ENERGY

PARK YOUR VEHICLE, USE OTHER TRANSPORTATION

It is good to see the U.S. Senate belatedly raising fuel mileage standards, but people should not focus solely on miles per gallon (mpg).

Instead, consider a new measure, which I will call miles per tank equivalent (MPTe). See how many miles you can travel after filling up your tank, and extend the number of miles by riding the bus or biking to work.

If your car gets 25 mpg, you can extend it to 75 MPTe by parking your car and using alternative transport to travel two miles for every one mile you drive.

My old car collects a lot of dust as I try whenever possible to burn carbohydrates, not hydrocarbons.

FUEL SUPPLY

COMING OIL SHORTAGES LEAVE US FEW OPTIONS

Bravo to John Williamson for speaking one of today's numerous inconvenient truths in his June 22 commentary, namely that impending oil shortages leave us no plausible option for ground transportation, mass or personal, other than electrification.

The onus should be less on light rail advocates to prove ridership base than on gasoline consumption advocates to prove where their fuel supply will come from in 20 years.

Sadly, Hawaiian Electric Co. currently generates nearly all O'ahu electricity from oil, and its biofuel plans are ill-considered given that biofuel availability will be minimal in comparison with demand.

Nevertheless, light rail powered by electricity from oil will still require far less petroleum than thousands of 3,500-pound cars containing a single passenger each.

Those who are still sleepwalking along the freeway of mindless oil consumption had better wake up before they're roadkill, flattened not by light rail but rather by peak oil.

COMMUTING

TRANSIT RIDERSHIP WILL DEPEND ON EASE OF USE

It certainly seems that the question of whether the rail system should be routed by the airport hinges on one crucial policy question: Will you be allowed to bring luggage?

If not, Salt Lake would seem a better route. If so, how many and what size? The current rule on TheBus is one medium-sized suitcase per person.

Allow me to provide the city with a free "projected ridership study." If riding the train is more convenient than what I am doing now, I will use it. If not, I won't.

This means that the ridership will depend more on how easy it is to get to and from the station than on the train itself.

Having a flurry of free shuttles serving the neighborhood around a station, or a guarded park and ride is essential.

Unfortunately, when the inevitable cost overruns come, these are the easiest places to cut the budget.

TRANSIT ROUTE BYPASSES CONGESTED AREA OF NEED

With the recent release of the Honolulu Transit Scoping Report there has been a lot of discussion about including an airport route and the Salt Lake route but no one has mentioned the most glaring omission: 'Ewa Beach.

The transit project bypasses the most important area of need, 'Ewa Beach.

None of the scoping process public meetings was held in 'Ewa Beach; they were always held in Kapolei.

The only conclusion that can be reached is that the city knew that residents of 'Ewa Beach were too tired from fighting our legendary Fort Weaver Road traffic to again drive to Kapolei for a 7 p.m. city meeting to argue for our own spur and station. Especially when our own state senator and City Council member had already written us off for direct rail access.

Why are we always the second cousins to Kapolei when we are going to have more residents and more traffic congestion than them?

EXPAND CAMPUSES TO CUT TRAFFIC CONGESTION

Now that school is out for the summer we see once again that Honolulu doesn't have a traffic congestion problem.

As should be obvious to everyone driving to work, we can solve our traffic congestion by staggering school hours and by building real college campuses in West O'ahu and Windward O'ahu.

For $500 million (a 10th of rail transit's cost) we could build a real West O'ahu campus — not the one presently funded at $35 million for buildings.

For a measly $100 million we could greatly expand Windward Community College. We could take 10,000 students and hundreds of teachers and support staff off the highway. We could create wonderful educational opportunities for our kids.

Instead we will uglify Honolulu, add to our already high tax burden and line the pockets of special interests by building a rail system. Dumbness and/or greed will result in a $5 billion rail system (not including operating expenses) that will not solve our traffic congestion.

For those who think that staggering school hours won't work or would be more trouble than our school-year traffic jams, why not at least try it? Just a one-year experiment. We have little to lose if staggering school hours doesn't work and billions to save if it does.

As for real colleges in West and Windward O'ahu, we should do that even if it wouldn't affect traffic. Those are true investments in our future. And, guess what? They provide jobs too, including construction jobs.

