Posted on: Friday, June 21, 2002

Letters to the Editor

Use of personal cars by police is a mistake

Regarding the story "Use of personal cars saves police time and money": First, a marked police car is a deterrent. The bad guys see one in a neighborhood and they leave.

Second and more important is that every officer drives a different type of vehicle. Many are SUVs. Is every officer certified to drive the type of car he uses on duty at high speeds? Do you want an officer in a high-speed chase in a car in which he has not been certified?

What I see in government's bottom line is money, not the safety of the public.

Ross Kuhnle
Pahoa

State amendment would bolster our legal system

When you visit our state or city courts, you often see uniformed police officers standing or sitting in the court hallways. They are all just cooling their heels while they wait to appear before a judge to simply reiterate what they have already said in their written reports.

This antiquated system is a huge waste of police officers' time and our tax dollars, and it provides the bad guys with one more loophole to slither through.

When it comes to crimes against our visitors, it becomes a major inconvenience to the visitor and, in some cases, a breakdown of our legal system.

Our city prosecutor, Peter Carlisle, wants to bring Hawai'i into the 21st century and in line with other states by getting rid of this dumb system. In November, you will be asked to vote on a very important amendment to our state Constitution. It is referred to as "direct filing." This amendment will update our Constitution and will make our legal system more efficient and our streets safer for everyone. It will really help the visitors who are the unfortunate victims of petty crimes.

Direct filing is the rule and not the exception in most of the nation, and it is now time for Hawai'i to catch up. This amendment to our Constitution is good for everyone except the criminals.

As we get closer to the election, you will be reminded to vote "yes" on this amendment. Do so and help make Hawai'i's legal system work.

Bob Hampton

Dods would represent what the party really is

I, for one, hope Walter Dods does become the Democratic nominee for governor. Then people will clearly see what the Democratic Party truly represents: big business, big labor and big government.

The true hope for the little guy, for small business, for the rest of us, is the Republican ticket headed by Linda Lingle.

The ancient and now-hollow Democratic rally against the Big Five betrays their true identity in 2002 as the powerful and corrupt big three.

Michael G. Palcic

Democrats already have good candidates

I'm developing a bit of a personal irritation as the media appear to continue the hype of "Who will run for governor as a Democrat?" and "They need another candidate."

Democrats already have three extremely qualified, personable and able candidates. These candidates appeared at the Democratic State Convention, asked for our support and committed to support each other after the primaries. These candidates have all been meeting with grass-roots groups, explaining their plans and visions, and why we should vote for them (as opposed to others who only want you to vote against something). They all have signed on to the Democratic platform — and, in one case, participated in the precinct and committee meetings — to help thrash out the contents of rules and resolutions.

We have three Democratic candidates who are willing to answer the questions and are not running as just a name. We have three Democratic candidates who help remind us of the difference between conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats.

So I make this personal plea: Stop the shrub-beating to scare up new game — and start focusing on the declared candidates who have told us why we should vote for them.

Lance Bateman

Politics of intimidation is already under way

R. Carolyn Wilcox's tirade against Dave Shapiro and Linda Lingle is a carryover from the yelling and screaming that took place at the Hawai'i Democratic Convention. Democrats appear convinced that the only way they can stay in power (that appears to be all they are concerned about) is to attack anyone who challenges them and trash Linda Lingle.

The Hawai'i Democrats' politics of intimidation and the promotion of fear is rearing its ugly head early in this election.

In order for Hawai'i to change, it must break the vicious cycle of electing plaintiff attorneys who make their career in politics and move on to become governor. This is the Waihe'e to Cayetano and now to Hirono trifecta. We have barely survived 16 years of the John and Ben show. Can we afford another eight years of Mazie?

Let's elevate the discussions of the 2002 election to the issues and the records of the candidates running. This election is too important to do anything less.

Stephanie Akiona

Will Lokelani Lindsay now run for office?

Now that Lokelani Lindsay has pleaded guilty to the federal charges against her, will she be filing to run for governor or lieutenant governor?

If she receives probation, as expected, and is restricted to her mansion for a couple of months, the only thing she would miss out on would be sign-waving.

Bob Gaddis

Castle & Cooke didn't keep Mililani promise

Castle & Cooke vice president Alan Arakawa acknowledges the Mililani community perspective that Castle & Cooke has eagerly agreed to the DOE's crisis-management measures of redistricting, multitracking and portables to overcome the lack of adequate educational facilities in its master-planned project (Letters, June 13).

