Through the years, I have participated in the Ota Camp (Makibaka) struggle in Waipahu, where people have to fight for a place to live.
The residents of Varona Village have been waiting for the city to fulfill its promise to fix up their homes (“Input sought on redevelopment of Varona Village,” Star-Advertiser, June 12).
The Ewa Neighborhood Board passed a motion to ask the mayor for a public hearing in 2007. It is now 2016. All the residents wanted was to buy their homes at an affordable price and maintain their sense of community and cultural lifestyle.
Can we not spend money on the people who have invested their lives working on the sugar plantations all these years? Many of them are elderly and on fixed incomes.
Hawaii is becoming an endless chain of resorts and affluent housing for the rich. But we are an island; there is really no place to go.
Johnny Verzon
Hawaii Kai
Use elevated tracks for cars and buses
Here’s an idea for Honolulu’s rail transit project:
>> For now, stop the elevated sections at Middle Street, and don’t put tracks on the elevated guideway. Convert it temporarily to a reversible high-occupancy-vehicle lane and with three express bus routes.
>> The express buses would have one brief stop at the Middle Street transit center for transfer to local routes, but then continue as express routes to the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Ala Moana Center and Waikiki before resuming an abbreviated local service.
>> As rail funds become available, additional elevated sections for a future rail line can be built to reach originally planned destinations while Bus Rapid Transit carries most of the load.
The original major destinations would be served in less total travel time than rail from the first day of operation and traffic would be greatly improved immediately.
William Kibby
Makiki
Don’t blame all cops for a few bad apples
I saw what happened to Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and I am horrified (“Under siege,” Star-Advertiser, July 8).
However, let’s not let these acts of violence allow us to discriminate against our police officers. I have seen good cops, especially here in the Aloha State.
Keanu Rowe
Nuuanu
State estimate for AC was way too much
$100,000 per classroom for air conditioning? Absurd!
I think our state planning engineers are blowing the specifications for the classroom cooling way out of proportion to what is needed. The result is we taxpayers footing the bill for unnecessarily oversized systems and/or leaving out some classrooms.
Hawaii classrooms average about 6,000 cubic feet each and require about 50,000 Btus to cool.
All classrooms have windows. If you install two 25,000 Btu window units per classroom, you can cool the room off easily.
We should be able to pay a contractor $5,000 per room to run a power line and install two window units, a far cry from the proposed bids of $100,000 or more per room.
A school classroom is used less than eight hours a day and less than five days a week. Is an industrial-sized AC system needed or justified?
Let’s cool all the rooms.
James “Kimo” Arciero
Portlock
U.S. stamps could honor isle musicians
Regarding the effort to persuade the U.S. Postal Service to print a stamp honoring singer Alfred Apaka (“Group wants Postal Service to honor singer Alfred Apaka,” Star-Advertiser, June 26): The Postal Service often puts out a series of stamps about a theme, such as the current group depicting the planets of our solar system.
Series honoring groups of people have in the past included dancers, writers and film directors. Perhaps those wishing to honor Apaka should submit ideas for a series on Hawaiian musicians and composers.
Others might include Charles King, Edith Kanakaole, Jimmy Borges, Alex Anderson, Lizzie Alohikea, Dennis Kamakahi, Irmgard Aluli and the Beamer family. It would be wonderful to see these people and their music honored in this way. They certainly deserve the recognition.
Heu‘ionalani Wyeth
Anahola, Kauai
Benghazi hearings politically motivated
I’m as furious about the Benghazi tragedy as anyone else, and feel that whoever in the American government was truly at fault for the incompetence that enabled that catastrophe should indeed lose some serious skin over it.
But what’s even more infuriating to me is the likelihood that few of these Republican politicians snorting and frothing at the mouth over it probably even care about the four people who died; it’s mostly just a spirited circus act to try to make it harder for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
It’s really disgusting.
Kevin Johnson
Kawaiahao
FROM THE FORUM
Readers of the Star-Advertiser’s online edition can respond to stories posted there. The following are some of those. Instead of names, pseudonyms are generally used online. They have been removed.
“Another wave of homeless hits Waikiki beaches” Star-Advertiser, July 4:
>> It’s only a matter of time before some tourist comes down with something due to the human waste left on the beach and the city and state (read taxpayers) gets sued heavily.
>> The ACLU will come to their rescue if we try to do anything about it.
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“Restored Waikiki Natatorium envisioned by Nov. 11, 2019” Star-Advertiser, July 4:
>> I’m wondering about those proposed concrete barriers — would they destroy more ocean floor and coral?
>> Ask not what you can do for the coral, but what you can do for those who died for your country.
>> I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but you better engage with the “coral” people right away before starting any plans. Any construction will have to include a “mitigation plan” for impacts on corals. This Natatorium project is an easy five years away from completion, even if you started tomorrow.
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“Bike-share program needs $7.5M to start” Star-Advertiser, July 5:
>> This should be run and paid for by a private business. No money from state or city!
>> I can shave $5 million off the needed $10 million: Buy unicycles.
>> I’d rather see some of that money go toward incarcerating all the bike thieves who seem to be allowed to do their business whenever and wherever they want with impunity.
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“Failed ’90s tent city offers lessons” Star-Advertiser, July 5:
>> Mayor Frank Fasi created the “tent city” because no one else would step to the plate. So he put them right dead center in public view for everyone to see. His tent city wasn’t a “failed” project; it was a statement to everyone to step up to the plate.
>> The city and state are negligent to allow homeless unsanitary conditions anywhere.
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“New law requires yearly fees to be paid for mopeds” Star-Advertiser, July 6:
>> Great! Now enforce it.
>> There are a number of laws related to mopeds that need to be enforced such as noise levels. They also should be required to get a reconstruction sticker any time they alter the engine to make it go faster.
>> This will make a lot of money for the state. Buy your mopeds now before the law takes effect if you want one.
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“Tension with China is downplayed by the Navy as RIMPAC gets underway” Star-Advertiser, July 6:
>> In the long run, it’s more advantageous to include China than to exclude it. It’s akin to inviting a neighbor, with whom you’ve had arguments, to a backyard BBQ.
>> China doesn’t deserve to be rewarded with RIMPAC participation.
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“Murdered man’s mom cheers new law signed by governor” Star-Advertiser, July 7:
>> This is a positive step for Hawaii, but laws only go so far, and our juries are notoriously sympathetic to killers. The law only works if a jury is willing to convict someone of first-degree murder. Sometimes the prosecutors can’t even get a murder conviction at all, because the juries don’t believe the criminal “intended” to kill someone.
>> For those of you disparaging juries, please remember that they are composed of lay people drawn from members of the community at large, like you and me.
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“2 parks beset by the homeless closed for cleanup” Star-Advertiser, July 7:
>> It appears to me that the taxpayers are room service. We clean it up real nice at a cost, and they move right back in again.
>> So let’s just close all our parks, beaches and other public facilities to everybody. Problem solved?
>> Homeless are like Hillary Clinton. They are above the law.
>> They are moving to the area behind the Children’s Discovery Center and along the Kakaako Waterfront Park.
