Reforms needed at education board

Sen. Breene Harimoto’s bill for four-year terms for Board of Education members ("Bill alters terms for BOE members," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 1) isaprecursor for change.

As someone whoformerly has testified before the BOE, I won’t waste my time again until somechanges are made.

First, board Chairman Don Horner needs to go. I’ve watched him say nothing more than "Thanks for coming down" to those presenting the most dramatic testimony, including the mother of a disabled child who was describing a school’s threat of a lawsuit if she dared to re-enter itsproperty.

Publicmeetingsmust be scheduled back to the early-evening times offered before Horner’s tenure so working parents can attend. The current afternoon hours were intentionally set to deter public testimony.

Also, board members should be forbidden to play with computers and cellphones during testimony; it’s rude and grossly disrespectful.

Finally, candidates should be more experienced in education than beholden to the governor.

Cinde Fisher
Makiki

Rail cost overruns were to be expected

The ambivalence and outright distress regarding Hawaii’s rapid growth and movement into the modern worldexpressed by many in Hawaii is a constantfeature of life here and understandable in light of effects on the natural environment and quality of life occurring and possibly coming.

Being originally from Pennsylvania, where drilling the Marcellus Shale has already caused environmental disasters, including catastrophic ground water pollution, I can empathize.

However, those who want to stop rail construction due to cost overruns are not alone in their concern. In the 2006 book, "Urban Planning Today," the editors note that most urban construction projectsexceed projected costs. They cite Brooklyn Bridge, 100 percent; Sydney Opera House, 1,400 percent; Boston’s Big Dig, 190 percent; Europe’s Channel Tunnel, 80 percent; the new San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge, 100 percent; and Denver Airport, 20 percent.

Cost overruns are the rule rather than the exception in large civic construction projects.

William E. Conti
Waikiki

Rail contractors pay excise tax, too

The rail construction project is generating money for the state in the form of general excise taxes on the sale of local materials and services and income taxes on the wages of local workers.

The state should give 75 percent of all such revenues to the city earmarked for rail construction, since it would not be getting those revenues if not for the project.

Also, 100 percent of the Oahu GET surcharge should go to the project. The Department of Taxation has already taken more than enough of it to pay for the administrative cost of collecting it.

Ronald A. Lynch
Moiliili

Army in Hawaii deserves gratitude

Regarding the Army’s listening sessions being held on downsizing its presence in Hawaii, I ask that John McLaurin, the Army’s deputy director of force management, to return to Washington D.C., with the gratitude of millions of people in the Asia-Pacific region and Hawaii.

We are grateful for the U.S. military’s leadership in deterring armed conflicts, and for the countless acts of humanitarian assistance in response to natural disasters.

I also would like to stress Hawaii’s relevance in Asia-Pacific affairs.

Since World War II, Hawaii has been the command center for security operations in the Pacific. Army units forward deployed to Hawaii are an integral component.

This military strategy has succeeded in deterring armed conflicts and ensuring regional peace and stability. Any downsizing of Army presence would be widely interpreted as a serious compromise in U.S. commitment and surely disrupt the ongoing dividend of thriving economies in more than half the world, the U.S. included.

Charles Ota
Aiea

Let counties operate lotteries to get cash

You ask aboutfinancing shortfalls forHonolulu’s rail transit system ("What do you think is the best solution to the rising costs of the rail project?," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 1).

It’s quite simple: Push the Legislature to give the counties the option to operate lotteries like so many states and cities on the mainland, wheremillionsare made for government programs.

This might work, seeing as Maui is now looking to have its own train. Considering how much cash Hawaii residents leave in Las Vegaseach year,arguments byopponents with social concerns againsta lottery in the islands seem a bit weak.

Bruce Dunford
Ewa Beach

Elephant poaching is at crisis level

The Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society International contend that prohibiting ivory sales will not increase poaching ("Ivory ban will boost poaching," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. 30).

Elephant poaching is at crisis levels today exactly because, in 2009, ivory stockpiles from Africa were allowed to be sold to China and Japan, and filtered into the U.S. almost immediately, boosting the value of and demand for ivory. As a result we have today’s massacre of nearly 100 elephants daily. Consumer nations and states such as the U.S. and Hawaii have an equal responsibility as source nations across Africa, where the killing continues, as does China, where ivory carving factories enable this illicit trade.

Saving elephants from almost certain extinction by ending the sale of ivory is the kuleana of us all.

Gerrit Osborne
Waialae-Iki