Fix-up priorities are messed up

The beautification project along Nimitz Highway would be a wonderful idea if Hawaii wasn’t having a budget crisis.

We can’t fix the elevators, escalators and air conditioners at the airport — but we can plant trees? Is there money in the budget to maintain these trees, including the labor costs of pruning?

I guess the state wants to correct the first impression of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting dignitaries arriving at the airport, experiencing hot/humid weather and dirty non-working elevators and escalators.

Someone needs to re-arrange funding priorities.

Claudia McCloskey
Waikiki

Ho‘opili would create new jobs

As a construction worker, I’ve been struggling to find a job to make ends meet, and so have many of my colleagues. Many of us have not only ourselves to support, but also our families.

As we continue to wait for work, we worry every day where our next paycheck will come from.

Ho‘opili is one of the largest projects planned on Oahu at the moment. It will help put many of us back to work and give us the tools we need to get back on our feet.

As an Ewa Beach resident, I also believe Ho‘opili will help improve the lives of residents in West Oahu by providing us with more options to work, live and play. Ho‘opili is a necessary addition to the West Oahu community.

Dean Takahashi
Ewa Beach

Crossing signals are confusing

Have we created a number of new criminals? The city is installing countdown crosswalk indicators, replacing the red hand for "don’t cross." I understand that once the green has changed to red, be it the red hand or the red countdown timer, it is illegal to start to cross the street.

When the red countdown timer is present, what the crosser sees is that there may be time to cross. Since it is illegal to cross at this point, if the crosser now proceeds, he is now a criminal. Why is the city doing this?

I do see one benefit for these new countdown signals: I, as a driver, can see how long I have to make the light, and can speed up to get to the intersection before the light changes.

Rob Rietow
Nuuanu

Gay Pride noise was offensive

On Sept. 17, as we were playing tennis at Ala Moana Park, we were bombarded by the lewd, loud, distasteful, sexual songs and lyrics that blew over the loudspeakers during the Gay Pride festival.

There were many children who heard the music that contained offensive words, not to mention the use of the "F" word repeatedly. It was an embarrassment to our community and to our visiting tourists.

I am not prejudiced toward the gay community, but it is sad to know the event was of such distaste.

Pamela Menchaca
Salt Lake

TSA not even assuring safety

Sylvia Foster contends that U.S. Transportation Security Administration passenger searches for children and the handicapped "must be done" to protect us from a "dangerous world" ("Safety needs trump right to fly," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Sept. 20).

Did Foster see that 28 TSA agents were recently fired in Hawaii because they didn’t check luggage for explosives? Has she read the classified 2006 TSA report leaked to USA Today? The resulting 2007 article, "Most Fake Bombs Missed by Screeners," indicates Los Angeles TSA missed 75 percent of simulated explosives, Chicago’s O’Hare TSA missed about 60 percent of hidden bomb materials, and privately employed airport screeners in San Francisco missed about 20 percent.

In exchange for security, Foster may check her liberty with her luggage at the airport, but the evidence doesn’t suggest TSA policy makes any of us safer.

Jeremiah Hull
Wahiawa

Military benefits are not welfare

The article "Military retirement benefits termed cuttable" (Star-Advertiser, Sept. 19) says health and pension benefits of military retirees are "a big social welfare system."

This is a huge slap in the face to all who receive these benefits. Welfare is aid given by the government due to poverty, unemployment, etc.; it is not earned by years of service to our country or as a result of wounds or other service-connected disabilities.

Want to save some money? Return to the draft, with its sub-minimum wages — or else don’t have as many "military engagements."

Dan Boucon
Ewa Beach