Lualualei Naval Road/Kolekole Road is an essential, billion-dollar asset. However, flood damage from 2008 needs to be repaired and the route shouldn’t be allowed to deteriorate like Barbers Point.
Army vehicles should use the road and not H-2, Kunia Road or Farrington Highway to access Makua Valley, if live-fire training ever resumes.
Department of Defense contactors, employees and military ID card holders living on the Leeward coast also should be allowed to use the road.
And it needs to be available to Leeward Coast residents for evacuation, emer- gencies and lane outages on Farrington Highway.
A limited-access pass to allow Leeward residences to enter and exit Schofield Barracks and access Kolekole Pass via Lyman Gate and Trimble Road would be ideal. Maybe a $50 one-time administration fee for ID cards could be assessed.
The road needs to be repaired and maintained, and excuses for not doing so are unacceptable.
Al Frenzel
Waianae
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Lotteries prey on the desperate
State House Speaker Joe Souki has said that lawmakers will consider a state lottery in Hawaii in the current legislative session. This is a bad idea for several reasons.
Statistics show that regular lottery players are usually in the worst economic position to devote a portion of their income to gambling. A Duke University study found that folks with yearly household incomes under $10,000 spent nearly $600 per year on lottery tickets.
This, coupled with a state’s ability to relentlessly market its lottery by dangling potential riches before the most desperate portions of its population, betrays the truth of state lotteries: They are a predatory hidden tax on people who can least afford to contribute more of their income to support state services.
Lotteries look like a way of raising revenue without officially raising taxes. But let’s recognize that exploiting financially desperate people who may have gambling problems is wrong.
Patrick Shea
Kailua
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Inouye Center keeps expanding
Bloat rules again on the Daniel K. Inouye Center for Democratic Leadership proposal.
In June 2013 the proposed size was 15,000-20,000 square feet at a cost of $16 million to $20 million. During 2013/2014, bonds were issued, a design team was selected, and $12.5 million in funds was released.
In May 2014, the design team released plans for a 38,200-square-foot center, at $39 million to build with a $50 million overall cost.
What happened? It sounds a lot like so many other University of Hawaii and governmental plans — wanting to go deluxe with a basic budget.
It’s our taxes being used. Plan smart, perform smarter, be honest.
J. Mike Johnson
Mililani
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White elephants rule in Hawaii
Last Monday’s Star-Advertiser featured two different stories about white elephants: the convention center and the rail project.
In Thailand, a white elephant was a questionable gift. Because it was considered holy, it didn’t have to work but its maintenance was very costly.
The convention center cost Hawaii taxpayers $450 million, and still is $317 million in debt and is costing $4 million annually. Like a white elephant, it does not work. It is ill-placed by not being near any hotels and duplicates the convention facilities of many hotels. But at least, its cost is calculable.
The damage the failing rail project will do is incalculable. We are no longer talking millions, we’re talking billions. Property taxes will skyrocket. Except for the well-to-do, owning or renting a home soon will become more out of reach.
Meanwhile, our city’s infrastructure is in shambles. The mayor and City Council are wasting money on the senseless rail project. Their priorities are kapakahi and their legacy will be a failed city.
Joe Gedan
Round Top
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Story on Clinton was underplayed
Buried in the paper on page A8 Wednesday was a brief article indicating that the State Department inspector general had found that some of Hillary Clinton’s “personal” emails were an even higher classification than “top secret” (“Some Clinton emails found to be beyond top-secret level,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 20).
This should have been front-page news, since it has to do with the dishonesty and breach of security by an important presidential candidate. But the Star-Advertiser gave it about the same coverage as the hard-hitting article entitled, “City replaces a destroyed toilet at park,” on B2 of the same issue.
Kenneth Stewart
Kailua
