ELECTION

SUPPORT A CANDIDATE WHO WILL END IRAQ WAR

When the U.S. invaded Iraq, the Bush administration predicted that it would cost $50 billion to $60 billion to oust Saddam Hussein, restore order and install a new government.

The Pentagon now tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion and counting. The Congressional Budget Office projects the long-term cost to be $1 trillion to $2 trillion; some predict $4 trillion.

Donald Rumsfeld predicted that the "conflict" would take, "six days, six weeks, I doubt six months." It has been five years of disaster.

Four thousand U.S. troops have died in action, and countless more are suffering physically and mentally. Countless innocent Iraqis are dead and suffering. Families are torn apart. All based on lies of WMDs.

It is time for change. Please support a presidential candidate who will end this madness as soon as possible.

CITY COUNCIL

IT IS MISGUIDED TO TIE PROPERTY TAXES TO CPI

The City Council is now considering a bill that proposes to change the current system of market-value-based property taxation to one based on changes in the consumer price index.

The ostensible purpose of this bill is to relieve the tax burden on the elderly and those who live on fixed incomes.

Although noble in purpose, the use of CPI as a basis for property taxation is misguided and would not achieve the stated goal. Last year, for example, the assessed value of properties on O'ahu decreased 2.7 percent, reducing property taxes for most residents. If, instead, property taxes had been based on the CPI, property taxes would have increased substantially.

I suspect that the council would face a deluge of complaints if property taxes continued to increase when property values were falling, as they are forecast to do for the next couple of years.

The council should set aside market-value-based property taxation, but should drop the CPI-based proposal in favor of one that would tax homeowners based on the original purchase prices of their homes, plus the cost of subsequent improvements.

This could eliminate substantial administrative overhead, reduce disputes over property values, and require the council to set property taxes by amending tax rates according to budgetary needs. It would also be a much more direct, fair and transparent way of taxing our properties and would ensure that elderly homeowners living on fixed incomes would not be forced out of their homes merely because property prices go up.

ICE STORAGE

VERY 'GREEN' BENEFITS TO NORDSTROM AIR UNIT

This letter is in response to Tore Leraand's March 24 letter in which he criticized your headline, "Green air conditioning at Ala Moana," because, as he stated, there is nothing "green" about the ice storage air-conditioning system at Nordstrom's new store.

As a retired utility engineer, I can assure you that there are some very "green" benefits that will result from this installation.

First, it will transfer Nordstrom's new air-conditioning load from HECO's least-efficient generator, which only runs during the early evening peak, to its most-efficient generator, which is running at minimum load during early morning hours.

Second, large, efficient reheat turbines have minimum load requirements, which means that on certain evenings independent energy producers such as H-Power must be curtailed. This means that during early morning hours the electric energy consumed by ice storage air conditioning will be coming from burning municipal waste rather than oil.

In the future, if HECO obtains its electric energy from a large wind turbine installation, ice storage air-conditioning installations will be very helpful in allowing the utility grid to accept those additional supplies of "green energy" on windy mornings before sunrise.

NEW PROJECTS

WAIKIKI INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTS DEVELOPMENT

Your March 10 article "Can Waikiki handle growth?" is off-base in its assertion that the city is approving projects in Waikiki without a sufficient understanding of the capacity of the area's infrastructure.

As the developer of Waikiki Beach Walk, the largest redevelopment project in Waikiki in recent years, we can speak with some authority on this issue. Before being allowed to put spade to ground, the city required Outrigger to conduct exhaustive studies and undertake millions of dollars of city-mandated sewer, roadway and other improvements to ensure that the district's infrastructure was adequate to support the development.

Your article also incorrectly presumes that new development in Waikiki is automatically resulting in commensurate increases in demand on the area's infrastructure. Not true. For example, at the start of Waikiki Beach Walk in 2005, there were 3,126 hotel rooms in the area. When the last phase — Trump International Hotel and Tower — is completed, we will have a total of 1,899 rooms, or 40 percent fewer rooms than when we began.

What, then, is the real result of this resurgence in private investment in Waikiki? A fresh, new product for our residents and visitors, privately funded infrastructure upgrades in the area, reduced stress on our municipal systems going forward and increased tax revenues that can be applied to infrastructure needs islandwide.

All in all, seems like there's some pretty smart planning already going on in the city.

WAI'ANAE ROUNDUP

IT'S CRUEL TO SEPARATE HOMELESS, THEIR DOGS

It is a sad day when the mayor sends the police and Hawaiian Humane Society personnel to take dogs from the homeless living on beaches.

Don't they realize the bond that exists between these people and their dogs? Many would not go into the homeless shelters because they would have to leave the animals behind. These dogs are their companions. They give them love and affection — a haven from the brutal reality of being homeless.

It is extremely cruel to separate them. I was appalled by the statement from the Hawaiian Humane Society community relations coordinator that these homeless owners can come to the Humane Society and reclaim their dog for the $60 fee for registration and tags.

First, how will they transport them from the Humane Society since they can't take their dogs on TheBus, and where will they find an extra $60?

The mayor must stop this cruel and inhumane treatment of our homeless.

WRONG TO TAKE DOGS AWAY FROM HOMELESS

The Honolulu Police Department and the Hawaiian Humane Society should be ashamed of themselves for rounding up healthy dogs that are often the only protection and companionship for a growing homeless population.

For those who can't afford the $60 registration fee (and among the homeless there will be many), their best friends will be lost and in many cases killed along with the majority of cats and dogs at the Hawaiian Humane shelter. Now there's aloha.

MOLOKA'I

NOW EVEN BETTER PLANS CAN BE MADE FOR ISLAND

Molokai Ranch is closing operations, cutting access to its lands and land banking its property. But customary Hawaiian rights protected by law cannot be ignored.

The innovative Moloka'i community land trust efforts should continue. It was unfortunate to plan 200 expensive beachfront properties in the wrong place, the pristine La'au Point. A better alternative would have these luxury homes away from the coast, but along the road from Maunaloa Town to La'au to be sold to discerning millionaires at even higher prices with a guaranteed ocean view of the entire La'au Point protected in perpetuity.

Investments with good community relations in pristine areas are very valuable. But now, even better plans can be made for Moloka'i as: