Why doesn’t Aloha Stadium have natural turf (“Aloha Stadium replacing 5-year-old turf for $1.2M,” Star-Advertiser, June 29)?
We have sun year-around. Grass grows well. Perhaps it is because the stadium was supposed to move to accommodate baseball. Oh, well. At least we painted the steel that was supposed to stop rusting.
Now we’re spending over a million dollars to fix artificial turf. As I recall, it wasn’t too long ago that we paid for a brand-new artificial field.
Be different. Play soccer, too. It can’t be that expensive to pay a few people to maintain a grass field — and we’d be putting a few more people to work.
In this day and age of mega-stadiums, Aloha Stadium stands out. All 50,000 seats have a good view of the field. Why not make it stand out even more and plant natural grass?
Fred Fogel
Volcano, Hawaii island
HB 1850 doesn’t shield scofflaws
I have three permitted vacation rentals on Kauai.
I’ve gone to great lengths to make sure I have all my permits, that I pay all my taxes and that my properties are in full compliance with both state and local laws.
Some vacation rental owners simply aren’t that conscientious. They might avoid paying taxes rather than going through the hassle of registering for general excise (GET) and transient accommodations tax (TAT) licenses.
House Bill 1850 would ensure that those taxes are paid. It would allow vacation rental platforms to automatically deduct the TAT and GET amounts and remit it to the state. With this bill, I wouldn’t have to compete against folks who either choose not to pay their taxes or don’t know how.
Local laws are important and should be enforced, but this bill wouldn’t shield folks as critics have claimed. Under this bill, the state would have subpoena and audit power to chase down scofflaws.
The governor is making a big mistake if he vetoes HB 1850. He’ll lose much-needed tax revenue, and hurt hotels and legitimate operators like me.
Don’t wait for the counties; get the money now.
Ellie Knopf
Poipu
Punishment for accident too light
Let me see if I got this right: drunken driving; pedestrian killed; another seriously injured; failure to render aid; left the scene of a fatal traffic accident. The sentence imposed was 30 days (“Motorist gets 30 days in jail for killing a pedestrian,” Star-Advertiser, June 30).
A 20- to 40-year sentence would have been fully justified in this case.
This type of sentencing imposed by Judge Colette Garibaldi goes on and on in Hawaii. Her name should be added to the long list of judges who are no longer fit to hold their lofty positions.
We have a huge problem with our Judiciary, which puts no value on human life. Our judges routinely show more compassion for the guilty than for those killed or injured.
James Robinson
Aiea
Report made it clear Clinton lied
The political cartoon depicting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reacting to the Select Committee on Benghazi report is misleading (Star-Advertiser, June 30).
The report detailed how Clinton repeatedly lied to the American public about the Benghazi attack being a reaction to an internet video, not a pre-planned act of terrorism, for purely political reasons.
Saying the report uncovered “no evidence of wrong-doing” does not make her bald-faced lying right.
Rhoads Stevens
Hawaii Kai
Legal path fails our Filipino vets
I was quite upset when I read that Filipino military veterans were still having trouble after many years getting their families the required legal immigration status to get into the United States (“Program joins Filipino vets with kin,” Star-Advertiser, July 3).
What was so upsetting is that we are giving “illegal aliens” so much attention and compassion and hope. Yet these Filipino veterans are going through the legal process and seem to be waiting behind these other aliens. This is absolutely unfair and a slap in the face of these outstanding veterans.
This has also been a local issue for many years. It seems our local politi-cians bring it up in election years but never get this injustice resolved.
Chuck Reindollar
Makiki
Homeless, rail getting really old
I don’t know about the rest of your readers, but I am getting tired of reading about the homeless and the rail.
If it wasn’t for these two story lines the paper would be about half the size. Reading about the homeless is like watching the tide go in and out — they move in and out of each area time and time again. It is like trying to herd cats. Now they are going back to Waikiki. Until something really new happens, just don’t report on it.
The same goes for rail. The whole project is a complete disaster, like so many projects in Hawaii — the Obamacare rollout, classroom air conditioning estimates, road conditions and more.
There are enough negative things going on in the world without reading about these subjects every day in the paper.
Carl Bergantz
Kaneohe
Speculations don’t equal facts
Richard Borreca’s column on the decision to place Tom Gorak on the state Public Utilities Commission is embarrassing (“Ige makes own power play with move to fill PUC slot,” Star-Advertiser, On Politics, July 3)).
Borreca was highly critical of Gov. David Ige’s decision to place Gorak on the PUC, using words such as “appears,” “speculating,” “wrinkle,” “probably” and “critics.”
He even included an allegation that the appointment was made because PUC Chairman Randy Iwase was against the proposed merger.
Borreca should base his editorial comments on factual information and avoid using his personal views to discredit people.
Charles Ota
Aiea
CEO skills don’t apply to politics
Many accept the specious notion that Donald Trump’s business expertise qualifies him for the presidency.
Consider that the business executive has essentially dictatorial control within his organization, while the president contends with a lobbyist-controlled, partisan Congress, the Judiciary, our Constitution, individual states, and competing and often belligerent sovereign nations.
An executive has only shareholders to please. The public welfare, and even public health and safety, are of no concern, and clearly subordinate to profits.
Assuming his father’s real estate and construction business shortly after college, Trump has only experienced executive power within his inherited bubble of eager, ambitious sycophants. His irrepressible confidence is real, but entirely delusional, based on his artificial and distorted worldview.
George Nakamura
Mililani