Letters to the Editor

Local school boards would operate better

I believe that locally elected school boards would be more effective in monitoring the individual schools than the present state Board of Education, as these individual schools would be given control over the money and power to determine their own education programs and structure.

These local school boards could lead to greater involvement by parents and other community members. As members of the local school boards, they would be much more in touch with the needs of their schools and community members than the present statewide Board of Education. These local school boards would be able to provide access to the administrative decisions that could shape the direction for all schools in the district.

I would therefore like to encourage all of you fellow voters to get in touch with your legislators about sponsoring a bill enabling us to vote on whether we would prefer the creation of seven or more locally elected school boards or to keep the present single statewide school board system.

School decentralization isn't new to Hawai'i

According to The Advertiser, there is general agreement that public schools should be given greater autonomy, specifically that principals should be empowered to act as CEOs of their schools (editorial, Jan 18). This is not a new idea. In fact, there have even been attempts within the Department of Education to decentralize — but without success.

One effort was initiated in the 1989 Legislature, which passed the School/Community-Based Management (SCBM) law. This law was designed to shift decision-making to the school level and to allow communities to have greater input into school activities. Although it is still a law, it has had virtually no effect. Principals have as little decision-making authority now as before the law was passed. Although SCBM councils have been formed to allow community input, they are largely ineffective.

Another effort at decentralization was made by Charles Toguchi when he was the superintendent. In 1994, he presented a plan to the Board of Education to shift decision-making to the school level. However, the plan was virtually ignored by the BOE. Although the BOE membership has changed since then, there are no indications that its attitude toward decentralization has changed.

In the past, the DOE has had neither the inclination nor the ability to shift decision-making to the school level. My guess is that unions and upper-level bureaucrats in the DOE stopped decentralization. It threatened to eat into the membership of the unions, and it threatened the jobs of the bureaucrats.

The DOE must be replaced by another organization in order to effectively shift decision-making to the school level.

Others remain hopeful that the DOE can decentralize from within.

Better offers will come in for Block J

The City Council should not allow the sale of Block J as proposed. The current deal sounds like a giveaway compared to the amount of money, lease rent, public parking stalls and affordable housing that was offered previously.

Mayor Harris killed that deal, but is now happy to give away Block J for a fraction of the price with almost no public benefit.

Especially in today's real estate market, better offers will come when Harris leaves and investors know that they can deal with a new mayor in good faith.

Warm hospitality given to Olympic committees

Something of extraordinary significance in the sporting world quietly unfolded recently, as delegates from the National Olympic Committees of Canada, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the United States met in Honolulu for the inaugural International Pacific Sports Forum, whose sole purpose is to share information, exchange views, and collaborate on matters of mutual interest and concern.

With the anticipated participation of Australia and Mexico at future meetings, the IPSF represents the top sporting nations of not only the Asia-Pacific region, but the worldwide Olympic Movement. By consensus, the delegates designated the United States Olympic Committee to act as the "secretariat" or administrative arm of this group, which bodes well for future meetings and events to be held in the United States.

In this regard, the USOC is grateful to Gov. Linda Lingle, Mayor Jeremy Harris and UH President Evan Dobelle for hosting the delegates at Washington Place, City Hall and College Hill, respectively, during our visit. The warm aloha and legendary hospitality extended to all of us by the people of Hawai'i will ensure our frequent return in the years to come.

The United States did overthrow Hawai'i

I wish people would do more thorough research before speaking on this subject. Much information is not found in the revised history books taught in schools. One might try the Library of Congress, which preserves much of the original documents.

It is a documented fact that U.S. Secretary of State James Blaine and Lorrin Thurston, with the sanction of President Harrison, plotted to destabilize the kingdom and enlisted the aid of Minister Stevens, who was purposely reassigned from Sweden to Hawai'i to aid in the invasion and overthrow.

U.S. Sen. William Springer noted that this coup could not support itself for more than an hour without the aid of the USS Boston marines, who remained in Honolulu Harbor for an additional 75 days to ensure the protection of the provisional government.

I believe everyone owes it to themselves to do independent research instead of relying on the revised history books that are loosely circulated.

Crime and punishment

Mail theft is up over 100 percent, the ice epidemic is destroying thousands of people, prostitutes work in broad daylight and at night in Waikiki, and there are drag-racing deaths and murders. All of this is going on on our island, and the HPD gave me a $60 fine for riding my bike on the sidewalk and not even in Waikiki!

