MANOA

SMALL CARE HOMES FILL VERY IMPORTANT NEED

I am familiar with the Manoa care homes. I visited one of the care homes several times weekly for two years while my mother-in-law received tender loving care.

I find the objection of the Manoa residents ridiculous. Who of us wouldn't want to preserve the "historic nature" of our neighborhood? I would prefer to have only three hotels in Waikiki, no parking problems and no buildings taller than Aloha Tower.

But, living in the present is the only choice for most of us. Drive to Kamehameha Avenue, and you'll find a quiet street with occasionally a few people walking their dogs. Care-home patients are not seen and not prone to wild parties. I don't understand the complaint.

For the House Health and Human Service Committee to unanimously agree with the Manoa complaint is irresponsible.

Our legislators are elected to lead, and that means they must think, and think clearly. With the population getting older fast, what's our next move? Send them all to the Mainland?

These are precious small care homes that provide an intimate level of care for elders. Not everyone wants to live in a huge multistory care facility.

ENVIRONMENT

EPA ON TARGET ABOUT WASTEWATER TREATMENT

There is no doubt that the Environmental Protection Agency is right on target about our wastewater treatment systems.

They are trained, educated professionals who are hired to make sure our treatment systems meet federal requirements. If our wastewater systems are not approved by the EPA, we need to fix it.

There should be no dumping of untreated water into our ocean. Long-term effects would be harmful to people, sea life, our economy and tourism.

Mr. Mayor, didn't you say, "Do we need it? Can we afford it? What's it going to cost?"

LIMU IS DISAPPEARING NEAR OCEAN SEWER LINES

I have lived in 'Ewa Beach since 1949. The limu that was here (between Iroquois Point, Kiku Point/Hau Bush and Barbers Point) have been gone since the sewer lines out to the ocean started emptying processed waste from the Honouliuli Wastewater Plant.

Gone are the flat green limu that the awa, manini and pualu fed on.

Those fish are nearly gone, too. Rarely is an awa caught, whereas in the '60s and up to the early '70s you could catch one between 40 and 46 pounds.

There aren't any more limu ma-nauea, 'ula'ula, waina, pe'epe'e, kohu, loloa and 'ele'ele.

During bad storms with kona winds, you can find dead fish on the shoreline as well as fine silt and dark green/black algae from the supposedly treated waste that does not harm the inshore waters. Swimming during this time will give you an itch.

My basic fee for sewer is $68 (in November/December 2006). My water use was about $18, and yet I paid about $86 to the Board of Water Supply.

It's rough when you're retired and on a fixed income.

IRAQ

ILL-ADVISED MISSION NOT WORTH ONE MORE LIFE

On Nov. 3, 1969, President Nixon told Americans: "We really only have two choices open to us if we want to end this war. I can order an immediate, precipitate withdrawal of all Americans from Vietnam without regard to the effects of that action. Or we can persist (with) a plan in which we will withdraw all of our forces from Vietnam on a schedule in accordance with our program, as the South Vietnamese become strong enough to defend their own freedom."

When the speech was given, 31,000 men and women had courageously sacrificed their lives in service to our country.

Three-plus years later with 27,000 more lives of our men and women needlessly sacrificed; we left Vietnam without a victory, without leaving the South Vietnamese strong enough to defend themselves.

Replace "Vietnam" with "Iraq" and you have Bush's present rhetoric.

Forget all about words like "victory" or phrases like "leaving them strong enough to defend themselves." There is the same chance of that happening in Iraq as there was in Vietnam.

Bring our men and women home now. This ill-advised, tragic "mission" is not worth one more life.

MOMENTUM

BIKE-FRIENDLY PROGRAM IS MOVING FORWARD

Mahalo to The Honolulu Advertiser for its editorial encouraging the city to move forward on the bike plan (March 28).

Since the passage of Charter Amendment 8, the Hawai'i Bicycling League has been working with Mayor Mufi Hannemann and his staff to ensure that they take seriously the public mandate to make Honolulu a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly city.

With the support of AARP Hawai'i, the Sierra Club and committed community advocates, we have seen some important successes, like $1 million proposed in the budget for a Bicycle Master Plan update, project construction and education initiatives.

In addition, after much encouragement the mayor agreed and submitted an application for the national Bicycle Friendly Communities Program.

This act alone deserves a phone call from everyone who voted for Charter Amendment 8, thanking the mayor and encouraging him to see the entire application process through to completion and incorporate what is learned into the updated Bicycle Master Plan.

There is momentum, and now is the time, as the editorial put it, "to get in gear."

COST

TRANSIT SYSTEM LOOKING MORE LIKE FISCAL FIASCO

U.S. News and World Report ran a recent article that looked at how the United States could learn from the policies and practices of other cities and countries.

One of its examples was Bogota, which "remade its transit system in less than a decade by forgoing the expensive glamour of rail for the affordable flexibility of buses."

Have any of our City Council members traveled there to study alternatives to a rail system that more people are starting to believe will cost far more and reduce traffic far less than the mayor's office is claiming? It feels as if the rail system is being crammed down our throats with only lip service given to consideration of alternatives.

Something smells funny here and it's not just the Ala Wai. Has anyone looked into how political contributors of our councilmembers and Mayor Mufi Hannemann will benefit from a rail system versus a renewed bus system with dedicated lanes and top quality buses?

Rail is looking more and more like a fiscal and political fiasco.

CONGESTION

MAKAKILO ROAD PROJECT SHOULD BE FUNDED NOW

The discussion on emergency access from lower Makakilo because of increased housing ("More homes, more worries," March 30) missed the obvious solution.

Makakilo has almost 16,000 residents, and there are more than 7,000 vehicle trips each way on weekdays on its only access.

The extension of Makakilo Drive to the new North-South Interchange on the H-1 will keep every Honolulu-bound vehicle from Palahi'a Street and above from heading downhill to the Makakilo Interchange.

Planning funds for this project were allocated in the Transportation Improvement Program of the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization for fiscal year 2006, and an environmental impact statement is being developed. However, no design or construction funding is reflected in the TIP for fiscal years 2007 and 2008.

The policy committee of OMPO must add funding for this project to the current TIP at its next meeting in early May. City and state coordination is needed to extend Makakilo Drive at virtually the same time as completion of the North-South Road and interchange.

This project will do much to alleviate the congestion within Makakilo, at the bottom of the hill and on Fort Barrette Road.

The drive's extension has been discussed for more than two decades; how long must we wait?

STATEHOOD

ANNIVERSARY SHOULD BE TIME FOR INTROSPECTION

Mahalo to David Shapiro for focusing on the issue of the statehood anniversary and its sensitivity to Hawai'i, the significance of 'Iolani Palace and the theft of our Hawaiian nation (Volcanic Ash, March 14).

For many local families the quality of life has not improved but has deteriorated since statehood.

More of a caste system is evolving of have and have-nots. High-rises, higher costs of living, crowded freeways, homelessness, urbanization, pollution and proliferation of prisons overwhelm us with the mainlandization of our island home.

These islands have only so much carrying capacity; yet the march to destroy the paradise that lured so many of foreigners here in the first place continues.

This statehood celebration should be a time of serious introspective consideration weighing what has been lost and what has been gained for our island civilization.