Posted on: Thursday, August 14, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Bus fare increase won't mean more cars

Recent arguments stating a bus fare increase will lead to residents moving to cars is very misleading.

Many, including the Sierra Club, make the claim, using economics as a crutch. Higher prices equal lower usage. Recent media stories point to "highest in the nation" gas prices, and costly parking rates in Honolulu rank near the top nationally. Using the same argument, why are more people not flocking to mass transit due to prices?

If $37 a month is unaffordable for the average resident, how then can he expect to spend well over $100 a month (gas, parking, insurance) taking a car instead?

Saying the disadvantaged will be adversely affected is one thing. Using a fallacious supply-and-demand argument is plain wrong.

One more point: How many seniors pay hundreds annually for cable television service, but supposedly can't afford an increase over the current $25 biannual bus pass?

TheBus messed up at Hickam air show

People were encouraged to carpool or ride TheBus to the Hickam air show Saturday. Only one bus (No. 19) goes to Hickam, and it runs infrequently.

I got the 11 a.m. bus from Ala Moana and it was already packed, and I heard all the No. 19 buses going to Hickam during the day were full. But at 4:30 p.m. after the show, hundreds went to the bus stop on Hickam only to find a long, long wait for a bus home.

Standing in the hot sun, no water, no seats, just frustration.

After an hour and 40 minutes, one bus finally came, but it was already full with people who had walked to previous bus stops on Hickam. There was a crush to get on it, with an angry bus driver and angry, hopeful passengers.

Also, many of these people wanted to go to Waikiki, so how could this already-full bus service the airport area as it is supposed to do? And the No. 19 services many other stops along the way. If it is already full, all the other stops will be passed up.

TheBus can blame all of this on "the traffic" or "the weather" or some other obscure reason, but the bottom line is it should have realized that all the people it had taken out to Hickam during the day would need to ride out of Hickam after the show, and most of these people would want to leave right after the show.

It's called planning.

All that was needed was a bus shuttle to take the people out to Nimitz so they could get the many buses that go on that road. That shuttle could keep looping around to get the people to Nimitz. Alas, it was just another TheBus mess. This from an outfit that is cutting service and raising prices and whose drivers are going on strike.

Best bus system — I think not. I think we instead should just call it "TheBust."

Conklin needs to see the movie 'Whale Rider'

Ken Conklin writes commen-taries of problems facing the Hawaiians yesterday, today and tomorrow. His latest commentary mentions that Hawaiians should be able to buy their leases from the Hawaiian Home Lands. I don't want to buy my lease. Has he discussed this issue with the people who live on homestead lands? Mr. Conklin does not have answers helpful to us. Remember that this land belongs to God, who gave us this land to take care of.

"Whale Rider," a movie brought to our attention by Mike Gabbard, promoted a self-restoring spirit essential to addressing our spiritual needs. Mike has answers and he has no problem. Conklin needs to see this movie to understand our culture. We need to share this movie with the whole world. This is the Aloha State.

As for being proud of being an American, that is his choice. Conklin loves to live here in the Islands and also needs to respect our Island cultures.

Gasoline cap criticism needs supporting data

Melissa Pavlicek is an attorney with Alston Hunt Floyd and Ing and an advocate for the Western States Petroleum Association. In her commentary of Aug. 8, she comments against the gasoline price cap. I'm a senior retiree and not as knowledgeable on the facts regarding this price cap as she is. Therefore, I would appreciate some explanation as to some of her statements:

• If this cap is going to cost us $27 million more a year, why would it cause shortages? Would the oil companies reduce supply?
• How can the cap reduce competition when it barely exists now? The prices at all the pumps are approximately the same.
• Right now we're paying substantially more than the national average. Why wouldn't a cap reduce prices? And at what price would the cap be?
• Every time the price of a barrel of oil goes up, the price at the pump goes up the same day or the very next day. When the price per barrel drops, the price at the pump stays at the same higher level. Why?
• Everything in her commentary pertains to the effect on the consumer. How will this cap affect the oil companies? I'm not sure the consumer cares, considering the excessive profits that the oil companies consistently publish, which indicates we're being overcharged.

Ann Kobayashi would make matters worse

Here we go again. The City Council is once again engaged in its petty in-fighting and underhanded politics.

