Kenoi doesn’t deserve to serve

If Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi does not know the rules of his county,then why is he serving as its leader? Obviously, he is ill-equipped to serve as the mayor of beautiful Hawaii island.

Who intheir right mind would use a county business card to spend money on a $1,200surfboard, $1,900 at a bicycle shop, $892 tab at a Honolulu hostess bar, andwhateverelse? Where is common sense?

I truly feel sorry for his constituents.

Bruddah Billy should do the right thing:Stay away from the "hoochie girls," apologize to his spouse, then resign.

Tony Gonzalez
Makaha

Hoopili project like vandalism

Our City Council can’t be serious.It wants to give approval to destroying more than 1,000 acres of farmland producing the highest quality of fresh island-grown produce.

When some vandals cut down papaya trees a few years ago, it was a crime. Now our City Council wants to do basically the same thing, destroying produce, and declare it officially permitted.That means legally slaughtering the beauty of our aina.

Also, how can they deprive our people of eating local food to let some profit-motivated mainland developers rake in our money?And then pave over that precious agriculture land with concrete?

Could the developers’ political contributions to the Council members have some influence on their decision-making?

Please stop Hoopili.

Gerhard C. Hamm
Waialae Iki

Science supports pesticides fears

Allan Parchini congratulated Hawaii’s legislators for deferring and amending "lousy" bills he considers "propaganda" related to regulating large-scale use of pesticides in counties across the state ("Legislators so far have resisted anti-GMO hysteria," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, April 2).

He states, "There is no scientific basis for establishing a 500-foot ‘buffer-zone’ around fields where pesticides are applied."

First, many quality, peer-reviewed scientific studies correlate high uses of pesticides with increased cancer, decreased fertility in men, neurological disease, tumors and dramatic increases in autism.

Second, in a study from the University of California at Davis, researchers worked with a large cohort of pregnant women and demonstrated that "pregnant women who lived in close proximity to fields and farms where chemical pesticides were applied experienced a two-thirds increased risk of having a child with autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delay."

Name-calling and misleading statements do not promote good science. Legislators and families need the facts to make the right decisions to regulate pesticide exposure.

Lynn B. Wilson
Waipahu

Don’t buy tower; downsize instead

So the state has a "pressing need" to spend $90 million to purchase Alii Place to house state workers in a "prestigious corporate environment" ("25-story tower seen as possible solution," Star-Advertiser, April 5)?

I have a better solution: Downsize so that they fit in existing quarters.

Richard Greenamyer
Mililani

Gay rights laws highly ironic

The dark side of the gay rights agenda has been exposed in an Indiana pizzeria, a floral shop in Wash- ington state, and bakeries in Colorado and Oregon.

None of these businesses has ever refused service to anyone entering their shops.

But in declining to participate in same-sex weddings, these small business owners have received death threats, been reviled in public, and have had the power of the state come down on them. Washington state’s attorney general and the ACLU are attempting not only to shut the florist down but take her personal assets as well.

Those with deeply held religious beliefs are expected to surrender them to the same homosexual activists who have urged tolerance for the last 40 years.

In other words, sexual orientation trumps any competing considerations, but fascism is always repulsive regardless of who practices it.

Carol R. White
Punchbowl

Rail opponents just adding costs

Unfortunately, the shortfall created by both opponents of the rail as a result of their failed court challenges and circumstances well beyond the control of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and the city, have caused cost overruns.

For the most part, the public understands there is no perfect economic forecast, even in their own daily financial planning.

Many things we purchase today will unexpectedly increase in cost tomorrow, and more so if we hesitate on important decisions like buying a home.

Why are rail opponents knowingly trying to block funding of rail? That would cause the city to default on contracts and obligations with the federal transportation department and others. This late-hour chal- lenge, if successful, could place the city in bankruptcy.

This is irresponsible behavior, to say the least, by those who claim to be concerned about the financial health of the city.

David Moskowitz
Ala Moana

Kobayashi deserves thanks

Our community owes many thanks to Honolulu City Councilmember Ann Kobayashi for her courageous remarks at the March 31 Council hearing.

She pulled no punches and rightly accused the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and all of the politicians pulling for rail since Mufi Hannemann with misleading the public.

From promising that the rail would go to the University of Hawaii and cost $2 billion, to going to Ala Moana, and fornever giving the Council or the publica straight answer, the Hannemann-Caldwell-HART Express is taking Honolulu for a terrible, costly and seemingly unending ride.

Chris Clothier
Lower Makiki

Bike riders need to obey laws, too

Although both our mayor and City Council seem to be working very hard to deal with pedestrian and bicyclist requirements, I fear their efforts are for naught when bike riders continue to ride on the sidewalks, even when a bicycle lane is 3 feet away.

I was forced off the sidewalk by a bike rider on University Avenue, which has bike lanes on both sides of the road.

My wife had to leap out of the way of two bike riders who had no intention of giving her the right of way, and the little leasheddog or her gray hair made no impression on them.

The university suggests that bike riders walk their bikes in the presence of pedestrians. Why don’t we make that a blanket policy throughout the city, but put some teeth in it?

A $200 fine channeled toward the rail construction deficit might be efficacious. The $900 million shortfall would be eliminated before the first train left the station.

F. David Wagner
Moiliili