School acreage mentioned for Mililani Mauka includes what were supposed to be neighborhood parks and still amounts to only half of the required acreage for Koa Ridge, a planned development approximately equal in acreage and housing.

Castle & Cooke may have worked with the Mililani Mauka Community and the City and County to agree to the removal of 100 acres designated as school land in order to add 800 additional homes and a one-acre park, but the original promise to the entire Mililani community was broken.

For years, this site was widely pitched to home-buyers and residents as the future site of UH West. Castle & Cooke was released from the original land-use condition for a school on this site after it explained that the university was not interested in the Mililani Mauka site because it is "too small." Now the state is considering sites in Kapolei of fewer than 60 acres.

Perhaps Castle & Cooke could find it in its heart to consider quality-of-life issues like adequate classrooms for children in Mililani before it abandons us for Koa Ridge and continued profits.

Joseph Deshane
Mililani

Developers building schools is a mistake

The state Land Use Commission's recommendation that public schools be built by the developers of the residential units surrounding them has good intentions but needs to be thought out more carefully as it will likely set a precedent with dire effects.

Real estate developers have to pay impact fees for such things as water development, sewers, parks, street trees, affordable housing and even giving up land for wider roads so that garbage trucks don't have to reverse.

The case has been made on how impact fees contributed to the increased cost of housing. More importantly, overly burdensome impact fees will often kill or delay the development of master-planned communities, causing housing shortages similar to those we faced in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Have we forgotten how people would camp out in lines overnight to get a chance at a lottery for an affordable home?

That imbalance in supply and demand will cause prices to increase in the middle markets far more than foreign investment (which typically looks to invest in high-end or luxury housing). All these cost and market pressures get passed on to home buyers until people stop buying homes and developers stop building. Have we forgotten the pain that was caused when thousands of carpenters and other trade workers were unemployed because of such ill-conceived strategies?

The fact is that the state and county governments receive enough fees and taxes from housing projects to develop the schools, parks, water sources, etc. How the government spends the money is up to the Legislature and the councils. Through this process, we can let elected official know where our priorities are.

We encourage the Land Use Commission to defer this idea until it can be better thought out. The Building Industry Association of Hawai'i stands ready to work with all parties on how to best solve this problem, just as we partnered with government on solutions to school maintenance and repairs that are now being implemented.

Craig Y. Watase
President
Building Industry Association of Hawai'i

Handicap-parking rule clarified

Your June 17 article by Dan Nakaso discussed the new requirements on businesses for parking stalls reserved for persons with disabilities. In general, the story was thorough and Nakaso did extensive research in preparing the article.

There is one mistake that should be clarified to allay some businesses' concerns and eliminate unnecessary costs. To the report's credit, the misinformation was conveyed to him by me in a phone interview. The article states that a "No Parking — Access Aisle" sign is required on all access aisles. It is, in fact, required only on a van-accessible access aisle because those aisles are eight feet wide and a car could fit there, albeit illegally.

Although the state rules do exceed the minimum requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility guideline, they do so for a purpose. As one consultant noted, most people with disabilities do a good job of finding reserved stalls. This is true. If you have a mobility limitation, learning where to find accessible stalls is second nature because the stalls mean the difference between independence and isolation. Most people know by memory where the stalls are located, regardless of the obsolescence or sophistication of the signage.

The additional state requirements are not to help a person with a disability find a stall. They are to enhance law enforcement's ability to cite violators. It is often an unfortunate reflection of our society that we must have as many signs as we do to warn people of the consequences of doing something wrong, whether it be "no parking" or "no swimming."

Most of the design requirements for the stall and signage are already required by the law and have been in effect since 1991. The additional state requirements are (1) required striping, (2) changing the maximum fine amount on the parking sign and (3) adding a no-parking sign in the van-access aisle.

The state requirements were issued in December 2000 and amended in December 2001 to reduce some of the requirements, so what remains are the minimum additional requirements the board felt necessary. The rules will be up for amendments again later this summer. If anyone has comments or wishes to be placed on a list to be notified of the hearings, please call either the DCAB office at 586-8121 or e-mail us at accesshi@aloha.net.

A packet of information for businesses or signage companies is available from the DCAB office by calling 586-8121.

Francine Wai
Executive director
Disability and Communications Access Board