Make better use of available land

Your "Big Q" ("Do you farm or grow any of the food that you eat?" Star-Advertiser, March 3) reminded me of my trip to South Korea in November 2009.

While on a train from Seoul to Pusan at the southern tip of that small country, I noticed that many villages consisted of a few tall, vertical apartment buildings instead of homes spreading out horizontally over their limited, precious farmland.They maximized the utilization of their land for growing crops (mostly cabbage, I noticed).

We should do likewise here; that is, keep as much of our land for sustenance as possible instead of us very soon no longer being able to buy local.

Affordable homes here should similarly be built vertically and elsewhere on non-arable land.

Mark Webster
Waialae-Kahala

Transplants take advantage

It seems as if the local Hawaii folks must’ve done everything wrong.The very agriculture industry that shaped our island’s history and heritage is under attack by mainland transplants.They don’t like it, so it has to go.

It apparently is OK to come to someone’s home and remake it to your liking without any input of those who have worked the fields.

These people take advantage of local ways of not speaking up and are eager to usurp our island ways and we just let it happen.

Joni Kamiya
Kaneohe

Fund rail with lottery revenue

Rail can easily be funded by residents and visitors who will willingly participate.All the Legislature needs to do is to pass a bill allowing Lotto, with the revenues designated for the rail.Even those who object to rail would stand in line to participate.

Roy S. Tanouye
Waipahu

Keep police commissions

Now we have a state senator leading the charge for more oversight of our police chiefs.

Senate Bill 677 would allow the mayor of each county to have a say in retaining or firing a chief of police.

Let us go back to the 1920s and the corruption that prevailed in the Massie case.The U.S. Navy intervened in the murder conviction of one of their lieutenants and fellow Navy personnel who killed a man of Hawaiian ancestry. Justice was not served.

This prompted the Territorial Legislature in 1932 to create the four county police departments with oversight by the police commission to protect the police chiefs from undue political pressure as they serve and protect our communities.

Our police departments have served our communities well in the ensuing 83 years. Let the commissions and chiefs do their jobs.

Lee Donohue
Chief of police (retired)
Honolulu Police Department

Make REITs pay proper taxes

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) operating in Hawaii should pay taxes just like every other company in the state. We should all be outraged that these mainland REIT corporations are exploiting a loophole allowing them to ship income earned in Hawaii out of state tax-free.

When a REIT purchases a property in Hawaii, the property is transferred from a company that pays taxes to a company that pays none. That means less money to fund our schools, hospitals and infrastructure.

Over the past decade, REITs have been rapidly buying up property around the state and currently own more than $14 billion of real estate. This number continues to grow each and every year.

We must protect the state’s shrinking tax base from these types of loopholes or we will have nothing left to protect.

Alex Fergus
Downtown Honolulu

Carnival didn’t cause problems

If it is true that the simple things in life hold the key to true happiness, honestly, what could be simpler and happier than a ride on a Ferris wheel with an ocean view?

Last year, a group of noisy naysayers tried to stop Hawaii Kai’s first carnival (fundraiser), saying it would somehow ruin their lives (traffic and noise and crowds, oh my!).

None of the harm the vocal minority feared was realized, and the families who went had a marvelous old-fashioned good time.

The fairophobics should take a chill pill and go to the carnival. They will like it, I promise. A ride on that Ferris wheel will do the trick.

If they still hate it, they should lighten up. It’s maybe once a year and brings joy to so many.

Faith Burns
Hawaii Kai