Djou's new assignment far from backwater

I recall that the previous chairman of the City Council Parks Committee made the most of the committee assignment. This committee is far from being a backwater assignment. Its chair used it as a springboard for his run for the Second Congressional District.

Indeed, I was surprised that Charles Djou failed to declare for the First Congressional District. He would have been a credible candidate. Djou is sharp and quick and has camera presence. But the former House minority leader must be aware that the council is a nonpartisan organization, and no amount of petulance or relentless sound bites in the media will overcome a seven-vote consensus.

Djou is still a member of the powerful Committee of the Whole, where he joins an additional member of the Bar Association, Todd Apo. Together with Chair Romy Cachola, the three can provide valued service in the tough negotiations, executive matters and settlements. Both former council chair Gary Okino and present chair Donovan Dela Cruz often sat in on committee hearings, sometimes to provide a tie-breaking vote, or just to illuminate the debate. Outgoing Councilman Mike Gabbard often sat in on other committees just to ask questions.

Band members aren't helping their cause

Your article shows the Royal Hawaiian Band isn't in harmony. Three-quarters of members are flat, whereas bandmaster Aaron Mahi appears sharp, devoted and determined.

They've turned to the mayor, who can make an easier decision: Dump the band and save money. Ours is the last full-time municipal band in the United States, but most members of this anachronism seem pleading for extinction.

I have memories of the spirited band during "boat days" and Sunday afternoon concerts in the park. It could play "piano," and Lena Machado's soaring voice still sounds in memories. You describe bickering band members signing petitions to get rid of their leader. Never known as a "sour kraut," Henry Berger brought the band to its heights; it was primarily a brass band, and members were versatile enough to perform music written for string and keyboard instruments. Today's gang doesn't feel up to it.

Our new mayor can eliminate their problems by not funding the Royal Hawaiian Band. Your writer described bandsmen's boredom with the music and desire to get out of the sunlight. Who needs grumpy performers? High school band members might be thrilled to perform for city occasions. They may not achieve the same level as the professionals, but their spirits will be better and so will ours.

Kids can also help with disaster relief

It is wonderful that local families and groups have generously contributed more than $110,000 to The Honolulu Advertiser Christmas Fund to help our fellow Islanders in need. However, with this recent tragedy in southern Asia, we must show our aloha spirit to those in our global community by offering monetary assistance to the appropriate local agencies such as the East-West Center and the American Red Cross.

The Bush administration recently pledged $35 million to the 10 Asian nations hit by the tsunami that has killed tens of thousands of people. Though you may feel that we could not donate enough to really help, even small amounts will bring hope to the survivors who lost everything — their food, homes and families — and are being forced to start over in some of the world's poorest countries.

Kids, you can help, too. Offer to do extra chores or see if you can walk your neighbor's dog and ask for a $10 or $15 donation. For you, that might mean giving up the latest CD, but for a child in Sri Lanka struggling to find food amid the devastation, it could be the difference between life and death.

Taking down street signs was premature

While walking in Waikiki on Christmas morning, I noticed there were no street signs on many of the streets off Kuhio Avenue. There were many new poles on the corners, but no street signs. Did no one think to have the new signs ready before taking down the old ones?

It's like when managing director Ben Lee tries to convince Waikiki residents that they won't be losing any much-needed parking spaces in the remodeling of Ala Wai Boulevard because a new parking lot is planned for the area.

Does anyone (besides me) think of having the new things ready before the old (but useful) things are removed? Where do they find the people filling the jobs responsible for these decisions?

Gingrich's support of Rumsfeld misplaced

I was dismayed at The Advertiser's Dec. 27 choice of Newt Gingrich for its guest columnist. The way he twists the facts to support Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is both dishonorable and inflammatory. It was retired Gen. Eric Shinseki who, as Army chief of staff, initiated the transformation from "Cold War" to "21st century" readiness for our troops.

