LINGLE'S ROLE

POLITICAL GAME-PLAYING AFFECTING AKAKA BILL

I thoroughly enjoyed Jerry Burris' translation of Dan Inouye's pleasure at seeing Republican Governor Lingle in attendance when a U.S. Senate committee voted on the so-called "Akaka Bill" (May 11, "Translated: It's Lingle's fault, OK?"). Burris suggests that if the bill fails, Democrats can blame Lingle.

Conversely then, I guess we can translate Burris' column to say that if the bill passes the Democratic-controlled Congress, it will be because of Hawai'i's Republican Governor Lingle.

For the record, President Bush is expected to veto the measure if it passes. Does that mean that Lingle does not carry as much weight with the Republican administration as she does with the Democrats in Congress?

Or does it mean that Bush is just anti-Hawai'i, a very "blue" state? Or maybe that Bush does not believe Hawaiians should have the same sort of recognition that has been granted to several hundred Native American Indian tribes?

VACATION RENTALS

CAP TOURISM INSTEAD OF ALLOWING MORE CROWDS

Regarding your April 25 editorial and a May 12 letter, I would agree a permitting process is needed for vacation rentals, but only in commercially zoned areas. Issuing non-conforming use permits in residential areas is "spot zoning" — a poor planning practice leading to continuing conflicts.

Illegal vacation rentals are a problem in communities from the North Shore to Waimanalo, not just Kailua.

Investors buy these properties for their income while ignoring zoning laws and negative impacts on a community — such as scarcity of long-term rentals. As these properties are sold for prices which reflect their earnings as vacation rentals, they artificially raise property taxes.

Residents share crowded roads, beaches and parks with record numbers of tourists.

Rather than looking at our residential areas for additional accommodations, we should be looking at capping the number of tourists on O'ahu at any given time.

VACATION-RENTAL UNITS HAVE HAD A LONG RUN

Recently there have been a number of letters calling for the City Council to proceed with passing laws to further legitimize this blight on our communities. All of the letters are phrased in nicey-nicey terms and paint rosy pictures, blah, blah, blah.

The simple truth is that the writers of these letters have a vested interest in the continuation and expansion of this plague that has been visited upon us.

The City Council should instead consider sunsetting the existing permits and enacting a total and complete ban on all variations of this business, including B&Bs. The holders of these permits have had adequate time to regain their investments and in fact have probably realized a comfortable profit.

Members of the City Council should also reveal if they or their relatives own or are invested in the TVR business so we have a clear picture of who they may be representing when this subject arises at the Council.

It's time to turn these houses back into homes.

KAILUA VOTING SHOWED POSITION ON RENTALS

Congratulations to the newly elected Kailua Neighborhood Board members.

Special congratulations should go to the Keep It Kailua organization for informing the people of Kailua as to the agendas of the individuals running for those seats.

The candidates that received the most votes were candid with their opinions on cracking down on illegal vacation rentals here in our neighborhood.

I never had an opinion, pro or con, on vacation rentals until I witnessed how it dramatically changed my immediate neighborhood. In 1998 I had neighbors, mostly long-term renters, living on the five properties directly adjacent to mine.

Nine years later, I have only one long-term neighbor on those properties, and it all started when residents were evicted and the properties were turned into vacation rentals.

Congratulations especially to those who voted to salvage whatever we can of our residential lifestyle in Kailua/Lanikai. I know that the illegal vacation rental operators are disappointed in the election results.

We do not want proliferation of short-term vacation rentals in our neighborhoods, and we would like the government to shut down the illegal ones that currently exist.

DANCE PROGRAM

CALL FOR STUDENT FITNESS HIT RIGHT ON THE MARK

"Dance, dance, dancing to a physically fit life" (Editorial, May 4) was so on the mark. I would like to acknowledge and express appreciation to the Advertiser's Editorial Board for its public support of the New Physical Education for Hawai'i's public school students.

Your call to the community to assist their neighborhood school's physical education program comes at an opportune time. There is a great need to support the technology-rich, health-related components of fitness strategies that are developing in quality physical education programs across Hawai'i.

Department of Education and Healthy Hawai'i Initiative funding provide the professional development for teachers in standards-based technology and components of health-related fitness. Acquiring the equipment to implement these strategies, however, looms as a hurdle that schools must face.

With support and commitment, we can positively influence the lifelong physical activity of our students. Today's emerging quality physical education programs will "leave no child on their behind."

BROWN TREE SNAKE

WORK CAN CONTINUE TO BAR PEST INFESTATION

When Sen. Daniel Inouye's office announced that the Air Force and Navy would provide $2 million for brown tree snake prevention on Guam military bases through September, you could almost hear the sigh of relief from the people of Hawai'i and other snake-free islands.

Without funding, the program was at risk of losing 27 staff (and 14 canines) on May 31. Although staff received 60-day notices, then 30-day pink slips on May 1, none had left to find more stable jobs. They stayed because they believe in what they are doing, and they believed that a solution would be found.

Mahalo, Senator Inouye and Hawai'i's congressional delegates, Governor Lingle, the U.S. Department of Defense and agencies for working together to find a solution to this problem.

A huge mahalo also goes out to the people of Hawai'i who called and wrote to offer support, and to the media for keeping everyone informed. It is gratifying to see so many people work together for a common purpose.

Although this is a happy end to this chapter, permanent funding is still being sought for 2008 and beyond. Funding will need to accommodate the military buildup of as many as 30,000 people and increased training exercises on Guam, and new cargo routes to support growing transportation needs.

Continued communication and cooperation is crucial in this ongoing effort to protect Pacific islands from brown tree snakes, while maintaining effective transportation networks and an able military.

WE CAN'T WAIT

ONLY IMPEACHING BUSH WILL END THE SUFFERING

The case for impeachment is clear and the country cannot wait.

The litany of shame and failure visited upon our country by this fascist administration has done generational damage. Our children and grandchildren will suffer from the lack of competent leadership by this administration.

The lies and manipulation of pre-war intelligence, the Val Plame treason, the diversion to Iraq from the war on terror, the failure to prevent 9/11. Rove, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Gonzalez, Abramoff, Ney, Cunningham and perhaps most shameful — the attacks on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

As an obstruction to the will of the people, Bush must be removed. He has no credibility, the country is suffering and we cannot wait to start fixing these problems. Congress, save us!

NOISE, SAFETY ISSUES

EMS CREWS SAFEGUARD WAIKIKI, OTHER AREAS

In response to Dennis Fitzgerald (Letters, May 13), I would like to assure him that the City and County of Honolulu's Emergency Medical Services Division does indeed have an ambulance unit stationed in Waikiki at 1381 Kapahulu Ave., more commonly referred to as the Pawa'a Unit. This is in addition to four other EMS units in the metropolitan Honolulu area.

Fitzgerald is correct that there are times when EMS does respond to calls in Waikiki from our Young Street location. However, this only happens when a closer EMS unit is unavailable.

We realize the noise from our ambulance sirens might bother him and others, but it is a matter of public safety to use lights and sirens for most emergency calls. Honolulu EMS recently instituted a protocol that allows us to respond to some calls without using the lights and sirens on an ambulance.

Our division responded to more than 76,000 calls for emergency assistance last year, and the Waikiki ambulance unit responded to nearly 6,000 of those calls. On every one of those calls, EMS paramedics worked diligently to provide the highest level of professional medical care.

It is my sincere hope that Mr. Fitzgerald will one day understand that the city's EMS personnel work very hard to keep everyone on O'ahu safe, including Mr. Fitzgerald, his friends, family and neighbors.