Letters to the Editor
Leave decision of drilling to people of Last Frontier
I must take exception to the Aug. 2 editorial opposing the development of the major oil reserves east of Prudhoe Bay along the northern coastal fringe of the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Modern drilling techniques require a much smaller industrial footprint than in the past. Equipment will be brought in on ice roads during the winter and, because the proposed drilling sites are so close to the existing facilities at Prudhoe Bay, additional airstrips may not be necessary.
The existing TransAlaska Oil Pipeline will be used to transport the oil to the lower 48 states and the impact of the proposed oil production sites on the 19 million acre wildlife reserve land area is the equivalent of one or two postage stamps stuck on the northern edge of your living room carpet.
At the request of the governor and the congressional delegation from Florida, the Bush administration reduced the size of the proposed off-shore drilling area in the Gulf of Mexico. The governor of Alaska, its congressional delegation and the Inupiat Eskimos living in the area where the drilling will take place are in favor of developing this Alaskan oil field.
If we believe in home rule and representative government, we will leave this decision in the hands of the people of Alaska and their elected representatives.
Alan S. Lloyd
Kailua
Environmental paranoia wasting newsprint
Whoa: Stop the jackhammers! I just read your Aug. 2 editorial on the Alaskan wilderness. You are wasting valuable newsprint with your environmental paranoia.
You want me to believe that some oil company is going to invest billions of dollars over 10 years to destroy l.5 million acres of pristine wilderness, killing all the caribou and birds, to open up the land for roads and houses for thousands of workers, pumping stations, airstrips, ports, massive gravel mining, pipelines and a sprawling industrial infrastructure?
For what? Six months of oil? You must think the oil guys are really, really dumb.
In case you've forgotten, there is already a pipeline in Alaska pumping the dangerous black stuff. If it weren't for some drunken captain on a really big boat called the Valdez, the environmental impact after decades of drilling would be negligible. The caribou and birds (even those that winter in Hawai'i) are fine, thank you.
Should I be wrong, perhaps everyone's efforts should be focused on shutting down the existing Alaska pipeline and suing those bums for gazillions of dollars. Set an example and no one will ever want to drill for oil again.
Somehow, I just can't help but feel that this is not about the oil, but about an obsessive hatred of SUVs and the lifestyle choices of those who "voraciously disregard the environment" for want of "more hydrocarbons to pollute the world." Look out your ivory tower window into The Advertiser parking lot and count the SUVs. Hypocrites.
Mark Middleton
Kapolei
Envision UH as hub in environment struggle
New University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle's stated ambitions in a July 19 article, "Radical plan reshapes UH," give no indication that he realizes the unique needs of Hawai'i's natural environment, which should be pre-eminent in any vision for UH's future.
Because of Dobelle's newness to the state, he may not realize yet that Hawai'i is "the extinction capital of the U.S." — a tragedy in its own right and a telling symptom of our inadequate efforts to address the problem of invasions of our vulnerable islands by alien species.
His predecessor, Dr. Kenneth Mortimer, seemed to never understand this either. UH's Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit is a major hub of innovative applied conservation and resource management for Hawai'i, with an annual budget of $8 million from federal, state and county sources (and growing 20 percent a year), but is staffed by a single faculty member.
Hawai'i is getting increasing attention and may be on the verge of a renaissance for conservation biology, alien species prevention and containment, and ecological restor-ation. Outstanding opportunities exist for training UH students for careers in helping to reverse the degradation of our environment.
Please, Dr. Dobelle, include UH in your vision in the protection and restoration our 'aina.
Lloyd Loope
Makawao
Knocking new president
Just a thought. At the nonstop rate that his smiling face appears on your pages, knocking on everybody's ideas and ringing its way into stories about our town, perhaps as a complement to his seemingly unfathomable energy, you could call him Evan "Doorbelle."
Ben H. Tamashiro
Liberal-minded folks wrong on two counts
The Advertiser seems excited these days about two issues which the Democratic Party is scolding President Bush about: Exit polls and global warming.
• On Sunday, Aug. 12, columnist Michael Kinsley was wrong again — this time objecting to the proposed exit polls law, which would prevent TV networks from "calling" the result in any state and in the country before voting had ended.
Take a look at the Florida situation last November and December. The networks called Florida for Gore hours before the polls in the heavily Republican Florida panhandle were to close. Would you vote for a presidential candidate if he already had been defeated according to national television?
