Rail transit
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PERHAPS NOW LINE CAN GO TO UH-MANOA
Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for our economy? The city is projecting a much smaller gap for the rail tax funding, which is good news. As our economy starts to recover, we can expect that gap to continue to shrink.
Who knows, in a few years, we might even have extra money, enough for the train to go to UH-Manoa.
Jonn Serikawa | Honolulu
SAFETY AN ADVANTAGE OF ELEVATED SYSTEM
I would like to applaud the Sunday, Sept. 27, editorial "Let's move off the dime, and on with rail." An elevated rail is the best system for all concerned and will definitely be a great asset to our beautiful city.
There is just one more point that must be made, and I believe it is the most important point. An elevated system would be safer for passengers, motorists and pedestrians.
Peeri Pappas | Honolulu
FISHING
PUSH FOR LIMITS LACKS REAL UNDERSTANDING
We were disappointed at the Honolulu Advertiser's opinion "Hawai'i fisheries need closer management" (Sept. 29).
It seems all the fishermen's historical efforts and contributions to the community are not taken with any degree of understanding or belief.
Your statement — "Certainly, limits on harvesting uhu, weke and jacks, for both commercial and other fishers, are needed to sustain the species in the long run" — is not accurate and only is playing to an initiative of one movement — in this case, the move to limit or cease extractive use of the ocean resource.
The fishermen feel that editorial board opinions at the very least should exercise critical thinking, objectivity and balance when addressing one of the foundations of Hawai'i culture, lifestyle and existence — fishing and seafood.
Tony Costa | Spokesman, Hawai'i Nearshore Fishermen
FURLOUGHS
HSTA VOTE DEVALUES STUDENTS, RETIREES
When I first read my ratification copy of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association contract, I wondered how Hawai'i's teachers could vote for such a flawed plan.
First, our students would be missing almost a full month of learning because of the furlough days. Shouldn't their education be our primary focus?
Second, the contract compromises our retirees' health benefits by forcing them to pay for their premiums even though they've been retired for the past three years.
I wondered how we could make a decision that would so severely affect these two groups — with neither of the groups having a voice in the outcome. Imagine my shock when the contract was ratified by 81 percent of the teachers.
The present contract clearly does not value our students' education or our retired teachers. Shame on HSTA for offering such a bad contract. Shame on Hawai'i's teachers for ratifying it. We could have done so much better.
I guess it's now up to parents to make public education work in the Islands.
Diane Marshall | Kailua
WHERE'S SCRUTINY OF ADULT EDUCATION?
How is it that we hear about the budget cuts, furlough of government workers and teachers, layoffs, and yet the Department of Education adult education program is not scrutinized for savings opportunities? Is the DOE adult education a sacred cow?
Most of the public high schools have evening and weekend adult education programs, but I have to question the educational value of some of them. Adult Education has its own hierarchy of principals, vice principals, registrars and teachers to run these programs. This somewhat mirrors the secondary school system and yet you hear nothing about cutting back or doing away with this program. Why is that? And how much "fat" is there?
This is an area of concern and should be looked into before we even start to talk about furloughs and layoffs in the DOE secondary schools, which serve our keiki.
Kim Koga | Honolulu
B&BS
ISLES HAVE MUCH TO GAIN WITH LICENSING
It's time we wake up and support B&B homes for the valuable role they can play in Hawai'i.
What would California's wine country be without B&Bs? You don't hear the residents of Napa whining about the evil of B&B visitors. That's because B&B visitors support local restaurants, art galleries and other businesses that help give the area its unique flavor and enable the community to thrive.
With licensing, management and enforcement as proposed by Council member Rod Tam, there's no reason Hawai'i can't accommodate a B&B industry that brings real benefits to the community and to our state without compromising the neighborhood. It would seem to me that with licensed B&Bs we have much more to gain than we have to lose.
Karen Luke | Wahiawa