Had Rumsfeld and President Bush listened to Shinseki, we might have stabilized Iraq by now. Instead, he was fired in favor of Gen. Peter Schoomaker, to whom Gingrich slanderously gives credit for "neutralizing" Osama bin Laden. When Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz realized their mistake, Schoomaker was compelled to accelerate Shinseki's strategy of increasing our combat troops. Ironically, Shinseki initially proposed this policy to Congress and was publicly criticized and ultimately forced into retirement for doing so.

Building in a tsunami zone is asking for more trouble

Major flooding stories have inundated Hawai'i's news in the past month. The flood at the University of Hawai'i resulted in millions of dollars worth of damage and the destruction of priceless historical documents. Over the weekend, the major tsunami that hit India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other regional countries resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives.

Yet, even with these poignant examples of the devastating power of water unleashed, Hawai'i continues to spend public funds on educational and research facilities in Kaka'ako — in or adjacent to a tsunami zone.

House Bill 2739 HD1 SD2 authorized $100 million in special purpose revenue bonds to allow the Hawai'i Community Development Authority (HCDA) to build a wet lab or other research facility next to the new UH medical school in Kaka'ako. Did we not learn the lesson of Pearl Harbor? Have we forgotten the children killed at the school in Laupahoehoe?

If we've forgotten, then the recent events should remind us that it is bad public policy to concentrate public assets in a single location. When you concentrate all your assets, and a catastrophic event occurs, you run the risk of a complete meltdown.

The board of directors of HCDA has failed to act responsibly in the public interest in this matter. The directors did not insist that a specific tsunami risk assessment be performed before leasing lands on Kaka'ako Peninsula to the University of Hawai'i for the new medical school. It is not wise to expose students, classrooms, labs, medical experiments and facilities in a known environmental hazard zone.

Additionally, wet lab/biochemical research facilities pose potentially significant risks to the surrounding community.

Gov. Lingle should limit the use of this area until a formal tsunami risk assessment is completed with full public disclosure and review. Development of the Kaka'ako site should be limited to activities that have an operational need to be next to the ocean. She should consider replacing the existing HCDA board with members who recognize their responsibility to act in the public interest.

Emphasis on good news is very much appreciated

As an occasional reader of The Advertiser, I have noticed a recent emphasis of good, positive and non-sensational news on your front page; for example, the well-deserved recognition of teacher and principal of the year, families reunited after returning from military duty, children who need medical help, and the like.

If my observations are correct, please keep up the great and bold work of presenting positive news, which usually is overshadowed by sensational, often violent news that the media commonly use to attract an audience. As with anything to which we are continuously exposed, it does make a huge difference in our outlook on life and how we view others and this world.

What was really wonderful was the front page Christmas Day article of a biblical pageant at a local church and even Bible scripture on your editorial page proclaiming the birth of Christ as the reason of our celebration of Christmas — which must have increased the collective blood pressure of not a few liberals whose mantra is tolerance.

Thank you for your courage to be unpolitically correct in a day where a vociferous and closed-minded minority is attempting to force Christianity out of the public square and where even department stores like Macy's have hypocritically replaced "Merry Christmas" signage with the safer "Season's Greetings."

Because of your emphasis on a positive news perspective, I will look forward to reading The Advertiser more frequently from now on. Compared to the news of the past, I feel better about the news I now read and the many things your newspaper recommends we can do to make our community a better place for all of us to live in. As such, I returned a Macy's gift card that I replaced in cash for a gift and also gave the same sum to The Advertiser's — yes — Christmas Fund another regular and positive section-front staple during Christmas.

Until this month, I never thought of a newspaper as a public service, but indeed, the media have the power to focus attention on those areas that need help and improvement in our community. In doing so, the power to raise public consciousness and response for positive change is geometric and can be dramatically transformational. I believe that many like myself appreciate The Honolulu Advertiser's integrity for exercising unpolitically correct First Amendment rights to free — and responsible — speech and especially for being a proactive force in creating positive improvements in our communities and state.