NOT WANTED

GETTING THE HOMELESS OUT OF PARK RIGHT MOVE

Contrary to others, I agree with the city's move to push the homeless out of Ala Moana (I think it should be expanded to the Wai'anae Coast, too).

The homeless here have plenty of options for work and to get themselves back on their feet; they simply choose not to or have just given up.

When you walk to Ala Moana, you see people with their tents pitched and carts stacked sky-high with cans, sticks and the like. It puts down the park experience for everyone else, who work hard and pay taxes to keep these parks clean and enjoyable.

ALA MOANA

HOMELESS MOSTLY KEEP TO THEMSELVES

Lee Cataluna's plea to "take back" the beaches from the homeless (Advertiser, March 28) was appalling. The homeless are not "pitiful souls," as she puts it — they are real people.

As long as we insist on dividing the world into them and us, homelessness will continue.

Many of us use Ala Moana Park regularly, including after sunset. The homeless who find themselves there almost always keep to themselves. They're only "scary" if you choose to be scared.

I've never seen the homeless prevent someone else from using the beach or take up all the parking.

There are many causes of homelessness, but only one that really matters. We have homelessness because it's acceptable to us. And it won't go away until it becomes unacceptable.

JOBS REJECTED

HOMELESS SHOULD FIND RESPECT, GO TO WORK

I am in no way unsympathetic to the needs of the homeless, but at the same time, did I or anyone reading this have anything to do with their situation?

I too was homeless for a very short spell after I moved here from San Francisco in 1994 at the age of 44. I went out, got a job with Sears part-time as a stock boy for $5.25 per hour and just stayed focused on my long-term plans for myself. I saved my money and moved on to a full-time security officer's job later that year and saved even more money.

Fast-forwarding to 2000, I saved enough money to start my own business, and I bought my first home in 2005. Is that a dream that all who are homeless can do? Absolutely! It is a matter of how much respect you have for yourself.

I see homeless all the time with their signs of: "Hungry, will work for food" ending with "God bless you." I have stopped to talk to these people and offered work; 100 percent of them declined my offer.

One homeless guy who has a habit of "crying" to get the sympathy vote for extra cash told me he makes more money begging than if he were to sell newspapers, as I suggested to him to try. There are many like him.

The city did not create this mess. I understand the expense of living in Hawai'i, tax increases, etc., but again, if I can do it, anyone can. It starts with how much respect you have for yourself and how hungry you really are to help yourself. There are numerous jobs out there to tap into. Go out there, homeless ones, and be all that God wants you to be.

DEADBEATS

CRACKDOWN NEEDED ON EXPIRED LICENSE TAGS

I was glad to read your recent article on the state's effort to collect delinquent taxes. The new software and collecting process should bring in some much-needed revenue for the state.

The City & County of Honolulu should sit up and take notice, especially the Division of Motor Vehicles. There is an exceptionally large number of vehicles, both commercial and privately owned, that are using the streets and parking spaces of Honolulu free of charge.

I know this because one day while stuck in traffic, I started counting the number of expired license tags on the vehicles around me. I counted 54 from the airport to the Pearl City/Waimalu exit.

And it wasn't old, dilapidated junkers that weren't paying their taxes. The majority of the vehicles were less than five years old.

Maybe it's time the city took a page out of the state's book. We don't need new taxes to bring in revenues; we need to start collecting what is due in the first place. Let's end the free ride for the deadbeats.

HOUSING

TIME TO RE-EXAMINE THE 'AMERICAN DREAM'

I just read Dan Nakaso's article on buyers unsatisfied with condos and wanted to say thank you for at least putting in an alternative point of view.

Your quote from Barbara Yee really says it best. It is indeed an "American Dream" that increasingly does not match the reality as we become more urbanized.

When I was searching to buy property on O'ahu, I specifically looked only for condos. If everyone bought a house on O'ahu, we would run out of land eventually. I'd much rather buy a condo and leave the open spaces for others who live on O'ahu to enjoy rather than have them carved up into little tiny pieces of green lawn.

