Posted on: Friday, April 2, 2004
Lettters to the Editor
'A'ala is not a part of Chinatown
I was disappointed and then angered after reading your Dec. 8 article by Vicki Viotti (" 'A'ala: Gone, but not forgotten"), which gave me an opportunity to correct the city's error in designating 'A'ala Rengo as Chinatown. I see the city officials' consistency in rewriting their own version of historical facts.
'A'ala is an area very familiar to me, as my family ran a business there and we lived above the store from the late '20s through the '50s. It was a major shopping and service area primarily made up of Japanese residents, merchants and shoppers.
Historically, 'A'ala has a long connection with the immigrant Japanese, for many spent their first days in Hawai'i at the Japanese hotels in the area before going on to the plantations. 'A'ala was also:
• Where they congregated during the 1909 and 1920 strikes.
• Where many came to when they decided to leave the plantations to seek independence and opportunities.
• Where they started businesses to serve the community that developed.
• Where they brought up their sons and daughters — many of whom have become leaders in the greater Hawai'i community.
Not only was 'A'ala a place where immigrants settled, but it was also an important destination for those who remained on the plantations. They came to 'A'ala:
• To escape temporarily the difficult and monotonous plantation living and working conditions by going to the theaters (four in the immediate area), restaurants, beer halls, pool halls and brothels.
• To shop for major purchases — e.g. clothing, furniture, gift items and Japanese foods.
• To obtain the services provided by the Japanese hotels to maintain contact with their homeland.
• To visit with friends who had moved into the area.
The businesses, theaters and restaurants also met the needs of those who lived in the area and in other parts of Honolulu. The people knew that their needs, whether they were for goods, services or entertainment, could be met at 'A'ala.
All this was possible because 'A'ala was easily accessible. There were:
• Trains from Central and Leeward O'ahu, with the Honolulu terminal in 'A'ala.
• Taxis from all rural areas that had their Honolulu terminals in 'A'ala.
• City street cars, and later trolleys and buses, that ran through 'A'ala.
• Ships from the Neighbor Islands, Japan and America that docked at the nearby piers.
'A'ala was not a part of Chinatown, as you can see, but primarily a Japanese community. As residents of 'A'ala, we used to say, "I'm going to Chinatown" when we crossed the Nu'uanu Stream bridge. Including 'A'ala as a part of Chinatown is a distortion of history. It should never be so designated.
The information I have shared was documented in a recent exhibition at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, where many people came to view and reminisce about a part of their lives that has changed but has not been forgotten.
Jane Komeiji
Poamoho Camp is part of our island heritage
I was compelled to drive out to Wahiawa and visit the Poamoho Camp to see the resolve of current and retired plantation workers and their families to remain on the property after being served notice to leave in June.
What I saw was the warmth of a simple, rustic lifestyle, with people loyal to their neighbors, family and community. What I experienced was stepping back in time to a place reminiscent of old Hawai'i, with the essence of the camp built on dignity, hard work and aloha. The homes, landscape, environment and mostly the people are living treasures.
Upon leaving, I could not help but feel melancholy about the possibility of razing Poamoho and displacing that community. Instead, the Poamoho community should be honored, celebrated and protected for perpetuating the old plantation lifestyle and culture. A lifestyle and culture that many of us are beneficiaries of.
I would urge everyone to take that same drive out to Wahiawa and experience what I felt. It is an extraordinary place, for it is one of the last remaining living and dynamic vestiges of our island heritage.
Resti Paguirigan
Public schools have come quite a long way
Regarding Ronald Lau's proposal to have voluntary high schools (Letters, March 29): It is obvious that Mr. Lau has been out of the system for the past two years and makes his proposals based on facts and figures of prior years.
For the past two years, under Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto, disciplinary and absentee problems have decreased, graduation rates have increased and high schools are in the process of being redesigned to prepare our students for a high-tech workplace. Go visit Lahainaluna and see what these schools within schools are accomplishing.
For the past two years, state and district offices have been thinned and trimmed so that our administrative costs are one of the lowest in the nation. For the past two years, there has been a major cultural change where it is not enough to sit on one's seniority for job protection. The new philosophy, Mr. Lau, is produce or find another job. That includes administrators, teachers and support staff.
With the help of other Board of Education members, we have provided the superintendent with the help she needed in getting to where we need to be, and that is to ensure that all schools will be relevant and not embedded in the factory model of education that you found yourself in a few years ago.
There is no "reinventing of the wheel." Rather, we have dumped the factory model of education for a system designed by administrators, parents, business community members and students in which relevant learning is occurring.
I urge you and others with the same perceptions to visit our high schools and see what, in fact, is occurring. The majority of our students are succeeding, largely, in part, because of major cultural shifts within the Department of Education.
Mary Cochran
Create school complex to focus on programs
Ronald Lau's idea of making high school voluntary and offering different types of programs (college prep, technical and blue collar) is great.
