Oahu residents pay taxes for churches

Fact: The best magician in the world cannot pull a rabbit out of a hat if a rabbit wasn’t put into the hat to begin with.

A significant quantity of the land on Oahu is church-owned.

The uncollected property tax as a result of the tax exemption on these properties is made up for by Oahu citizens. The result forces all citizens to support churches, including those to which they do not belong or are possibly in philosophical opposition.

The real miracle is how the churches pull out huge city services and significant additional benefits from hats that start out empty of taxes not collected from churches.

If we want the police, firefighters, garbage collectors, infrastructure construction and maintenance, keep passing the hat. But not to the churches, who will once again miraculously create something from nothing.

So much for “separation of church and state.”

Stann W. Reiziss

Kailua

Tourists, new condos affect water supply

The residents of Oahu are asked to conserve water heading into the summer months. How does the water supply get impacted by the arrival of thousands of summer tourists and by the building of more condominiums, especially in Kakaako?

Also, are there plans to expand the wastewater treatment plants to accommodate more people living in Honolulu?

Gail Mizokawa

Manoa

Alakea Street bike lane doesn’t make sense

I still cannot understand the reasoning behind the bike lane created on the left side of Alakea Street.

It is supposed to connect the bike lanes on King Street and Hotel Street, but honestly, no one uses this bike lane. Instead, cars can no longer pick up and drop off people on Alakea Street.

Did anyone even do a study to find out how many bikes actually use Alakea Street?

It is really a waste.

Sharon Higa

Kaneohe

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