Kakaako tower can ease housing crunch

The proposed Kakaako mixed-use housing property is exactly the kind of forward thinking that I was excited about when Neil Abercrombie became governor ("Lofty vision," Star-Advertiser, Oct. 27). If built, this will be the biggest dent in our affordable housing problem in recent memory. The project as outlined in the story is the kind of thinking — building up not out, mixed income, and public-privatepartnerships –that responds to the needs of our people going forward. This fits into the transit-oriented development model: being in a walkable neighborhood, and is a mix of middle income and working people.

Building it there makes a lot of sense, since there are already a set of other towers approved for future construction, so it doesn’t really change view-plane issues.

Drew Astolfi
Executive director, Faith Action for Community Equity

Giant building belongs elsewhere

How does a 650-foot condo/commercial building in Kakaako tie in with rail? Are residents there going to ride the rail to Waipahu for work? People will be able to walk to downtown and Ward Center. They don’t need the rail for those areas and the rail does not go to Waikiki.

And one would think that those who need affordable housing might be young people with young children requiring schools. Where are the elementary schools near Kakaako?

Perhaps the Second City might be a better site for this private/public development. After all, the Second City was supposed to address the problem of urban sprawl.

Arlene G. Woo
Honolulu

Land agency’s role needs reevaluation

The Public Land Development Corp. could potentially privatize a substantial amount of public land without giving us, the public, concomitant benefits. There needs to be more safeguards than currently exist. PLDC is supposed to help the state develop parks and build affordable housing on Department of Education property. This can already happen without the PLDC. Currently, there is opportunity for public input. Why should we create a process that reduces public participation?

We should not have a public "land development corporation" that exists primarily off the money it takes from development. There would be an inherent bias toward developer proposals so that the agency could be funded.

The PLDC is of dubious value at best. There is a need for new revenue sources, but this is not the way to go. The law that created PLDC should be amended to address the problems indicated above.

Randy Ching
Honolulu

UH foes of APEC need to accept other voices

I believe there are many University of Hawaii faculty members in business, in economics and in political science, as well as the East-West Center, who welcome the APEC meeting here in Honolulu ("APEC protest held at UH Manoa," Star-Advertiser, Oct. 26). I find it interesting that a vocal minority who protests something seems to get much more of a voice than the majority.

It is troubling that some faculty members ask that a sign that says "Welcome" be taken down because they do not agree with the viewpoints being expressed.

The University of Hawaii is (and should be) a learning community that welcomes all viewpoints, allowing our students the opportunity to gain exposure to those views, and to develop their own informed opinion about the validity of a particular point of view. To demand that the welcome extended by the university be revoked, because the faculty members being quoted don’t care for APEC, is not pono.

Ed Schell
Kuliouou

Government vilifies marijuana, Christie

"Equal treatment under the law" applies basically to people. But it’s also a good idea for things like facts and realities.

Sixteen states, including Hawaii, think medicinal marijuana is credible enough to try letting patients use it. But the federal authorities refuse to even consider changing their classification of pot as being worse than "ice." Instead they’re spending our tax and deficit dollars sending SWAT teams after grandmothers with too many plants in their garden.

They let Bernard Madoff out on bail, but they won’t do the same for Roger Christie? The only thing "equal" about that is the level of lunacy.

Peter Kozlowski
Hilo

Kawaiahao to blame for iwi desecration

How is it that iwi kupuna, human remains, were left exposed and unprotected by Cultural Surveys Hawaii at Kawaiahao Church to be desecrated and burned ("Remains disinterred at church set ablaze," Star-Advertiser, Oct. 23)? Kawaiahao Church perpetrates its own desecration by paying CSH to dig up human remains because these iwi kupuna are in the way of a building they plan to construct on a wing and a prayer.

Kawaiahao Church disregards its sacred kuleana and responsibility to malama and protect the iwi kupuna who lay in the shadow of their church. This is a desecration of the highest order. Excavations continue at Kawaiahao with no regard for the families who have come forward time and time again to plead and insist that this horrible act cease and desist.

This desecration falls squarely on the shoulders of those who condone it.

Let it be.

The kupuna will have the last word. And when they do, heaven help us all.

Kapuananialiiokama Kala’i
Kaneohe