PUBLIC SPACES

WORK BY GRAFFITI ARTISTS SHOULDN'T BE DESTROYED

I have heard that graffiti is vandalism, destruction or damage of property. But there is another definition for vandalism that I think pertains to this discussion. That is willful or ignorant destruction of artistic treasures.

I have traveled around our country, France and Mexico. Everywhere I go, I enjoy the graffiti. I marvel at the works of art and chuckle at the other stuff. Graffiti is not a problem that needs punishment and erasing, but a unique mark on a location made by its people.

I do not condone graffiti on private property, unless the store owners don't mind. But places like the barriers and walls on the freeways and sewage tunnels need to be decorated. They are plain and ugly. Since the state and city don't do anything to make these places more pleasing to the eye, we should thank the aspiring artists out there for decorating chunks of ugly concrete with beautiful colors and thought-out designs.

One day, some of these "villains" armed with spray-paint cans will be designing our clothes, houses and framed artwork. Please stop vandalizing the art that I look forward to enjoying daily.

TRANSIT

MESSAGE TO POLITICIANS: STOP INSULTING VOTERS

When is an increase in traffic congestion not an increase in traffic congestion? When you call it rail.

Enough.The mayor's own planners have indicated that there would be a significant increase in cars on the road by the year 2030. They also stated that even with rail, there still will be a significant increase in the number of cars on the road, because rail would only decrease it by a few percentage points.

So, instead of really trying to relieve traffic congestion, the mayor keeps pitching to us the same old marketing mantra that rail will somehow help commuters on this island.

The voting public is getting tired of politicians always speaking euphemistically about tough political decisions. Please, just start calling the rail project what it is: the largest public civil construction project in Hawai'i's history.

A project like this will be a boon to the construction industry in Hawai'i, which also will be great for Hawai'i's economy. And a lot of taxpayers would support this endeavor, if only our politicians would stop insulting our intelligence with their happy-go-lucky projections about rail ridership and the relief of traffic congestion on this island.

TOLL ROAD REVENUES COULD SUPPORT RAIL

It seems every week we hear where our future rail system is going to cost more. Now it is up over $4 billion for the full segment and continues to climb.

Why is it that whenever the issue of toll roads comes up, our mayor and City Council look the other way? Toll roads are used throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the City Council should give serious thought to installing toll booths on each of the major highway arteries. This would not only add additional dollars to help ease the tax burden for the future rail, but it also would be a great incentive for commuters to start car pools or catch TheBus. Toll revenue by itself is not the long-term answer, and I would hope that once the rail system is established the toll roads would be abolished.

But until that happens, it appears to this bewildered taxpayer, a viable way to ease traffic and create critical revenue for the new transit system. I've been a bus rider for more than 10 years, and I cringe at the thought of ever-increasing taxes forcing me to pay for something many years down the road so that all of the single-occupant vehicles can continue clogging our streets today!

LET'S STOP QUIBBLING, JUST BUILD RAIL SYSTEM

Honolulu urgently needs the rail transit system. Either we build it now or face escalating costs.

The alternatives: greater stress on our increasing commuting population and further deterioration of our environment.

Let us stop quibbling, "bite the bullet" and build it.

JUST SAY NO TO RAIL, IMPROVE BUS SYSTEM

No on rail. People will not give up their cars.

Improve TheBus system. Let private enterprise develop a toll system. Listen to and heed the advice of the University of Hawai'i's Engineering Department. Do not bankrupt us with pie-in-the-sky dreams.

SMOKING

TOO MUCH WHINING OVER NEW RESTRICTIONS

I do not understand how restaurant and bar owners can claim they will lose customers because of the new restrictions on smoking.

Are they saying that these customers patronize their establishments just for smoking and not the food or atmosphere? One would think so by all the whining.

UH FOOTBALL

JOE MOORE IRKING FANS BY BASHING JUNE JONES

Football is a brutal sport and every little edge you get you need to use.

June Jones is committed to giving our team every edge possible. I would be more worried about playing a team called the "Warriors" in black uniforms than I would be playing the "Rainbows."

That doesn't mean I don't like the Rainbows or the tradition of UH! June is not afraid to look at each detail and make changes if it helps the team win. Until June Jones is fired or quits, tough. It is his team to run as he sees fit.

"Have you ever wondered" how Joe Moore is helping UH? By promoting his silly cowboy play competing with the Warriors' game during the Saturday sportscast? Irritating us with his personal June-bashing every chance he gets? Trying to create dissent in the middle of the season?

Remember when Joe was a newscaster? He doesn't seem capable of that anymore. I am now a "disconnected" KHON News fan, and you bear all the blame, Joe.