Private firms know about accountability

The article on March 14 ("Senators upbraid officials for overpaying employees," Star-Advertiser), quoted state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, who said, "We don’t have accountability."

The Star-Advertiser has provided case after case proving there is no accountability in government, such as pension spiking and poor road conditions.

Real accountability was displayed by Disney when executives who incorrectly calculated maintenance fees at the Aulani resort were fired.

Perhaps Kim should look in the mirror when discussing this issue. After all, she was a member of a Legislature that diverted funds from the public worker employee retirement system and failed to adequately fund it through the years. Taxpayers and public workers are now liable for more than $7 billion.

Yet the electorate keeps voting for these politicians and even promoting them to higher office.

The senator is correct: There is no accountability in government, and the electorate does not demand it.

James McDiarmid
Mililani

Wind power cheap if cable not counted

Hawaiian Electric Co.’s contention that the cost of producing electricity with wind is less than it would be with solar is misleading ("Wind power Is cheapest green energy option, HECO Says," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 19).

The Big Wind and undersea cable projects may be cheaper for HECO’s shareholders, but they are far more expensive than Oahu-based solar for Hawaii’s taxpayers and ratepayers.

Taxpayers fund the federal government’s generous tax credits for industrial wind turbine installation and generation, as well as the large depreciation allowances, all of which add up to a 65 percent subsidy for Big Wind. The ratepayer foots the bill for the estimated $1 billion cost of the undersea cable.

We see what’s in this for HECO. What’s in it for the consumer?

Gregory Kahn
Puko’o, Molokai

Ho‘opili will deny us fertile ag lands

Are we stupid? Do we really want to convert the best plot of farmland on Oahu into the Ho‘opili housing development? Have we forgotten that we need to grow food so that we may eat?

Developer D.R. Horton is offering only 10 percent of those 1,554 acres back to the farmers, and part of that offering is in the gulches. They say farmers can grow crops on less viable land elsewhere. Build houses elsewhere and leave good farmland for food production.

We import most of our food now. What do we do when a shipping strike or natural disaster interrupts our food chain — eat our houses?

The developers will get rich. A few hundred people will get construction jobs (all 11,750 homes will not be built at the same time). Our short-sighted politicians will get a few thousand dollars in campaign contributions. The other 99.9 percent of "we the people" will get the usual shaft.

Nelson Greer
Kaneohe

BRT, toll roads not solution to gridlock

With more people on the island, traffic is worse today than it was 10 years ago. Our population will grow, and if you put more cars on the road, you’re going to get more traffic and congestion gets worse.

So what do we do?Taking out lanes for BRT would just make traffic worse. Think about the traffic mess when a lane is closed to fix a water or sewer line. This happened recently on Nimitz Highway and it was a nightmare.

Now imagine losing two traffic lanes permanently for exclusive "bus only" lanes. That is BRT and that’s why people opposed it a dozen years ago.

There is nothing else except rail that is a realistic solution — not population limits, not banning the amount of cars a family can own, not limiting family size or stopping people from moving to Hawaii, and not toll roads or BRT.

We must build rail before we get to traffic gridlock.

Talbert Ligsay
Waianae

There are many alternatives to rail

I feel for Robert Bundaand other Ewa commuters who battle traffic ("Cayetano has no realistic plan to solve West Oahu traffic mess," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, March 14). But rail is not the only cure. There are cheaper ways requiring less time to start working.

People can be closer to work, some closer by computer and others closer by location. Some businesses, schools and especially government functions might be decentralized to put them closer to their users.

Flextime allows employees to commute when there are fewer commuters. Businesses could alter their working hours based on where and when congestion occurs.

Bus riding could be made more appealing, either upgraded or cheaper. Let passengers enjoy our climate by replacing expensive air conditioning on some buses with open windows. Smaller buses stopping more often would be more appealing by reducing waiting time at bus stops.

These are just some of the possibilities.

Ralph H. Conway
Kailua

Plethora of potholes a threat to paradise

Recently we headed from Mililani to the North Shore. Oh, what a mistake that was!

Luckily my old car is built like a Sherman tank, so it remained intact despite enduring some of the biggest potholes I’ve ever seen. I fear the trendy little hybrids wouldn’t fair as well and could disappear into some of the larger-than-life holes along Kamehameha Highway.

Let’s spend less time talking about the elevated-rail debacle and focus our full attention on Oahu’s horrendously poor roads. They need to be repaved, not patched. Since our economy is based mainly on tourism, we need to take this matter seriously before the potholes leave a poor, lasting impression of paradise with the folks who pay big bucks to come here.

Margaret Peary
Mililani Mauka