Police chief’s mailbox lands on FBI radar,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 17:

>> The Honolulu Police Commission is like the Hawaii Community Development Authority: a rubber stamp, pure and simple. The FBI is our only hope against police corruption. And where the heck is smiling Mayor Kirk Caldwell? Riding his bike on King Street?

>> What’s bothersome is that Police Commissioner Ron Taketa is stating he has full faith in the chief and believes him 110 percent before the hearings have even taken place. His statements supporting the chief make him look absolutely ridiculous and unprofessional. Why bother with the shibai hearings?

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“Accused teachers linger on paid leave,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 17:

>> The Board of Education should set a time limit on investigations. I believe that if investigators are doing the job they’re paid to do it should take no longer than 30 days to complete an investigation. 

>> How much does it cost the Department of Education to have 22 teachers on paid leave — and pay for substitute teachers to run their classes while they are out? It is obvious that it would cost less to hire a few more investigators than to continue paying teachers and other DOE employees to stay home while waiting for investigations to be completed. 

>> Cost is never an issue for DOE bureaucrats. And why not? Because it is not out of their pockets. It is money that has been fleeced from docile, apathetic taxpayers who don’t seem to care that top dollar is being paid to warehouse children, not educate them.

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“Commission awaits ‘higher authorities’,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 18:

>> As for the Police Commission waiting, that’s a cop out. The commission just doesn’t want to be accountable.

>> Wow! They really want to blame the newspaper and TV news for reporting their bad behavior and crimes? Our Police Commission is clearly another useless, rubber-stamp city bureaucracy. If the commissioners aren’t going to do their job and investigate, can we just disband them?

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“Isle residents see electric bills shrink,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 18:

>> This has nothing to do with cost of fuel (i.e., generation side) but everything to do with distribution cost. Even if Hawaiian Electric paid $0 for its fuel, the cost of electricity would still be sky-high here. The grid is extremely expensive to maintain and operate regardless of the cost of the fuel used.

>> Woo hoo! $6! Yes! Now I can buy a $5 footlong. Oh, wait. It’s $7 in Hawaii?

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“Visitors flow to see lava at Pahoa,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 18:

>> There are some unique philosophical thoughts that may occur when a lava flow moves into an urban area. It is not all just rubbernecking. There may be no true silver lining on this situation, and it is nice to see the visitor industry given an opportunity to capitalize on customer demand. The forces of nature/Pele are awesome and deep.