Letters to the Editor
HPD should be given crash-clearing training
In a Nov. 22 letter, "Traffic woes can be eased," Panos Prevedouros gives some potential solutions to ease traffic problems on O'ahu's roads. I was glad to see where he recommends police and emergency crews be provided with training to quickly investigate and clear traffic accidents.
Los Angeles' freeways handle more cars per mile and have a higher percentage of accidents than we have here in Hawai'i, but the California Highway Patrol manages to clear and investigate them much quicker. Yes there are some differences, yet they do not shut down a freeway for an entire day to investigate ... even with multiple deaths.
I would go a bit further and propose that the HPD send a select few to California to see how the CHP investigates and clears accidents from their freeways with a minimum of traffic disruption. These HPD officers then could train other officers and emergency crews here.
The next time a serious accident occurs, we could then open up the freeway with a minimum of disruption.
Maurice Velez
Mililani
Don't link other unions to Rodrigues' abuse
We were disappointed with Rep. Scott Saiki's comments regarding the conviction of Gary Rodrigues. Rep. Saiki implies that because one person was found to abuse the system, all union representatives are guilty of the same crime. He uses this broad-stroke implication to justify the Legislature's misguided action to reduce health benefits of state employees.
HSTA's employees' beneficiary trust (the VEBA Trust) is subject to strict federal rules — rules more stringent than those imposed by the state. Our books are independently audited every year and are always found to be absent of any impropriety. We resent any implication otherwise.
Legislators' actions to force all state employees back into a single health plan is a bad idea. Period. It will increase the cost to the state while reducing benefits to the very people who make our state run — the exact opposite of everything legislators are trying to do.
Instead of this misguided approach, legislators should follow the HSTA model and allow unions to create VEBA trusts — trusts that are subject to federal Employment Retirement Income Security Act rules and oversight.
The benefits to the state, especially in the case of teachers, are many. Just to name a few, it will help to alleviate the severe teacher shortage we face in Hawai'i classrooms. Offering solid benefits is one way to attract and keep qualified teachers in the profession. It will also keep costs low. It's already established that separate, smaller trusts can provide better benefits at a lower cost than can a single, much larger group.
We encourage Rep. Saiki and all legislators to look closely at HSTA's VEBA Trust as a model for all public employee health needs. We welcome the scrutiny.
Karen Ginoza
HSTA president
School 'block schedule' made way for P.E.
Regarding the P.E. issue in local schools: I am from Michigan, and in my school, P.E. was one of the favorite classes. To make room for more electives, my school adopted what we call the "block schedule."
Students have eight classes but only take four every other day. Even days meant classes 2, 4, 6 and 8 and odd days were classes 1, 3, 5 and 7. We also had extended hours. A typical school day started at 8:15 a.m. and ended at 2:55 p.m.
Besides being able to take more electives, students were given an extra day to complete homework. I would recommend the schools here adopt a similar system.
Crystal Murray
Wahiawa
More outlets needed to relieve traffic
Regarding the Nov. 22 Island Voices piece by Panos Prevedouros, "Traffic woes can be eased": I agree with him and would like to add a couple of my own comments.
First, and no discredit meant to Prevedouros, but it doesn't take a professor of transportation engineering to figure out why the traffic is so jammed coming into town each morning. Any plumber could tell you. No matter how large you make the main line, double-deck or triple-deck freeway (or 8-inch or 12-inch pipe), you're not going to relieve that volume unless there are enough outlets.
Besides improving the traffic signals on Dillingham Boulevard and Nimitz Highway, possibly look into creating one or two lanes exiting from the airport viaduct eastbound right lane emptying onto Sand Island Access Road at Ahua Street.
Second, and in addition to this, TheBus that travels west on Sand Island Access Road and turns left at Ahua should be made to service Sand Island proper and all of the many facilities in place: Coast Guard Station, the beach park plus many, many businesses. This alone is a very inexpensive fix if only the city would look into it. This would also facilitate access to the Sand Island Park by our many visitors who normally travel the city via TheBus.
With just these two improvements, we should relieve the mounting jam by at least a thousand vehicles. More studies such as the ones suggested by Prevedouros and other means of relieving bottlenecks should be seriously reviewed before creating a larger main line.
Gary H. Watanabe
Waipahu
Reducing physician fees isn't the answer
Kimo Makano's Nov. 18 comments ("Increased medical care costs are villains") asks the grand insurance commissioner to not allow physicians to raise their fees. Apparently Makano is unaware that fee restrictions have already been imposed on physicians.
For the past decade or more, physicians' fees have been reduced annually and restricted by Medicare, HMSA and other medical insurance companies. In general, the public is unaware that many physicians like myself have to try to keep our medical and surgical practices going with a fee structure that is two-thirds of the fee level we received in the 1980s. The quality of care is threatened by using a 1980s' fee schedule to balance 2002 costs. This explains why many physicians have chosen to retire rather than work at a constant loss.
The burden of medical insurance costs can no longer be controlled by reducing physicians' fees.
Malcolm R. Ing, M.D.