Hawai'i, unlike the rest of the U.S., has limited land, and it's time that we re-examine our "American Dream."

DEMOCRATS

TRADING CONTRIBUTIONS IS A FEDERAL CRIME

There is nothing wrong with making campaign contributions to an out-of-state candidate. However, the Democratic Party of Hawai'i traded contributions with a Mainland candidate. That exchange of contributions is a violation of federal campaign laws. That is what is wrong.

The chairman of the Maine Democratic Party resigned because of this exchange. But his counterpart in the Democratic Party of Hawai'i has shrugged it off as a "mistake" and has taken no responsibility for the party's actions.

With the filing of a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, there will be a full investigation by the FEC. And that is something the Democratic Party of Hawai'i will not be able to shrug off.

COMPETITION

GAS CAP LAW SETS ONLY MAXIMUM PRICE

Many of the articles and letters about the gas cap law seem to forget one key item — the law sets a maximum at the wholesale level, not a minimum. If a wholesaler wished to compete on price, that wholesaler does not have to charge the maximum allowed under the gas cap.

The law is not putting any limits on the retailer. However, for the first time I'm seeing variances in price — from $2.51 to $2.81 on the same day for regular at stations within two miles of each other.

Perhaps to get competition going at the wholesale level, we do need the added transparency to publish what the cap rates are and what the wholesalers are charging.

Or do we need to acknowledge that gasoline is more a utility, like electricity, and should be treated as such?

AGRICULTURE FOR FUEL WILL PUT PRESSURE ON WATER SOURCES

In the late 1970s and throughout the '80s, the sugar industry statewide switched from flood irrigation to the much more water-efficient drip irrigation. This greatly reduced the amount of water reaching the ground water system via deep percolation.

In central Maui where HC&S still farms a large amount of sugar cane, the ground water recharge is much, much less than it was 30 years ago due to this change. If crops are reintroduced statewide to establish full use of all our available agricultural lands, there still would not be much ground water recharge, as drip irrigation would be required for all crops that can now be considered.

Today's ag operations in Hawai'i are pretty much dependent on surface water sources. The increased amounts of surface water taken by urban development statewide and the increased efforts to dump surface waters down streambeds in the water collection areas have left much less available surface water for ag use.

Drip irrigation is completely necessary to be able to efficiently and economically grow crops in Hawai'i with our available surface water supplies and our available labor pool. Drip irrigation requires a lot less labor than the old furrow irrigation did, and a lot less power consumption than sprinkler irrigation. Drip irrigation is the preferred choice throughout ag today, for reasons of both efficiency and economy.

Pineapple has never been a factor in ground water recharge and has not placed much of a demand on our available ag water sources, as the amount of water used in farming pineapple is extremely small compared to other crops. If we replace pineapple with other crops, they will undoubtedly require more water than pineapple, placing even more demands on our surface water sources.

We do need to reduce our dependence on outside sources of fuel and food, which will require a lot of effort to find the crops that will be successful here and to find enough labor willing to make these crops work.

There will have to be some realistic reallocation of available surface water sources in order to make this all work.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

BILL ADDRESSES ACCIDENT SCENE DELAY

House Bill 2655 is designed to improve accident investigations whereby the amount of time necessary for lane closures is minimized. The bill was characterized in a March 25 Advertiser editorial as unnecessary and would merely throw money at the problem. That is, of course, an opinion, but not one supported by the Police Department.

I introduced HB2655 to implement a proven technology wherein the accident investigation process can be expedited without compromising the gathering of evidence.

This technology could enhance the investigative team of certified collision reconstructionists specializing in digital and print-based photography to record specific reference points that are recorded in an on-board data collector. In short, the total station survey system can significantly enhance data collection.

HB2655 is a marriage of training, equipment and technology in motion to get us going rather than sitting in traffic. The establishment of a Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigative Team (MAIT) will increase the quality of life and diminish the negative economic impact of prolonged road closures.

The Police Department is currently doing its best with the limited resources it has. To align its operation with that of Mainland states, it is requesting the following: