Akaka bill opponents seek unity of people

Haunani Apoliona, on behalf of OHA, defends the Akaka bill against growing opposition (Letters, Aug. 3). Apoliona says we opponents "attempt to further divide those communities" (bloods and non-bloods).

Oops — that's backward. The whole point of the Akaka bill is to divide Hawai'i's people and lands along racial lines — to create a separate government based solely on race. The bill divides; its opponents protect unity.

She points to surveys supporting the Akaka bill — surveys whose questions and context were carefully crafted by OHA to produce that result.

She says the silent majority (both bloods and non-bloods) support the bill. But the best survey of all will never happen — a ballot question on election day. Most ethnic Hawaiians (let alone the rest of us) will never have a chance to approve or disapprove the bill or tribal government or constitution. Those who like the tribal concept sign up (perhaps only a few thousand out of 401,000), and they alone can vote. Opponents cannot participate unless they cave in and join. Nothing in the bill requires the tribal council to submit the constitution to the people for ratification, nor even to hold secret-ballot voting.

Are Hawaiians eager to have people like Rowena Akana or Clayton Hee making decisions about divorce law and child custody, zoning regulations for "Hawaiian lands," criminal laws administered through tribal courts with "native-style" procedures — and no appeal to state or federal courts because of "sovereignty"?

Please see http://tinyurl.com/22q49 for a five-paragraph summary of what's bad about the Akaka bill, with lots of documentation.

Play-it-safe politicians shouldn't get your vote

It's important when you are a candidate asking for your fellow citizens' confidence and vote that you make yourself available at public forums.

In your paper, San Francisco political consultant Jim Ross told us that candidates who may have been front-runners in original polls often will not take unnecessary risks in debates. They fear making a mistake their challengers may exploit.

Voters must realize that "no-show candidates" do not take their concerns seriously. Pay attention to these play-it-safe politicians. They don't deserve your vote.

Illegal campaign gifts aren't quid pro quo

A recent article in your newspaper has again implied that illegal contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign resulted in lucrative contracts.

This is absolutely not true.

We have stated again and again that there is no connection between campaign contributions and the awarding of consultant contracts.

It's ironic and unfair that most news stories and editorials on this issue focus on Mayor Harris when he was the one who took the lead after being elected mayor and stopped past practices.

Civil service employees evaluate and recommend planning, engineering and architect consultants to the director of their respective departments and the chief procurement officer based solely on qualifications and the experience of the firm.

Neither the mayor nor the managing director are involved in the selection process. This firewall has been intentionally set up to make sure that there is absolutely no political influence on the selection of consultants.

Your news articles continue to link campaign contributions to the awarding of contracts. There is no quid pro quo.

New parking lot has much to say for itself

Frankly, I will be pleased to be able to park under cover while shopping at Longs and Macy's in Kailua. There has been a great hullabaloo about the "ugly" three-level garage being built. It may not be beautiful, but it will give us two levels of covered parking without bird droppings.

I am sure the cars stored by McKenna Motors on the top level will not be that visible from the street. In fact, the whole building is already eclipsed by the larger Longs building in front of it. The only people who will see it will be the residents of the high rise, Windward Passage.

I, too, want to keep Kailua the way it was, but I realize it has become impossible. There are more people living here all the time. If you want to keep things the way they were, practice birth control. For more people, there must be facilities to accommodate them. The trick, in the future, is to arrange for the new facilities to look rural — like the monkeypod trees in the medial on Kailua Road. Delightful!

Guaranteed tax relief better than negotiated

Did either or both of the two City Council members who voted against Bill 35 passage, and the subsequent override vote, provide you with the text for your Aug. 1 editorial ("City's farm taxation: Be patient with reform")? The position you advocate in the final paragraph is similar to the position of our mayor, the council minority and one of the two current major mayoral candidates.

You — and they — say that Bill 35 is not required, that the real farmers "have recourse to adjustment from a fair-minded city Real Property Division."

Real farmers (defined as those hard-working individuals and families who dedicate their lives to active farming) with whom I have spoken fear the uncertainty of negotiating their tax with the "fair-minded" Real Property Division. This concept offers no guarantees, as some farmers who testified at the third reading of Bill 35 and others have already discovered. Bill 35 provides that guarantee.

If Mayor Harris and the council members who oppose Bill 35 truly care for the real farmers, they will deliver an alternate solution that will achieve the same result, i.e., guaranteed — not negotiated — tax relief for the current year.

Highways, freeways must be cleaned up

I have tried very hard to stomach this situation with our state's highways and freeways; however, it has become more and more difficult each time I have to look at our disgusting streets.

Every morning I use the freeway going to town from the Leeward side. Between the rubbish and overgrown grass, I wonder who will do something about it and when it will be done.

I have been driving for the past 20 years and I never had a problem with rocks flying into my windshield hard enough to crack it. How do you explain it happening twice within one week? The freeways are obviously dirty, and so are parts of Farrington Highway.

My daughter had to catch a bus near a gas station in Waipahu for school, and words cannot explain how disgusted I was seeing mountains of trash everywhere near the city's bus stop.

I have tried to contact the Department of Transportation, only to get a busy signal or no answer at all. At this point I don't know where to start or whom to go to without wasting my time. Maybe you have the power to expose this situation so that we can start to beautify our island.

Back to the basics

None of the selected logos symbolizes what UH is all about!

We should go back to the basic "Three R's" because the whole world can instantly identify the University of Hawai'i by its motto: "Regents, Regents, Regents."