Posted on: Monday, May 16, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Road surfaces are being overly taxed

Regarding Alan Paul's May 9 letter "What of Second City?": Few mass-transit projects are designed to operate only in one direction. Mr. Paul fails to note that a proposed rail line, while facilitating travel from Kapolei to Honolulu, would also allow workers to travel in the opposite direction from Honolulu to Kapolei and act as an unrivaled development tool for the proposed Second City of Kapolei.

Lately, even our best ideas such as the eastbound Zipper lane and other peak-hour contra-flow facilities are beginning to tax the capacities of roads in the opposite directions.

O'ahu is becoming a place with a noticeably bi-directional rush hour, that is, traffic is headed in all ways. Look at Nimitz Highway and the H-1 Freeway during the peak hours in the morning and afternoon. In neither direction is there a clear path with free flow.

Rail will help to alleviate this situation.

It's time to be bold with transportation

Criticizing the 0.5 percentage point increase in the GET is shortsighted. This was the year to take a bold step by investing in a better Hawai'i.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society." Today one might add, " ... and for a viable, safe, compassionate community." This year the Democrats showed true vision and leadership in directing our tax dollars toward quality of life — affordable housing, land conservation and mass transportation. Who wants to live in a Hawai'i strangled by traffic and developed from mountain to shoreline by developers and the rich who shun public access?

Coincidentally, this month marked the first anniversary of Portland, Ore.'s latest light-rail spur, the Yellow Line. Year one saw 3.9 million trips on this 5.8-mile addition — up 92 percent over the former bus route. Why? The convenience and ease and the sheltered stations with adjacent people-friendly spaces with amenities. Now, the public must pay close attention as Honolulu's system evolves.

I attended every public presentation of Mayor Harris' grotesque "desire named streetcar." It was architecturally overbearing and inappropriate for Honolulu. And no station restrooms? These are the reasons it failed.

Light rail is Honolulu's greatest single opportunity to improve our quality of life, and it must be somehow paid for. Thanks to Hawai'i's D.C. Democrats, we can now leverage federal monies, and hopefully the county will finally get it right — as has Portland.

Miriam Sharma's May 11 commentary claims anti-UARC protesters at UH-Manoa are "concerned" with "secrecy" and "ethical, moral and social" issues. This is a fraud. They are "concerned" only with weakening the U.S. military.

Sharma's own words in the April 23 Ka Leo O Hawai'i show she is no different.

Of David Horowitz' recent speech at UH-Manoa calling for an end to one-sided academic Marxist indoctrination, Sharma says, "Some views and interpretations are just wrong and there is no reason to include them."

Of Ward Churchill, who calls our 9/11 dead "little Eichmanns," she says, "Churchill laid out a coherent argument and a set of positions that one could understand."

The Board of Regents could address every one of the stated "concerns" of Sharma and Co. and still not satisfy them. Their so-called dialogue is just shadowboxing.

The protesters' real "concern" (read: desire) is the military defeat of the United States. Sharma claims they represent many people on campus, but until they come out and argue that UARC should be rejected because the United States should lose the War on Terror, they don't even represent themselves.

Royal Hawaiian Band measure was ignored

On April 26, observers watched in disbelief as elected city representatives completely disregarded the letter and intent of the Honolulu City Charter, killing an important bill.

The measure, introduced by Barbara Marshall, would have directed future bandmasters of the Royal Hawaiian Band to recognize "the band's links to the Hawaiian monarchy and its musical heritage and its promotion and perpetuation of Hawaiian music, history and culture ... "

In opposing the bill, the Hannemann administration argued that duties of the bandmaster belong in the City Charter. However, the charter itself clearly states "the band director shall perform such duties as may be required by law."

Honolulu's laws, called ordinances, are passed by the council. The mayor's own lawyer advised that the Charter Commission intended to allow the council to supplement the duties of the bandmaster "by ordinance consistent with the Charter Commission's general policy that the department directors' powers duties and functions should be broadly stated without specific detail."

Parks Committee members Charles Djou, Todd Apo and Gary Okino did not dispute the facts. They simply ignored them and "deferred" the bill.

It is important to remember that the band's 169-year link to Hawaiian culture is what makes it unique in all the world.

Forget about my being a part of state recycling

I went to get my refund for a small collection of empty soda cans a few weeks ago about 15 minutes before the stated "start of operations" time (9 a.m.), thinking that by doing so I would be near the beginning of the line and finish quickly. Not so.

At 9, there was no activity. At about five minutes after 9, an employee started mobilizing for operation. About 15 minutes later, a worker moved a full trailer to a remote part of the site and brought up an empty trailer, taking slightly more than 15 minutes. When it was completed, preparations for operations began. The first customer was serviced at approximately 9:45, 45 minutes late. By that time, 16 people had arrived to wait.

