Posted on: Friday, August 8, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Honolulu bus drivers shouldn't go on strike

To TheBus drivers: You provide service to the most needy of our fellow citizens — the underagers, those who can't afford a car, those who can't drive due to physical restrictions, tourists, many others with similar reasons. It's a service. You are TheBest of all the transits I've ridden.

But you're going to strike? Then consider all the free rides you've given, or the ones you accepted for less than full fare.

Think about how people will suffer if you don't keep driving. Think about those who have medical appointments, or kids going to afterschool activities. Workers without cars.

You provide a service. Firefighters and police don't get in for the money. If you want more, go do something else.

Equipment should have been checked

This is in response to your Aug. 3 article "Preschooler play equipment lacking." I am a mother of two preschool-age children and have a lot of firsthand experience in these new playgrounds that were referenced in the article.

I was not surprised that city spokeswoman Carol Costa came back with "no comment" when asked about injuries reported on this equipment, as I have witnessed several children (mostly under the age of 5) sustain injuries on the high slides and three-foot-high opening under the monkey bars. Who exactly is in charge here?

It seems to me that somebody should have checked federal safety standards before he spent $7.7 million building 95 of the same playgrounds all over the island.

Our criminal justice system isn't working

I attended the Wai'anae Coast community ice forum and have some concerns and thoughts after hearing the numerous poignant stories of broken homes and lives due to ice addiction. In the past, being a retired federal law-enforcement agent with the expected police mentality, I never really appreciated the personal problems involved.

The Hawai'i criminal justice system, if it can be even called a system, is broken. This must change. The lack of treatment and custody facilities breeds generations of dangerous people who are routinely rotated too soon back into the community to continue making victims of innocent citizens. Families, churches and community efforts have not been able to stem the tide.

Have we now reached the point where our only course of action is a lawsuit in federal court by victim plaintiffs citing the "general welfare" clause in the U.S. Constitution and asking the federal court to take over the state criminal justice system? There would be no lack of victim plaintiffs. It could be an interim solution, as has been done with Felix and the Hawai'i State Hospital.

Obviously, state and local authorities and politicians are not up to the task.

Nursing home nothing to look forward to

Can you imagine paying $84,700 a year ("Hawai'i nursing-home costs ranked 5th highest in nation," Aug. 4) knowing there is a 33 percent chance that you will not receive adequate management of your pain and equal odds that you will be force-fed against your wishes?

And this doesn't address the possibility of elder abuse and neglect.

True, some nursing homes are better than others, and residents fortunate enough to have an advocate fighting on their behalf will fare better, but for many, a nursing home is a fate worse than death.

Seniors have committed suicide to avoid internment, and family members often find themselves wracked with guilt over abandoning parents they are no longer able to care for.

Then there are those who simply can't afford the cost of a nursing home to begin with. A long-term-care bill that would have helped to keep the infirm in their own homes a bit longer was vetoed by the governor, who apparently felt is was wrong to impose a $10-a-month long-term-care tax but all right to have the state (translate taxpayers) continue paying out $102 million annually in long-term-care subsidies, subsidies that are expected to balloon to $559 million by the year 2020.

The Honolulu Advertiser certainly had the gift of understatement with its Nov. 19, 2002, editorial "Hawai'i not paradise for the twilight years"; it should have read "is hell" instead.

Rant against racial bigotry ignores history

In Garry Smith's Aug. 5 letter, he goes on about why Hawaiians shouldn't get federal benefits. He simplistically rants on about racial bigotry, dividing people and race. What he doesn't talk about is why Hawaiians get entitlements in the first place. Could it be because the U.S. government is stupid or racist against its own people?

Could be, but a more rational reason is about past and present crimes against Hawaiians that have led to their Third World-like socio-economic status in their own homeland. Maybe Mr. Smith should study this issue before presenting an opinion, and surely the editors of The Advertiser could find letters that lend more clarity to the issue.

Leave military alone; focus on your problems

This letter is addressed to Hui Malama O Makua, DMZ Hawai'i, Aloha 'Aina, and all those who were protesting the Army's use of Makua Valley and the controlled burn that got out of control.

I wish these groups would expend as much energy in attempting to correct the problem of crime, property damage, littering, etc., that occurs much too often on the Wai'anae Coast. Look at what happened out at Kalaeloa after its return to the state. Then look at the reputation of the Leeward Coast.

Try going to any beach on the Wai'anae Coast and dare to leave your property unwatched — it probably won't be there when you return to it. There are many causes for the problems facing the "native" people, but if everyone would direct their energies to solving these problems, maybe some headway could be made.

I thank the United States military for its presence, its umbrella of security and its sacrifices made daily for me, my family and our country. I can't think of anything that these "native" groups have done for me.

We must keep water from flowing into ocean

Our wells are finally beginning to show signs of overuse. It's no wonder, since we love to build new subdivisions, golf courses, etc.

