Managed lanes good but rail still needed

John Brizdle makes some interesting points ("Managed lanes offer many advantages in solving traffic problems," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Feb. 13).

Managed lanes are, indeed, an excellent method of encouraging bus ridership and carpooling.

However, Brizdle’s plan has hundreds of buses cruising nicely at top speeds up and down the H-1 freeway with no mention of how these lanes operate in the Honolulu central business district, where people actually need to go.

Are Honolulu residents willing to give up an entire lane that runs the length of the business district from Sand Island to Waikiki to the University of Hawaii-Manoa? I’m guessing there’d be a resounding "no" on that proposal.

Honolulu needs to stop looking for the magic bullet for our traffic problems. The only viable solution is a combination of management methods that includes all modes of transportation: A comprehensive network of pedestrian paths separated from traffic, managed lanes, increased bus service and, yes, rail.

Christine Feinholz
Haleiwa

Benefits of rail need more publicity

Another poll, another big headline ("Rail support falls," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 12).

After so many years of planning and fighting and misinformation, is it any wonder that people are hesitant to support such a complicated project?

In the meantime, traffic has gotten much worse as people move to more affordable housing on the Leeward side of Oahu.

I believe the poll numbers would change considerably if people were presented with the factually correct counterpoints to the ongoing negative onslaught.

Instead of asking uninformed people to participate in yet another poll, perhaps it’s time to educate the public about the benefits of the rail project for everyone. I would challenge the Star-Advertiser to make a concerted effort to accurately report on the positive impact the rail project will have and stop encouraging the naysayers to endlessly mislead the public with repetitive and inaccurate stories of gloom and doom.

Rebecca Wyatt
Alewa Heights

Study gambling in other states first

In response to Steven Burke ("Let residents vote on gambling issue," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Feb. 9): The reason there are so many learned opponents to legalizing gambling in Hawaii is the lessons learned from these 48 "can’t be wrong" states themselves.

Hawaii is indeed fortunate in that we can or should learn from the other states before we jump into most anything. Therefore, before we are asked to vote intelligently on this issue, we should be given the results to many questions raised by unbiased studies. Questions such as:

» What promises or strategies were the states given before they approved legalized gambling and after many years, what has been the outcome?

» Are their schools on better financial footing now or are they able to fund any worthy programs that they could not before?

In short, has gambling created more benefits than the social ills that it produces? Let us study the results and numbers.

Judith Thomas-Benito
Kapolei

Public workers get generous benefits

It was both a relief and a tragedy to read Colbert Matsumoto’s exposure of the dire state of the retirement health care fund for Hawaii government employees ("We must deal quickly with underfunded retiree health fund liability," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Feb. 9).

A relief because Mr. Matsumoto finally brought to light a monstrous burden ($10 billion and growing) that Hawaii’s politicians have for years chosen to ignore. And a tragedy because the only solution he has to offer is for the Hawaii taxpayers to now start paying more.

What a shame he didn’t (or perhaps couldn’t, because of his position) note that another solution would be to address the benefits our politicians have asked Hawaii taxpayers to bestow on its government employees. Then we could talk about the similar unfunded pension liability for the same employees.

Bob Maynard
Kailua

Public pensions cap is an insult to police

Thursday’s Star-Advertiser showed five photographs depicting a large contingent of Honolulu police officers on the street fronting police headquarters giving a final salute to a brother officer killed in the line of duty.

On the same page immediately next to the array of photos was a news story ("Senate panel moves bill to cap public pensions," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 9).

At that very moment, within walking distance on that same South Beretania Street, lawmakers moved to pass laws to diminish the retirement benefits of these same Honolulu police officers who risk their lives daily for our community.

That surely is an insult to every Honolulu police officer by the Legislature.

Earl Arakaki
Ewa Beach

Reducing oil usage is right thing to do

Recent Star-Advertiser articles seem to indicate that growth in the solar industry will drive increased utility rates in the future ("Rate increase blamed on sun power," Feb. 6; "Rate hike for solar use less than reported," Feb. 7).

The fact is that by far the biggest cause of higher electric bills continues to be the increasing cost of oil. Solar energy reduces oil use in Hawaii, which is the right thing to do for all Hawaii electric customers.

Mark Duda
President, Hawaii Solar Energy Association
Robbie Alm
Executive vice president, Hawaiian Electric Co.