CITY COUNCIL

PROPERTY-TAX PROPOSAL IS RATHER SUSPICIOUS

The City Council is now nervously looking at declining property values and worrying where they will find tax revenues to sustain their wasteful ways.

They're thinking: "Hey! Inflation is going up! Why not tie property taxes to that now? That way we can maintain our revenues even if house prices fall, and we can sell this by telling the people that it's a fairer way to go."

While it might have been nice to see this approach several years ago, suggesting it now is more than a little suspicious. Government continues to treat us like fools.

TARO

POI SUPPLY TOO LIMITED IN STORES IN HAWAI'I

We live in Hawai'i, yet we have more Chinese restaurants than Hawaiian restaurants.

One of the most difficult Hawaiian foods to get here on a daily basis is poi. Poi only arrives on certain days of the week, and sometimes not at all.

Once on the store shelves, it's gone before the end of the day.

Paying $4 to almost $5 a pound makes what was a common staple for early Hawaiians far too expensive to be a staple food these days.

I understand the current controversy behind the genetic modification of taro, but modifying taro or not, could someone please tell me where I can get poi on a daily basis without having to pay an over-inflated price? And if it takes genetic modification to increase the availability of poi, then let's do it.

RAIL

STEEL-ON-STEEL TOO NOISY A CHOICE FOR O'AHU

I was shocked to see in the March 21 paper that you advocate going ahead with steel-on-steel rail for O'ahu.

It is ridiculous to saddle us with 19th-century technology in the 21st century.

Ten minutes after the first train travels through our island, the noise complaints will begin and property values along the right of way will begin to fall.

Whichever rail system is adopted will be with us for perhaps hundreds of years, and penny-wise and pound-foolish is not the way to go.

Correcting the error in the future with modern technology will cost a lot more than doing it right in the first place.

'THE LAST PRINCESS'

MOTIVES BEHIND MOVIE SHOULD BE QUESTIONED

While Hollywood does put movies out about historical events from time to time for entertainment purposes, Hawaiians and scholars alike have to question the motives of the now-revised script for the movie about Hawai'i's last princess.

Some revisions have been made, but as to the depiction that she and Hawaiian nationals accepted American rule, nothing could be further from the truth.

The portrayal of Sanford Dole's caring and sympathetic attitude toward the Hawaiian people is despicable. Dole along with Lorrin Thurston, who are both shown in the film, are recorded as being conspirators, so why then would the people behind this project attempt to shed a different light on them and their actions?

The movie, after all, is about the princess' life. The effects of the overthrow are indeed still alive and well today, for now Hollywood has become the platform for revisionists to launch their attack on the historical events of the Hawaiian kingdom.

AARP

OPPOSES MANDATORY RETIREMENT AT ANY AGE

This is to clarify AARP Hawai'i's position on the proposed amendment to SB 3202, which would lift the retirement age from 70 to 80 for incoming judges only. (Honolulu Advertiser, March 14, "House bill on judge age limit amended")

AARP does not support mandatory retirement at any age. While raising the retirement age is a step in the right direction, we continue to oppose any mandatory retirement solely on age. Fitness to serve — not age — should be the principal measure of an individual's performance on the job. Appropriate performance reviews already exist for state judges.

Moreover, any amendment to raise the age of retirement should avoid further discrimination by applying to incoming judges only.

State judges continue to be the only employee class in the Hawai'i Constitution designated to retire by a certain age. If there is no age limit for federal judges, president, governor, members of Congress or legislators, why should judges be singled out for age discrimination?

KAHUKU

NORTH SHORE RESIDENTS GLAD HOSPITAL WILL STAY

I read with great relief that Kahuku Hospital will stay open. It was just 16 months ago that community leaders organized the first of several meetings and called upon Sen. Clayton Hee and Rep. Mike Magaoay to help us save the only health facility on the North Shore.

In November 2006, the hospital announced it was filing for bankruptcy. A month later, we were told the hospital workers would lose their jobs.

