As a bicyclist as well as an auto owner, I do not disagree with the contention that bike users should pay a fair share of road maintenance (“Bicyclists should share road costs with drivers,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Nov. 1).
I would be more than happy to pay, assuming I could get a fair share of access to the roads. As of now, it is excessively dangerous to attempt to bicycle on many roads. One takes one’s life into one’s own hands, hoping not to be run over anywhere along Kamehameha Highway from Haleiwa to Kailua.
When we can get reasonable bike lanes there and in other places (think Hawaii Kai to Kailua via Waimanalo, to name another obvious stretch), then let’s talk increased taxes on bicyclists. Until then, tax the ones who degrade the road surfaces.
Michael Garsva
Waikiki
Low-rise apartments serve those in need
I am thankful Kapiolani Boulevard had low-rise apartment buildings in February 1967, and not 43-story buildings. That is when I arrived in Honolulu with my two older brothers and our recently divorced mother.
The taxi driver asked her, “Where to, lady?”, and she told him he’d have to help her find us a place to live. So he drove along Kapiolani Boulevard, stopping at one low-rise apartment building after another. Each time, my mother and one of my brothers would go in and ask if they would rent to us. Back then, landlords could deny rentals to families with three children or children under the age of 10 years. I had just turned 10, but I looked like I was 7. Finally, one apartment manager said, “Yes.”
Low-rise buildings are user friendly, especially to those people who are desperately in need of kokua. Kuilei Place, the proposed 43-story building to replace 141 low-rise rental apartment buildings on Kapiolani and advertised as having “affordable housing,” is a behemoth (“Kuilei Place high-rise in Moiliili would rival Oahu’s tallest buildings,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 11).
Laura M. Fink
Makiki
Dillingham work will cause traffic elsewhere
The article, “Disruption to last over 3 years” (Star-Advertiser, Oct. 28), omits one very important point about the near-closure of Dillingham Boulevard for rail construction.
Where will all the traffic go, or be routed to, when drivers try to avoid being held up on Dillingham? There are only two possibilities: Nimitz Highway or H-1 .
And as they say, the devil is in the details. As traffic congestion becomes unbearable, traffic will shift to one of those two other routes.
Should traffic move to Nimitz Highway, an already congested road, it will further slow down the heavy trucks from Matson and Young Brothers, costing them more in delays. Costco will have heavier traffic, as it is right in the middle of both roads.
It’s not as simple as Dillingham becoming more congested. It is more likely that all roads in and out of the area will be congested. What is the cost of this to the entire island?
Earl F. Arakaki
Ewa Beach
Voters have experienced failures of Democrats
Most voters will be selecting candidates they feel can best serve their interests. Hopefully, they will make their choices based on factual information available to the public.
Democratic leadership, fearing the potential rise of a Republican majority in Congress, have initiated a fear-mongering campaign alleging that a Republican majority will crash the economy and increase inflation. President Joe Biden has declared that our economy is “strong as hell,” a statement that cannot withstand careful fact-checking.
Voters can see and feel the impact of the failed Democratic policies under Biden and the Democratic majority. It is doubtful that they will be fooled into electing the same people that wrecked our economy, created energy insecurity, encouraged the coddling of criminals and encouraged illegal immigration and the attendant rise in human trafficking and importing of illegal drugs.
John Tamashiro
Pearl City
Carrying a gun around won’t increase safety
A reader’s opinion of the Second Amendment’s right to carry a gun is just that, an opinion.
Here is mine:
>> Individuals are not militia, so they are not regulated; therefore, you have no “right” to carry a gun.
>> We already live in a free state, so it is not “necessary” to carry a gun.
>> If your life has been threatened or you do not feel safe in your home, keep a gun for home safety. But we no longer live in the Wild West and should no longer be acting like it.
>> Just because you are trained to shoot a gun does not mean you are prepared to react like well-trained police personnel.
I want to feel safe in a state where guns are well-controlled and not in the hands of someone who wants the small, minute chance to be a hero someday.
The Rev. Kristen Petroff
Kaimuki
EXPRESS YOURSELF
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