Letters to the Editor

Don't sign petition to recall Mansho

I was blazing mad to read in the newspaper that a group of people in Mililani have started a petition for a recall and impeachment movement to oust Rene Mansho.

Mansho has stated she wants to complete her term, and she will still be effective in representing her district. She also cited the astronomical cost of holding a recall vote and a separate election to select a replacement.

Let's not forget all the good things she supported and accomplished for her district.

I urge all the people in Mansho's district not to sign this petition.

Edwin S. Imamura
Wahiawa

The tide of globalism is a reality for Hawai'i

Congratulations on the April 15 comprehensive coverage of the upcoming Asia Development Bank meetings. These meetings give us in Hawai'i a great opportunity to display ourselves as an international gathering place and to show the world the spirit of aloha.

All have been invited to the table to participate (hawaiibusinessforum.org), but our city leaders are wise in taking precautionary measures against a repeat of the chaos and damage caused by a fringe element in Seattle and Quebec international meetings.

The tide of globalism is a reality. We in Hawai'i can have an influential role. If we buck the tide, we will become a backwash.

Robert B. Robinson
Hawai'i Business Forum

Focus on the problem: ADB causes poverty

The Asian Development Bank, located in Manila, was created in 1968 to provide loans to oppressed countries in the region. The United States and Japan are its largest investors. It is completely unaccountable to the people whose survival is affected by its loans to governments and private companies to exploit natural resources and develop infrastructure that benefit foreign capital rather than local inhabitants.

Just one example among many is the Theun-Hinboun Hydropower Project in Laos. Financed with ADB monies, since its completion in 1998 it has been the target of enormous protests from indigenous peoples and non-governmental organizations.

According to the International Rivers Network, this dam very quickly resulted in "the loss of fisheries, flooded vegetable gardens, loss of drinking water supply and transportation difficulties."

Let's have more public discussion and debate about these kinds of issues, rather than only about how many cops and how much riot gear it will take to control what the uninformed call the "crazies."

Larry S. Jones

Hilton shouldn't build seventh tower at Village

Greed will destroy the home feeling of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Hilton's announcement of a seventh, 350-foot tower to be built on a remaining odd-shaped sliver of land (1.9 acres) must be stopped or scaled down.

The tower would kill the last remaining view of the ocean for hundreds of nearby residents. Why can't Hilton give something back to the community to live up to its national advertising? We are just recovering from the noise of the new Kalia Tower.

Seiko Araki

Don't blame the road, blame the drivers

I read with interest transportation writer Scott Ishikawa's story on Kaukonahua Road in the April 19 Advertiser ("Ways to make road safer under discussion"). It makes the road sound like a living thing possessed by a malevolent personality.

According to the story, it's "one of O'ahu's most dangerous roads" that "has a history of wrongdoing" and "needs to be blessed."

Superstition aside, Kaukonahua is a pleasant country road that's a pleasure to drive in the daytime, with its scenic views of mountains, valleys and ocean. After dark, most of us who live on the North Shore feel safer taking the Kamehameha Highway route home.

But let's get real: It's not the road that's dangerous. It's the drunks, iceheads, amped-up daredevils and other assorted crazies who drive it as if it were a tropical Monte Carlo.

John Wythe White
Hale'iwa