Greed not reason for high AC bids

I have been a consultant working in solar-powered air conditioning and can see there is lots of confusion.

The high bids are not the result of “greedy” contractors, but the way the state Department of Education procured air conditioning for schools.

Thus the comments by Rolf Christ are all correct (“Sticker shock,” Star-Advertiser, June 25).

Contractors will bid to the specification provided by the DOE. The bids came in very high because DOE did not specify the $30,000 to $40,000 system. So why expect the same pricing?

You can’t compare a price of a bid package nearly 300 pages long and with all the extras to pricing derived from donated PV and air conditioning systems, with companies told to “just install it.”

Bill Denham

Managing member, Hawaii-Solutions, LLC

Everything costs a lot in Hawaii

Having been in the construction industry for 46 years, I don’t understand how people who are not closely involved in it are suddenly experts on how much a contractor’s bids should be. What is it about “lowest bid” that they don’t understand?

Contracting has one of the highest failure rates, if not the highest. Yes, when times are good prices go up, but when times are bad prices go down and contractors go bankrupt — it’s the risk and reality of contracting. Want to try it? Be my guest.

We all want cool classrooms for our keiki, absolutely. But blaming air conditioning contractors for unaffordable AC is like blaming builders for unaffordable housing, supermarkets for unaffordable food or shippers for unaffordable shipping.

I think we all know what the real problem is: unaffordable Hawaii.

Orson Moon

Aiea

Saving spring deserves support

Kudos to the City Council and community for not backing out of their financial support for the purchase of private land where Kanewai Spring is situated and has been under the stewardship of Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center for the last five years (“Plan to preserve rare spring faces challenge,” Star-Advertiser, June 24).

Shame on those few residents for using their personal connections to divide and concur that partnership.

Now what? A landowner from Nevada is suing parties involved in the purchase protection of Kanewai Spring. What a bully tactic. It makes me wonder why this person is acting now. Is it because the hard work on the land has been done and the jewel exposed a real estate opportunity?

Let’s lock arms with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, City Council, The Trust for Public Land, Maunalua Fish Pond Heritage Center and their supporters and community to protect Kanewai Spring.

Gary E. Weller

Kailua

Shorter rail line is pound foolish

While Mayor Kirk Caldwell and City Council Chairman Ernest Martin believe that stopping the rail line at Middle Street to save money is the best solution, I feel that this is penny wise and pound foolish.

If the rail line must be cut short, then it would be functionally better to end it downtown so people will be closer to their jobs. Most downtown workers would prefer to walk from a rail station to their jobs, rather than transfer to a bus.

Extending the line might cost more, but it would attract more riders by giving them a good reason to ride rail.

Dexter Wong

Waialae-Kahala

Light rail would be affordable

All is not lost for rail. Convert it now to light rail and run the tracks from Middle Street down Dillingham Boulevard and King Street to Downtown. There is more than enough money to do this.

Earle A. Partington

Makakilo

New city buses are too darn cold

The newest, excessively air-conditioned, plush-seating city buses are ideal for polar bears to ride and certainly are not enjoyable for humans.

What could be an enjoyable ride is offset by having to wear a jacket and then stepping off the bus to a sizzling pavement. These types of varying temperatures are not healthy. Oahu has a wonderful climate, so let’s enjoy it!

Elwyn Kan

Chinatown

‘Rap Back’ unfair to gun owners

Gov. David Ige just signed into law a bill that would require the name of anyone wanting to register a firearm or a permit to acquire one to be placed on the FBI’s “Rap Back” database, which monitors criminal activities by people under investigation or in positions of trust (“Ige signs adoption, gun measures,” Star-Advertiser, June 25).

Here’s how it works: You commit a crime in Tennessee. Because you are on the Rap Back, it is immediately reported back to the state of Hawaii, so it can confiscate your firearms or deny you the right to buy a gun.

Are firearms owners the only ones who commit crimes in other states? Joe Citizen down the block commits a felony with his fists, club, ax or knife, and he is not reported.

If the governor and Legislature think this law is so good, they should introduce a new bill to put all of citizens of Hawaii on this database. Then, crimes by all citizens would be reported back to HPD immediately. I would feel a lot safer.

Laughlin Tanaka

Pearl City

Monitor trash under offramps

I watched the news recently regarding trash under the Nimitz Highway offramps. I have written several times to the state Department of Transportation to say it should send workers out every month, instead of every six months, to monitor this situation. The trash accumulated by the homeless would be less because they would not have as much time to collect all those bags and leave them for the state.

I’ve seen the state send two or three truckloads of workers to pick up all this trash once every six months. I feel it would cost less to send two workers out every month.

Gloria Tom

Kalihi

Falls of Clyde needs to be saved

How is it that an island culture with a rich history of ocean activities of many kinds allowed its one maritime museum to die?

How is it that the world capital of surfing with the best waves on the planet and some of the greatest surfers of all time does not have a museum of surfing?

How is it that our state government is indifferent to, and even actively trying to destroy, an 138-year-old ship that for more than 50 years has been a landmark in Honolulu Harbor?

The state administration has abdicated its responsibility to protect a nationally recognized historic landmark: the tall ship The Falls of Clyde.

To all who knew Bob Krauss, John Wright, Robert Pfeiffer, Capt. Dave Lyman, Tommy Holmes, Ken Brown and the many others who are looking on from above and were instrumental in saving this valuable, irreplaceable piece of our legacy, we cannot falter in our efforts to save this ship.

Robert Parker

Aina Haina