Claim of Democrat apathy is unfounded

It's odd that Republican state Rep. Mark Moses would charge in a Jan. 28 letter that Democrats do not have any environmental legislation to offer. I alone have introduced more than 20 bills to protect and clean up the environment. My fellow Democratic legislators in the Senate and House have also introduced numerous environmental bills.

Perhaps it would behoove Moses to actually wait until the bill-introduction deadline has passed and he has had time to read all of the bills before making such unfounded claims.

Moses' other peculiar claim is that Democrats are somehow guilty of "apathy" toward the environment. In September 2003, Senate President Robert Bunda and House Speaker Calvin Say established a Joint Legislative Task Force on Waste Management and Recycling that looked into the problem of illegal dumping in Hawai'i. As chair of that task force, I was able to organize numerous site visits and informational briefings on O'ahu, Kaua'i, Maui, Moloka'i and the Big Island in November and December 2003.

This is not a sign of apathy. Rather, it was a sincere effort on the part of state legislators and council members to work together to tackle a major problem that has been plaguing our Islands. Moses had firsthand knowledge of this work because he was a very active member of the task force. My office even provided him with copies of all of the testimony that the task force received from community members, organizations and government agencies from briefings he was unable to attend.

Editorial was wrong in its fluoridation claim

In your Jan. 28 editorial, you called it "indisputable" that fluoridating water would reduce dental costs.

Not so. Many dispute that. There is a great debate going on between those favoring fluoridation and those opposing it. Some say that cities with fluoridation have the same rates of dental caries as those without it, or even higher rates. Some say otherwise.

Your editorial made a good point, but this error did make it less persuasive.

Janet Jackson nudity: decency abandoned

Isn't it amazing that although the exposure of Janet Jackson's breast during the Super Bowl halftime entertainment was said to be unintentional, her nipple just happened to be "partially obscured by a sun-shaped, metal nipple decoration"? A mere malfunction of costume design?

Come on, CBS, Viacom (with MTV), you should have known — and I'm sure you did. Your declaration of ignorance is unacceptable. Your potential fine — $27,000 — is pennies to you.

We have certainly abandoned our moral ethics by our liberal tolerance.

Rail is not the answer; UH is

Now that both of our top local government officials have given their state/city addresses and both have espoused a rail system to alleviate traffic, I would like to offer a counterpoint.

The rail system will not work for our community because unlike Japan, New York, Washington, D.C., or other areas where rail has been successful, Hawai'i does not have the proper infrastructure to support this system. If the rail is intended to go simply from Point A (Leeward) to Point B (Honolulu), it will bypass all of the stops in between like Waipahu, Pearl City, 'Aiea, Moanalua and Kalihi. Those people will not benefit unless a complex system of terminals and shuttle buses are put into place.

The reason most people prefer their cars is that in today's lifestyle, we do more than just go to work and come home. We need to make stops before, along the way, or after work for errands, grocery shopping, taking the kids to sports practices or games, etc.

In other places, the rail or train stops at various shopping malls and important places with a network of other rail cars where transfers can be made. Such would not be the case with our proposed system.

For people like me who drive out from the Leeward area, we all know what causes the major traffic jams in the morning: the University of Hawai'i.

During summer and winter breaks, the traffic generally runs smoothly, but once UH starts up, the traffic starts up. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of vehicles carrying students from the Leeward area enter the freeway to make their early trek to Manoa just to find parking, whether they start at 8 or 10. The start of regular school makes little difference, as most students attend schools within their neighborhoods. UH is the culprit.

So, what to do? Take the money we plan to raise for rail and finally build a four-year UH-West O'ahu campus in Kapolei. Compile information or statistics from all students living in the Leeward area and determine which degree programs are most popular. Start off the campus with a complete liberal arts program and those popular program areas. Then, as students get used to the idea of attending the West O'ahu campus, increase programs.

Make the campus an attractive place to learn, which would then possibly even draw Honolulu-area students to it. And with H-3, even Windward students would find it easy to attend.

By drawing students away from the main Manoa campus, parking in Manoa would not be a problem anymore, and, of course, the most important thing would be the reduced number of vehicles on east-bound lanes. In addition, precious dorm space would also open up at Manoa.

Housing could also be offered at the west campus for students (or faculty) from around the world and make Kapolei the true "second city" it was proposed to be. Businesses in Kapolei would flourish with the new student population, and more businesses would be attracted to the area.