It's not just the lack of rain but the paving over of O'ahu that are the causes. Pavement and concrete do not absorb water, but cause it to run into the storm drains, which drain into the ocean. Thus, it is not absorbed by the soil, which in turn filters it as it makes its way toward bedrock, at which point it pools, replenishing our aquifers.

The cure?

• No new subdivisions or paving over of existing green space.

• Transform empty gulches into reservoirs to be filled by storm-drain runoff instead of going into the ocean.

• Increase water bills to reflect how precious water is and to assist in limiting its waste. People by their very nature are wasteful, but when the cost is high, people tend to conserve more than they would otherwise.

Kapolei football team made great impression

I just want to share what I felt was a wonderful and pleasant gift of aloha from some outstanding young men. My wife, two girls and I attended the Hawaiian Islanders playoff game Saturday night and were sitting in the upper level.

Next thing we knew, the whole Kapolei men's football team (I say "men" because the way the high schoolers presented themselves would make their parents proud) sat next to us. A few came down and started a conversation with my family and asked if we wanted their passes to sit down behind the goal line. First we were given two passes and then two other players gave up their passes to my two daughters.

I just feel in this day and age that some of the professional athletes could take lessons from these young men in what athletics is meant to be — a lesson in building character. To the players, coaches and parents of the Kapolei football team, you are doing everything right, as these young men restored my faith in what a student athlete truly is.

Go, Hurricanes!

There's nothing wrong with ads on buses

There is a common saying in the business world: "How to kill a business? Do nothing." Don't advertise, don't listen to advice and don't look for ways to get more money. Well, this is exactly what's happening to our world-famous bus system.

I agree with the advertising executives ("Bus ads a 'slippery slope,' "Aug. 5): There isn't anything wrong about advertising on the outside of the buses. Mr. Mayor opposes their ideas because he drives (or is chauffeured). He doesn't take the bus to work. Does anyone on the City Council ride the bus?

Stop the "don't want to be like the Mainland" attitude. What's next? On the nation's headline news, it will read: "Bus fare in Honolulu $5 each way."

Exterior bus advertising has been proposed for years. How can the bus survive without that lucrative revenue now? The revenue from advertising on the bus stops can cover the construction, instead of using the dollars, which can be used for pothole repairs and road safety for schoolchildren. In the long run, advertising can help the labor market, including designers, production workers, delivery people. Major national advertisers will pour money into the island. Doesn't the state tax these services, too?

City should forget about a sales tax

A city-levied sales tax is a bad idea, unless it is accompanied by a proportionate reduction in the state-levied excise tax.

Calling it a home-rule issue is mere camouflage. This is nothing less than another tax.

So what if Honolulu is compelled to not accept hotel-room tax revenues? Those taxes are paid mostly by tourists. What the county sales tax would do, in effect, is replace tourist-generated taxes with resident-paid taxes. If estimates are correct, it would suck another $120 million out of the pockets of you and me, all so "vision teams" can waste, er, spend it on such things as $500,000 neighborhood signs.

I'd rather the vision teams were eliminated and monies saved allocated to frou-frou capital spending than enact more taxes.

Moreover, the city will never cut any of its myriad fees and other revenue generators even if it gets its shiny new tax, so lose those illusions.

Italian cuisine actually healthy, not fattening

This is in response to Charles Stuart Platkin's column "Love Italian food? Quite a spread (on you)," in which the author criticizes Italian cuisine as fattening.

The foods and dishes he cites do indeed cause weight gain. However, let's not ignore the fact that Italians do not eat this way as a part of their regular and daily diet. On the contrary, Italians actually eat very little of what most Americans presume is "Italian" food. Dishes that are rich in sauces, oil, cheese, pastas and bread, for instance, are actually reserved for special occasions, such as reunions, weddings or fiestas.

Typically, an Italian diet is much healthier than that of any other cultural group of Americans. Italians eat lots of raw vegetables, rarely cooking them in oil. They also limit dessert to fresh fruits and a slice of cheese. In fact, Americans might be surprised to learn that cheese is considered more of a dessert than a dinner staple that is melted or deep-fried in breading. That is an American tradition, not Italian.

Moreover, foods we've come to consider as Italian, such as pizza, is not really the kind of pizza you will ever find in Italy. Italians abhor the use of gobs and gobs of mozzarella cheese atop a doughy, sauce-laden crust. A "real" pizza is a thin crust brushed with olive oil and layered with zucchini, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, or whatever vegetable is in season. A little sprinkling of Romano or Parmesan cheese is optional, not a taken-for-granted requirement for pizza.

Why is it important to clear the record? In light of all the concern over obesity in America, many stereotypes of ethnic foods could give people the wrong impression about the people who eat those foods.

I am an Italian American, I am very thin and I eat Italian food — not the Americans' choice of Italian food, but the food that my people eat on a daily basis in Italy.

Italian food is heart-smart. Save the Americans' favorite Italian food for parties.