AFFLUENT SOCIETY

STORAGE-SPACE GROWTH A SAD SIGN OF THE TIMES

I was talking with a friend the other day and was taken by his mentioning of the six-month rule. If you haven't used it by then, get rid of it, give it away, resell it or recycle it.

It's kind of sad to see so many public storage units going up. It's just another sign of our affluent society. We can buy stuff that won't even see the light of day. That is a heavy footprint we are leaving behind.

TRANSPORTATION

SOLUTIONS NEEDED THAT INCLUDE CAR COMMUTES

The real transit facts were revealed last week in your paper — more people are making a solo commute to work (June 14).

Less than 8 percent of the population use mass transit, and according to many experts, this number will not significantly change, regardless of rail.

So why are the mayor and our elected officials, save a few, pushing to spend more than $4 billion on a future that is non-existent?

Cars will only increase and we need to find solutions that account for that fact.

The first thing that should be done is to finish what the airport viaduct was meant to accomplish — go straight over all that Sand Island gridlock of traffic lights, left turns and big box retailers and culminate with a transition somewhere around Aloha Tower. This would help thousands trying to get to Downtown and points beyond.

Remember the bus strike in 2003? What was supposed to be a traffic hell became a month of the easiest commuting I can remember. No right-lane slowdowns meant a whole extra lane to drive in, and commutes were faster.

Maybe buses should be eliminated or reduced in favor of smaller vehicles that can move faster without so many stops. With only 8 percent of the population using the current system, the other 92 percent would benefit greatly.

IRAQ WAR

YOUNG LIVES ARE BEING WASTED FOR NOTHING

I wondered if you are doing anything to actively speak out against the war? I ask you because so many people, just like you, are not directly affected by it and just go on with their lives as if we are not at war at all. But every day, more and more of our men and women are being maimed and blown to pieces.

People go on with their lives as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening.

How many young lives have been wasted for nothing at all. Good, heroic young men and women, who deserve to live out their lives. Who will be responsible for this tragedy?

Is it possible that people will just go on watching their favorite TV shows and not even notice?

John Adams wrote that if democracy is to survive, the populace must be educated and must not become complacent.

LEADERSHIP

HOUSING WOES SIGN OF ALOOF ADMINISTRATION

Several years ago, a judge sentenced a wealthy slumlord to live for 60 days in one of his own rat-infested, violence-prone and dangerous residential buildings. This punishment was intended to motivate the slumlord to improve the quality of life for tenants.

Now that Gov. Linda Lingle is home from her whirlwind tour of Indonesia and southeast Asia, I suggest that she be forced to live in one of the senior public housing buildings reported on in The Advertiser on June 18.

Let her experience firsthand the result of poor leadership and administration. And let her name be removed from the Meals on Wheels program due to lack of funding. Maybe the head of the housing authority, Pamela Dodson, could be her roommate.

The stories on public housing and cuts in Meals on Wheels clearly show how aloof, uncaring and inept Linda Lingle's administration is.

If Linda Lingle's staff can't keep public housing maintained, it will never be able to figure out solutions to the homeless problem in Hawai'i.