Co-chairman, Medical Insurance Committee, Hawai'i Medical Association
Waikiki Theatre had more than just movies
As a preteen growing up in the "jungle" of Waikiki in the 1950s, there was only one nearby choice for movies — the Waikiki Theatre. For 25 cents, I could see a new movie almost every Sunday afternoon. Popcorn was also 25 cents and a soda was a dime.
When I got there early, I could look at the pretty carp in the fountain and try to decipher the signatures in the bronze plates that surrounded the fountain. Some names I'd heard of, others I learned as I viewed the movies.
What a great way to spend an afternoon.
Getting inside before the 1 p.m. first show, I could sit and look around at the blue-skied ceiling, the cement palm trees, and all the other decorations that provided the unique theater atmosphere (at least for an elementary-age student).
The Waikiki Theatre will be missed, to be sure. When Consolidated first renovated the complex and removed the plates and fountains, they were missed. Now, with the closing — and I'm guessing eventual destruction of the theater — more of historic Waikiki will be gone. Only the Moana and Royal Hawaiian have survived. That which made Waikiki unique is one step closer to being gone.
Could the theater survive? With theater-style seating replacing the current seats, yes. Replace the seats and keep the ambiance. Don't let another singular piece of history disappear.
Bob Gillchrest
Young UH fan made life miserable for all
My family decided to go to the game and cheer for Cincinnati. It was enjoyable, but it was also sad and foreign to my memories of public sporting events.
Booing the team as they came onto the field simply reminded me of a pro wrestling spectacle, where sportsmanship is unknown and unwanted because there is no entertainment money in sportsmanship. College sports are about developing the whole person who can become a leader and a responsible citizen. But there was no effort to curb excessive behavior.
In one example, a young man moved to seats just above the Bearcat bench, picked a number of a player and yelled profanities at the player for 10 minutes. He took a short break, drank another beer, picked another number and proceeded to yell profanities at that player. This went on for some time, with plenty of disgusted fans sitting around him.
Children were in the seats as well, hearing every filthy word out of this pitiful man's mouth. Yet when this man was brought to the attention of a police officer stationed nearby, the officer parried our every request with a skilled and practiced excuse for why he could not do anything.
Geoffrey P. Akey
Pearl City
A modest proposal for transparent society
At intervals, during periods of crisis, our government proposes to beef up law and order. Civil libertarians object, citing Benjamin Franklin's caveat that those who are willing to give up a little freedom for a little security deserve neither.
I propose that we end this tiresome debate and that all citizens (and everyone would be a world citizen) be implanted with a GPS (geopositioning satellite) chip at birth that would monitor all movements, central nervous and peripheral system states, all conversations and motor functions at all times.
As biotech advances, the internal surveillance could be extended to include all thoughts.
Thus we could achieve a totally transparent society of total security.
George W. Mason
Without infrastructure, no zoning
I take strong exception to your recent editorial regarding the Central O'ahu Sustainable Communities Plan and the provision of adequate infrastructure.
Contrary to your assertion, it is the state's responsibility to plan for and provide adequate school and freeway improvements. The state would never allow the city to tell it how or when to provide these facilities, and neither is it proper to do so. But neither do I believe that development should proceed without timely provision of these facilities.
While the Sustainable Communities Plan is a vision that extends 25 years into the future, it also contains specific guidelines to help the city address infrastructure adequacy at the time of zoning. It is at that point that the city assesses the school and highway requirements placed on developers by the state Education and Transportation departments. If developers do not adequately provide for those facilities, then the needed zoning is not granted.
The state has always assured every student an education. The problem, however, is that some residents simply don't like portable classrooms and multitrack scheduling. But this is a conscious strategy on the part of the DOE to meet community educational needs in the most effective and efficient means possible. Granted, some of our newer communities are now experiencing peak student enrollment; but as these neighborhoods mature, student enrollments will stabilize and ultimately decline.
Your editorial also implies that the city is not providing for other needed infrastructure. That is not true. We require all developers to pay their full share for all basic infrastructure, including sewer, water, city roads, parks, etc. And permit approvals are not granted unless this infrastructure is available at the time the developments are built.
Finally, contrary to your criticism, the Sustainable Communities Plan is compatible with the General Plan. The General Plan specifically states that we should 1) fully develop the primary urban center, and 2) encourage development within the secondary urban center at Kapolei and the 'Ewa and Central O'ahu urban fringe areas. It was never intended that new housing development should be directed only to the Second City.
By focusing development on these three growth areas, we are also able to preserve open space and agricultural lands in central O'ahu and elsewhere. The Urban Community Boundary, a new feature of the Sustainable Communities Plan, was specifically delineated to protect and preserve the most viable agricultural lands in both Central O'ahu and 'Ewa. And since the Urban Community Boundary is intended to remain relatively fixed for the next 25 years, it provides significantly stronger protection against urban encroachment than our current system of development plans.
The new Sustainable Communities Plan is a long-range, community-based plan that provides the necessary policies and guidelines to ensure that all the concerns raised in your editorial are properly addressed.
Gary Okino
City councilman
