Posted on: Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Reward businesses that will hold the line

I work as a waiter in a Waikiki restaurant whose management decided to significantly raise prices. The main rationale for the higher prices was not higher operating costs but to match the high prices of other Waikiki restaurants, we were told; if they can get away with a higher price, then so can we.

One manager muttered that we probably won't see as many local people as we used to.

People who complain about the high cost of living in Hawai'i often blame government regulations and high taxes. Yes, we can blame government all we want for higher prices, but who is responsible for actually setting the prices? Consumers fail to blame greedy corporations for inflating prices to increase profit margins so that those at the top can buy new homes and new cars and send their children to private schools. Managers often argue that because of higher costs, they are "forced" to raise prices so the company can survive.

As I have witnessed firsthand, companies are not always "forced" to raise prices.

We as consumers must reward those businesses that charge a fair and honest price. We must seek out the lowest possible prices. If you find a good deal on something, go out of your way, help bring word-of-mouth business to that store. We need to encourage businesses to charge fair prices.

Excessive pruning may be what's ailing trees

Regarding your June 2 article on Hawai'i's dying coconut palms: There was no mention of pruning as a likely cause of the trees' failing health.

But I have noticed that frequently trimmed coconut palms are usually unhealthy compared to those that are left untrimmed. For example, in Waialua, where most coconut trees are left to grow naturally, most of the highly maintained trees growing on the public school and church properties look quite sick by comparison (short, flaccid leaves and frayed leaflets). Also, archival photos of Waikiki and Honolulu before palm-pruning became popular in the 1950s and '60s show much healthier coconut palms than those we see in the city today.

Coconut trees in Hawai'i are often pruned to a degree that tree experts consider excessive. When coconuts are removed for public safety purposes, tree trimmers also remove the lower leaves on the crown, even though many tree experts don't recommend this. Removing leaves reduces the trees' ability to produce energy from photosynthesis.

Imagine a 747 trying to fly with only half of its engines. A coconut palm naturally has 25 to 30 leaves in its crown, but the ones in town are rarely allowed to have any more than half that number.

Property owners should keep in mind that experts say a palm will not drop green leaves even in high winds (unless the tree is sick, the leaves have been previously nicked by a trimmer's knife, or the winds are nearly hurricane-force), so green leaves ought not to be thought of as a hazard to people on the ground as ripe coconuts are.

Separate but equal is not OK for gays

How ironic that Leonard Pitts Jr. argues that separate but equal is OK for gay marriage (June 10). Perhaps he hasn't heard of Brown v. Board of Education.

The problem with acceptance of gay marriage isn't semantics. It is ignorance.

In Massachusetts, the only state in which gay marriage is legal, public opinion has swayed dramatically from "against" to "in favor" in the year in which gay marriage has been legal.

Mel Cabang wowed the crowd in prison

A special event was held during the Kamehameha Day holiday weekend that the public never knew about. Comedian Mel Cabang gave a free performance inside the O'ahu Correctional Community Center, and the 1,000 inmates sitting in the recreation yard sun heard a very personal message.

Mel, as most know, spent three years in a federal prison for a gambling conviction. So he told the appreciative audience that he knows how much it means when an entertainer comes in to do a show. He also told them that he hopes they straighten out their lives and rejoin their families and the community.

My oldies band Flashback opened the show with classic island tunes that many were singing and clapping along to. But it was Mel whom the inmates cheered, for giving them a reason to laugh and to hope.

Kobayashi two-faced

Recently Ann Kobayashi said the increases in various taxes are necessary because they are needed and the City Council has no other choice but to raise them. Why didn't she object last year when the previous mayor diverted sewer monies to beautification projects? She was the budget chair under his administration last year as well.

She seems to speak from both sides of her mouth.

Marijuana exports would help Hawai'i

Is there a bigger waste of time and money in Hawai'i? I know that there are many programs competing for this honor, but Green Harvest must surely rank at the top.

In a sane world, marijuana would be recognized for what it is: a mild narcotic/hallucinogen that many people enjoy smoking. There are surely health risks, and I have never had time for those who zealously advocate marijuana use as a panacea for life's maladies, but surely the downfalls of marijuana cannot rationally be compared unfavorably to those of alcohol.

Hawai'i is hurt economically by the continued demonization of marijuana. Different climates favor the cultivation of different products used to make "drugs." Italy and France grow their grapes, Columbia grows its coffee, etc. Hawai'i favors marijuana cultivation and should be able to have a booming export economy.

