RAIL

RAIL WILL HELP MAKE O'AHU BICYCLE FRIENDLY

I am a member of the Hawaii Bicycling League. We supported the pedestrian- and bicycle- friendly City Charter amendment passed by 75 percent of voters. I ride my bicycle from Kailua to Downtown every morning and ride TheBus to Kailua every evening. I support rail transit and am willing to pay for it even if it will not directly affect my commute. Rail transit is necessary for the island, and is an integral part of making Hono-lulu pedestrian and bike-friendly and more livable. I expect that convenient, safe routes for pedestrians and cyclists to get to transit stops will be developed. Transit cars should carry bicycles during all operating hours, and bicycle parking must be available at transit stops. I support Council Bill 79 to move forward on rail transit now!

LEEWARD TOLL ROADS WOULD HELP PAY FOR RAIL

How is it that there is so much support for rail when ridership projections are so low? Supporters obviously do not plan to ride the train. For a massive tax burden, the community gets an under-utilized train. Great.

To avoid this tragedy, rail should proceed under one condition: Upon completion of rail, the Leeward freeways will become toll roads during rush hours.

The toll rate will be set high enough to force commuters to forsake their cars for the train. This will assure sufficient ridership of the train to justify its huge price tag. Toll fees will come in handy to help pay for the cost to operate the train.

Are there any real rail supporters left on the Leeward side?

COMMUTERS MUST BE PART OF TRAFFIC SOLUTION

The traffic situation has reached breaking point, but that's not the worst of it. When I listen to the traffic report in the morning and hear the Zipper lane is slow going, well that's enough to just about push anyone over the edge. HOV lanes are supposed to move traffic, not pace with the other cars.

What is the logic behind a multi-million-dollar traffic solution if we cannot utilize what already exists? Come on, people, let's move in that Zipper lane, increase ridership on the bus, car pool, flex hours at work and hop on those bikes. Otherwise, by the time the new proposed solutions are in place, if and when that time comes, road rage will be as normal as 30-foot waves in winter here.

I feel for all you folks who are wasting time in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I lived in Mililani for 10 years. There are many individual solutions out there; you just have to get creative.

Let's show aloha and be part of the solution.

TRANSIT

PROPONENTS OF RAIL RAILROADING RESIDENTS

I attended the Waikiki Neighborhood Board meeting in November, and a portion of the agenda was to be a presentation on rail. One member tried to submit a resolution opposing a board vote on rail. She was ruled to be out of order. Others, who were pro-rail, were allowed excessive time to explain their positions.

'Olelo TV recently carried the various hearings held by the City Council to garner public opinion on transit alternatives. It was clear by the questions and attitude of committee Chairman Romy Cachola that his mind was made up. All of these meetings are merely a formality. The same could be said for our mayor, Mufi Hannemann. There isn't anything that anyone could say that would change his mind at this point.

Therefore I propose we stop calling this project "light rail" or "fixed rail" or any kind of rail. We should simply call it The Honolulu Railroad. Because that is what we are getting: Railroaded.

ELECTRIC CARS

TIME TO HALT USE OF GAS-POWERED VEHICLES

General Motors' announcement to build plug-in hybrids is a joke. Everyone should watch the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" The technology is there, we could have these cars on the roads by next year.

It's the automakers and the gas companies that don't want to lose millions, that don't care about the environment or the fact that we are in a war over oil. It's all about money.

The electric car is here now. It's time the people demand that we not use gasoline to power our cars. Why have a hybrid that uses both? We don't need to have gas-powered cars at all.

FOOTBALL

UH LOSES FUNDS BY NOT HAVING OWN STADIUM

After attending last week's University of Hawai'i football game against Purdue, I again realized how much money the UH athletic department is losing by not having its own stadium.

It is hard to believe that the athletic department doesn't get a dime from the parking revenue, food concessions and advertising revenue from signage. It's about time the athletic department built their own stadium somewhere near the upcoming West O'ahu campus.

The revenue from UH home games at their own stadium not only would support the annual budget of the athletic department, but as at most Division 1 football programs, it also supports academic scholarships at the university.

Why spend more money to renovate the "Rusty Palace?"

SCHOOL PLAN

WOULD ANYONE CALL THIS A SAFE ENVIRONMENT?

I am an elementary school teacher at a school in the Kapolei Complex. In the desire to have safe and secure facilities, the Department of Education has instructed schools to develop safety plans for different situations. Being close to Barbers Point, our school has the possibility of noxious fumes affecting the health of our students.

So we have a plan called "Shelter in Place." Unfortunately, we do not have a facility that is airtight, so the solution is to give teachers duct tape to seal their classroom doors and slats. Picture teachers jumping on desks, while maintaining order, to tape windows. How that will solve the safety issue leaves me baffled, but what really angers me is to be told that our new classroom facility will not be airtight because of lack of funds.

So the use of duct tape is then deemed not temporary, but an adequate solution to ensure the health and safety of both children and personnel.

Are we saying that is the best we can do? What are the priorities? Isn't it the responsibility of the state to give children a learning environment that is safe.

KUNIA

DEL MONTE'S ACTIONS UNDERMINE WORKERS

I read with interest David Cole's report (Focus, Nov. 26) on Del Monte's broken promises to its 551 workers at Kunia. His recommendations for prevention of this kind of abuse in the future also had merit. However, Del Monte is being let off the hook too easily.

One should note that Del Monte did similar harm to Del Monte pineapple workers on Moloka'i in the 1970s, abandoning them in a phased withdrawal and helping to cause huge unemployment on that island.

Del Monte, like Dole, was relocating more of its operations to the Philippines and other countries where it could obtain lower-wage labor for six-day workweeks — and enjoy the protection of martial law and anti-union governmental repression of workers' rights and unions.

The company's schemes to sell off its lands — some of the best farm land in the Islands — for the sake of allowing residential subdivisions should be blocked.

Gov. Linda Lingle, Mayor Mufi Hannemann, City planning agencies, the ILWU, and the State Land Use Commission should ensure that Del Monte will not get away with its plot against its workers and O'ahu's residents. The Del Monte workers' needs should be addressed first and foremost and housing for them ensured. Legislation should be advocated and enacted that would punish these huge corporations when their questionable, self-benefitting actions undermine the lives of Hawai'i's working people.