Double amputee an inspiration
With so much negative news facing us every day, it is so uplifting to enjoy the London Olympics and be inspired by the individual and team performances in all the different venues.
One particular athlete, Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee from South Africa, has turned his disability to ability to perform on the largest stage on this Earth, running in the 400 meters.
In life, there is no limit to what one can accomplish and Oscar is another fine example of the human spirit. He has tested himself to achieve the impossible when it comes to performing in the Olympics against the best in the world. Whether he wins or loses is secondary. His participation already makes him a winner in the eyes of the world.
Oscar has brought much-needed happiness and pride to the world. What a fine example to witness his performance.
Tom Sugita
Pearl City
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Letter form: Online form, click here E-mail: letters@staradvertiser.com Fax: (808) 529-4750 Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813
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Rail-bus system will save money
On July 16, the front-page headline read, "Rail will take 17% of taxes collected" and cited the new Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation financial plan.
First, the plan actually states our total transit system, including TheBus, Handi-Van and rail, will be 17 percent. Rail is projected to account for less than 3 percent, not 17 percent. Second, without rail, the total operating cost is estimated to increase to 20 percent for an all-bus transit system.
Why? Because rail is less expensive to operate. Due to more efficient labor and fuel costs, the per-mile passenger expense for rail is projected at 43 cents and for TheBus, 80 cents.
Bottom line, by investing in a modern bus-rail transit system, we are significantly reducing our future transit operating costs, while decreasing our dependency on imported fuel. A rail-bus transit system will increase capacity, reduce future operating and capital costs, and provide a debt-free, viable solution to our island-wide traffic congestion.
Don Horner
Chairman, HART Finance Committee
Ono didn’t tell whole story
Tad Ono tells us in a Star-Advertiser commentary, "I am a retired engineer who managed the Hawaii businesses of two different engineering companies. I hope my speaking out will in some way give voice to my fellow engineers who have been robbed of their dignity, integrity and honor" ("‘Pay to play’ remains a reality in isle politics, corrupting all involved," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Aug. 1).
This is chutzpah of the highest order.
Ono does not tell readers he was until recently the Parsons Brinckerhoff principal in Honolulu. No one ordered Ono to play the games he did, nor other PB engineers. Ono and his colleagues could always join the clear majority of Hawaii’s engineers and architects who do not "pay to play" and which has cost them dearly in lost business, but has left them "their dignity, integrity and honor."
On the other hand, that would mean giving up their share of the hundreds of millions of dollars PB has already garnered from the rail project, with hundreds of millions more to come.
Cliff Slater
Honolulu
Why the worry about rail’s cost?
I cannot comprehend why former Gov. Ben Cayetano and City Councilman Tom Berg are so obsessed about the cost of rail.
We need rail now, period. We have been waiting too long for rail to be built in Honolulu. If we wait longer, it will be very costly compared to now.
We want progress. We don’t want to be like the Third World. Rail will be appreciated when it is in full operation, like the H-3 now.
Sonny Pasion
Pearl City
Rail not likely to finish on time
We have been told that rail construction may take nine years for a 20-mile-long system.
Did you know that it took nearly three years to improve Puuloa Street in Mapunapuna — a distance of only three-quarters of a mile?
Given the obstacles that lie ahead, namely undiscovered, unknown ancient burial sites, engineering miscalculations and constructions mishaps, the scheduled completion may go beyond its estimated time.
Henry Jim
Salt Lake
Sewer repairs are top priority
Our priorities are dead wrong. Reading the Letters to the Editor, I am appalled at how little the public is aware of or acknowledges the great inescapable cost burden we already have under the Environmental Protection Agency’s consent decree for repair of our sewage system, estimated at $3.7 billion.
It is to be entirely paid for by the sewage portion of the water bill, already raised by well over 100 percent since 2005, with more raises to come as mandated by the consent decree. It is expected that 78 percent of that cost will come from residential users.
To that add the cost of road and domestic water system repairs.
We are building this ugly but shiny rail system on top of a totally decrepit infrastructure. Fix it first!
Norman MacRitchie
Kakaakolo
Student services critical at UH
It is hard reading the newspaper when it reports that the new University of Hawaii chancellor is receiving $439,008 per year ("Regents set to OK new UH-Manoa chancellor," Star-Advertiser, May 17), while I am stuck struggling to pay my increased tuition and scrambling for scholarships to pay for expensive textbooks.
Luckily, the student services programs on campus support students dealing with these issues. For example, Native Hawaiian Students Services is a program that helps underrepresented students get the resources they need for college success. Unfortunately, programs like these are left hunting for grants for basic operational funding.
I stare at my large student loan debt and the overwhelming amounts of scholarship applications in hopes that the university and the chancellor will recognize the importance of these student services programs and to support them with funding.
Sage Quiamno
Kalihi
Use right lane for big vehicles
Yes, indeed, the traffic engineers did well with the lanes in the downtown corridor by providing four lanes instead of only three to increase the flow of traffic.
However, the engineers should take the additional step of requesting or requiring that all buses and trucks stay in the right lane. This would reduce the likelihood of accidents and certainly the stress of being caught in a narrow lane between two large buses, for example.
Signs should be posted stating that buses and trucks must keep to the right lane — as is just normally done all over the mainland and Europe, but not in Hawaii.
Mark Webster
Waialae-Kahala