HOUSING, JOBS

LINGLE SHOULD APPROVE SEXUAL ORIENTATION BILLS

As a member of the Japanese-American community whose ancestors have experienced discrimination firsthand, and as president of the Honolulu Chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens League, I urge the governor to support the passage of House Bill 1715 and House Bill 1450, which commendably amend our housing and employment statutes to make it unlawful to discriminate on the bases of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity or expression."

If this legislation is accepted, Hawai'i will join a number of Mainland states that have already taken similar stands for tolerance and equality.

The JACL supports the prohibition of housing discrimination and employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. No person in Hawai'i should be denied housing or a job because of his or her sexual orientation, or how gender is expressed through appearance or behavior.

Karen T. Nakasone | President, JACL Honolulu Chapter

MAJORITY

POLITICIANS, RESIDENTS SUPPORT AKAKA BILL

The June 25 letter by Robert Chapman is a rant against our elected officials who support legislation providing federal recognition for Native Hawaiians (the Akaka bill). He is wrong in asserting that they are not representing the majority of the residents of Hawai'i.

Sens. Inouye and Akaka, Congressmen Abercrombie and Case, Gov. Lingle and the state Legislature are united in this effort. The support is not divided by race, politics or ethnic heritage. In fact, a poll conducted in 2003 by Ward Research shows that 86 percent of Hawai'i residents support federal recognition for Hawaiians.

Federal recognition will begin the process by which Hawaiians will be able to make decisions about their land, education, health, cultural and traditional practices and social policies. To the question, "Do you believe the Hawaiians have a right to make these decisions," 85 percent said yes. Our elected officials agree with the overwhelming majority of the people of Hawai'i.

Finally, your readers should consider the source of these anti-Akaka bill letters. Mr. Chapman is part of the group suing in the Arakaki v. Lingle court case. He and his fellow litigants want to destroy all programs that assist Native Hawaiians.

Keaumiki Akui | Public affairs specialist-governance, Office of Hawaiian Affairs

LOCAL LAW

BBS, VACATION RENTALS COVERED BY TAX CODE

Regarding the July 5 letter with suggestions about short-term vacation rentals and bed-and-breakfast operations in single-family residential-zoned properties: Those are not well-thought-out ideas.

Most of the suggestions are for adding laws and rules for things that are already covered by the Internal Revenue Tax Code and other laws. What is missing is a local law allowing homeowners to rent out their homes as they see fit.

First, income-producing property is taxed like a business when you do your federal taxes. The IRS also has strict rules about capital gains and what constitutes owner-occupied time versus renter-occupied time. So of course you can't claim a capital gains tax exemption if you don't meet the requirements.

Second, all businesses already must keep books. Again, the IRS is watching. And some of the "regulations" that were suggested to be followed don't apply to a small business.

Last, as to having increased property tax revenue go toward reducing the taxes of single-family occupied properties, that is just silly. Increased taxes should be used to make the community better. Look at how Virginia Beach is run. It has great roads, wonderful services for the year-round residents and well-maintained beaches. The increased revenue it uses comes from the tax levied on each rental, about 11 percent.

If short-term vacation rentals and B&Bs were legalized, there would be a nice source of income for Honolulu. All you have to do is go on the Internet and search for "Hawai'i vacation homes" and you will find many unlicensed rentals. There is a great income source being overlooked.

Wendy Pulsifer | Kane'ohe

RENTAL

PEACEFUL NEIGHBORHOOD IS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

Our formerly peaceful, quiet suburban neighborhood is in jeopardy of becoming a tourist destination. Mainland investors have transformed a next-door residence on our private beachside lane into a commercial operation — an unlicensed transient vacation rental (five bedrooms, four baths, for up to 10 occupants) with lucrative daily and weekly rates, and it has been advertised around the world on the Web under a Web site that can be reached by anyone, anywhere.

This was a tranquil place where we have lived for 35 years, where our children grew up and where our grandchild is now growing up ... a small, private, noncommercial neighborhood.

We do not want vanloads of visitors (total strangers from anywhere and everywhere) coming and going night and day while the owners are off somewhere else, profiting at our expense. Our close neighbors are likewise quite concerned.

There are zoned O'ahu areas (Waikiki, Turtle Bay, Makaha, etc.) where the visitor plant has been established and tourists do not infringe on local residents' private lives. Our property resale values will suffer, also.

If you encountered this situation next door to your home, would you sit by idly? Please appeal to your City Council member to arrest this spreading cancer, now.

The Warren Stenberg 'ohana | Kailua

AMERICA

PLEDGING ALLEGIANCE

I want to express my thanks to Rayma Kent for her July 4 letter. The letter contained, in a single word, what America is all about. That word was contained in the sentence, "I became a citizen and was allowed to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America."

I will say no more; if you don't understand it now, I can't explain it to you. (With apologies to Sgt. Sadler.)

