Try out cycle track, then form opinion

How can so many drivers who have never bicycled on the King Street Cycle Track criticize it and call for it to be torn down?

Drivers who complain that "their" King Street has now been ruined by the use of one lane for cyclists think public roads are only for cars.

Don’t we all have the right to be safe on our streets?

Public roads are for everyone to have access. Who says so? Our elected officials, who passed Complete Streets laws that require accommodation of pedestrians and cyclists in addition to motor vehicles.

Ride a bike on the Cycle Track, then ride a bike on Young and Beretania streets, or the part of King Street not on the Cycle Track. Then express your opinion whether the cycle track is needed or not. The Bike Shop on King Street and the Hawaii Bicycling League will offer free classes (see http://www.hbl.org/ workshops) on Jan. 22 and 27.

You can also call The Bike Shop at 596-0588 to use an available rental bike and helmet free on the cycle track any time between now and Feb. 28 during store hours.

Mel Nakahata
The Bike Shop

Chad Taniguchi
Hawaii Bicycling League

Safety campaign rough on wallet

On my early-morning walk through Chinatown, I was issued a citation for "Pedestrian Obedience to Don’t Walk or Upraised (Red) Palm" for $130 (and no senior discount). There was no traffic when I crossed the street at the red light and it was absolutely safe to do so.

The area has ongoing serious issues such as vagrancy and unsavory activities in plain sight and suddenly I became the victim of a perceived problem.

If the Honolulu Police Department wants to address pedestrian safety, I see the main contributing factors as drivers using phones, drivers not using turn signals, drivers ignoring pedestrians in crosswalks, etc.

I wish the police would use their resources more efficiently and concentrate on solving real problems affecting our community. I know the two officers followed orders and went by the book, but where is the common sense?

Walter Leu
Punchbowl

UH football will never be ‘cash cow’

David Shapiro’s claim that football is the "cash cow" for the University of Hawaii athletics program is inaccurate ("UH is ill-positioned to take its time seeking a new AD," Star-Advertiser, Volcanic Ash, Jan. 18).

There are only 20 to 30 college football teams in the nation that consistently produce revenue when you consider all of the expenses involved in fielding a team. Unfortunately, UH is not one of them and is not likely to join that elite group.

Shapiro points out that the last four athletic directors have been forced out. All four were men. Perhaps UH should look for a woman as the new athletic director. Margaret Thatcher was quoted as saying: "If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman."

Linda Estes
Koloa, Kauai

CEO of HEI seems terribly overpaid

Will someone please explain to me why Hawaiian Electric Industries CEO Constance Lau is getting a $10 million-plus bonus of our money?

HECO is a monopoly. It has no competition. We have no choice.

Lau was already paid an obscene salary. And a bonus is usually for work well done.

HECO has been managed very poorly under Lau, falling far behind the solar-energy curve, using antiquated equipment and imposing multiple blackouts on us.

Every penny HECO collects should go to improving the HECO system or refunded back to us.

Between taxes, fees, utilities, rail and University of Hawaii waste, every time we turn around we are having our money taken.

Jon G. Wong
Aiea

Rail’s finance plan wasn’t already set?

Recently Mayor Kirk Caldwell and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation were quite proud to announce that they will save the taxpayers $60-$70 million in interest payments alone simply by changing the way rail project bonds are issued.

If that’s all it took to save such a substantial amount of money, I’m left wondering why that wasn’t the strategy in the first place.

Steve Miller
Makiki

Fossil-fuel holdings should be divested

Humans have polluted rivers, lakes and groundwater.

We have fouled the air in major cities, destroyed ocean reefs and eliminated whole rainforests.

Is it really a stretch to believe we could be on the verge of destroying our entire planet?

Scientists warn us that without remedial action soon, the consequences of continuing the status quo may be irreversible.

Where to start? A moratorium on support of fossil fuels, the major source of carbon pollution.

Starting here at home, DivestUH is urging the University of Hawaii to uninvest from coal, oil and gas holdings. Other schools (Stanford), cities (Seattle) and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation (founder of Standard Oil) have pledged to take their holdings out of fossil fuels.

The petition at DivestUH.org can be signed by students, faculty, staff or concerned community members. It’s a small step that each of us can take to begin to heal our precious Earth.

Jan Pappas
Aiea