Deposit fee increase is worth the cost

The American Beverage Association repudiated a paper published in the journal General Dentistry, saying that "consuming four drinks per day" is not normal consumption.

The National Soft Drink Association estimates that we consume 600 12-ounce soft drinks per year.

If we take the average of these two, we arrive at the figure of 1,030 soft drinks per year.

1,030 x ½ cent (proposed increase) = $5.15 per year.

The proposed half-cent increase in refundable deposits in order to keep the beverage recycling program viable is a no-brainer ("Few favor recycling fee hike," Star-Advertiser, June 17).

Passing this increase does not prevent us from auditing the program for fraud and inefficiency.

Do it already!

James A. Hildenbrand
Waialae Iki

HI-5 program not fair to consumers

Before the HI-5 program was initiated, the recycling companies did not receive compensation from the state for handling the containers.

In fact, the recycling companies even paid the consumer a fee for the recycling value of the container.

Today, the state pays the recycling company a 2- to 4-cent handling fee per container. The company gets to keep the recyclable container and the consumer gets nothing for the recycling value of the container. The consumer only gets back the 5-cent deposit he paid when purchasing the beverage.

Something is wrong here. How and why did the state set up this operation that is so favorable to the recycling companies?

Now the state is asking the consumer to pony up higher handling fees to keep this program financially viable.

Phooey!

James S. Nakasone
Mililani

Feds should not pay state worker wages

President Barack Obama wants American taxpayers to help some states pay the wages of their teachers, police and firefighters.

This seems like an admirable undertaking, but how long will we need to help these states in trouble?Won’t states struggling to balance their budgets decide it would be easier to also cry for federal help?Where will it end?

With Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid going bankrupt, where is the money coming from?Increasing our national debt will jeopardize our future.

Warren Fukushima
Pearl City

Mo-ped noise needs to be controlled

When you think of Honolulu, you think of paradise. And it is in almost every way, except for one: noise.

One notorious offender is the mo-ped. Because of high gas prices, lack of parking and great weather, mo-peds are popular here. Some sound like a weed-whacker at full power.

The City and County of Honolulu does not require annual inspections for mo-peds (Maui and Hawaii counties do), which is one reason the problem exists.

In addition to mo-peds, we have a lot of motorcycles, cars with loud stereos and cars with illegal exhausts. The state has no car emissions test, which means people can do whatever they want to their car exhausts.

Let’s start by implementing annual mo-ped inspections and car emissions tests. Honolulu, of all places, should care about noise and air pollution, right?

Wayne Henry
Punchbowl

Neighbors can’t police Kawamoto

It is ridiculous for government officials to expect Kahala residents to come up with a solution for 22 properties owned by Genshiro Kawamoto that are systematically destroying their neighborhood.

Officials claim either to have no idea what to do about it or, based on their action and comments, apparently have no desire to stop it.

Inaction is unacceptable and doesn’t pass as policy.The only conclusions left to draw from these positions are either a lack of will or refusal to govern.This is not representative, balanced or pono leadership.Hawaii deserves better from its lawmakers.

Meanwhile, Kahala residents near the blight have seen dissolving property values for many years that will cast a very negative future for us.This cancer will metastasize to other neighborhoods, and already has.This mindless destruction of property also occurred in Hawaii Kai.

Is your neighborhood next?

Dean Peterson
Honolulu

Goodbye TheBus, hello my own car

As of July 1, I will no longer be purchasing the monthly bus pass I have bought for 12 years.

Since the June 3 cutbacks, TheBus is a hideous experience: standing-room only, long delays, slow commutes, fresh graffiti every day marring the interiors of buses and bus stops and roaches crawling on the floors.

Tempers are flaring. Recently I witnessed a young woman shove an older woman for merely trying to squeeze through a packed aisle. Earlier this week, a man had to rudely push away people blocking an exit.

Mismanagement is further evidenced by the disappearance of ads in buses because bloated administration staffs do not have the energy to pursue other revenue sources. Businesses getting sales from riders will see fewer of us as I, for one, will now do anything to avoid using the bus, including staying home.

Do auto commuters really want thousands of us getting back into our cars to compete with them?

John Hansen
Downtown Honolulu