TRANSIT

COUNCIL SHOULD LISTEN TO EXPERTS IN RAIL VOTE

Open letter to the City Council:

Since the 2004-2005 property tax assessment, my property's tax valuation has gone up 64 percent. My taxes have gone up 24 percent between 2004-2005 and 2006-2007, and have the potential of going up another 24 percent this year, based on the assessed value.

In the meantime, you are playing political games with rapid transit, insisting on putting your personal stamp on whatever is done rather than relying on the work of people who have spent years studying the problem or considering the needs of the people on the 'Ewa plain.

You should all have to commute to Honolulu Hale from 'Ewa Beach every morning and back every afternoon. Then maybe you would understand.

It has been obvious for 30 years that O'ahu needs a rail system. Every year the costs have gone up, and every year the available matching federal funds have gone down. Once we could have gotten 90 percent payment by the federal government; now it is about 50 percent.

Do a rail transit system and do it right. Make it go where it needs to go — not where it is cheapest — and make it competitive with cars in elapsed travel time. This means that the trains must hit speeds of at least 60 to 70 mph between stations. Buses on guideways are not going to do that.

SALT LAKE NEEDS TO SPEAK UP ON RAIL ROUTE

The City Council is finalizing plans for rail transit to serve our community. Based on the routes presented in the latest formal proposal, we are faced with choosing to serve the airport or Salt Lake (and surrounding communities).

Whether you are for or against rail, I ask you to support the route that would serve taxpaying residents in and around Salt Lake.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann was quoted as saying, "It's something I think the council has to look at, but they (Salt Lake residents) need to come forward." The Salt Lake Neighborhood Board expressed its support. Others must come forward.

I am appealing to the Salt Lake residents who are directly affected to understand the choice we are asked to weigh in on.

Write or call the mayor. Write or call the City Council members. Come forward now.

HEALTH PLANS

QUEST WILL INCLUDE ASTHMA MANAGEMENT

The news that Hawai'i's children have the second-highest rate of asthma in the nation, as reported Dec. 14 in The Advertiser, is a loud wake-up call that we need to do more as a state in managing this chronic respiratory disease.

Fortunately, our needy families will have access to specialized treatment for asthma under the Medicaid QUEST contracts the state Department of Human Services recently awarded. Under the contracts, health insurance companies are required for the first time to provide disease- management programs for asthma and for diabetes, which are also prevalent in the Islands.

The new QUEST health plans, which go into effect next year, are AlohaCare, Kaiser, Summerlin and Hawaii Medical Service Association, and will serve about 165,000 adults and children.

As the article noted, with proper medication and monitoring, children with asthma can lead normal, active lives. And that's exactly what will happen for Hawai'i's most vulnerable families if they take advantage of the new disease-management programs available through QUEST.

AIDS UNIT

CLINIC STAFF TOUCHED BY OVERWHELMING SUPPORT

Mahalo to supporters of the Hawai'i AIDS Clinical Trials Unit. Ever since it was announced that the unit would be defunded, the outpouring of support from the community, congressional delegation, local political leaders, AIDS support organizations, the University of Hawai'i, the Department of Health, medical colleagues and the media has been overwhelming. The numerous letters, e-mails and phone calls to congressional leaders and to the National Institutes of Health have made those who can make the difference aware of our urgent situation here in Hawai'i.

We are humbled by this attention and support, and honored to be a part of this wonderful 'ohana in Hawai'i. While we await the outcome of our appeal and investigate other means of financial support, we remain resolute in our research efforts and committed to provide state-of-the-art care for our HIV patients.

On behalf of the entire Hawai'i AIDS Clinical Research Program, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, I extend my deepest gratitude and aloha to everyone for their support and encouragement.

MAUI HOSPITAL

STATE PERMIT DECISION LACKS COMMON SENSE

The state Health Planning and Development Agency recently denied a certificate of need to build a privately funded hospital on Maui. The decision is difficult to understand.

Maui is the only island with one hospital. In the event of a catastrophe such as an earthquake, serious problems could occur.

A new state-of-the-art hospital would attract additional medical specialists to the island.

The certificate-of-need process is flawed. The SHDPA decision to deny a second hospital on Maui smells of politics, not common sense.

VACATION RENTALS

DON'T BLAME VISITORS FOR KAILUA CONGESTION

The motivation of the Keep It Kailua movement is easy to understand. We all feel the pressure of growing congestion. However, giving in to the selfish "I got mine and you can't have yours" attitude of Keep It Kailua will not solve the problem of growing congestion in our neighborhoods. Neither will increased government regulation and limitation on the freedoms of our neighbors. These restrictions simply increase the size of government and our collective tax burden.

The cause of the growing congestion is clearly population growth and the resulting demand for increased housing, roads, cars etc. Blaming increasing congestion, and even crime, on short-term rentals and B&Bs is unrealistic. Let's take a break from the finger-pointing and be grateful for the lifestyle that visitors are willing to pay so dearly to enjoy so fleetingly.

The families who visit our neighborhoods on a short-term basis are wonderful people who simply want a taste of the lifestyle we enjoy year-around. Let's stop the expensive, self-centered and counterproductive blame game and face the real challenge of how best to accommodate growing numbers of generally good and decent fellow citizens.

TRANSPORTATION

RAISING GASOLINE PRICES NOT FAIR TO ISLES' POOR

I try to use the services of the city bus as much as possible. Sometimes this is not possible because there is no bus service after hours.

For this reason, it is not fair to raise the price of gasoline to $5 a gallon as some of the recent letters suggest. This will do nothing to stop us from using our vehicles for basic transportation. This will only hurt the poor, who are already burdened financially.

Until basic public transportation is provided, stop using our cars as a hostage ... because we have no other choice.

HAWAIIANS

AMERICA EMBRACES DIVERSITY OF CULTURES

John Kama'i's letter (Dec. 16) misses the point. His contention that the United States was involved in the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom is simplistic and arguable.

His claim that a lot of Americans would like to see Hawaiians disappear is also false. This country embraces the diversity of cultures that are part of our social fabric. What it should not embrace is the political and or legal separation of different groups of people due to their race, skin color or heritage.

PEACE

BALANCED APPROACH NEEDED IN MIDEAST

In Sunday's paper, there was an Associated Press report about the violence between Hamas and Fatah that specifically notes Hamas as being the belligerent force. On the same day, Al-Jazeera ran a story about the negotiated cease-fire between Hamas and Fatah, treating both factions equally.

Either the United States' news is unbalanced, or it is just ignorant. Neither option is very encouraging.

However, I do encourage everyone to read former president Jimmy Carter's "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." Carter condemns the violence on both sides. He calls for the Israeli government to live up to its promise in the Camp David Accord, U.N. Resolutions 242, 338 and 465 and the Quartet's Road Map — all calling for the abandonment of it's illegal occupation of the West Bank and accepting its legal boundaries. Carter also calls for Arab nations to recognize Israel's right to exist.

Sounds balanced to me.

PROPERTY TAX

PORTLOCK VALUATION INCREASED 20 PERCENT

In the Dec. 16 Honolulu Advertiser I read with interest that assessed residential property values in East Honolulu would increase 13.4 percent.

That same day I received my 2007 assessment notice. I was shocked to find that my property assessment had in fact risen $300,700, or 20.2 percent.

I now understand why 6,000 homeowners appealed last year. I, too, am now filling out the "Notice of Appeal" form.