Some time after that experience, I was near the redemption site and noticed no activity. Closer inspection revealed a sign to the effect that operations were shut down because the trailer was full. I have learned that this was not an isolated occurrence.

My consumption of canned beverages is minimal, and several considerations preclude me from saving the cans until I have several hundred. This being the case, I do not feel that a wait of 45 minutes justifies the $2 to $2.50 that I would get for my returns.

It should be obvious that I do not plan to participate in the program in the future.

Akaka bill: There are too many recognition claimants

Regarding the May 1 commentaries by Walter Heen and Daniel Akaka: With all due respect, if it were not for Rice v. Cayetano, there would be no effort for the so-called Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005. After more than 30 years, the scheme in the creation for the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs comes to fruition.

Nevertheless, let us look at the facts about the Akaka bill. Beginning with its phony purpose, through the various versions, to its present form, four things never changed in this scam:

• Congressional findings that indigenous Hawaiians meet the criteria for recognition.

• A new "Native Hawaiian Governing entity" with procedures established and approved by our "apologetic" thief.

• A definition of a Native Hawaiian who has no defined blood quantum.

• An authorization that directs the new "Native Hawaiian Governing entity" to settle indigenous Hawaiian land claims.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there were 402,000 people in the United States who claimed Native Hawaiian ancestry, and of this figure, 142,000 claimed Native Hawaiian ancestry only.

The number of potential members in the new "Native Hawaiian Governing entity" is now many times greater than the 24,800 indigenous Hawaiians counted by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the 20,000 registered indigenous Hawaiians of Ka Lahui Hawai'i, who stand by the "initiative" of their kupuna and the "self-determination" with the "reorganization" of indigenous Hawaiians by the creation of "Ho'ala kanawai" (Awakening of the Law), in 1976.

Yet our longtime politicians and entrenched colonized Hawaiians and organizations endorse the obliteration of indigenous Hawaiian "self-determination" with the tsunami wave of Hawaiians with one ancestor in 500.

"The ideal of justice is always tempered by political realities" indeed!

Lunalilo ramp project dismaying

Residents of Makiki, Punchbowl and Manoa were outraged during the Department of Transportation's informational briefing on April 28 announcing that the Lunalilo on-ramp closure would be permanent. Director Rod Haraga did not address, or even acknowledge, the effect the 10-month-long closure has had on public safety in this area.

Administrators of St. Clement's School and Royal Elementary have voiced concerns about increased traffic around their campuses since the on-ramp diversion. The principal of Royal Elementary reported that one DOT official received a suggestion that the Punchbowl/Vineyard Street crosswalk be eliminated to improve the flow of traffic. The principal explained that removing it would mean that parents and children would need to use two to three crosswalks in the same intersection to get to school.

Parents with children attending Makiki schools express frustration over their children's safety and the difficulty of dropping them off in the morning. Even with St. Clement's teachers running outside to collect the 3- or 4-year-olds being dropped off in the midst of Wilder Avenue traffic, parents have a difficult time getting their preschoolers onto campus. During the March 16 DOT meeting, residents heard Director Haraga state that if parents didn't like the traffic, St. Clement's should simply change its school hours.

Makiki residents have observed that the diversion has pushed more traffic onto area side streets (i.e., Kina'u, Pensacola, Pi'ikoi, Beretania, Prospect, Wilder and Punahou streets). About half of pedestrian traffic fatalities occurring in Hawai'i are persons 65 and older, and according to the 2000 Census, nearly one in five Makiki, Punchbowl and Ala Moana residents fit into this category. During the March 28 DOT meeting, one Makiki resident asked what DOT intended to do to protect these elderly residents. The subject was changed, and the safety question was never answered.

District legislators repeatedly notified DOT officials about the potential safety hazards of the diversion and requested alternative solutions. Unfortunately, the requests — in July and November 2004 and last month — remain unanswered. DOT has maintained that the diversion is the only way to solve the traffic congestion at the Lunalilo on-ramp.

However, other transportation experts proposed a freeway fly-over ramp to separate incoming and outgoing traffic in the 1995 Waikiki Regional Traffic Impact Plan, or have suggested ramp metering, a commonly used and economical solution in other states.

Reports on the costs of the on-ramp diversion have been mixed. Some TV reports have said it would cost between $600,000 to $800,000 annually, while DOT says its costs have run about $200,000 so far. By comparison, ramp-metering is estimated to cost $200,000 to $300,000 annually. A more long-term solution to the congestion problem is the freeway fly-over recommended in 1995. Ten-year-old cost estimates sound expensive at about $30 million, but they make a lot more sense when evaluated over a 30-to-40-year lifespan.

Makiki, Punchbowl and Manoa residents are angry that Director Haraga is not addressing legitimate safety questions. Residents and district legislators have asked DOT to work with the city's Department of Transportation Services to do what seems straightforward: to adopt an alternative solution that benefits both East Honolulu and Makiki residents — without endangering pedestrians and moving congestion onto Makiki streets.