Build overpass at HPU entrance

Mariah Danforth-Moore was a 19-year-old bright college student, well loved by her friends, family and Hawaii Pacific University ohana. I have a 21-year-old daughter also away in college and this tragedy really hits home for any parent.

HPU’s Windward campus has a very dangerous crosswalk right on Kamehameha Highway. Drivers coming back from work wait at the Pali traffic light or fly around the bend from Kailua and just as they gain speed, the crosswalk fronting HPU is right there. On the opposite side, the situation is even worse as drivers gain speed to climb up the Pali Highway. At night the risk of crossing the highway is even greater.

Blinking lights or a traffic light are not the solution. An overpass has worked for years on Kaneohe Bay Drive fronting the YWCA. Traffic flows smoothly and pedestrians can cross the road safely. This solution is even more practical on a highway in front of a college campus where daily foot traffic is much greater and cars are moving much faster.

John Shiarella
Kaneohe

Make buses turn into HPU

My wife and I are blessed to be parents, grandparents and great-grandparents and are deeply saddened by the tragic loss experienced by the parents and family of Mariah Danforth-Moore.

Danforth-Moore was killed by a hit-and-run driver while apparently crossing the notorious crosswalk.

Now we hear chatter why a solution will have to be studied. Really? Allow me to cut the study time and suggest an idea.

Effective immediately, have all buses headed from Kaneohe to the Pali Highway make a left turn into the Hawaii Pacific University grounds and have the school provide a bus stop and a turnaround area. This plan would provide a safe bus stop for riders from Kaneohe and for riders from HPU. Let’s save lives.

Joe Hale
Aiea

Do something to make road safer

Regarding the recent tragic traffic death of a Hawaii Pacific University student: I have used that exit from the Kaneohe campus many times. I long ago decided I would never take a left-hand turn and cross the oncoming traffic. Rather, because of safety considerations, I always take a right-hand turn, no matter what my destination. It is a very dangerous traffic situation and something must be done.

Hank Chapin
Manoa

Land-use plans not set in stone

Is it not a contradiction that Dean Okimoto, the owner of Nalo Farms and president of the Hawaii Farm Bureau, is promoting the Ho’opili development as a "model for all developers" ("Ho’opili serves as a model for all developers," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Nov. 16)?

This would mean growing more houses, suburban sprawl and urbanization on 13 percent of the best remaining agricultural farm land on Oahu.

This is not a good thing. Instead of pushing for these rich farmlands to remain in agriculture to promote sustainability and self-sufficiency as islands, Okimoto advocates token community gardens and a facade of buffer agricultural plots.

It is unsettling that the state Department of Agriculture, led by Russell Kokubun (also a farmer), is willing to go along with Ho’opili’s phony urban farming commitment.

Kokubun also said that "it is important that (we) acknowledge longstanding county land-use plans."

Some of these county land use plans are two, three or more decades old. For the sake of our present and future generations, we must periodically re-evaluate land-use decisions.

Moanikeala Akaka
Hilo

Build housing in urban core

The Ho’opili housing project is short-sighted. To attain sustainability in agriculture and affordable housing, we need to look further and closer.

The farm land in West Oahu is for all of Hawaii’s population. Increasing local agriculture will decrease the shipping cost and bring access to fresh healthier food with more local jobs securing sustainability to Hawaii.

There are places both in the inner city and close to projected public transportation that are not prime agriculture land that could be locations for affordable communities.

Apartment high-rise housing is energy efficient and can be economically efficient as well. If one out of 10 units is required to be a Section 8 unit, Hawaii would have affordable housing available throughout Oahu, for our population that lives on minimum wage or part-time jobs.

People of low income do much better if they are included throughout the community. Hawaii is a home for all of her people.

Mary A. Guinger
Kailua