Letters to the Editor

Recycling plan will make matters worse

I have always boasted to my Mainland friends about how we in Honolulu have the best trash pickup system around: two very large trash-can pickups a week at no charge. I have also told them that it is necessary here because things spoil so fast.

But under the mayor's recycling plan, we would see a great increase in flies and other pests as things rot for a week instead of a couple of days before being picked up, plus our effective trash pickup volume would be cut significantly (for those of us who already recycle our newspapers, bottles and cans).

For all the talk around here about protecting the 'aina, we seem to have more people willing to dump their trash all over the place than anywhere else I have seen. If the trash pickups are effectively cut in half, you can expect more trash on the roadside. People aren't even willing to drive the last block to the dump; they dump loads right outside the entrance.

I think the mayor's recycling plan is a bad idea that looks good on paper. If the city wants a separate recycling pickup, it should be in conjunction with the green-waste pickup as shown on the mayor's plan, but the second garbage pickup should be retained as a free service.

It's fine to encourage recycling, but if our island is trashed now with the great garbage service we have, it is going to be a lot worse under the new plan.

Bob Gould

Proposed UH logo lacks warmth, spirit

Holy Moholy-Nagy, have you seen what the clever designers at our esteemed University of Hawai'i are attempting to foist on us to become the brand that will represent UH forevermore?

The latest logo proposed to replace the cherished rainbow is devoid of the heart, warmth, spirit and essence of our university and all it stands for. The best that can be said for the proposed logo is that it looks like an unrealized fusion of the yin and the yang. Second best, it looks like two tadpoles agog.

Return the rainbow symbol of UH. All else is artificial, contrived and meaningless.

Richard Y. Will

Police are ticketing wrong cars in Makiki

I am writing about the parking ticket problem in the Makiki area (Spencer and Magazine streets). I, along with other longtime residents of my neighborhood, am getting another flurry of tickets these days.

I don't know if there's a big promotion going on or if it's the new recruits out to make their quota. The real problem are the abandoned, expired vehicles on our street. If they were removed, we would have a place to park our cars within walking distance to our homes.

My husband is in the Navy and could be called in at any time. If our car is parked very far from home, his response time is increased. Therefore, we have in the past parked in front of our own driveway, blocking our car in our garage.

There are also some residents of the neighborhood who are elderly and no longer drive so they have given their permission to block their driveways as well.

The bottom line is, instead of taxing us permanent residents $30 a day to park, ticket those who abandon their cars at the other ends of the streets. Thank you.

Sheryl Thompson

We should keep best of substitute teachers

What are we thinking? The state is having a hard enough time finding people willing to work full-time as teachers, and now it is getting rid of our substitutes?

If you sit down and talk to our teachers, you will hear the same thing over and over: There are substitute teachers with no four-year degrees who do a better job than some of our regular teachers.

Instead of getting rid of all of them, why not evaluate their effectiveness and keep the ones who are doing some good? It doesn't take a four-year degree to be effective in the classroom.

Mitch Tam
Kealakekua, Hawai'i

Letter castigating Abercrombie wrong

Dennis Quigley (Letters, March 20) has his facts wrong about my personal history.

First, I was never a "UH professor." I was a graduate teaching assistant at UH-Manoa and later a lecturer at Leeward Community College. It's a small point, but it shows the letter's disregard for the facts.

Second, my role in the ROTC sit-in 30-plus years ago was to act as a mediator between the building's occupiers and the UH administration. I'm grateful I was able to contribute to a peaceful solution to the incident.

Finally, I was never "faced down" by state adjutant Gen. Bob Lee, neither then nor later. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I've worked for years with Gen. Lee to meet the needs of Hawai'i National Guard and reserve units and, more recently, our homeland defense requirements. I consider him an outstanding officer, a valuable adviser and a personal friend.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie