BAD DECISION

KAKA'AKO'S NEW PARK WILL HOUSE HOMELESS

Now that our business-incompetent legislators have seen fit to kill A&B's development plan for Kaka'ako Waterfront Park, they can now name it Kaka'ako Homeless Park, as they will surely come.

Instead of having private investors pay for the development and maintenance of this area, taxpayers will now have to pony up the millions that the city currently does not have. Of course your re-election vote-starved legislators do not mention that it will come out of your pocket, but if you are one of the privileged few homeless, you will get a free ride.

Wouldn't it make more sense to actually charge people for the right to live there rather than give it away for free? Particularly when the people living there in tents for free will turn it into their own personal trash bin and drug-dealing heaven? That sounds real appealing and safe for families and kids.

I challenge any one of our elected officials who voted to kill this plan to explain how this area will be transformed into a park, how much it will cost, where the money will come from and how much it will cost to maintain annually. I'm sure we are all curious and waiting to hear.

TOUGH LOVE

HELP HOMELESS PEOPLE WHO HELP THEMSELVES

I agree with helping the homeless find or prepare for employment. Maybe there should be some stipulations on collecting welfare, like mandatory community service, mandatory random urine testing for drugs and attendance of vocational programs.

Let's help the people who want to get back to work and weed out the lazy, drug-addicted people who just want to take advantage of a soft welfare system.

I live on the Leeward side and work in town, and each day I drive past the parks to see them being taken over by the homeless. What even more disturbing is that most of the homeless I see can be working or performing some kind of community service.

The homeless problem and the ice epidemic will never change as long as we continue to allow anyone to collect welfare without a system of accountability of those collecting these funds.

It's time for our lawmakers to step up and try a little tough love for a change. The tax-paying constituents will appreciate it.

GRAFFITI 'ARTISTS'

TEACH THEM A LESSON

Lately graffiti has been a major problem. Those who are painting the signs, bridges and places that seem to be out of reach should be the very ones to get out there with supervision and a paintbrush, cleaning up their so-called artistic paintings and be driven around the island cleaning up any other graffiti.

Maybe that will teach them a lesson.

BEST AND BRIGHTEST

GIVE OUR BEST SCHOLARS SOME ACCOLADES, TOO

It's interesting to see in Anne Harpham's "Division II sports get more news coverage" how "sports clerks and copy editors work at a feverish pace" to get stats out (Focus, May 7).

What's saddening, however, is when nary a finger is lifted for students who use their brains over their brawn to garner non-athletic accolades almost weekly around the state.

Certainly, these students are the hope for the future — the problem solvers for the troubles we leave behind for them today, the successful business leaders who are going to drive our economy tomorrow and our future lawmakers who will impact the lives of everyone in our state and country.

Our best and brightest put in just as many hours practicing and perfecting their skills, and it's about time they also got some attention for their efforts.

The Honolulu Advertiser could certainly show some leadership in this area and not neglect the ones who may be most important for the future of Hawai'i.

COQUI FROGS

ISLES MUST CONTROL ALL INVASIVE SPECIES

The overpopulation of the coqui frogs on Maui and the Big Island has become a major problem that may never be completely resolved.

Some blame the lack of responsiveness and commitment by the state when the coqui problem first originally developed.

There are independent organizations and supporters who feel that eradicating these cute coqui frogs is inhumane and insensitive since they are non-threatening and non-poisonous amphibians.

Yet, others believe these tiny creatures are capable of creating much havoc in Hawai'i's sensitive environment.

If we are to control invasive species from threatening the well-being of Hawai'i's residents and ecosystem, we must find a solution to help eliminate them now.

Hawai'i currently is tackling other invasive species, ranging from unwanted ants to snakes, at an alarming rate. Not only is it costing the state much money to control the natural and unique state of Hawai'i but it also impacts the existing species that call Hawai'i home and the balance of Hawai'i's native forests.

If we wait, we may lose the work Mother Nature has created over the course of time.

IMMIGRATION

'ILLEGAL' LABEL NEATLY FITS THOSE WITHOUT PAPERS

I agree with John Egan that it is useful to look at what the words "illegal alien" really mean. A quick review of common and legal dictionaries makes it clear that the term is correct.

Of course, there is nothing illegal about being an alien: That is simply a status. The intent is an "alien illegally present within the United States" which I think is accurately captured by "illegal alien."

Egan attempts to draw a distinction between civil and criminal law, but the behaviors he cites as examples could be tried under both, depending on the circumstances.

The reality is that it is illegal not to pay your taxes on time (and yes, you can become a felon if you don't pay), just as it is illegal to enter or remain within the United States without following the legal and administrative requirements.

Whether such a policy is good or not is a political question, but that doesn't make it any less illegal.

OPEN LETTER TO UH PRESIDENT

UARC WON'T SERVE HUMANITY

An open letter to University of Hawai'i President David McClain:

The University of Hawai'i community has already decided "NO" on the University Affiliated Research Center.

Thousands of students and allies rallied, testified and signed petitions against the UARC. The Kuali'i Council, Puko'a Council, the Associated Students of UH, UH-Manoa Faculty Senate, UHPA, Faculty Senate of Hawai'i Community College, and the Arts and Humanities Faculty of UH Hilo have adopted positions against the UARC.

Across Hawai'i nei, Native Hawaiian groups, interfaith organizations, peace, social justice and environmental organizations and many others around the world have added their voices to the chorus against the UARC. To her credit, Interim Chancellor Denise Konan listened to the community concerns and rejected the UARC for UH-Manoa.

The matter should have ended there, but instead, you chose to disregard these voices and push for the UARC.

Your recommendation to establish a system-level UARC, while spun for the media as an artful "compromise," in reality is the same plan with the same negative consequences for UH and Hawai'i.

Secrecy would rule the UARC whether or not specific contracts are classified. UARC research would still be conducted at UH-Manoa, regardless of where you put the administrative functions in your organizational flow chart.

Whom should UH serve? The war profiteers — Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing, the bankers and oligarchy of Hawai'i, the scientific elites who build altars to war and sell their knowledge, and their souls, to perfect technologies of death and domination?

Or should UH serve the people of Hawai'i and humanity as a whole, the Native Hawaiians on whose stolen land the university sits, the working people who live in the toxic shadow of military bases, the advocates of peace and humanitarian service who struggle to ensure the basic needs of our communities are met while public funds are devoured by war?

Your recommendation to pursue the UARC reveals your loyalties to power and wealth over the concerns and interests of the university's constituencies.

You claim to respect Hawaiian culture, and yet your actions show only contempt for the Native Hawaiian and humanitarian values that are the heart and soul of the university.

We call on you, President McClain, to uphold the decision of the UH community and to finally and permanently cancel the UARC proposal. Stop tinkering with the contract. Stop the shibai.

Secondly, we call on you to respond to the official faculty complaints submitted to your Board of Regents on March 7. The complaints, authored by seasoned faculty members from various disciplines, include: