Keep Kewalo Basin for public to enjoy

Kewalo Basin should not be developed. Do we want to cut down the trees and put in another wedding chapel, along with another Italian restaurant? I’m sure the people of Hawaii would rather have a bigger park. It’s very congested right now, and just wait until the new condominium towers are built.

It seems for the past year the far end of the property on the water has been used by the constructions crews (about 50 parking spots for pickups and cars) working on the new condo being built across the street. I thought the state agency that owns the land was supposed to look after the people — or are they just after the money involved?

The now fenced-in private parking lot should be removed and Ala Moana Park and Kewalo Basin should be connected into a seamless, beautiful beach for the people. This should have been done from the start.

Donald and Gunilla Samuel
Aiea

Traffic woes need immediate answers

My biggest worry concerning our new rail system is not so much the bottomless money pit we are encountering, which we knew all along was coming.

It’s the fact that nothing seems to be happening to alleviate our current traffic mess.

The powers that be have said all along that this rail system will do nothing to help our horrible traffic problems, except possibly the traffic to and from the west side.

The second worry, of course, is the bottomless money pit, and for what?

Bill Russell
Mililani

HECO not losing money from solar

Gov. David Ige can’t possibly believe Hawaiian Electric Co. truly needs to cut the net energy metering price to 15 cents per kilowatt hour to make up for HECO’s losses as a result of solar ("Diversity is the key," Star-Advertiser, March 11).

It’s simply not true that non-solar users are paying extra because solar users aren’t paying their fair share. Look at HECO’s financial statements (from Yahoo-Finance, symbol HE): In 2012, HECO’s gross profit was $327,436,000. In 2013, HECO’s profit increased by $43.7 million and, in 2014, its profit was up another $27.1 million. Its net income was up $17 million in 2013, and up another $19 million in 2014.

Hawaiian Electric Industries just raised its CEO’s compensation from $3.8 million in 2013 to $5.6 million in 2014, and with the sale to NextEra, she gets another $4.6 million in bonuses. There’s no evidence of a $54 million loss due to solar users in those statements, and I defy any single non-solar customer to show me a bill with an additional charge related to solar users.

The only ones who can do that are those who have solar.

Frederick Aylesworth
Mililani

Kalihi canal lined with the homeless

Has nobody noticed what is happening along the Kalihi canal?

On Thursday, I visited a local business on Kohou Street and was astounded. I had been there around the holidays when I noticed perhaps a dozen tents on the grassy parcel between the sidewalk and the canal.

Yesterday I counted 54 tents, some of them "duplexes" of multiple tents laced together under tarps, temporary structures built of pallets, etc.

This cannot be a sanitary situation. How can this be allowed to happen? Do the businesses and residents of the area deserve to be ignored?

Daniel Leonard
Downtown Honolulu

After school, kids play, get healthier

One of the great joys of providing afterschool programs for kids is watching them at play. That’s certainly not the only thing they do at our afterschool A+ programs. They get a healthy dose of homework help and other academic support.

But there’s nothing quite like the joy of kids running around, playing a game or, in some other way, being a kid.

According to survey data from Kids on the Move, the great majority of Hawaii parents with children in afterschool programs say their child’s program offers opportunities for physical activity, like playing with the hula hoops, kicking balls and having fun. Parents say their children’s afterschool programs help by promoting healthy habits through fun nutrition activities.

Because afterschool programs do such a great job keeping kids safe, inspiring them to learn, and helping working parents, it’s easy to overlook another contribution: Helping combat Hawaii’s childhood obesity problem. But afterschool programs are doing just that — and our keiki, parents and communities are better off as a result.

Paula Adams
Executive director, Hawaii Afterschool Alliance

Peace can’t require destroying Israel

John Heidel calls for an end to "America’s supply of military aid to Israel" and a "wiser" investment in "humanitarian needs," as steps to forging peace in the Middle East ("There must be a way to peace," Star-Advertiser, Letters, March 7).

Jews, Muslims and Christians, among others, are "conflicted over their mutual survival," to put it mildly, but one party equates survival with the elimination of others, notably and loudly elimination of the state of Israel and Jews as Jews. Demilitarization is a noble goal, but not demilitarization resulting in destruction. Should the ban on military aid to Israel be coupled with the ban on all military aid to and within the region? Would such non-lethal investments stop ISIS? Missiles and soldiers from Gaza? RPGs from Hezbollah?

I share concern for the Palestinians; I do not share one-sided critiques, dismissal of Israel and, yes, in fact, of Jews in the region, who would be swallowed up or destroyed.

Turn swords into ploughshares? Start with those providing 21st-century swords committed to the elimination of Israel and liberal societies.

Peter H. Hoffenberg
Hawaii Kai