DICK ADAIR

CARTOON ON STEM CELLS SENT A MIXED MESSAGE

The Dick Adair cartoon on June 22 sent a mixed message.

Stem cell research opposed by President Bush is not the same as the war in Iraq.

The war is fighting those who want all infidels dead.

Although I don't agree with Bush's opposition to stem cell research, the fetuses are innocent and as long as abortion is legal the innocent become unfortunate collateral damage of the "convicted."

MOKULE'IA

CITY TRYING TO BALANCE PARK ACCESS, HOMELESS

City officials met earlier this month with state homeless officials and were informed that the state had no plans to make provisions for emergency shelter on the North Shore.

At the same meeting, the city informed the state of concerns expressed by the community about the growing homeless population at Mokule'ia Beach Park and the number of vehicles illegally parked there, and that the North Shore Neighborhood Board had asked for assistance.

In the absence of any state plan to work on homeless issues on the North Shore, the city agreed it would only proceed with addressing the illegally parked vehicles that were preventing other park users from access to the park.

It is always a challenge to balance keeping public facilities clean, safe and accessible to all when we realize that due to the high cost of housing and the extent of mental illness and substance abuse many people have had to take up residence in public spaces not designed for habitation. The city has been very sensitive to these issues.

The majority of Hawai'i's homeless people live on O'ahu. Let's not be lulled into contentment that the problem has been solved. We were successful at Ala Moana Park, have made great strides on the Wai'anae Coast, and look forward to addressing the challenges on the North Shore.

HAWAI'I

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF THE TERM 'LOCAL?'

I keep seeing the term "local" in letters to the editor, on T-shirts and on bumper stickers.

Just what is the definition of a "local"? I'm Caucasian, born on the Mainland, but have lived in Hawai'i for 45 years, more than two-thirds of my life. My wife of 35 years is ethnically Chinese, born and raised in Hawai'i.

Our kids, of course, are hapa, but one of them was born on the Mainland when I was going to school.

Who is local and who is not? Hopefully, "local" isn't a code word.

TURTLE BAY

IT'S ABSURD TO ALLOW OLD PLAN TO BE IN FORCE

Bob Nakata's June 19 commentary listing all the good reasons for the city to deny building permits to Oaktree Capital Management LLC should be read out loud to our City Council and Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

It is absurd to allow Oaktree, or anyone else, to build anything with a 20-year-old agreement.

Anyone who has come to the North Shore during the last 20 years has noticed it can now take up to two hours to get from Hale'iwa to Sunset Beach.

There is also a huge housing shortage and shops and restaurants have a hard time finding workers. And our ocean is full of sediment from developments that is killing our coral reefs and fish.

Whatever legal reasons the Circuit Court judge had for allowing a 20-year-old agreement to stand without another environmental impact statement does not mean that the city has to ignore the obvious changes on the North Shore in the last 20 years.

The short-term benefits that any politicians, or a handful of North Shore residents, might have for supporting Oaktree's expansion are far outweighed by the problems that this project will bring to our state.

BWS

IS WATER-QUALITY REPORT WRONG USE OF FUNDS?

I recently received my 2007 "Water Quality Report" from the Board of Water Supply.

I have seen this feel-good public relations tool grow for the past few years to its current size, an elaborate 20-page full-color brochure accompanied by an eight-panel color report. I am incensed that the management of this monopoly sees fit to waste valuable funds in this way.

A call to the Board of Water Supply yielded a ballpark figure of approximately 170,000 "rate-payers" (households, multi-unit dwellings, businesses etc.) that receive the report. That means writing, designing, laying out, printing, stapling, folding, trimming and mailing in twocolor window envelopes nearly 200,000 pieces.

Is it just me, or does the "Water Quality Report" seem like one of the more flagrant and inappropriate uses of our hard-earned money?

REFUND

WHY CAN'T LEGISLATURE OBEY THE CONSTITUTION?

Why have a Constitutional Convention when the Legislature can't even follow the state Constitution?

The Constitution states that if there are two consecutive years of excessive funds in the state treasury, the Legislature is to distribute the funds to all the people of Hawai'i.

The arrogant Democrats think they're above the law and gave bread crumbs to the poor and the rest of us be damned.

I wish someone would have the courage to sue the state to make things right.