It’s a sad commentary on our society that a law needed to be enacted to ban people from looking at their mobile devices while crossing a street (“Texting against law when in a crosswalk,” Star-Advertiser, July 28).

Many say the new law was enacted to keep pedestrians safe. Others say this is another money grab. If the latter is the case, why not just enforce laws currently on the books?

Parking on the street in my community is a mess. There are cars parked facing traffic, parked on corners, partially blocking driveways, parked in front of stop signs and parked next to fire hydrants; not to mention all the vehicles with expired safety tags and registration.

If parking and traffic laws were enforced, at $35 to $70 per violation, the government could make enough money to pay down the rail project or pay down its debt.

Instead of enacting new laws to collect fees, how about raising the fines for traffic and parking violations? Stop trying to find new ways to get into the citizens’ pockets.

Jennifer Smith

Salt Lake

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Preserve some parts of Ward Warehouse

I hope that the powers that be have considered the repurposing of the wood at Ward Warehouse now that the various establishments have vacated (“Ward Warehouse bids doleful aloha,” Star-Advertiser, July 29).

There are many beams that can continue their lives in other forms (conference tables, coffee tables, doors, accent walls) in the new structure. This would carry forward and preserve parts of history, as this shopping site has meant a lot to many people, both sellers and buyers, over the years.

Clayton Wong

Kaimuki

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Let taxpayers vote again on rail transit

Yes, the easygoing people of Honolulu were easily fooled when the rail contractors first said they can build a rail from Ewa to Ala Moana for under $6 billion. At the time, the contractors invested millions of dollars in newspaper and radio ads, fooling the public to vote “for” the rail project. Well, now that they’ve taken billions of taxpayers’ dollars, we’re now told it’s going to cost the taxpayers as much as $10 billion, probably more than $15 billion at the end.

Before we let Mayor Kirk Caldwell go even more crazy wth our hard-earned tax dollars, why don’t we update our public opinion on rail and go from there?

Perhaps the majority of the taxpayers now wants to stop at Middle Street. With the money saved, we can just increase the frequency and the number of our already running, very modern city buses. That would ease the downtown congestion while efficiently serving the public and save billions of taxpayers’ dollars.

Justin Kawakami

Kalihi

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Presidential pardon is also an accusation

I use one of my dictionaries nearly every day to work on The New York Times crossword, which I start after reading the paper. Today it fell open by chance, believe it or not, in the section for foreign words and phrases, one of which caught my attention.

Having just finished Charles Krauthammer’s piece about the pardoning power of presidents, I thought it was very apropos (no pun intended) (“Trump makes a mockery of the pardoning power,” Star-Advertiser, July 28). From the French: “Qui s’excuse s’accuse” — who excuses himself, accuses himself.

I rather doubt our president can grasp such a concept, from what I’ve seen and heard so far. Like Jefferson, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.

Paul C. Franke

Aliamanu

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Sprinkler mandate a quixotic solution

Many thanks to Robert R. Paddock for his letter on the proposed retrofitting of sprinklerless condos, which I suspect is the precise sentiment of very many here (“Don’t overreact about sprinklers,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, July 28).

Costly and disruptingly invasive construction in thousands of apartments because of one fire in a particularly fire-prone-configured building?

Indeed, a quixotically disproportionate knee-jerk scheme as a city or state mandate is more Russian than American.

John W. Conner

Waikiki

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Fire protection a basic human right

Fire protection and other safety measures in high-rise buildings should be a basic human right. Nobody disputes that a sprinkler retrofit is an expensive undertaking. But we get the tap dance that public money allegedly is not available. Actually it is. Why not divert funds from the rail project, that monument to political chicanery?

David Firth

Reno, Nev.

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Historic Chinatown no place for bulbouts

As an active member of the Chinatown community, I have to say that the city’s “bulbout” idea has not gone over well with residents and business owners (“Experimental curb extensions in Chinatown draw fire from some businesses,” Star-Advertiser, July 19).

The idea of a “walkable” city is fantastic, but I think we also need to be sure to recognize the historic designation of the Chinatown area. Honolulu’s Chinatown is one of the oldest Chinatowns in the United States, dating back to the 1890s, and for that reason among others we should preserve it.

There is a culture and life all its own in the area that we should respect, protect and encourage to thrive. The bulbouts disrupt the elegance and ambiance of the historic architecture and even the flow of traffic by confusing drivers and disrupting emergency services.

While it was a good attempt, I don’t feel Chinatown is the appropriate place for the experiment.

James Logue

Chinatown