PEDESTRIANS

JAYWALKING OFTEN SAFER THAN CROSSING LEGALLY

I would like to invite those who think pedestrians are at fault for getting hit by cars to join me on foot, dodging the bikes that come rushing from behind with no warning and crossing streets with the walk signal only to be nearly hit by drivers turning left well after the light has turned red.

Drivers who turn right but only look to their left for cars are another hazard.

We take our lives in our hands when we walk legally, and we jaywalk because it is very often safer.

DRIVERS ON CELL PHONES ARE HAZARDOUS

I am a retired police officer, and I am concerned with the recent increase of pedestrian accidents in Honolulu.

I know that police officers are trying to enforce the recent changes in the law regarding crossing in the crosswalks, but I believe there is a problem that has not been addressed.

I drive every day to work in Downtown Honolulu and see almost every other driver with a cell phone in his or her hand while driving.

Some of them are trying to dial while maneuvering in the lane or out of parking lots.

In one case, a woman was talking on the phone while exiting a parking lot and she almost ran into a pedestrian.

Our lawmakers should strongly consider some type of cellphone restrictions while driving.

There should be no reason for someone to be talking or dialing on a cell phone and not paying attention to the road.

Some states and military bases have banned the use of cell phones while driving. This is the real proactive measure to keep our pedestrians safe in Honolulu.

STOP ALL TRAFFIC TO MAKE CROSSING STREETS SAFER

I am appalled at the number of pedestrian deaths and injuries occurring in our city.

I suggest that our city consider the following: Evaluate the feasibility of having all traffic lights at select busy intersections (during busy days and hours) go red simultaneously and allow for pedestrian crossing in all directions.

In this arrangement, all vehicular traffic is stopped while pedestrians cross the street. No vehicles can make turns around corners through crosswalks. This also allows pedestrians to cross intersections diagonally.

ADVICE TO MAKE EYE CONTACT DOESN'T WORK

There were two more letters recently urging pedestrians to take responsibility in this sad blame game over pedestrian deaths.

Advice to "make eye contact with drivers" only works if drivers are looking in your direction.

I walk every day on the death streets of Honolulu, and everyday I encounter cars turning in front of me while I am in the crosswalk with a walk signal. Drivers look at me only after they've made the turn in front of me and I make stink-eye contact.

The eye-contact suggestion doesn't really work when a car is already barreling toward you and you can only make eye contact with the car's grill (as with those tall SUVs).

I've accepted that drivers may not always see me when I'm walking. And why should they? They're in a hurry, and they need to use their phone, eat, read the paper and drive all at the same time just to get where they're going.

ALOHA STADIUM

DRIFT RACING WILL MEAN MORE NOISE AND DANGER

Have you heard? The Stadium Authority has allowed drift racing at Aloha Stadium! Isn't that awesome?

Of course, the race cars now need to roar frequently through once-quiet neighborhoods after midnight so they can get in training for the next stadium events. But that's OK. And other side benefits are that ambulance jobs will increase to meet the supply and demand of picking up dead and maimed bodies.

Racing also keeps families more alert as they look in their rear-view mirrors on the H-1Freeway and elsewhere in fear of the racers weaving in and out of lanes, then quickly whizzing by.

Yes, we are truly lucky to have leaders with such impeccable "vision." The results are that there is more danger on the streets and more noise in outlying neighborhoods before and after these new drift races at the stadium!

ENERGY

HECO RESERVES CUT BY UNEXPECTED PROBLEMS

A letter from William C. Madauss (Feb. 7) asked why Hawaiian Electric Co. had three generating units out for maintenance at the same time. We'd like to reassure customers that doing maintenance on three units out of the 19 that serve O'ahu normally would leave us with ample reserves.

Our engineers schedule maintenance in careful coordination with independent power producers that sell us power. It's a complex planning process that takes into account many factors, including the different kinds of units, sizes (from 46 to 180 megawatts), and different frequency and length of service needed. All these variables are compounded when unexpected repairs on other units are needed.

Estimated customer demand for power during different times of the year is also important.

Customer demand is typically lower at this time of year than in the humid early fall months. Again, we normally would have had ample reserves.

Last week, however, reserves were reduced when an independent power producer experienced a problem that cut its output in half at the same time that a never-experienced inundation of rare sea grass clogged the Kahe plant intake basin, requiring us to run those units at a lower output.

GOVERNMENT CONTROL

OIL INDUSTRY SHOULD BECOME PUBLIC UTILITY

Bruce Smith, Tesoro chairman, demonstrates total disregard for consumers, just as the petroleum industry has done for years.

He blithely states that we are a capitalistic society and consumers set the price for gasoline. He maintains that prices should not be artificially regulated by our representatives.

