UH makes poor hiring decisions

Front-page headlines in the Star-Advertiser on Oct. 16 listed $700,000 for Gib Arnold and $16.2 million “to help out athletics, the Cancer Center and research initiatives.”

I pointed out in a Feb. 17 letter to the editor that “a university is a community of professors and students. They may have an administration to facilitate their interactions, and an athletic program and research facilities to enhance their experiences.”

Unfortunately, at the University of Hawaii, these “facilitating and enhancing” areas have been bleeding money at an alarming rate because of poor hiring decisions and incompetence.

In light of the headlines above, the UH administration continues to be guilty of poor hiring decisions and incompetence. Clearly, the administration owes a huge apology to the professors and students, as well as to the people of Hawaii.

Malcolm J. Slakter
Professor emeritus, University at Buffalo Makiki

City ethics ruling showed contempt

Your editorial on the city Ethics Commission was right on the nose (“Ethics ruling poorly handled,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, Oct. 16).

The action taken by the commission reveal what contempt all involved — from the City Council to the commissioners to rail agency board member Colleen Hanabusa — must feel for the voters.

The fact that they can blatantly ignore the regulations and have the people who supposedly are there to enforce ethical behavior condone this behavior shows how corrupt the system has become.

One wonders who the members of this commission are and how this decision was made. In my 37 years living on this island, I don’t believe that politics has ever been dirtier and the politicians more corrupt. I believe that much of it is tied to all the money tied to the rail fiasco.

Let’s, for once, remember the names of the people involved in this travesty come next election.

It is also ironic that Richard Borreca’s column on the same page essentially involves similar political behavior on Maui.

Kent W. Comstock
Kailua

Gifts from friends still can be wrong

City Councilman Ikaika Anderson defended his non-disclosure of gifts from lobbyists on the grounds that they came from friends known to him before he assumed elected office (“Ethics Commission clears 3 of wrongdoing in votes taken by Council on rail,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 15).

He should know better. Taking gifts from family members or long-time friends in return for favors — cronyism — is one of the most common forms of corruption.

City Council members should be held to a higher standard than proclaiming their innocence because the gift was small or came from a friend.

The city and the state should ban all gifts to office holders from lobbyists or other known representatives of a particular company or industry.

Karen Mason
St. Louis Heights

Ah, the good old days in Hawaii

Remember when you could purchase a hand-made wooden Christmas tree ornament at a small factory store in the Honolulu Airport industrial area?

The best-selling beer was brewed and bottled at a facility on Kamehameha Highway?

The most popular sweet bread came from a bakery store near the old Honolulu Stadium?

The had-to-have omiyage from the Valley Isle was a box of manju and a dozen Upcountry carnations with the fragrance of cinnamon?

Hawaii’s largest financial institution was Hawaii- owned and not part of an international conglomerate?

The most popular fund- raising Portuguese sausage was made in Hawaii?

Aloha shirts were sewn in the land of aloha?

We need to support our local businesses, or else, to paraphrase an old Joni Mitchell song: “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

John Priolo
Pearl City

Bike track placed a few over many

Lee Cataluña’s Oct. 16 column was spot on (“Hip bicycle lanes are not the answer on King Street,” Star- Advertiser).

I am wondering how long it will be before our mayor realizes that the “cyclists only” dedicated lane along King Street is a mistake.

As I drive down every day and look at this desolately empty lane, except for a few — and I mean a few — cyclists passing through every hour, I can’t help but ask myself, “What was the mayor thinking?” For the benefit of some, he made life miserable and dangerous for many.

Honolulu is one of the most traffic-dense cities in the nation. King Street is an important artery that brings some relief to an over-congested H-1 freeway and officials took away an entire lane, causing considerable discomfort for thousands of motorists. And for what? For the exclusive use of 15 to 20 cyclists who leisurely use it every hour?

I hope that to celebrate the anniversary of this fiasco, our mayor will have the courage to rectify this mistake and restore King Street the way it was.

Franco Mancassola
Hawaii Kai

Drivers will get past annoyance

Lee Cataluna has it so easy. Unburdened by facts, other than perhaps anecdotal ones, she is free to exercise her auto-centric bias by patronizingly dismissing bicyclists.

First, even casual observation shows that riders in the King Street bike track are a mix of people who need affordable transportation, exercise or a safe place to ride.

Second, vehicle-counting machines and timers don’t lie: King Street transit times have not changed appreciably since the bike track opened. And there have been no serious car-versus- bicycle collisions.

Finally, widespread havoc was predicted decades ago when Beretania and King Streets were converted to one-way thoroughfares and a large part of Hotel Street was made into a pedestrian (and bike) way. Most drivers now don’t remember it was ever different.

Change is hard, but drivers will get used to sharing the road, and we’ll all be better off.

Ted Baker
Manoa

Views expressed were mine alone

I would like to express my thanks to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and report- er Mark Coleman for allowing me to share my opinions on a number of plan- ning and urban-design topics in the recent “Name in the News” feature (Oct. 2).

While I am serving as the 2015 president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honolulu Chapter, I would like to clarify that the opinions expressed in the article were mine alone as an architect, planner and individual citizen. My statements should not be seen as official positions endorsed by AIA Honolulu.

In regard to the transfer of state lands in Kakaako Makai to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, I apologize for any comments in the article that mischaracterized the transfer as anything less than a fully vetted and debated democratic process.

From the outset, I should have noted that my comments were my personal opinion; not making that clear is an oversight on my part for which I regretfully apologize.

Scott R. Wilson
Manoa