Astronomers seem to be a greedy bunch

Astronomy, culture and nature cannot seem to coexist on Mauna Kea because astronomers are never satisfied with what they have: 13 of the best telescopes in the world ("Anti-telescope protesters arrested atop Mauna Kea," Star-Advertiser, April 3).

They need more telescopes and bigger telescopes. They must build, destroy, desecrate.

The Thirty Meter Telescope will be 18 stories tall, a building height not otherwise permitted on Hawaii island. It covers a football field.

They bribe us with $1 million for science education, but we already pay taxes to fund education, including science.

Why do we need to sell sensitive habitat, sacred land? It is because the astronomers are selfish and want their way.

Chad Ahia

Hilo

Police poorly used during traffic crisis

Driving from Sand Island at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to attend a dinner meeting in Makiki took nearly two hours for a typical 15-minute drive.

There was zero police presence observed along all main arterial road intersections.

The Honolulu Police Department could have turned all lights at Nimitz Highway intersections to flashing yellow and conducted traffic management, easing congestion.

Officers could have kept motorists turning left from blocking townbound lanes.

Officers should have been called in to direct traffic at these main arterial and high-volume intersections, but not doing so showed a lack of planning at HPD’s traffic division.

Thankfully, this was not a major disaster. Lives could have been jeopardized due to gridlock and poor HPD management.

Richard Moran

Waipahu

Open alternate route when freeway closes

When necessary, Kamehameha Highway between Aiea and Pearl City should be considered an alternative to the H-1 freeway.

Prior to Tuesday, one of the city’s worst traffic tie-ups occurred on Sept. 5, 2006, when just prior to afternoon rush-hour traffic, a military semi-trailer carrying an excavator on the west-bound side of H-1 struck a pedestrian overpass in Aiea.

The subsequent shutdown of the freeway necessitated using Kamehameha Highway as an alternate route.

Traffic lights at the 12 traffic light-controlled intersections along Kamehameha Highway from Honomanu Street to Acacia Road were placed on the flashing mode.

Police officers directed traffic at each intersection, allowing traffic on Kamehameha Highway to flow for eight minutes before being stopped to allow cross traffic to proceed.

The police department’s effort received praise from the community.

Ron Bode

Kaneohe

Kenoi funny but now joke might be on him

The charismatic and popular mayor of Hawaii island is a funny guy, and his latest joke takes the cake.

After being caught using a taxpayer-funded credit card to buy $26,000 worth of personal goods and services, one of which was a nearly $900 bill at a hostess bar, he was quoted as stating that he doesn’t have to divulge more about who he was with that night or what his money was spent on, because these were "personal" expenses.

This time the joke may be on him, and, as an attorney, he should know better. As soon as he used his government credit card for personal expenses, all bets are off.

He should come clean by providing whatever information is requested about this matter, and let the chips fall where they may.

My guess is a majority of Hawaii islanders will still support him because he’s done a good job so far.

Chris Monahan
Kailua

OK, so Kenoi’s future isn’t bright after all

For some time now, I have told anyone who would listen that Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi is a rising star who we will see occupying the fifth floor at the Capitol or representing us in Washington, D.C.

He is a motivating speaker, culturally there is no one like him, and his likability factor is through the roof.

Sure, using taxpayer money to buy drinks is going to flush my prognosticating reputation down the toilet, but there are other things I’d like to ask him about.

One, he says he doesn’t possess any other credit card. Really?

Two, aren’t people trying to win favors from him?

What is he doing picking up a $900 tab at a hostess bar? Good drinks, ono pupus and admiration from women who pretend he is the most interesting man, on someone else’s dime?

Now that’s a mayor!

Mark Ida

Salt Lake

What does Lau do to get paid so much?

Will someone explain to me how Hawaiian Electric Industries President Constance Lau can get $11.6 million as she exits HEI?

I honestly do not understand how we can allow this to happen.

Lau is CEO of a monopoly and paid a ridiculously high salary as it is. She has no competition to contend with, like most businesses do.

Yet we, the community, are stuck paying the highest electricity bills in the nation.

We endured numerous blackouts during her watch. HECO tried to prevent solar panels from expanding.

HECO admits to being behind the curve on modernization and technology.

Yet she feels she should walk away with $11.6 million of our money.

Is she serious?

Everypenny of that money should be refunded back to the ratepayers.

John Wong
Aiea

Bilingualism helps bind diverse cultures

As with all the iconic legacies the recently departed Lee Kuan Yew left behind for Singapore, the institution of bilingualism was birthed from his extraordinary foresight and profound wisdom.