Councilman Gary Okino has not even been the chairman for a year and a cabalistic faction is already trying to oust him from power. Personally, I think Okino is a pretty honest guy and has been doing a decent job as chairman.

However, Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi and her allies are doing everything in their power to oust him. I, for one, was embarrassed to watch Kobayashi make a mockery of the city budget process and don't blame Okino for openly disagreeing with her during the process.

Because if Kobayashi had her way, our city would be in a lot worse shape than it already is.

Good Samaritan death a chance to do good

In the Sunday Advertiser was the report of the tragic death of Keith Yamamoto, who was killed on the freeway while helping a stranded motorist change a flat tire. While I am sure that everyone who knew Mr. Yamamoto grieves with his family over his loss, there is something that everyone in Hawai'i can do to remember him.

In the movie "Pay It Forward," a seventh-grade boy comes up with the idea that the world could be a better place if we would all do something kind for someone else not because we are "paying them back" for a favor. Instead, we should pay it forward: Do something for people just to be kind or helpful.

The boy in the movie dies while trying to act on his idea.

I do not know if Mr. Yamamoto had seen the movie or was acting simply out of his aloha, but a fitting tribute to him would be if we all tried to do what Keith Yamamoto was doing and "pay it forward." If so, he will have given his life for something very good for all of us. Live aloha.

Young traveler was dumped by taxi driver

Last week, our 15-year-old grandson arrived in Honolulu and attempted to take a taxi from the airport to his uncle's place of business on Sand Island. Despite the fact that he had written on a card the name and address of this business and the information that it was located on Sand Island, the driver took him to a residential area in Kalihi Valley and left him there on the sidewalk with all his baggage.

Never having been on O'ahu before, the young man, who is from Israel and speaks perfect English, had no idea where he was. Noticing some business activity at the end of the road, he trudged down there with all his baggage, found a public phone and called his hanai auntie. By his description of the surroundings, she was able to identify his location and drove through the rush-hour traffic from Hawai'i Kai to pick him up.

We are writing this letter as a warning to families with younger members traveling unaccompanied that unscrupulous people are out there. We would hate to see this happen to another unsuspecting young traveler.

Bureaucrat made my day

I recently had to go to the state tax office for a couple of business tasks that I had been putting off for fear of standing in line for some indeterminate duration. As it turned out, that "duration" lasted about 20 minutes, including the walk there and back.

I really wish to commend the person (sorry, I didn't get her name) who waited on me. Pleasant and to the point. I am also glad to be writing to commend someone, rather than beef.

Preventing Pali deaths

A new solution to prevent the tragic deaths of elderly pedestrians run down by inattentive drivers on the Pali Highway: Issue every senior citizen in the neighborhood a special hat with a flashing blue light that resembles a police car light.

Victor Weisberger
Kailua

Find humane solution to pests

So what is it about Hawai'i's officials? Is killing things their answer to everything?

First they poison pigeons because the pigeons were a nuisance and made things ugly for the tourists. Then the officials want to ban people from caring for the feral cat population. After that, raise the cost of the spay/neuter program where even fewer people will have their animals fixed. The domino effect will be a rise in feral cat populations, at which time the state will probably attempt to solve that problem by poisoning feral cats.

Also, the Makaha Towers wants to kill wild peacocks because the "snowbirds" who live there are protesting the noise. And now, the state wants to kill wild parrots.

Seems to me state officials have been more of a nuisance than these animals what with the supreme waste of taxpayers' money, starting with a zipper lane that now causes morning traffic both ways instead of just one, and ending with a dredger that's too big to be of any use.

Perhaps if state officials asked the public for suggestions prior to making these stupid decisions, as well as inhumane actions, these kinds of mistakes could be avoided. Just because animals are a nuisance to humans, it doesn't give anyone the right to kill them.

Time to get real, folks. The problem Hawai'i faces with various animal populations is a direct result of humans. I don't hear anyone saying "let's exterminate humans." It's time to start thinking humanely and stop thinking like savages or politicians out to impress tourists.

There can be a solution to the overpopulation of various animals in Hawai'i that doesn't require murder. Trapping these animals and selling them at a low price would certainly be one way. It would bring in revenue instead of expending money. Offering a tax deduction to people willing to trap and donate the animals to schools, nonprofits, etc., would be another way.

I'm sure with a bunch of reasonably smart people, more ideas could be added and a humane solution could be settled on.