Louis H. Trigg | Pearl City

ISLANDS

THE OUTDOOR CIRCLE KEEPS US BEAUTIFUL

Thanks to The Advertiser for reminding us how grateful Hawai'i should be that it has an organization like The Outdoor Circle to keep Hawai'i the way it is — beautiful. Without its members, we very well could look like every other state, being bombarded by billboards and other illegal signs everywhere we look.

I'm glad they have the respect of corporations like HECO and private developers and work with them to preserve Hawai'i's environment.

We should all be thanking The Outdoor Circle.

Irma Cunha | Honolulu

EXTREMIST

COLUMNIST HANSON NOT WORTH PRINTING

I can only congratulate Mr. Roy Kamisato for his July 5 letter "Paper should identify biased columnists." I have read several of Victor Davis Hanson's pieces myself, and each time I shook my head in disbelief. Not so much over the author himself; he is, after all, nothing but another right-wing extremist who derides the very same media that gives him a platform to spread his toxic half-truths and bumper-sticker slogans.

I wasn't even surprised about his audacity to use the name of a very reputable university in his attempt to gain credibility for his extreme conservative views, which regularly blame institutions of higher learning as arrogant and elitist liberal hotbeds. What really irked me was that The Honolulu Advertiser would lend a forum to one-sided extremism.

Everyone has a right to an opinion, even Mr. Hanson. But an institution like The Advertiser must make sure that both sides are given a chance to speak, and there is no liberal counterpart to Mr. Hanson in sight.

Bert Wissig | Kailua

USE YOUR HEAD

SHIFT CLICK IT FOCUS TO PICKUP TRUCKS, CYCLISTS

Click It or Ticket — a clever campaign, a reminder of the critical value in using seat belts while in motor vehicles.

But what's wrong with this picture? As an HPD officer tickets a non-seat-belted driver, an open-bed pickup truck with a load of teens drives by and then a helmetless motorcycle rider cruises by. When will Self Responsibility for Safety be the major campaign of the HPD instead of using the fear-of-a-fine motive? When will riding in the back of a pickup truck be ruled totally unsafe for humans or animals? When will motorcyclists be required to wear helmets and perhaps be required to have front and rear running lights on at all times?

Obviously, Self Responsibility for Safety should be an ongoing campaign.

Here's a new slogan to replace Click It: "Use Your Head or Lose Your Head" ... using seat belts, wearing helmets and not riding in pickup truck beds are just a few ways to not become road kill. Do yourself a favor — take responsibility for your own safety and others in your company.

Mele Welte | Hawai'i Kai

BUMBLING

RECYCLING PROGRAM AT SCHOOLS A FAILURE

There are a hundred examples every day of just how inane our government is, but here's just one: The July 5 article "Recycling at schools costing taxpayers" outlines how the City Council has spent at least $1.2 million to run a program that brings in a pittance and was "never, never intended to pay for itself." Thus far, the program has cost taxpayers at least several millions net.

The rationale? It's for the kids. It's educational. It'll help nonprofits. If the city wanted to help nonprofits, teach kids and save the environment, they'd do it right.

As it is now, it smacks of some bumbling, tokenistic scheme to spread the cheese and garner votes.

Instead of this nonsense, the council should give the millions wasted on those big, ugly, awkward and ineffective bins, and the lucrative contracts for the refuse companies, directly to the schools to buy whatever they need. Wouldn't that be better? Instead of a meager $34 a month, which will surely fluctuate, the schools would be getting real money they can count on.

I wonder how many books, computers, teachers, clean bathrooms or healthy lunches that money could have bought for Honolulu's children.

Justin Hahn | Waikiki

FAIRNESS

WEIGHTED STUDENT FORMULA MISUNDERSTOOD BY CRITICS

Your June 30 headline claiming that the "BOE plan raids some schools to aid others" missed the intent of the weighted student formula. Furthermore, to say that there are "winners and losers" is to misunderstand what is being proposed.

The weighted student formula is based upon a simple yet fair premise: funding for schools should be based upon the unique learning needs of each student. A student who has limited English skills or comes from a poor family should be given more "weight" in resources to address these learning challenges.

I realize that if your child's school will see a reduction in their funds, it is easy to conclude that the school is "losing." For example, under the proposed plan, Kaiser High School will "lose" $729,255 and Farrington High School will "win" $1,251,237. But you need to know what every school currently gets for each student and what they will get under the weighted student formula.

During the past school year, on average, Kaiser received $4,660 per student and Farrington received $3,647, a difference of more than $1,000 per student. Is this fair? Under the proposed plan, Kaiser will now get $3,942 and Farrington $4,150 because the student population at Farrington is comprised of more students needing additional funds. This is how it should be. We should be allocating our education dollars based upon the needs of each student.

Finally, keep in mind that the weighted student formula does not address the issue of adequate funding. It merely divides up the funds in a way that is fairer and truer to the actual needs of each student.

A study done earlier this year by the Chicago-based accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP and University of Oregon professor David Conley concluded that in order to provide an adequate education, the Department of Education would need an additional $278 million a year — an increase of 17 percent. If we ever managed to increase the funding of the DOE to this level, now that would be a "win-win" situation.

Rep. Roy Takumi | House Education chairman