I was born in Kahuku Hospital, the daughter of a Kahuku Plantation worker. It is the hospital where my family has gone for medical treatment instead of driving all the way to Honolulu. Kahuku Hospital employs many people in our community; its patients are people who not only live and work in our community but also tourists and visitors enjoying our beautiful North Shore.

The people of Ko'olauloa thank our legislators for saving our hospital and keeping it open for everyone.

COMMUTING

O'AHU DRIVERS IGNORE HOV RULE ROUTINELY

I enjoy calling Hawai'i home, and have lived here since 1990.

For the past five years, I have driven a motorcycle to work to enjoy better parking, and legally use the HOV lane on my daily commute from Mililani to the Pearl Harbor area.

On a daily basis, I can't help but notice that more than 50 percent of the people using the HOV lane only have one person in their car.

I realize the Zipper lane is available for my use also, but it is not convenient for my destination. It bothers me that drivers ignore the HOV rule on a regular basis, especially in a place where "live aloha" is routinely advertised.

I occasionally see HPD monitoring the HOV lane on the westbound commute home, but rarely see the HOV lane monitored on the east-bound commute to town.

Perhaps the funds raised from fining eastbound morning HOV-lane violators ($200 per driver per incident) could assist the state with its dwindling funds to repair the state's highways and roads.

TIBET

WORLD MUST DEMAND CHINA RESTRAIN ITSELF

On March 10, Tibetans had a peaceful rally to mark the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule of Tibet and demanded the release of other detained monks. The protest finally became violent in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, when police tried to stop a group of protesting monks. On March 15, China sent armed forces to crack down on protesting monks.

This brutal suppression violates severely Tibetan democracy and human rights. China allowed a large influx of Chinese migration to control the economy in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetans, decries that the "cultural genocide" is taking place in his homeland.

It is only an illusion that China uses the 2008 Olympic Games to promote its "peaceful rise."

All peace-loving countries in the world should monitor the developments in Tibet and demand China restrain itself and stop using its force.

AMERICANS CAN ASSERT PRESSURE ON CHINA

When asked what he thought about civilization, Gandhi replied that it would be a good idea.

Although China has been a great civilization for millennia, apparently morality, at least that of the central government, is not advanced, considering its treatment of demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, the Falong Gong, Muslim minorities and Tibetans.

The Dalai Lama even suggested that Tibetans are suffering "cultural genocide." On a recent visit with him, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated, "If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world."

Unfortunately, U.S. war and occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq plus the lack of any genuine diplomacy to advance justice and peace for the oppressed Palestinians, not to mention Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and the use of torture by waterboarding, provide little if any moral credibility for most of our government officials to speak out against rights violations anywhere.

However, ordinary Americans can assert pressure on the Chinese government by boycotting products and travel until it significantly improves its human rights record and engages in meaningful negotiations with the Dalai Lama.

WAIKIKI

CITY WORKING TO ASSURE ALL PROJECTS MEET NEEDS

I must take exception to the inaccurate assessment that the city is moving blindly in Waikiki, with no assurance that new projects to repair sewer and water lines, repair roads and update utilities will meet future needs ("Can Waikiki handle growth?" March 10).

When an old sewage pipe ruptured in Waikiki after decades of neglect, the city acted quickly to repair it and thereby avoided what could have been a catastrophe.

The purpose of the repair was to restore services to the residents and visitors in Waikiki. And contrary to your reporter's assertion, tourism was not hurt. In fact, 2006 turned out to be a record year for tourism in Hawai'i.

There is a big difference between inadequate and aging infrastructure. I indicated emphatically to your reporter that projects that cannot be served by existing infrastructure will not be approved. All of the projects mentioned in the article are adequately served by existing infrastructure, except one, which will pay to build the necessary infrastructure.

I provided your reporter with a list of several studies done on Waikiki, and yet your newspaper persisted in using the oldest study on the list to question the currency of the studies.

Finally, I take exception to the erroneous assertion that we have our noses buried in books, when in fact we are working with various organizations to assure that all development, present and future, is adequately served by infrastructure and that the development meets the objectives of the Waikiki Special District.