The margin of Bush's victory would have been much larger in Florida if a Gore victory had not been erroneously "called."
• As for global warming, do this simple thing: Take a glass (or large pitcher if you prefer) and fill it to the very top with ice cubes. Then get as much water into it as possible without spilling any. Wait until all the ice has melted. See how much water has left the pitcher.
The doomsday liberals love to predict in horror that islands worldwide (including Manhattan and Hawai'i, presumably), will disappear. High school students should know about the periodic advancing and receding of glaciers. Shutting down our factories and spending gazillions of U.S. tax dollars to keep the planet from getting warmer won't change anything about that (except our prosperity).
Remember Malthus.
Cliff Coleman
Attraction would add to rebirth of Honolulu
In his Aug. 3 letter, How Tim Chang questions the value of a new aquarium in Kaka'ako and implies that the Waikiki Aquarium is suitable enough for our state.
The governor's vision for a Kaka'ako aquarium is to have it serve as an economic and educational stimulus for Hawai'i, just as the world-famous Baltimore aquarium, now known as the National Aquarium, has served that purpose for Baltimore.
A new aquarium would complement the proposed Bishop Museum Science & Technology Center and the existing Children's Discovery Center as attractions in Kaka'ako for residents and visitors, young and old, to enjoy. A research component would enable more extensive marine exploration and studies than are possible at the limited Waikiki site, further promoting Hawai'i's research and development capabilities.
A private committee headed by Walter Dods was ready to raise $20 million in private funding for the aquarium, with the balance of $30 million to come from the state. Even Waikiki Aquarium curator Bruce Carlson shares this vision and was involved in the planning and support of the Kaka'ako aquarium to replace the Waikiki one.
Indeed, with public support and a will to think big, Kaka'ako can become, as The Advertiser aptly put it, a "grand statement: a masterpiece of design that will instantly become a worldwide symbol of Honolulu's rebirth."
Sharon Narimatsu
Deputy Director, Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism
'Ukulele Festival shows set-up is non-functional
The 'Ukulele Festival was enjoyable again this year, but let's face it: The Kapi'olani Park Bandstand is pretty but not functional.
The view of the stage and performers are only for a few hundred people, compared to the majority of the audience who have only the view of people's backsides, umbrellas and the roof of the structure. Even Moe Keale, one of the performers, said that before he performed, he came early to walk around and couldn't see what was going on because of the people standing on the mound.
I wrote to the city last year about the elevated ground facing the stage. I wrote that anyone sitting beyond the higher ground will be able only to hear what's going on. I suggested that the city level the ground and lower the front rows of benches. I got back a "mumbo-jumbo" letter saying my suggestions would be studied.
Since a pond was going to be put in behind the bandstand, the city could have designed a semi-circle stage with a bigger roof overhang so that performers could enjoy some shade and breezes and the audience could see the band on the risers.
An ideal setting for the 'Ukulele Festival would be Moanalua Gardens, where the ground is level and the majority of the people would be able to sit under beautiful trees. Too bad it doesn't have the ample parking that Kapi'olani Park has.
Helen Higa
City responsible for abuse by permit holders
A large part of the abuse of handicap parking in Honolulu stems from the city's policy to provide free parking in city metered stalls to people with a handicap sticker.
When my office overlooked the Smith-Beretania city parking lot in Chinatown, I often would see people parking their cars for the entire day in handicap stalls and then walking to their workplaces in downtown.When elderly people who really needed these stalls would come to Chinatown,they then had no place to park.
After witnessing a van from an elderly home having to drop people off in the middle of the traffic aisle because there was nowhere for it to park, I called the city to complain about the abuse. Even after giving the city license plate numbers and descriptions of frequent abusers, I was told that this type of abuse was too difficult for the city to police.
The city has created a situation where there is a big economic incentive to abuse handicap parking.Monthly parking downtown can cost more than $1,200 a year while a handicap sticker costs only $10.
The city should perhaps:
• Admit defeat in policing the abuse and increase the number of handicapped parking stalls throughout the city to accommodate both the real and "abused" demand for this parking.
• Take a more hard-line approach to the abuse, including policing the abuse and imposing fines on those caught.
• Eliminate the economic incentive of free parking for people with handicapped stickers. Theincreased parking revenuesgenerated by this could be used to make Americans with Disabilities Act-related improvements citywide.
Steve Baldridge