The petroleum industry is a cartel; consumers are not offered meaningful competitive prices.

Yes, Smith is correct: We can either buy the gas at the prices the industry hoists upon us, or we can choose not to buy any gas.

Unfortunately, in today's society, gasoline is a necessity.

Perhaps we should stop fooling around with gas caps and treat the petroleum industry for what it is — a public utility that needs government control.

THEFT EPIDEMIC

LAWS MUST BE TOUGHER ON COPPER PURCHASERS

It's no secret that copper is a hot commodity these days.

As long as businesses are willing to buy copper without questioning the source, the public will continue to suffer the losses.

What we need to do is to toughen the laws that regulate how scrap copper is purchased.

Like anything else, there's no value in something that nobody wants to buy.

If dealers are scrutinized, they are less likely to buy "questionable" material.

OCEANS

DRIFTING GHOST NETS ARE A HAZARD TO MARINE LIFE

Recently, a team of NOAA divers risked serious injury to disentangle a 40-foot humpback whale off the Big Island's Kohala coast.

Their perilous mission could easily have been avoided.

In 2001, a NOAA marine debris cruise in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands recovered 70 tons of fishing nets from the most pristine coral reefs on the planet. The nets had continued to catch fish no one would ever consume in a testament to the waste of careless fishermen. The volume of nets retrieved should have been a wake-up call, but it was not.

Now, thousands of ghost nets are drifting across the ocean on their way to our reefs. When they arrive, they will kill whatever they touch.

It's not just foreigners harming our seas; misuse of lay gill nets in Hawai'i has helped contribute to a 75 percent decline in reef fish.

That's why the time to regulate net fisheries is now, not later.

DLNR

HISTORIC PRESERVATION JOBS NEED TO BE FILLED

Thank you for putting your editorial weight behind retooling and staffing the State Historic Preservation Division.

The Society for Hawaiian Archaeology has been working on these issues for two years. Here's why we are not encouraged by Peter Young's responses.

Our members volunteered several hundred hours last year to the archaeological working group that DLNR convened to streamline procedures.

The group's work wasn't finished. The last meeting, two days after the election in November, was canceled. The recommendations report wasn't written because of an "unexpected shift in the priorities" of the division's workload. Even simple recommendations, such as changes to an often-used form, have not been implemented.

In the interim, three of the division's five archaeologists on the working group have left their state positions.

Mr. Young's hope to contract with the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai'i to work on the backlog reflects a desire to privatize the division's regulatory work.

This idea has been floated many times. Privatization could be pursued — historic preservation is run by private organizations with federal and local funding in several states — but little has come of it here.

The division has the staff positions it needs to do its work and it has the money to support them. It is time that these positions be filled with responsible professionals who get the management support they need to enforce historic preservation laws clearly and consistently.

GOVERNMENT

KNEE-JERK POLITICIANS KEEP RE-ENACTING LAWS

Our politicians, in a typical knee-jerk reaction, continue to enact new legislation every time they perceive a problem.

Unfortunately, they enact legislation for things already covered by law.

These are too often things the public chooses to ignore, and the police either can't or won't enforce.

A crazy person has been described as one who continues to repeat an action with the same result and each time expects something different.

Sound like our politicians?

AWARDS

HAWAI'I MUSIC DOESN'T GET GRAMMY RESPECT

I'm wondering why those beautiful people in La-La Land created a category for Hawaiian music at the Grammys.

They have never actually let our people participate with the other entertainers during "live" coverage of the Grammys. And they still seem to be locked in on our instrumentalists instead of our vocalists.

How can people learn to enjoy our music if they don't allow us to participate on stage with the other categories?

A local newscaster apologized for not having video footage of our winner because CBS didn't have anything available.

Maybe CBS could rotate categories and let the country music people do their thing at the early venue next year.

DIVERSE STYLES NOT BEING RECOGNIZED

Slack key takes the Grammy once again!

Congrats to Daniel Ho, George Kahumoku Jr., Paul Konwiser and Wayne Wong.

But, c'mon. Yes, you all do deserve recognition for the incredible music. But seriously, folks, have artists gone astray and lost sight of the artistry of creating an album?

Let's leave the compilations for the soundtrack category, and introduce albums of more diverse styles.

That the "primarily Mainland-based voters are more familiar with kiho'alu" is absurd, irresponsible and greatly reduces the validity of the Grammys.

Shouldn't these voters be listening with open ears and minds?

Though it's exciting to be included in this prestigious ceremony, it kind of misses the point.

It's like seeing Waikiki as the all that is Hawai'i. For such a diverse place, are we that homogenous? I don't think so.

Something's just not right. Good music transcends all boundaries.