Let’s hope Schatz controls spending

Every government should make a New Year’s resolution to end the practice of governing by fear.

This was the hope that U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz had in 2006, when he saw a star in the rising and became one of President Barack Obama’s earliest supporters.Schatz had hope that one day our country would stop living in fear.

After being named to theSenate Committee on Appropriations, we may be witnessing a new rising star.

Schatz will be on the committee that decides on funding levels for government departments, agencies and organizations. This is the same committee that has nearly bankrupted our country by spending more than we can afford.

Let’s hopeSchatzwill be a fiscally responsible voice on our future spending, because it’s going to take a long time to pay back $18 trillion and counting.

Cheers to a New Year and all of our resolutions!

Alex Haller
Haiku, Maui

Kailua residents get lesson in karma

What goes around, comes around.

The traffic problem is a "bachi" on Kailua for its NIMBY behavior of the past few years.

First, you can’t rent a kayak on Kailua Beach, then the Japanese are dropped off by the busload each morning for a full day of walking around a part of the island that has no real entertainment for them.

And let’s not forget about the fight against a Target Store coming into the area. Then there are the illegal bed-and-breakfast operations in the area.

The area’s residents deserve all of it for trying to be so self-serving.

The "roundabout" for traffic? There isn’t enough space to make it work.You need at least two lanes of space aroundit to make it work and no one in Kailua will accept that.

Yes, I lived in Kailua for several years before getting out.

Michael Duncan
Kaneohe

Not all sports teams reported on equally

The Dec. 27 Sports section had a full page of pictures and reporting on two basketball teams in tournaments.

That just isn’t fair and seems a little biased.

The other teams may not be as prestige-focused as the Punahou Invitational, but still, the players would be thrilled to have their names and teams mentioned in the Star-Advertiser.

What about some of the smaller schools on Oahu or the team from Maui that spent months fundraising in order to pay for the trip? They also played.

Roselyn Locke
Downtown Honolulu

Moratorium on rail is an excellent idea

Rail has flunked nearly every test, says Dennis Callan ("With the reasons for rail failing, let’s stop and reconsider," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Jan. 1).

Rail is heavy steel-on-steel technology that has no place in the 21st century. A $700 million cost overrun is just the latest development in the saga of cost overruns and missed deadlines. How much longer are our elected officials going to shovel taxpayers’ money into the black hole that is rail?

I support Callan’s call for a moratorium on construction so we can assess the damage and come up with ideas that truly will bring traffic relief without mortgaging the future of our grandchildren.

Rike Weiss
Niu Valley

Rail a boondoggle from the beginning

Is anybody surprised that the ridiculous rail project could be $700 million over budget?

Rail has been a giant boondoggle from the start. This becomes more apparent daily as cost overruns expand and the "construction traffic" gets worse.

Originally touted as connecting Kapolei as the second city, rail has actually been stealthily focused on turning Kakaako into our second city.

Instead of distributing growth toward the Ewa Plain, more development floods into the already overcrowded central corridor.

Who benefits from all this? That unholy alliance of offshore buyers, labor unions, developers and politicians who pander to them.

Pro-rail Mayor Kirk Caldwell has at least refrained from diverting funds from our excellent bus system to the dubious rail project. But Hawaii’s best hope for a sane, affordable and livable future is Gov. David Ige’s understated approach. He follows a positive pattern of Govs. George Ariyoshi and Ben Cayetano, who really cared about Hawaii’s essence.

Dare we hope for a return to "quiet but effective" governance?

Bradley A. Coates
Downtown Honolulu

Immigrants don’t deserve right to vote

The immigrants rights movement is an oxymoron ("Noncitizen immigrants deserve the right to vote," Star-Advertiser, Dec. 30). Residence is not synonymous with "rights."

Citizenship is the entrance ticket, and those holding green cards and visas are guests who do not owe allegiance by birth or naturalization and are not entitled to full civil rights. It is a privilege to be given access to this country, even if it does not deliver every rose in that rose garden every immigrant promised himself.

Increasing "immigrant clout" by allowing all noncitizens (illegals, too?) to vote only reveals a voracious appetite that sees a glass as half full, demands a completely full one and forgets it used to be empty.

In whose interest is a "truly universal franchise"?

Carol Rothouse
Waikiki

Cycle track needs better signage

I agree with June Chee about being safe on the bike track ("Bike track making it safer for everyone," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Dec. 15).

Arrows pointing west should be painted, and yield signs posted.

Just a reminder to everyone — drivers, bikers and walkers — heads-up when you’re traveling.

Patrick Carvalho
McCully