Letters to the Editor
Kipling would have viewed Makua askance
Your July 17 lead story, "Judge bars Makua training," and the daily barrage of supporters' letters to the editor recall Rudyard Kipling's immortal post-World War I line:
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Chuck him out, the Brute!
But it's Saviour of 'is country when the guns begin to shoot.
Had the Japanese Imperial Army successfully invaded and occupied O'ahu, would its environmental impact statement have assuaged local population concerns?
John K. Kingsley
Wahiawa
Emotion in no reason to enact legislation
Patty Smith's July 18 letter asked to take a poll of the residents of Hawai'i to determine if people wanted the govenor's veto to be overridden, claiming that whatever the public wants at any given moment, they should get. This is also known as mob rule.
The job of the Legislature is to make just laws, not fundamentally flawed laws created because of, yes, Patty Smith, emotional hysteria.
Nobody is arguing against a rise in the age of consent; the purpose of the governor's veto was to prevent a poorly written law from being passed. It's called governing. They're paid to do it; we are not.
Dwight Donaldson
Tacoma, Wash.
Dobelle well-suited for UH presidency
Both as a resident of Maui and a member of the UH Board of Regents, I was disappointed to read an unfortunate partisan attack on our choice of Evan Dobelle as the new president of the University of Hawai'i.
Dr. Dobelle is an admired educator with three academic degrees from the University of Massachusetts and one from Harvard, and lectures throughout the world on urban and regional planning, in which department he is tenured at UH as a full professor.
Dobelle is a registered independent voter who, as a Republican, served the late governor of Massachusetts, John Volpe, and a former senator of Massachusetts, Ed Brooke (both Republicans) as well as being a confidante of former President Jimmy Carter — responsible for his protocol and fund-raising, all accomplished without a breath of impropriety in a world of hardball politics.
The "community college" Dobelle headed in San Francisco is the largest two-year college in the world, with 85,000 students (UH has around 45,000 on all 10 campuses), and Trinity in Connecticut is indeed small but one of the elite Ivy League colleges in the country.
Dobelle also is versed in research as a board member of both the Truman Institute at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in the humanities as well as the hard sciences at the United States Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
Dobelle's salary, the same as it was at Trinity, is simply competitive with his peers on the Mainland and is in the same range as our esteemed football coach, June Jones, and our new Medical School dean, Ed Cadman.
The best thing about Dobelle is to know we have a mature, experienced academic and public administrator who can give us hope for the future.
Everett R. Dowling
Board of Regents, University of Hawai'i
Let the people have initiative, referendum
Former state Senator Whitney Anderson chides me for failing to back an "advisory referendum" on gambling (Letters, July 4). He should instead be talking to the governor.
That's because my letter responded to the governor's plan to turn a constitutional amendment ratification vote into a referendum on gambling. I pointed out it wouldn't work — the Legislature wouldn't vote in the first place for an amendment that allowed gambling.
Instead of back-door plans to measure public sentiment — advisory or not — why don't we join our neighboring Western states and openly embrace initiative, recall and referendum? Instead of choosing issues for the people, whether gambling, term limits, shoreline protection or clean elections, let the people decide by initiative.
Republicans don't fear the people. Does the party in power?
Rep. Galen Fox
R-21st District {Waikiki, Ala Wai)
City Council members simply don't get it
That the City Council downplays its lack of ethics by pointing to its "efficiency" misses an important point in the role of public servants: They are serving the people; they influence the everyday quality of life of the people.
When the people show an amazing apathy to the political process (as noted in our recent voter turnout), it's hardly imaginable that the people actually believe they are stakeholders in the everyday quality-of-life issues that matter to them.
Going through the motions of "effectiveness," and really making manifest the hope of our people for a thriving, vibrant community are two very different goals. Public servants are elected to serve the public. They are given privileges and power that the ordinary person does not have. They have a responsibility greater than to themselves.
Get it?
Karen Yukie Yamada
Hanauma Bay needs more women's facilities
As a frequent visitor to O'ahu, I am a bit confused about the construction plans for additional facilities at Hanauma Bay. I can only hope they will add to the beauty and uniqueness of this aquatic wonderland.
However, I would strongly suggest first things first. On a recent visit to Hanauma Bay, I had the need to use the restroom near the ticket booths at the entrance. As I approached, I noted with dismay that a long line had formed outside the restrooms. As I walked nearer to the facilities, it became apparent that the long line was outside the women's restroom. Several other males and I walked into the men's room without delay
However, within just a few moments, as we were taking full advantage of the facilities, we heard the loud shuffling of feet behind us. Lo and behold, about 20 women had tired of their long line and decided to join us. We men glanced at one another and beat a hasty retreat.
Please, first things first at Hanauma Bay. All else can wait.
Ty Whorton
Dallas
'Brunch on the Beach' could use fine-tuning
Applause for creating a traffic-free area in Waikiki during the "Brunch on the Beach."
