Quick horn blast saved 2 bicyclists

On April 22 at 6:10 p.m., I was traveling down King Street in the left lane and saw two bikers side by side going down the bike track.

Just before the Longs Drugs store, a silver SUV cut me off and darted into the bike track to enter the Longs driveway.

I blasted my horn to warn the bikers, and one biker jumped up on the curb to avoid the SUV and the other whipped a quick U-turn to avoid crashinginto the SUV.

The SUV driver jammed her brakes, wound down her window and apologized to the biker who made the U-turn.

I hope other drivers will watch out for the bikers, as this dangerous situation will likely happen again.

Frank Young
Hawaii Kai

Business wages depend on profits

The move to take off the tax on higher-incomepeople is the right thing.

"Enough is enough!" said afriend of mine, who is planning to move to the San Juan Islands because of high taxes in Hawaii.

People who have jobs must realizethat those people who employthem must make a small profit to passit on as wages.

If you really want to be fair, then all people should be subject to a flat tax.

Those who make more usually spend more, and it is equitable and balances out in fairness to all.

Jim Delmonte
Hawaii Kai

Property taxes often inexplicable

The idea to make property tax more equitable is laudable but, before any further action, the city’s Real Property Assessment Division needs a major overhaul withchanges attop management.

The lack of assessment expertise is obvious.

I have tracked various properties and have found their assessments of properties under $1 million are always on the high side, while on the other tax scale, properties over $1 million are routinely quite low, especially when viewed on the price a property sells for.

How can high-end residential properties be assessed at millions of dollars less than the sale price, year after year?

In another example, how can the value of land be assessed so much differently on the same street?

In an Aiea housing project, the largest plot of land, completely flat, is assessed at $88.47 per square foot, while the smallest plot of land with a sharp slope is assessed at $113.06 per square foot.

James L. Robinson
Aiea

Management of rail seems out of control

Is this rail project going to be done by someone who doesn’t have a hand in the cookie jar?

Raises and a fantastic bonus have been given to someone who is over budget and said he is not legally required to keep records of taxpayer money he spends.

The mayor doesn’t have to reveal the true cost projection?

And no one has addressed that there is no electrical supply to run this cumbersome fiasco.

But wait — all of a sudden, a new mainland company wants to buy HECO. None of this passes the smell test.

The inmates are truly running the asylum.

Phil Smotherman
Pearl City

Substance addiction can ruin your life

My childhood nightmares of an imaginary creature inhabiting my mind have come true.

This monster does not lurk behind closet doors, nor creep and crawl in the realm of abysmal darkness under my bunk, or along the cell block floors.

This monster exists. I have seen it and felt it.

It has taken me from my family and cost me my friends. It has taken my career, ended my college education, destroyed my health and denied me respect.

Fore 35 years I have nurtured this beast squandering everything I owned, and when that was not enough, I begged, borrowed and stole. Now after nearly taking my life, the demon that possesses me has again taken my freedom.

Cocaine, crystal meth or other substances — addiction is the monster occupying my life, appearing before me daily in every mirror at hand.

Michael Spiker
Inmate, Halawa Correctional Facility

There must be ways to house homeless

During a recent visit to Chinatown, I was appalled to see the living conditions of the homeless there.

They were scavenging for food out of trash cans and sleeping on pieces of cardboard on filthy sidewalks that also served as their toilets.

There has to be a better way to take care of these people, even if it only means providing a better accommodation such as a van, delivery truck, storage container or tent. That may not be a great life, but it would be an improvement.

There is a huge amount of space available at Sand Island where they could stay and have food delivered by charitable organizations.

There are shower and restroom facilities.

Caretakers could address any health, safety or security concerns.

One shelter alternative would be pre-fab structures from Home Depot, which could sleep a family of four and cost less than $800. Also, tents are cheap.

Robert Anderson
Aiea

Floating ‘golf ball’ is big boondoggle

Keep the floating "golf ball" radar monstrosity at Ford Island as a tourist attraction, so that in 100 years, it will pay our tax dollars back.

Hopefully, but not likely, we will have learned from this political and Pentagon boondoggle.

President Dwight Eisenhower was right in warning about the threat to our economy of the military-industrial complex.

Fred K. Gamble
Waikiki