OHA stuck with poor investment

On April, 11, 2012, the state unloaded the ugly toxic waste dump known as Kakaako Makai on the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs to settle $200 million in past-due land claims. The governor and the legislators were all smiles. No wonder.

With residential construction — the best possible income producer — banned from the site, OHA Chairwoman Colette Machado spoke vaguely of restaurants, but massive commercial development is now planned for the other side of Ala Moana Boulevard.

So, OHA has extremely limited possibilities for its costly acquisition, and it hasn’t even begun to spend the millions that it will take to clean up the site.

And now comes your editorial that points to "shocking" deficiencies in OHA’s real estate management capabilities ("OHA putting its mission at risk," Star-Advertiser, Our View, Sept. 13).

The trustees may yet find some way to wring a dollar from this turkey, but given their ineptitude in such matters, restrictions and competing uses, the task will be monumental.

April 11, 2012, was a sad day, indeed, for our Hawaiian people.

C. Richard Fassler
Lower Manoa

It’s HECO’s kuleana to upgrade the grid

In his rebuttal to Caitlin Pomerantz’s commentary on upgrading the grid ("Upgrading grid should be normal business cost," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Sept. 11), Hawaiian Electric Co. Vice President Scott Seu pointed out that Hawaii has the highest percentage of customers with solar systems in the nation ("Critics of HECO overlooked facts," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 18).

This is true, but not because HECO has made moving to solar any easier on us. It’s because it charges the highest electric rates in the nation and we need some relief.

HECO has mismanaged the grid for decades, and now the popularity of solar is requiring it to upgrade its systems fast, instead of gradually like it should have.

If it was the clean energy champions it pretends to be, it would have invested ina cheaper, cleaner energy systemyears ago rather than using its profits to pad executive salaries.

Now solar is becoming more affordable for average, working families, and it should be HECO’s responsibility to make sure the grid is prepared.

Anna Kelly
Makiki

Churches seem to be getting a free ride

I am neither a member of a church nor an organized religion, yetconsider myself a person of faith.

I don’t know what the rightanswer is on the issue of same-sex marriage, but I don’t understand why churches and religious groups are allowed a political voice withouttaxation.

"Taxation without representation" was the mantra in the mid-1700’s. So is it fair to allow representation without taxation?

Debra Miyake
Nuuanu

Same-sex marriage is personal matter

I’m sorry, but I just don’t understand all the controversy surrounding marriage equality.

Why is it so wrong for same-sex partners to get married? Why can’t we just live and let live instead of trying to mind other people’s business?

Will allowing same-sex partners to marry hurt anyone? No. Will it make an opposite-sex marriage any less than what it is? No.

Allowing same-sex partners to marry levels the playing field and allows them to have equal rights, as it should be.

Banning same-sex partners from marrying is against all that this country stands for. Everyone in this great nation deserves respect, dignity, equal rights and protection against discrimination. We have gone to war with foreign countries because they abused human rights. The United Nations has declared discrimination based on sexual orientation/gender expression a human-rights violation.

So, what does that say about us? We are a bunch of hypocrites.

Patricia Koge
Mililani

‘Losing accounts’ help banks boost profits

The Star-Advertiser recently reported that the previous quarter was the most profitable for U.S. banks ever recorded. Mortgage rates have recently risen a full percentage point. Significantly, however, interest rates on savings accounts at our major local banks remain at next to nothing — 0.02 percent.

With a 0.02 percent savings interest rate, some math is enlightening.

If your bank invests $10,000 of your savings at 4.5 percent interest, the annual earned interest is $450. From that, your bank gives you $2 and keeps $448 for itself (it keeps 99.5 percent of what your money earned).

Factoring in inflation, you lose not only that $2 but have a devalued savings.

What banks term "savings" accounts are actually losing accounts. This is particularly damaging to seniors’ retirement savings.

So, yes, our banks are earning record profits. And the income gap between wealthy Americans and the rest of us grows ever wider.

Bill Cunningham
Kaneohe