Growth can hurt quality of living

Right on, Cynthia Oi ("Deference to tourism is wrecking what makes Hawaii special," Star-Advertiser, Under the Sun, June 16): "Maybe more and bigger isn’t better or even necessary."

Right! It’s about time we dispel this myth.

The small city I grew up in has the same population and is the same size as when I lived there 50 years ago. The people there are prosperous and live very well without the overcrowding, traffic problems, pollution and strain on the infrastructure endured by those of us living in a community that lives by the myth that bigger is better and that a community’s welfare is determined by how fast it grows.

Who would argue that our quality of life has improved from one decade to the next as our population and economy have increased? With few exceptions we would agree the exact opposite — that our quality of life has declined.

Lisa J. Burket
Maunalani Heights

NFL has been good neighbor

The tourist numbers cited by the Star-Advertiser were impressive and made the case for continuing to pay the NFL to showcase one of the world’s premier sporting events in Hawaii.

However, one important number was omitted: the millions of dollars the NFL has donated to hundreds of local charities during the past 30 years.

In addition, it has contributed $1 million each for the stadium’s past field and seating upgrades, Roosevelt High’s new FieldTurf and the Boys & Girls Club in Nanakuli.

Simply put, the NFL has been a good neighbor. The fact that it’s a billion -dollar entity is irrelevant. Being big and successful, however, makes it a convenient target for politicians trying to sell misguided policies.

In the current economy, our small businesses, tourist industry and nonprofits need the help the Pro Bowl will bring.

Warren Hamamoto
Makiki

Pro Bowl is not net gain for isles

I support Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s stance on removing funding for the Pro Bowl.

The numbers cited as benefits are inflated. For example, some of the tourists who attend the Pro Bowl would have come to Hawaii at some other time. The reverse is also true: Some visitors who would have attended are crowded out as hotels and flights are more congested.

An analysis in the Journal of Sports Economics showed we get roughly one-third of what is claimed by the Pro Bowl supporters. We pay $4 million to get about $1 million in revenue. If the same proportions were cited in support of any other program, it would be rightly criticized.

If the Pro Bowl really generated the kinds of economic benefits as is claimed, then the hotels and other tourist-related business should form their own coalition and pay their own way.

Steven Lee
Manoa

Share Pro Bowl net with schools

How about a compromise for the Pro Bowl?

Have the state cough up the $4 million this year for the game on the informal condition that those who profit from the Pro Bowl — individuals, hotels, airlines, vendors, the NFL — shall donate, say, 25 percent of what they calculate they have netted from the event to a state fund that will go directly to education.

Call it the Pro Bowl Education Fund.

If the combined commitment to keeping the Pro Bowl and improving education in the state does not result in the return of the cash, then forget it.

George Cattermole
Honolulu

Abercrombie going backward

It was great to see Gov. Neil Abercrombie be the first Hawaii governor to speak at a gay pride rally.

He also seems determined to do something about the increasing number of homeless and has made some good Cabinet appointments.

But it was disappointing to see Abercrombie follow a backward path on social, fiscal and labor policy — refusing to propose a fairer, more progressive tax system or even a temporary excise tax increase to balance the budget. Instead, he sought to tax pensions, urged slashes in social services and pushed for cuts in public workers’ wages.

Abercrombie has failed to speak up or act on the criminally high and monopolistic prices at the gas pumps, which, along with unjustified soaring health insurance premiums, have really hurt working people and added major costs to state and county budgets.

Many of Abercrombie’s supporters still hope he will reverse course, propose a public jobs program and support a more progressive tax system and single-payer health care, as Vermont has enacted.

John Witeck
Honolulu

HART similar to water board

The new Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is a semi-autonomous City & County agency similar to the Board of Water Supply.

The City Council does not have to approve each construction contract that the BWS issues, but some Council members want to have approval power over the contracts issued by HART. What can be the difference?

Some say that it is because of the magnitude of the cost of the rail, but the BWS also has a huge budget. Others say that it will bring contract decisions closer to the voters.

The biggest problem with getting the Council involved is that it can cause a nexus between contracts and campaign contributions. In fact, if it did cause campaign contributions to go to the Council members, it may make the cost of the rail project even greater.

We need to keep politics and campaign contributions out of contract decisions as much as possible, and the BWS model has been the most successful method so far.

Chuck Prentiss
Kailua

Marines helping Afghanistan

Those who are for isolationism just have to remember how we got here from the 9/11 attacks.

Those attacks were the direct result of abandoning Afghanistan in 1989 and allowing al-Qaida and the Taliban to set up shop in the name of deficit reduction. How much has the U.S. invested now because of that fateful decision in 1989?

My son, a local boy from Kona, is a Kaneohe Marine currently serving in Garmsir, Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan. The pictures they are publishing on their Lava Dogs Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TheLavaDogs, are unbelievable. The local villagers are cooperating with the Marines and the Afghan national army who patrol, inviting them to dinner and tea. The fields of poppies are being replaced with wheat, soy and watermelon.

Progress is being made and I am so proud that my son is participating in allowing the youngest of Afghanis to live a peaceful life in a multi-generational war-torn country.

Peggy McArdle
Kailua-Kona