Rail station at airport will reduce anxiety

Regarding the letter by Michael O’Hara ("Schlep luggage on rail and bus? Ha!" July 24), I’ve been traveling between here and New Jersey annually for over 25 years. It’s an 11-hour flight.

Ten years ago, Newark airport extended its monorail to the train, and New Jersey transit built a beautiful station there. No longer does my family suffer gridlock to pick me up. No longer do I suffer with the expense of renting a car and the terror of driving in New JerseyI arrive at my final destination refreshed and relaxed. My trip back to the airport is predictable: I know exactly what time I will arrive for check-in. "Schlepping" is what I would refer to as driving in and out of Waikiki.

I agree with the idea of polling tourists about rail transit. Conduct these surveys when tourists return their cars. I guarantee those with transit experience would highly prefer multimodal transit options to the nightmare of driving in Honolulu.

Christine Feinholz
Haleiwa

Too bad Schatz hasn’t fired his chief of staff

Your editorial ("Schatz earns Democratic nomination," Our View July 20) was very helpful in setting forth the backgrounds of the two candidates, Brian Schatz and Colleen Hanabusa.

I had already intended to vote for Schatz in the primary, as I believe his relative youth and two years of seniority already achieved in the Senate will benefit Hawaii by providing the power of seniority in years to come. But then the prior activities of Schatz’ chief of staff, Andy Winer, were revealed in the media and Schatz has refused to remove Winer from the staff.

There is already too much sleaze in Washington. I find it hard to vote for someone who would retain such a person as chief of his Washington office staff.

Jack C. Morse
Kailua

Palestinian violence shouldn’t surprise

I am writing in response to Suzie Lim’s outpouring of sympathy for the now more than 700 Palestinian casualties in the current conflict in Gaza.

It’s hard not to share her sympathy, especially when those casualties are quickly explained away as mere "propaganda" and diversion in the very next breath.

Clearly, Hamas militants must take ownership of the fact that they engage the Israel Defense Forces from densely populated civilian areas. But one has to wonder: When you corral 2 million people into an area one-fourth the size of Rhode Island, restrict their access to food, water and electricity, and then use the military to keep them from leaving, what other option have you given them?

Matthew Kirchner
Ewa Beach

Take cab keys away from Abercrombie

While I remember Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s original and novel yellow cab campaign promotion from the 1980s and ’90s, I cannot smile at his latest television commercial.

Like many other public school teachers who voted for him in the last election, we were profoundly disappointed to have him "rear end" — or "blind side," take your pick — all of us during the last teacher contract negotiation. Unlike the wondrous ladies in his campaign ad, in real life I felt more like the victim of a hit-and-run accident, with you-know-who at the wheel.

While Neil Abercrombie may have once stood for change and integrity and fashioned himself as the "people’s candidate," his tenure as governor only confirmed one thing: absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Time to take this driver’s keys away.

Matt Nakamura
Hawaii Kai

Pension tax better than hiking the GET

Pensionaires get special treatment. They’re exempt from state income tax, unlike all other retirees and residents.

So, in 2011 when Gov. Neil Abercrombie inherited a fiscal crisis with no easy fix, he proposed ending the loophole for pension income over $37,500, leaving intact the 100 percent exemption below that amount. Neither he, nor the state House that wanted to exempt pensions up to $100,000, were wrong. In fact, it was the fairest solution to try at the time.

Hawaii’s working families certainly aren’t tax-exempt up to $100,000, as the very biggest pensioners were and are today.

During the crisis, state Sen. David Ige was wrong to propose aneconomically harmful general excise tax increase.Ige, and very many others, are now acting out of pure self-interest, not aloha or principle, in appealing to greed and fear among voters. They should be called out and opposed by young and old.

Daniel Laraway
Kapahulu

Stairway to Heaven statistically very safe

Lloyd Faulkner’s letter contained misconceptions about Haiku Stairs ("Stairway to Heaven should be dismantled," Star-Advertiser, July 20), such as when he wrote they would be "a nightmare to maintain."

It would require adequate management, certainly, but "nightmare"?

As for "liability and rescue," for eight years the stairs were open under the U.S. Coast Guard and in 27 years of illegal hiking since closure, no serious injuries have been reported. Virtually all rescues there involved hikersnoton the stairs. It is statistically one of the safest hikes on the island.

He also said the stairs are "for more advanced persons." No, it is a wonderful, if strenuous hike for well-prepared beginning hikers. Former newspaper columnist Heidi Bornhorst wrote decades ago about a field trip with school children on the Stairs to study the interesting botany.

Trespassers, not Haiku Stairs, are the problem. Thousands hiked it for eight years with no problems. When it was closed, trespassers became a nuisance. Reopening the trail with access and parking away from the residences is the solution.