Standing triumphantly over a bunch of pulled weeds only makes Ed Kubo and members of our law enforcement community look silly. I am not an imbiber of marijuana, preferring the products of Ireland, but have full sympathy for anyone who got caught up in America's quixotic quest to combat reefer madness.

Property owners may do what they please

I agree with most of the people who complain that too many vacation rentals are invading our communities. But let's look at it this way: If you own your property, no one should have the right to tell you who can stay on your own property. If you wanted a hundred people to stay at your house at any time, it's up to you. You pay your property taxes, electric and water, not the guy next door.

If the noise is too loud for you, then move somewhere else where it's quiet. But don't move next to me — I don't like complainers. Try focusing your energy on fighting drugs instead of vacationers.

Brunch, Sunset on Beach events have outlived goal

If it's free, they will come. This was the logic used by the former city administration following 9/11, when survival of Waikiki suddenly depended upon local support. To lure locals back to Waikiki, free movies were planned along with food and other vending booths.

What was promised to be a temporary, removable movie screen was erected on famous Waikiki Beach, with Diamond Head, a registered national natural landmark, as the backdrop shown in the city's promotional material. But the movie screen skeleton has remained as a permanent fixture, and reportedly is now also a landmark to some.

What is wrong with this picture?

First, while the periodic Brunch and Sunset on the Beach events are popular because they are free, the public beach is free 365 days a year and visitor crowds have now returned to a reduced beach area. And although free movies and food vending on the beach has become a popular concept from which the city desires continued political recognition as the founding sponsor, there is the question of a structure being spontaneously erected and the removal of valuable public beach area from daily use.

Second, commercial sponsorship of these events is now being solicited because the city has come to realize that its coffers cannot afford to shell out up to $1.5 million annually for free entertainment. Ironically, these events may be perceived as "free" to the attending public, but they have cost us all a pretty penny. To continue these events, a marketing expert acknowledges that any future corporate sponsors need to know they can sell or promote products or increase their name exposure to make their investment worthwhile.

Is it the purpose of our public beaches to subsidize private profits?

Solutions:

• Let Waikiki's treasured cultural torch-lighting and hula performances remain, to continue to delight our residents and visitors alike. This should not be burdensome for Waikiki hotels to jointly sponsor as a goodwill gesture.

• Remove the movie skeleton eyesore from the needed and protected public beach area it obstructs and consumes. Relocate any future commercially sponsored free movies and food and craft booths to the Convention Center to make good use of this often-empty space where there is plenty of parking.

The average voter is just fed up

In response to Jerry Burris' May 29 column "Why do so few of us vote?": How many "local," average people did Burris interview before he wrote his piece? Not many, I trust.

I have asked that same question of scores of average citizens and have consistently gotten the same reply: "What for? Nothing changes." And, "Once elected, they do what's good for them and their pals — not what's good for the people."

The more articulate of the interviewees will tell you: "Whoever gets 'in' is backed by the unions, then they scratch each other's backs."

The average person out there is disheartened and frustrated, Mr. Burris; that's why many of them don't vote!

Linda Lingle got elected by frustrated Democrats who wanted change because of the rampant corruption within the reigning Democrats. But, what they failed to understand was the need to give her more Republican legislators to help her effect change. Lingle may be captain of the canoe, but the Democrats still control the oars and tiller.

The handful of Republicans she has with her don't mean "spit" in the overall machinations of our Legislature. Republicans don't chair committees and can't even get proposed legislation into these committees for a hearing. Any meaningful legislation for change, with teeth in it, eventually gets neutralized.

In too many incidences, if it weren't for the federal government kicking this state in the butt, there would be no reform at all — e.g., the state hospital, corruption in our local government, corruption in our unions, public schools failing to teach, and on and on.

Little is done on our own because we don't want to upset the unions.

The people I talked to don't come right out and blame the Democrats, because they themselves are Democrats. It's always "those unions" or "those politicians who are beholding ... "

Corruption and incompetence are found only too often in our government: liquor commission, airport authority, public housing, land management, assessor and tax office, the prison systems, flagrant campaign bribery payoffs.

And how does our Legislature respond to this? By awarding more pay raises for these public employees. No one is ever held accountable — unless the Feds do it.

The reason this litany will continue is that we have no checks and balances in our government.