I would like to expound on that idea and suggest that we create high school complexes (for example, Kalaheo/Kailua/Castle) where each school focuses on one of those programs.
This would allow the complex to hire one great auto mechanic teacher, for example, rather than each school having to hire its own.
And by shortening the school day due to the more tightly focused curriculum and staggering start times, we could help alleviate traffic.
We have turned our schools into baby sitters and prisons, and that inspires about the same level of behavior and habits that inmates have.
Bryan Mick
True reform lies in educational vouchers
I'm tired of hearing words thrown around by the governor, superintendent, DOE and BOE. Such words like centralize, decentralize, empowerment, weighted school spending formula, etc.
For the last three years they blamed prior management. And the next three years they'll be blaming the wrong reform model. After that they'll have someone else coming in who will have three years to blame prior management. By leaving those in control, with no personal stake, the educational blame cycle will only continue for another lifetime.
As a parent of a public-school kindergartner, and as a taxpayer, I want control of my child's academic success. Let's support a truly revolutionary educational reform — instead of following someone else's educational systems. An educational reform that puts control in the parents' hands: educational credit voucher.
Dane Nakamura
Car chase should have been handled better
Before these two idiots tried to speed through the road site where the police officer was hit in Punalu'u, I was hit by them also. I was making a left turn from Kamehameha Highway fronting the Punalu'u Beach Park bathrooms into Green Valley. As I was into my turn, I heard gears shifting from behind me and found they were passing several cars on the left (oncoming) lane. By the time I could react, they hit the front end of my red VW Beetle and kept speeding through. I was pretty shaken up.
But I also am upset by the Honolulu Police Department's handling of this most dangerous situation.
How dare officers put the lives of us citizens in peril! From all accounts, this incident started in town, where these two known car thieves were followed by ground units and a helicopter from 'Aiea, through Honolulu, over the Pali and into Kane'ohe, the entire time weaving in and out of traffic.
The HPD should have done something way before they got to us. It should have determined after the thieves had passed Kane'ohe that the situation would be very dangerous for those ahead simply because of the two-lane highway. Alerting their officers in the ensuing path does not alert the public.
The HPD, the mayor and the City Council should really take a strong, hard look at their policies on catching car thieves and high-speed chases. Review and change them before we die, instead of our just getting "scared" and our vehicles damaged.
Tori-Lee Tualatamalelagi All tax-credit programs should be investigated
I commend The Honolulu Advertiser for your investigative reporting of possible abuses of the Act 221 tax-credit law. This certainly makes the other tax credit programs in Hawai'i worthy of inspection.
After all, Act 221 is only 2 years old. Other tax-credit programs have been in existence for decades and account for over 90 percent of the total tax credits allowed by the state. I hope you are planning similar articles about how these tax-credit programs could be abused and whether the parties involved should be disclosed.
I am sure I am not alone in wanting more information about how much money the state could be losing through these costly programs.
Ron Dennis
Resolution reinforces Republican propaganda
On March 17, the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 557. It affirms that the United States and the world have been made safer with the removal of Saddam Hussein and his regime from power in Iraq. This affirmation seems to be a key part of a Republican propaganda campaign to mislead the American people about the real reasons for this war.
Since the fall of Baghdad, hundreds of Americans and our coalition partners have been killed or wounded and permanently disabled in terrorist-related incidents in Iraq. On March 11, nearly 200 Spanish civilians were murdered when a series of bombs exploded in Europe's most deadly terrorist incident since Pan Am 103 was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland. Most recently, Palestinians are publicly calling for vengeance against the United States and Israel following the assassination of the leader of Hamas.
Do you really feel any safer?
I, like most Americans, am grateful for the valiant service of our armed forces. I am, however, very afraid ofÊPresident Bush and those who support him because their actions are jeopardizing the safety of Americans and the world.
Eduardo Hernandez
Neglecting Afghanistan has undermined peace
Terrorism in Iraq obviously resulted from President Bush's attack on Iraq.
The myth of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction diverted us from the roots of terrorism in Afghanistan. By neglecting Afghanistan, it also reverted to warlordism and opium production.
If we had stayed and rebuilt that war-torn nation, our world would be a more peaceful place.
Jerome G. Manis
Why are so many against rail system?
Thank you, Peter Caldwell, for your March 29 letter on L.A.'s light-rail transit system. I appreciate anyone's support of fast, efficient mass-transit systems, especially one that does not use gasoline or emit exhaust.
As someone who does not drive and relies mainly on the bus system, I get very little sympathy from those countless users of gas guzzlers.
One neighbor of mine even grumbled and bashed the politicians when I told him that the "A" express bus, my favorite route, runs every 15 minutes on weekdays and every half-hour on weekends and holidays.
Why are so many people in Hawai'i anti-public-transportation?
Mariea Vaughan
Honolulu
Honolulu
Board of Education member, Maui
Kailua
Waipahu
Kahalu'u
Kane'ohe
Maunalani Heights
Honolulu
'Ewa Beach
