'EWA HOMES

MAINLAND-STYLE GROWTH MUST BE STOPPED HERE

Here we are in only the first month of 2007, and I thought I'd already heard the year's dumbest possible idea — President Bush's idiotic concept of throwing 20,000 more troops into a war that we've basically already lost.

Then I read about the Horton/Schuler concept of throwing 11,700 new homes into the 'Ewa Plain, which we've already lost to traffic gridlock. We may have a new "winner" in the category for worst idea in 2007.

Horton's Ho'opili project is touted as the "largest master-planned community ever created on O'ahu" as if that's a good thing. Here we are struggling with an absurd increase in an already onerous general excise tax to pay for an ill-conceived mass-transit scheme (which will likely prove to be just about as successful as the Iraq war) all in a desperate, but unsubstantiated, hope that it may help alleviate traffic gridlock and pollution.

Meanwhile, we are adding almost 12,000 new homes (complete with approximately 30,000 new cars).

Does anybody else see a disconnect here? Hawai'i is following blindly down the path of "Mainland-style" suburban sprawl, antiseptic shopping malls, traffic and environmental threats that now strain us to the breaking point.

Last spring's exploding sewage spill was an "Inconvenient Truth" apocalyptic warning.

Those who revere our 'aina and our unique Hawaiian lifestyle must speak out and demand slow growth and a moratorium on rampant development.

COMMUNITY LEADER

DAVID MATTHEWS BLAZED TRAIL FOR OTHERS

Many members of the Save Mount Olomana Association were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of inspired community leader David Matthews.

His encouragement and wisdom voluntarily offered in times of need were a major source of inspiration as a "guiding light" throughout O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands.

His intelligent and passionate offerings of trailblazing leadership will surely be missed. However, Dave was constantly educating and training others to confront the challenges of environmental conservation to benefit all Islanders.

Therefore, we will continue to follow in his courageous and steadfast footsteps!

AUTOMOBILES

RID YOURSELF OF NEED FOR NEW GAS-GUZZLER

I urge everyone concerned with the high cost of gasoline to run out and rent "Who Killed the Electric Car?" It is now on DVD and it will make you fume.

Electric cars were on the road in 1996, and they were the oil companies' worst nightmare. They ran efficiently, got good speed, and you just plugged them in at night. All of a sudden, they disappeared.

Knowledge is power, and there is something you can do in defiance to this multibillion-dollar highway robbery: Stop buying new cars until the automakers bring back the electric car.

Eco-cars are a good start, but they are not the only alternative.

Next time you need a new car, go out and look at a good used car. In our "throw-away society," we believe we need to have the newest, the latest, the shiniest, etc., while we casually toss out items that are still of good use.

If more of us bought used, or kept our current vehicles instead of running up more debt in order to have the latest models, maybe the electric car would mysteriously reappear, and we wouldn't be needing Big Oil as much anymore.

IRAQ

BUSH IMPEACHMENT IS CONGRESS' OBLIGATION

If Congress fails to impeach President Bush without further delay for his "high crimes," it will be a major dereliction of its duty, a betrayal of the Constitution and an insult to the American people.

We have been gulled, lied to and robbed (billions of dollars and a presidential election).

Thousands of our men and women have been killed or left permanently disabled, physically or mentally. Hundreds of thousands of people who did us no harm and offered us no threat have been murdered and their lands devastated. Our good name among nations of the world is well on the way to becoming a cruel joke, our pretensions an ironical footnote in history.

If the Congress complies even minimally with its moral and legal obligations, the leader of the present administration — and, one hopes, his chief co-conspirators — will be subjected to thorough investigations on many fronts.

Impeachment by the House of Representatives is the least we have a right to expect.

BUSH OWES AN APOLOGY TO GENERAL SHINSEKI

Since "they" put an admiral in charge of ground troops, I recommend we put a general in charge of the fleet of ships.

Since the president admitted that he agrees that we should have had more troops in Iraq, as Gen. Eric Shinseki suggested, he should apologize to the general. He should also apologize for not being there when Shinseki retired.

WAIKIKI

REMOVAL OF BUS STOPS BAD FOR ELDERLY RIDERS

I am very unhappy about the removal of bus stops in Waikiki, especially the one on Kapahulu and Cartwright.

Four condominiums and two hotels, plus Cartwright and Lemon roads, are used by many elderly people who are unable to walk farther. Also, many of the other stops are being eliminated.

Elderly tourists who come for the winter always remark about the great bus system in Waikiki.

It is obvious they won't be able to say that anymore. Mayor Mufi Hannemann, please give us back our bus stops for the No. 2 and 13 buses, and don't make them express.

MONDAY'S GRIDLOCK

RESOLUTION NEEDED, NOT APOLOGIES AFTER THE FACT

Whoever the genius is who decided to repair the Zipper Lane on Jan. 15 should be fired.

