New cycle track a whiff of sanity

Hawaii’srelatively poor ranking for bicycle friendlinessmust behard to take, considering thefocus on the littlecycle track alongKing Street ("Spokes folks decry Hawaii," Star-Advertiser, May 13).

It comes asno shock to me.

I’ve been dodging and weaving, taking my life in my hands on the handlebars amidthegluttony of the car, for almost 42 years, since 1973.

I take the cycle track route with a smileevery chance that I get. But thislittlewhiffof transportation sanity and healthis manini.It’s an opihi on a rock, little more,holding on in the surge of the waves of the tonnage of cars.

A pundit remarked that Mauiis the Valley Isle, Kauai the Garden Isle, Molokai the Friendly Isle and Hawaii is the Big Isle.

To this pundit, Oahu is the Traffic Isle.

I wouldsay more: "Aloha" means petroleum in the 50th state.

Dave Baumgartner
Moiliili

Blood Bank vital to Hawaii’s health

Judith F. Clark had it exactly right ("Supplying blood involves expenses," Star-Advertiser, Letters, May 14).

As she wrote, the various operations involved in the Blood Bank of Hawaii "all have costs" and the fees charged to the hospitals pay those costs.

What could be more evident?

The Blood Bank is a vital part of Hawaii’s health care system. The Star-Advertiser did the community a disservice by casting a cloud ofunwarranted suspicion over this fine institution ("Isle donors’ blood sold to hospitals," Star-Advertiser, May 11).

Like Clark, I have given more than 100 pints of blood. The Star-Advertiser’s scandal-mongering report did nothing to make me regret it.

Carl H. Zimmerman
Salt Lake

Kupuna Care underfunded

Hawaii’s seniors, who account for one-fourth of the population, were dealt a serious blow by the Legislature.

Instead of appropriating the $9 million requested to fund the expanding needs of the fastest-growing segment of our community, the Legislature actually cut current funding for Kupuna Care, which accounts for only $4.2 million of the $12.9 billion budget, by 29 percent.

Kupuna Care allows our elderly and disabled to stay in their homes rather than be institutionalized.Funding for home care, case management, home-delivered meals, personal care and transportation services, as well as money for fall prevention, senior centers, Alzheimer’s care, healthy aging and public awareness, all took cuts.

Even the 247,000 persons who provide the care to patients released from acute-care hospitals, the vast majority of whom are seniors, were ignored when the proposed Care Act was deferred.

It would have required hospitals to provide vital assistance and training to caregivers before their loved ones are discharged. That would have required no additional appropriation, but it, too, got shot down.

Francis M. Nakamoto
Moanalua Valley

Ala Moana Park bathrooms fine

Contrary to Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s assertion that the Ala Moana Beach Park women’s restroom is a scary place ("Ala Moana Beach Park is the people’s park," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, April 5), in fact it is a user-friendly, efficient and convenient restroom used by peace-loving, happy, laid-back women and children of every color and creed.

On busy days, a dozen females can change at the same time without getting in each other’s way. I’m sure the men’s restroom is equally efficient.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the mayor’s new "prototype" bathroom, which will be able to handle no more than six persons at a time, for it will have only six toilets, even though it will be unisex. Swimmers’ need to change was apparently not given a thought as no change space is provided.

What good is a fancy new bathroom that does not serve our basic needs?

And why is a unisex bathroom being forced upon an unwilling public?

Connie Hagiwara
Waialae Nui