When the first leg of the rail transit system starts service from Kapolei to Aloha Stadium in 2018, why not continue the service to Ala Moana with a dedicated bus service at that time?
The bus would be available only to rail riders and run as close as possible to the rail transit path. It should also have stops that correspond to the rail stations.
The buses could be scheduled to leave the Aloha Stadium rail stop after the train arrives.
As new rail stops open up at Middle Street, the bus service would be discontinued.
In 2022, when the rail is supposed to be completed, these same buses could be used (again as dedicated service for rail riders), to add service to Waikiki, Manoa, Kaimuki or even farther east.
Ed Allan
Waikiki
City should have adopted maglev
Rail can be enhanced without increasing costs or adding development time.
The current rail plan calls for full 20-mile operations in 2022 at a cost of $6.57 billion.
Within that time frame and budget, the system could be converted to urban magnetic levitation (maglev) covering a 30- to 32-mile alignment with 24 stations and added trains. Service would be extended to the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus, Waikiki and West Kapolei. With maglev, we would then save more than $2 billion in operations and maintenance costs over 30 years.
This plan, which would more than meet federal guidelines, was submitted to the City Council in January and was, of course, ignored. Are inertia and campaign contributions more important than enhancing rail operations and saving money for Oahu’s long-suffering commuters and taxpayers?
Frank Genadio
Kapolei
Rail cartoon was off the mark
While we usually appreciate editorial cartoonist David Swann’s work, we must take exception with his March 27 Views & Voices cartoon.
The cartoon features rail funds on one side and the Honolulu Zoo on the other, with a bespectacled character between the two, apologizing to the zoo for its loss of accreditation and saying that if funds weren’t going to Honolulu’s rail project, they could instead be going to the zoo.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The transit authority uses only general excise tax surcharge revenue and federal funds for the project. The funds are dedicated solely to rail and cannot be used for any other cause, worthy as it might be. Likewise, city funds don’t go to the rail project and are instead used to fund the zoo and the city’s departments.
The cartoon unfortunately added to the confusion about funding for both the rail project and the zoo.
Bill Brennan
Information specialist
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation
Parakeets thrive in Makiki skies
Makiki is on the flight path of the wild rose-ringed parakeets.
At every sunrise and every sunset, flocks numbering in the hundreds careen by. And as their numbers increase, their roosting range expands.
In the movie, “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill,” a hawk keeps the population culled. Would Hawaii island be willing to send one or two of their ‘io to Oahu?
Laura M. Fink
Makiki
Superdelegates protect party
Some people want to change the rules about how Hawaii’s Democratic superdelegates should vote. It is OK to change the rules of a game, but you need to do this either before the game begins or after the game has ended, but never during the game.
The purpose of the Democratic superdelegates is to protect the Democratic Party from being taken over by usurpers who are not registered Democrats, who do not believe in the party’s values, and who wish only to hijack the party for their own personal aggrandizement.
Rian McMullin
Kaneohe
Get informed about drug bill
Dr. Iqbal Ahmed’s comments against House Bill 1072, regarding psychologists’ prescriptive authority, seems confusing (“Don’t let psychologists prescribe medications,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, March 27).
Statements like, “Not every person with mental health problems needs medication” and, “The increase in … psychiatric medications … has not led to a concomitant improvement in mental health outcomes,” state the obvious.
But following these words with, “Instead, there have been serious issues of addiction and life-threatening side effects” conflates at least three issues.
>> The most serious addiction epidemic across America currently involves heroin and opiods, created by licensed physicians via overprescription of painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin. We rarely hear of “addiction” to psychotropic medications such as anti-psychotics or anti-depressants.
>> Increasing the prescription of medications for anyone is not a goal of HB 1072.
>> The major issue addressed by HB 1072 is access for patients in underserved areas.
However citizens feel about this issue, they should be accurately informed about what it entails.
William E. Conti
Waikiki
NATO serves broader purpose
While our European allies could be doing more, discrediting them as “passive” and “lazy” is no less desultory than having a presidential front-runner belittling NATO’s existence (“Trump’s trashing of NATO doesn’t mean idea is wrong,” Star-Advertiser, April 2).
NATO was not created for the sole purpose of countering Soviet expansion.
It prohibits the resurgence of military nationalism in Europe with a reckonable American presence in the region, and boosts European political integration. All of these, NATO actively does around the clock — even when we rest asleep at night.
Our alliance partners expend $300 billion total in defense, exceeding that of Russia and China. To say that “we pick up the bill that others leave” only misleads and inflames the readers.
The disparagement of NATO and our European allies seems based on inadequate homework. This is a time to foster unity, not dismantle it.
Vigilance is the price of liberty — and one we can’t afford to not pay.
Lily Ong
Hawaii Kai
Polynesians explored skies
I wonder what the Polynesian ancients would say about the rejection of the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii.
Our forefathers were a curious lot. They explored the skies, the Earth and the ocean, and we see a small part of that in the voyages of Hokulea and its sister ship, Hikianalia.
Here we have been handed an opportunity, unheard of, to continue the work of our ancestors, to explore the skies and we are throwing it back in their faces. For shame!
Kelela Talakai Lombard
Laie