Shame on you for forcing O'ahu's Leeward residents to sit in traffic for two hours on a holiday while their children waited at home.

Here's a solution: Kill the Tobacco Quit Line and reassign the operators to answer the 24/7 O'ahu Roadway Hotline.

Have the call center collaborate with the Honolulu Traffic Management Center and empower the team to take immediate action on obstructive traffic conditions and resolve problems, rather than simply apologize for bad decisions the next day.

FREEWAY NIGHTMARE WAS EASILY AVOIDABLE

Unlike the accident with the Army vehicle and the pedestrian overpass, Monday's traffic nightmare was entirely avoidable.

Whoever at the state Department of Transportation approved leaving the Zipper Lane out for "maintenance work" obviously lives in town and didn't have to waste two hours traveling 'ewa from town.

The thousands of dollars wasted because of missed flights and wasted time and gas could have easily paid for one Zipper Lane vehicle operator to close the lane when the state knew there was a problem!

Someone should get fired for incompetence. No maintenance workers were seen anywhere.

NO REGARD WAS SHOWN FOR O'AHU COMMUTERS

The Monday night traffic jam was uncalled for.

Two 'ewa-bound lanes were closed, supposedly for maintenance. However, when we reached the end of the lane closure (Waikele) at 8 p.m., I did not see a single person working. It took me 3 1/2 hours from Downtown to Kapolei.

So why the early lane closure? Perhaps the thinking was — it was a holiday. Guess what, not for everybody. Many of us worked on Monday.

The traffic jam reminded me of the 'Aiea bridge collapse lane closure. The difference is, this one was a planned closure by our supposed experts from the Department of Transportation.

Why not close the lane after traffic rush hours? There was absolutely no regard for commuters. Whoever had this brilliant idea ought to be fired!

MANY RESIDENTS WERE WORKING ON HOLIDAY

We are not all state workers, I'm sure the Transportation Department knows this.

The Zipper Lane should be repaired as needed, or when traffic is at its lightest. Night or weekend work is the best.

Folks who commute on this route know this. Look at the freeway widening project. Even then, most of us Leeward residents went to work on these holidays.

SHAME ON DOT FOR ZIPPER LANE DECISION

Never in my life have I seen such poor decisions made for scheduling roadwork.

Obviously, the person responsible for making these decisions does not live out on the Leeward side. This person should be fired.

We are held hostage in our vehicles with no other road options. This work could have been done on a Sunday night when traffic is light. Also, when they realized that there was a problem with the traffic, they should have moved the Zipper Lane back. I did not see one single worker on the H-1 when I was driving home.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not a holiday for the average working person. Only banks, schools and government offices have this day off.

Shame on you, Department of Transportation.

FREEWAYS ARE HEAVILY USED EVEN ON HOLIDAYS

Kudos for the Department of Transportation for another holiday on the road.

It took me 1 1/2 hours to get from the Pearl Harbor area to 'Ewa Beach on Jan. 15, thanks to the decision to keep the Zipper Lane in its "in use" position for so-called maintenance.

When will the DOT realize that the freeways are used more and all day on state holidays?

Or is it that it doesn't care how much it inconveniences the motorists of this state who pay public worker wages?

LANES COULD HAVE BEEN REOPENED ON FREEWAY

On Monday, I drove H-1 west, from the airport to Fort Weaver Road, at three different times: 11:30 a.m., 1:45 p.m. and 6 p.m. I expected to see all kinds of work going on, with heavy equipment along the stretch.

During the first two trips, I saw only about eight to 10 workers on their feet painting stripes, in a very short stretch (no more than 200 yards) around the H-2 juncture. I saw no one else, or any kind of large equipment.

I also did not see any of the Zipper Lane blocks around needing removal. I saw no signage work going on at any time.

What little painting remaining to be done could have easily been scheduled for some mornings after the regular Zipper Lane use.

There is no question that those lanes could easily have been opened by late morning or early afternoon Monday. Whoever made the bad decisions that caused Monday's traffic fiasco is, in my opinion, what Perry & Price would call a real "babooze!"

DOT LACKS FORESIGHT AND COMMUNICATION

The Department of Transportation struck again with its Zipper Lane repair Jan. 15, stranding thousands of motorists on the H-1 for hours.

The department exhibited lack of foresight, innovation and, most of all, communication. It is the last of these that seems to permeate all levels of government, particularly when it involves transportation.

Another continuing blunder is the Kapi'olani Boulevard work. A small 20-foot work area housing some equipment lies west of Pensacola Street, yet morning traffic snarls miles away at the intersection of McCully Street.

The real problem is the bigger picture, since both the state and city cannot get even the smallest details right. If you can't get the details right, how in the world do we trust any of you with rail, the largest public works blunder in history? I can't take it anymore.