Our utility franchise gives away too much

NextEra’s savvy political contributions kept residential rooftop solar panels out of the “Sunshine State.”

With its shameless manipulation of our state Public Utilities Commission proceedings and misleading advertising, we would be fools to let NextEra in.

Nobody buys utilities with cash savings; rather, a loan is taken out against expected payments from ratepayers, who pay back the loan in addition to payment for actual services. The irony is that these same ratepayers paid for the utilities’ infrastructure in the first place. They get to buy it twice.

If a municipality or a cooperative buys the utility, at least ratepayers will own it and the cycle will be broken.

Our utility franchise grants a perpetual monopoly whereby all costs are passed on to ratepayers, and the higher the costs, the more guaranteed profit for shareholders. Our Legislature should get us out of this bad deal to allow for a transition to public ownership or at least fixed-term contracts with open competition.

Lisa Marten

Kailua

Saudi Arabia should take in refugees

Did our governor lose some of his marbles?

Did I hear right when he said refugees from Syria are welcome to come to Hawaii? Did he not see what happened in Paris?

Granted, the thousands of refugees have been screened multiple times. But I believe there are some refugees who blame the United States for the predicament they are in and would like to destroy America.

I believe the refugees should be sent to Saudi Arabia or other Mideast countries with similar cultures.

Ed Fukuyama

Pauoa

FDR betrayed his own iconic quote

To lend authority to “the danger of making decisions based on fear,” Doris Segal Matsunaga quotes President Franklin Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (“Ige deserves thanks for refugees stance,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Nov. 24).

Nine years after uttering those iconic words, Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066, authorizing the evacuation of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast — currently a textbook example of “the danger of making decisions based on fear.”

John Stephan

Tantalus

Americans should welcome refugees

Christians have advocated slamming the door when war refugees come knocking.

How quickly we forget that most of our immigrant relatives were once in a similar situation. Otherwise, most of us would not be Americans today.

We cannot isolate or insulate ourselves from the desperate masses fleeing for their lives.

The “American Dream” is forever dead if we do so.

Jeff Bigler

Wailuku

Opposition to Ige’s offer was surprising

I was surprised at the vehement opposition to Gov. David Ige’s offer to accept Syrian refugees in Hawaii.

I understand there are practical concerns, such as a lack of affordable housing and overburdened social services. I do think, however, that the security concerns are probably exaggerated. A handful of Syrian immigrants would be pretty visible and would not be difficult to track.

If Hawaii does become a target for terrorists, it seems like the threat would more likely come from ISIS sympathizers within radical Islamic groups from the Philippines and other Asian countries. How easy would it be for them to enter our state and move around undetected? Are they vetted as carefully as our government assures us that Syrians would be?

I don’t have the answer to that, but I hope someone does.

Marcy Wilhelm

Waipahu

We ban elephants but not refugees?

Isn’t it ironic that we do not show our aloha and welcome the circus elephant (“Board set to vote on wild-beast ban,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 24)?

Once in a century, one may have gotten away. In the meantime, without blinking an eye, we extend our aloha to terrorists who for a decade have been bombing dozen of places and events throughout the world.

Isn’t it far easier to keep track of a runaway elephant than resident terrorists?

At least we know the elephant won’t be planting a bomb at the Honolulu Marathon or your favorite restaurant.

Walt S. Miyashiro

Aiea

Middle Street a good place to stop the rail

I fully agree with Bradley Coates that the rail project must be stopped before it reaches downtown (“It’s time to get serious about shortening the rail,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Nov. 25).

The bus center at Middle Street is an excellent point at which passengers could board the train service or depart and catch the bus into downtown and beyond.

There is no question that we have tried to develop rail service like other major cities, but we do not have the population and funds that this project requires.

Guy Taylor

Waipahu