POT ARREST

CAN WE NOW DRUG-TEST ISLE SCHOOLTEACHERS?

Now, can we drug-test those we entrust our precious children to on a daily basis? Or will it take more teachers to be caught with drugs? And, if more, how many more will we tolerate?

CONCESSIONS

BLAISDELL ARENA LACKING IN SERVICE, OPERATIONS

Pearl Jam played the Blaisdell Arena Saturday night, and the concession stands were closed at 9:45 p.m. For the next 2 hours and 30 minutes, no one could buy a soda or a bottle of water.

The only source for water was the drinking fountains (one of which was covered in vomit).

The Blaisdell Arena is a captive market. So what happened to the goods in this market? Suggestion: Keep one concession stand on standby if you are unsure when the performance will end, or have a few vending machines available.

I have attended hundreds of venues in the United States and Europe. No venue comes even close to the poor operations, horrendous customer service and unfriendly security as does the Blaisdell Arena

KAILUA

RENTALS GEARED TOWARD HIGH-INCOME VISITORS

Regarding Angie Larson's commentary (Island Voices, Nov. 21) about B&Bs in Kailua: Is it really about B&Bs or is it about saying "Kailua locals" got no aloha toward tourists?

Our family has lived in Kailua for more than five generations so we've seen many changes over the years, and, believe me, change is not always good, especially when it comes to Kailua.

This B&B topic is just the tip of the iceberg. Most of the B&Bs are not traditional B&Bs, where you rent out a room in the house you are living in. "Vacation rentals" is the more appropriate definition because many of the owners don't live in Hawai'i.

These people grew up on the Mainland or somewhere else where the price of living is cheaper, so they buy here and raise our property taxes by doing so. These big houses go up, and they rent the entire house out to large parties for ridiculous prices that the average vacationer who saved for a Hawai'i dream vacation could never afford.

So it's safe to say that the rentals are geared toward people of a certain price range, thus the town has to meet that criteria and is being groomed toward that objective.

VACATION RENTALS CAN CO-EXIST WITH RESIDENTS

I agree with Angie Larson that B&Bs are a sensible alternative for tourists (Island Voices, Nov. 21). Chip Fletcher's contrary reply (Letters, Nov. 25) states that B&Bs "introduce a flow of strangers into neighborhoods with young children." Should we ban garage sales? Should we ban walkers? Are we that fearful of people who come here for vacations?

Fletcher claimed that 40 rental cars visited two vacation rental homes in his neighborhood in one month. That works out to one and a half days per car. No one spends that kind of money for less than a two-day visit.

Our community would be better served by issuing permits to homes that meet standard and reasonable requirements (such as off-street parking, for one). This would ensure that we keep the character of our town. Vacation rentals when properly managed can mix in with our long-term renters and owners.

A few tourists in the neighborhoods bring about a lot more positives for island residents than negatives.

TRANSIT

CITY OFFICIAL RESPONDS TO HOT LANE ADVOCATES

HOT lane advocates have been quick to denigrate city officials for disagreeing with them, but their own comments confirm the accuracy of our position.

I said Tampa's HOT viaduct cost $420 million instead of the original estimate of $300 million. Tampa's Martin Stone confirmed that, stating that "it cost $120 million extra to properly reinforce those foundations."

I said none of the HOT lane advocates who did "back of the envelope" cost estimates for an elevated tollway for O'ahu are Hawai'i-licensed engineers. Stone confirmed that his Tampa authority's chief financial officer extrapolated Tampa's bridge cost to a 14-mile viaduct for Honolulu, to arrive at a guesstimate of $450 million. University of Hawai'i professor Panos Prevedouros confirmed that two engineers from Florida, neither of them licensed in Hawai'i, made a similar estimate after "a field trip." Neither estimate includes any calculations for material or other Hawai'i unit costs.

I said Tampa's HOT viaduct is not paying for itself and another toll road is subsidizing it. Stone confirmed that "the reversible lanes are part of a larger expressway — and the tolls collected on the entire system are paying for our revenue bonds." In other words, their system has two toll roads, and revenue from the 30-year-old road pays for the new HOT viaduct. Honolulu does not have an existing toll road, so who is going to pay the subsidy?

I said Tampa's HOT viaduct carries 4,000 cars per day because that's what was reported in the Tampa Tribune by a spokeswoman for Stone's organization, the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority. Prevedouros says that number is wrong and Tampa's expressway serves 75,000 trips a day. You're talking about the wrong road, Panos.