Will this mean adding to the garbage mountain of disposable bottle containers, plates, cutlery and paper? How about encouraging people to bring, take home and wash plates, cutlery, etc. — much less of a footprint.
Obesity being the modern plague, it might be a good idea to sell healthier ethnic foods like gado gado (Indonesian), hummus, pita bread, falafels, tabouleh (Middle Eastern), vegetable samosas or curries (Indian), all delicious, healthy food.
Let's be a bit more adventurous whilst encouraging locals to Waikiki.
Lois Raynor
Our 'field of dreams' is really a nightmare
I was reading a newspaper article about the new sports complex in Waipi'o — the millions of dollars spent, the trees, the green grass and just how beautiful it is.
Then I recalled my visit about a week ago to Sand Island Park to watch my grandson play a baseball game there in the Police Activities League.They are only kids — 7, 8, 9 and 10 years old. But, their field of dreams is a total wasteland.
As I stepped out of my car, the afternoon sun was beating down, hot, sticky and windy. I looked up and began to walk toward the three backstops in the distance. Across the road, a dirt bike motorcyclist was of course kicking up dirt, and the wind, as if it needed any help, was kicking up enough dirt of its own. You could taste it in your mouth.
There are no trees, no green grass. They call them fields — that's more like what they are, uneven, with slopes running every which way. The edge of the outfields, with grass two feet tall, looked like dumping grounds for trash: broken bottles, cans, rubbish.
I don't know whose idea those fields were, but it is a shame. It's a shame that we can overindulge for the prosperous (Waipi'o Sports Park), but make our inner-city kids play ball in rubbish.
I invite the builders, sponsors, mayor and the City Council members who supported and are taking accolades for the Waipi'o Sports Park to bring your lawn chairs and spend an afternoon at the Sand Island Baseball Park.
A real "field of dreams."
Walter Miske Jr.
Electronic signs are a blot on highway
Regarding the new state highway electronic signs: Trying to get the state to preserve and protect our scenic beauty is a losing cause. The Department of Transportation is aesthetically challenged and the state is surely blind to beauty.
Remember when it was pointed out to the DOT that the large road signs between Wilson Tunnel and Kahekili Highway (and in the opposite direction) blocked the beautiful view? The DOT's answer was that it was too late to remove any of them and besides, they cost $100,000 apiece. As for the monstrous signs, count them — within a quarter-mile — there are three signs pointing out the turnoff onto Kahekili. A real challenge to miss the turnoff at only 45 mph.
Now the state is adding more signs, big electronic ones that give some really important message such as, "There is an accident in Makaha, be careful." DOT's answer this time will probably be that since the Feds are picking up 80 percent of the tab, we shouldn't have any reason to complain. Did they get a negative declaration impact statement to prove it?
Ted Green
Privatization will help harbors
The state's purpose for seeking private management and operation of the Ala Wai and Ke'ehi small-boat harbors may not be well understood. The primary reason is to provide a source of private capital to fund necessary improvements.
Since 1991, boating project funding has been insufficient to keep pace with program needs. Although the boating program pays both principle and interest on projects funded with state bonds, the state's debt-limit ceiling has placed CIP funding requests for boating projects in direct competition with funding demands for other programs deemed to have a higher public purpose. Few projects have been authorized, even though program revenues could be increased to support the expected debt-service costs.
Most marinas elsewhere are privately operated. The most successful derive over 60 percent of their revenues from sources other than slip fees. We intend to lease Ala Wai and Ke'ehi boat harbors to a qualified marina management firm that has not only the corporate assets to accomplish needed improvements, but also the necessary business and marketing expertise to develop these facilities to their maximum potential.
Act 299, passed by this year's Legislature, allows expanded ancillary uses and services that complement and support state boating facilities, even though they may not be directly maritime-related. We believe the provisions of this law, which were not previously available, will now provide the private sector with the profit incentive to provide the full range of desired amenities, support services and convenience to users that are common to "full service" marinas developed elsewhere.
We expect the primary benefit to harbor users will be the capability of private industry to accomplish needed repairs swiftly and efficiently, unfettered by burdensome government restrictions and with less overhead cost.
Lease provisions will still require berthing facilities at both Ala Wai and Ke'ehi small-boat harbors to be offered to the public without prequalification or restriction, and public access to the shoreline will be provided. We expect market forces will determine the level of mooring fees required to achieve a target level of occupancy, and that the balance sheet will discourage development of "luxury" items that do not have a positive benefit/cost ratio.
The boating program was intentionally organized as a statewide program so that the revenues generated from facilities located in the metropolitan Honolulu area could help support the facilities in rural O'ahu and on the Neighbor Islands. It was modeled on the state's airports and commercial harbors programs, which use revenues generated by Honolulu International Airport and Honolulu Harbor to help support smaller facilities throughout the state where the population and revenue base is insufficient to cover the development and maintenance costs of those facilities.
We intend to continue this practice by using the lease rents from these facilities for this purpose.
Gilbert S. Coloma-Agaran
Chairman, Board of Land and Natural Resources