Beyond knowing that a common language was necessary to unite a multi-racial society, Lee also valued the importance of preserving the different cultural ballast by ensuring the survival of the varied mother tongues. In more ways than one, the heterogeneous cultural fabric of Hawaii is rather similar to that of Singapore.

Every effort should be made, at home and in school, to preserve the cultural roots and beautiful ethnic languages of our kaleidoscopic people.

The sharpened edge of competitiveness that comes from this further places a critical economic icing on our societal cake.

Lily Ong
Founder of Hawaii Chinese Immersion School

Tear down stadium and be done with it

Why do we need a stadium when the only major identified uses are the Pro Bowl and University of Hawaii athletics, probably mostly football?

The people pushing for a new stadium want a long-term commitment for use from UH.

But attendance for UH football has been dropping due to really poor performance.

Let’s face it: UH is not in the best shape financially anyway.

The current stadium is old and too expensive to maintain.

What are the options? I don’t see any, except to tear it down and get over our ego trip.

Paul Tyksinski
Kailua

FROM THE FORUM

Readers of the Star-Advertiser’s online edition can respond to stories posted there. The following are some of those. Instead of names, pseudonyms are generally used online. They have been removed.

“Constitution defied in city hiring,” Star-Advertiser, March 30:

>> How can a headline read that the Constitution was “defied” when in fact the law allows for such waivers?

>> We need to waive the requirements for mayor, so we can get qualified candidates next time.

———

“Big Island mayor put $892 bar bill on county card,” Star-Advertiser, March 30:

>> Billy Kenoi needs a watchdog to make sure he makes more mistakes. It’s a tough job but I volunteer to accompany him next time he goes to Club Evergreen.

>> Why aren’t these cards kept at work? What are the odds that a work emergency purchase will come up at night, when the politician is away from work? Pretty slim, I would think.

———

“Citizens sound off against rail,” Star-Advertiser, March 31:

>> Rail needs to be done now so we are prepared for the transportation challenges of the future with our growing population.

>> Rail is not a necessity. We can’t eat it or drink it. Food and shelter come first. Why are we paying so much for it? There are people homeless looking for their next meal. Seven billion bucks buys a lot of shelter and food.

>> The “Hawaii Stonehenge” is outdated technology today. It was outdated 20 years ago. There is no future for this rail system, only failure, rust and expensive O&M (operating and maintenance) costs.

>> When you’re 20 percent over budget at just 5 percent project completion, you need a full-scale audit before more monies are approved.

———

“Union leader says senator acted like a bully at hearing,” Star-Advertiser, March 31:

>> News: The state is bleeding millions of taxpayer dollars on a money-pit hospital system and Sen. Roz Baker is working hard to fix that. Not news: Hawaii Government Employees Association Executive Director Randy Perreira’s feelings got hurt.

>> Perreira is a very good man working hard for Hawaii’s No. 1 industry: government service. He is doing what he is paid to do.

>> How is government an industry? That’s the problem with HGEA: It thinks it’s an industry, rather than a service. It’s why it has ads on TV. Why do they need ads? Do we really need more government workers? What do they produce? We’re being taken over by the bureaucracies.

>> Baker has been doing this for years and continues to get away with it.

———

“Honolulu Airport policy cuts back on homeless,” Star-Advertiser, April 1:

>> I live here and if my flight is rescheduled, I shouldn’t be penalized and carted to a holding area. Do your jobs and remove the homeless; don’t pass your responsibility onto anyone holding a current ticket. It’s our right to stay or go home, if there is ample time.

>> Holding area is another word for detention center. Detention is arrest. When a person’s freedom of movement is denied, you are under arrest. The state Department of Transportation is wacky on this one.

>> Such an archaic policy. We must be one of the only airports that does this with flyers.

———

“Raises to soak owners,” Star-Advertiser, April 1:

>> Even now, it’s harder to sell a house in a flood zone because of the current cost of flood insurance. 

>> If flood insurance is like any other type of insurance, it’s based on risk. Why does the government (which runs the flood insurance program) allow people to rebuild next to flood zones after they are paid off on their claim from the first flood? After their first loss, they should not be eligible for government flood insurance. That should reduce risk and result in lower costs.

———

“Stuck drivers using cellphones are given tickets,” Star-Advertiser, April 2:

>> So common sense doesn’t apply? In such an extraordinary situation, police should be directing and controlling traffic, not impeding it by issuing citations for less-than-major violations.

>> I just find it odd that they learned about the traffic jam so late. It was all over social media by 3 p.m. Who do they think they are fooling?

>> Talk about road rage! At a dead stop for hours and some cop gives me a ticket for calling my kids? Every person who got one of those tickets should challenge it in court, if the police department big shots don’t have the decency to discard them.

>> The City & County of Honolulu needs the money. Please pay your fines in a timely fashion.