I said Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is now touting light rail for her city. Stone admits that, and then dismisses it.

No amount of name-calling and obfuscation by Stone and Prevedouros can hide the facts: A HOT lane for Honolulu won't be as cheap or beneficial as they claim.

CEDED LAND ISSUE COULD DERAIL RAIL ON O'AHU

The proposed O'ahu railroad might never be built, or might quickly go bankrupt for reasons nobody has mentioned.

O'ahu's railroad track, stations, parking structures, etc. require extensive digging. In Kona, construction of a much-needed bypass road was canceled. Why? Ancient burials were found along the route.

O'ahu's rail undoubtedly passes through ceded lands. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs gets 20 percent of ceded land revenues. OHA demanded 20 percent of Duty Free Shoppers' Waikiki money because purchases are delivered at the airport and a portion of the airport is on ceded lands.

OHA demands 20 percent of gross revenue, while taxpayers and investors pay all expenses for infrastructure, buildings and operations.

On the Mainland, Indian tribes force electric and natural gas customers to pay huge royalties for transmission and pipeline right-of-way across their reservation. Now comes the Akaka bill. Forget 20 percent. Think big!

RAIL AN INTEGRAL PART OF MANAGING OUR GROWTH

It costs $150,000 to $250,000 per unit to subsidize an affordable rental unit. The state's housing study says that on O'ahu we need 10,000 affordable units. That's a $2 billion to $3 billion problem.

Government can either subsidize affordable housing or it can entitle it (give the zoning). In other cities, transit-oriented development has provided affordable housing via entitlements.

Rail is not about reducing traffic nearly as much as it is about increasing our capacity to grow and giving our workforce a transportation option.

People with the "no growth" attitude should be ashamed of themselves. Every year, there are more than 3,500 new households created on O'ahu. Sixty thousand homes over the next 20 years are not enough to meet this demand. If we don't build homes to meet the needs of our citizens, then the prices of homes will skyrocket even higher. Where will they go? To the beaches? To the Mainland? "No growth" is not an option. Instead, we need to ask, "How will we grow?" And a key part of that answer is rail.

Rail is not a silver bullet, but it is the key piece of the transportation capacity puzzle, with buses and ferries and other systems. If we don't pay for rail, we will pay more in the form of higher median home prices, taxes for homeless shelters, taxes for government housing subsidies, higher cost of goods, lost productivity, lost open space and lower quality of life.

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

SHAME ON THE STATE FOR REFUSING HA'IKU HELP

Shame on Gov. Linda Lingle and Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Peter Young for refusing to help open the Ha'iku Stairs.

Mr. Young argues that it doesn't fit in with other trails managed by the state. But that's precisely the point. The "Stairway to Heaven" is a one-of-a-kind experience.

In a state so dependent on the visitor industry, why are we keeping closed one of O'ahu's unique attractions? Using Mr. Young's logic, the DLNR should immediately close the Diamond Head Crater hike because it includes all sorts of "manufactured" features, including a tunnel, a concrete stairway and old military bunkers.

Maybe Mr. Young and Governor Lingle should spend less time making up excuses and passing the buck, and more time working to benefit the taxpayers. I think we'd all appreciate being treated less as subjects to be ruled, and more like customers to be served.

GLOBAL WARMING

TEMPERATURE, ICE CAPS SHOW SOMETHING AMISS

Most of the sun's energy is radiated as visible light and 70 percent is absorbed by Earth and the lower atmosphere. It is then reradiated as IR radiation and absorbed by greenhouse gases, i.e., carbon dioxide, water vapor, and held in the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is rising in the atmosphere because of the burning of fossil fuels. With this increase, more energy is trapped in the atmosphere, causing Earth's temperature to rise. This is the crux of global warming.

Maybe the planet's temperatures fluctuated in the past, but within the past 40 years, the average temperature has risen.

Earth's polar ice caps and protective ozone layer are shrinking. One must conclude, therefore, that something is amiss.

MIDEAST

DEMOCRACY IS AIM OF AMERICA IN IRAQ WAR

In answer to William M. Stephens' question about what our aims are in Iraq, or who we're actually fighting (Letters, Nov. 28): Our goal in Iraq is to defeat the Islamic terrorists who are bent on world domination. Our hope is to defeat them by starting a reformation of the region (read: democracy). If we lack the moral strength to accomplish our objective, many thousands of Americans will die within our shores.