John Flanigan
Kaneohe

Welfare state at risk from open borders

Letter-writer James Hildenbrand is to be commended for his compassionate stance regarding the southern border situation ("Fleeing children could use love," Star-Advertiser, July 23).

Unfortunately, it is a textbook example of our tendency to establish positions based solely on emotion without an equal measure of intellectual engagement.

While we as Americans do indeed purport to be a benevolent people, we are a society structured on a sense of order and due process, which together establish parameters within which to exercise our sense of fairness.

A welfare state organized around a policy granting unfettered access through open borders will be our undoing in short order.

Stephen Hinton
Haleiwa

Free stuff comes first, then you get the bill

I’ve been watching the debates for the congressional candidates and virtually all are promising something for free: reduced or free college costs, veterans’ mortgage rates to non-veterans, increased Social Security and Medicare benefits, on and on.

Whatever happened to President John F. Kennedy’s plea:"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"?

Today’s politicians all brag that they’re going to "bring home the bacon" without stating how they are going to pay for these freebies. We have a national debt of $17 trillion-plus. They forget that when the pig gets fat, the hog gets slaughtered.

They also forget that when you get something for nothing, you just haven’t been billed yet.

Jim Slavish
Kailua

FROM THE FORUM

“Freedom fleeting for isle escapees,” Star-Advertiser, July 21:

>> What do all those pictured people have in common? They all made state Public Safety Director Ted Sakai and his minions look like the Keystone Cops when they escaped.

>> How are they escaping in the first place? They only get caught later because we live on an island.

>> Rather than boasting about catching these cons early, how about winning over our confidence and going a whole year without an escape?
———
“State worker apologizes for photographing cars,” Star-Advertiser, July 21:

>> Wow. A government employee tries to do good and then gets accused of invasion of privacy. Her supervisor, however, should have been putting up signs long ago.

>> Why not have a security guard watch the parking lot and note if a person other than from the courthouse enters their vehicle or that person actually goes into the courthouse to do business? Is there a tow notice for unauthorized use of the parking lot?
———
“City is urged to preserve Natatorium memorial,” Star-Advertiser, July 22:

>> Geez, how much longer is this shibai going to continue? It’s been going on for years. The pool is unusable and a complete waste of prime space. Save the arch and move it, then demo the pool so the beach can be used already!

>> I grew up swimming and diving at the Natatorium so I have great memories of the place. However, if the public can’t raise the money from private contributors, I think it needs to be torn down. The city can’t afford to rebuild it and then maintain it, so it would become another money drain — money that we don’t have.
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“Pilot with aerial ad company arrested for flying banners,” Star-Advertiser, July 22:

>> The pilot makes a good point. If we are allowed to be inundated with those political signs, what’s the difference?

>> The aerial sign is a for-profit venture. The political signs, as ugly as they are, have First Amendment protection. Hopefully this discussion will bring about the end of political sign waving and those ridiculous fence signs.

>> Politicians are for-profit ventures. Profit for themselves.
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“Hawaiian plaintiffs ask for special master in lawsuit,” Star-Advertiser, July 23:

>> Keith Hunter is an objective, skilled master mediator and a person of unquestionable integrity. He offers the very best hope for resolving this mess. If he can’t bring the parties to an agreed solution, then there’s no solution to be found.

>> DHHL (Department of Hawaiian Home Lands) mismanagement. Gotta be in tight with the Hawaiians in charge or you get the runaround or worse. Been like that forevas.
———
“Blocked manhole overflows, spilling sewage,” Star-Advertiser, July 23:

>> Some people are so ignorant they think they can use the sewer to dump massive amounts of trash. If the city want this to keep this from happening, it needs to educate people in poor areas on how to properly dispose of unwanted items.

>> How about replacing the current drain-access covers with massive ones that can either be locked or too heavy to move? Something must be done. As for the feral pigs, as they are not endemic to the island, simply start wiping them from the island. No loss there. Put a bounty on their heads.
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“Kalaeloa rentals plan praised,” Star-Advertiser, July 24:

>> This seems like a project that will be beneficial all around for the area schools and businesses, plus for the people who are looking for housing in West Oahu. And anything that brings more life to the area should help chase away the element that had clearly been abusing the property when abandoned, according to those photos!

>> $1,300 a month plus utilities to live in a 500-square-foot cracker box in the boonies without any public transportation within reasonable walking distance? What a joke.

———
“Chow vows Hawaii will be better after last year’s 1-11 mark,” Star-Advertiser, July 24:

>> You’ve talked the talk, now walk the walk.

>> Coach Norm Chow’s not exactly going out on a limb saying that “the team will get better.” With a previous season 1-11 record, it’s extremely difficult to not get better.