Letters to the Editor

Proposal to increase gas tax is shortsighted

Mr. Easterbrook, it is very clear from your May 26 column "Raise U.S. gas tax by 50 cents" that you are no student of economics. Economics is not so simple that you can suggest that raising gas taxes would directly result in "more rapid economic growth, less traffic congestion, safer roads and reduced risk of global warming."

You did not even consider in your argument the fact that higher gas taxes would directly result in much higher costs for cargo transportation throughout the nation. The higher cost to transport goods would then result in higher costs for food, household goods, electronics and pretty much everything else this consumer nation buys.

You mention casually that proceeds from the higher gas taxes could be used to reduce income and payroll taxes for the poor and lower-middle class; however, the top 50 percent of wage earners in this nation pay 96.03 percent of the income taxes, according to IRS statistics for 2001. How do you plan on helping the bottom 50 percent of wage earners make up for the higher cost of living with less than 4 percent of the income taxes to reduce?

Your argument is faulty because you fail to take into account all of the other aspects of our lives that would be affected by higher gas prices besides just our automobiles.

Crackdown on drugs won't solve problem

Regarding the May 24 article "Chinatown building owners warned": The new nuisance abatement law is like a Band-Aid covering an infected wound.

It seems like a menial covering of the truth about the drug problem on O'ahu. By not cleaning the wound with a disinfectant, the infection will only spread to another area, thus creating a bigger wound.

Drug dealers and users will only move into another area to commit their wrongdoings, unless more is done in:

• Expanding drug rehabilitation for drug offenders.

• Creating stricter laws for those who are repeat offenders.

• Having police officers take a genuine interest in creating a drug-free atmosphere outside the public streets in near vicinity to the establishments that are desperately trying to keep any illegal activities out of their businesses.

Nimitz potholes are deplorable, shameful

Where in the world are our taxes going? You would think our state and city governments would want to make a good impression on our tourists coming in from the airport on Nimitz Highway.

The potholes are deplorable. The tourists must think we're a Third World country. To say nothing about what the deep potholes are doing to our vehicles as we rumble over them.

Do our state officials ever travel on Nimitz? If they did, they would be outraged and ashamed. Perhaps we could sacrifice some other project and make Nimitz Highway a better road to travel for tourists and locals alike.

House leader's letter had five inaccuracies

It is with great concern that I write regarding House Majority Leader Scott Saiki's attack on the governor's senior policy adviser, Linda Smith (Letters, May 26). Here are the letter's inaccuracies:

• Saiki falsely says Smith was "wrong," when she was dead right about legislative efforts to erode the governor's power, a partisan Democratic effort that included eliminating funding for Smith's position, a fact Saiki conveniently ignores.

• Saiki says it is "not true" that S.B. 1491 "repeals the governor's authority to transfer excess special funds," when these exact words come straight from Saiki's House version of S.B. 1491.

• Saiki portrays the effort to eliminate deputy director and special assistant positions beginning Jan. 1, 2003, as non-partisan, when the highly partisan 2002 Democratic bill, anticipating Lingle's election, aimed to cripple her administration at birth.

• Saiki fails to disclose that the new Elections Commission's crucial ninth vote, once the governor's appointee, is now a Supreme Court appointee.

• Saiki wrongly states the governor sought to "censor" Campaign Spending Director Robert Watada.

Outside of five errors in four paragraphs, Saiki's letter is fine.

Closing H-1 on-ramp must be protested

Neighbors in Makiki and Punchbowl should be aware of an outrageous idea being proposed: close the Lunalilo on-ramp to our freeway and divert all of the traffic to the Punchbowl or Punahou on-ramps.

Make sense? In no way. Send all the traffic on city streets either downtown or to Punahou, which is a nightmare in the morning and afternoon with traffic to three schools, a hospital and to and from Manoa? This is insane.

Admittedly, the freeway has its problems, but it is all we have right now and we need it. To close any entrance or exit (especially one as busy as Lunalilo) is not an option or a solution to anything. What would help would be to reverse the traffic on Pensacola and Pi'ikoi. This would allow the traffic to flow mauka on Pensacola and go right onto the freeway, avoiding the post office, which is the major problem on Lunalilo.

It is not clear who is pushing this ridiculous idea, but all who would be affected by it should come to a public meeting on Tuesday, June 1, 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Hawaiian Mission Academy Chapel, 1438 Pensacola St., and stop it in its tracks. It's our freeway.

Hawai'i teenagers will target cigarette use

Hawai'i's inclusion in a lawsuit against Kool brand cigarettes as well as the Justice Department's $280 billion lawsuit against cigarette manufacturers are positive steps; and it's also important to take note of local efforts in the ongoing struggle against big tobacco.

There are people being trained in brief intervention skills, groups that lobby for bills to clean up the air in Hawai'i's schools and workplaces, as well as organizing events to coincide with international days of awareness about the truth of tobacco.

World No Tobacco Day is one such event that teens across Hawai'i are organizing for. Tomorrow, there will be teens getting out the message against big tobacco by hosting an event at Studio 1, where a scroll with 1,000-plus pictures of local people affected by tobacco will be shown. It's the end product of a statewide survey by teens that hit the street to put faces to the Hawai'i statistic of 1,160 tobacco-related deaths per year.

These efforts by the local community to fight the $48 million that gets pumped into Hawai'i tobacco advertising every year are vital and deserve top recognition.

Increase in parking rates is a bad idea

I appreciate the need for the city to secure more sources of revenue, but an increase in parking rates is not the place to do it.

If anything, rates for parking on Honolulu streets should be reduced to reflect the aloha spirit for our many tourist friends. From travels around the country, I noticed that other tourist venues seem to get it right. Sun Valley has no parking meters; the same for Fairhope, Ala., located along Mobile Bay; and even in Boise, Idaho, there is no meter charge for the first 20 minutes.

Let's focus on the big picture, rather than a bunch of shortsighted and short-term fiscal fixes.