Your editorial on the “Stairway to Heaven” contains a major flaw (“Hope renewed for Haiku Stairs,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, Aug. 5).

Only the current prohibition against use has kept the usage to a few. If the stairs are legally opened to all, the foot traffic would become as congested as at the Diamond Head Monument trail.

That would be a recipe for falls because that stairway is not wide enough to handle a large number of hikers going in opposite directions — up and down.

So there would have to be some usage control and perhaps an “up traffic” time period and a “down traffic” time.

It’s not just a simple “open up the Haiku Stairs.”

Robert O. Jones

Diamond Head

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A musical lesson on pedestrian safety

I am in my 80s. I learned this song at Waipahu Elementary School. They should teach it to kids now:

“When you cross the street by day or night,

Beware of the danger that looms in sight,

Look to the left and look to the right,

And you’ll never, never, get run over.”

Jane Kang

Aiea

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Invest in officers, not consulting firm

How truly pathetic that the city is willing to spend huge amounts of money to find a new police chief via a consulting firm, yet opposed providing funds to defend Honolulu Police Department officers who have put their lives on the line for the citizens of Oahu (“Consulting firm hired in search for new police chief,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 5; “Panel denies HPD officer’s request for legal counsel,” Star-Advertiser, July 20).

Holding political office is no longer an honorable position. Too many of our so-called leaders cave in to pressure and money.

It is sadly just a few among them who still believe in the truth and are willing to defend it.

Amy Ishida

Kalihi Valley

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Property tax policy needs to be adjusted

With the value of real estate increasing by leaps and bounds, the exemptions allowed for owner-occupants need to be changed to help homeowners from being overtaxed.

Homeowners are becoming victims of the high cost of real estate. The property tax rate needs to be adjusted to be fair to homeowners who just want to be homeowners.

Property taxes for residents on fixed incomes make living in Honolulu very difficult.

For those who own more than one rental property, the tax brackets for rental properties needs to be adjusted based on the total assessed value of all of the real estate owned.

My property tax almost doubled because the assessed value exceeded $1 million in 2016. There were no improvements made. If anything, the value should have gone down.

Our City Council needs to consider how property taxes are calculated.

David Lim

Kailua

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Community colleges a thrifty alternative

As a school counselor and college adviser, I agreed with “6 last-minute strategies to pay for college” (Star-Advertiser, Aug. 7), until I got to strategy No. 6, which said, “Consider deferring your start date to maximize your financial aid.”

Rather than take a gap year (or potentially years) between high school graduation and college matriculation, why not spend the first year or two studying at a community college? The tuition is considerably less than at a four-year college and there are no additional costs for room and board. A well-planned two-year program — emphasis on “well planned” — should land a student in junior year at a four-year college without disruption.

Community colleges often received short shrift until the great recession/financial crisis that began in late 2007.

With the inherent decreases in income and funding, and consistent increases in college costs, community college has since become the great alternative for students whose families are caught in the financial crossfire.

Al Trafford

Waipahu

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Audit rail to uncover city’s many missteps

I agree with Carolyn Golojuch that an audit of the rail transit system include the cost of money and delays due to frivolous lawsuits (“Rail naysayers cost taxpayers money,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 7).

Of course if a lawsuit — for failure to do a complete search for iwi, for instance — should succeed in court, it cannot be deemed frivolous, so that delay and expense would fall on the city for not following the law, not on the plaintiffs.

The audit should include the amount Mayor Mufi Hannemann cost the taxpayers for signing contracts too early, so contractors had to be paid for standing around.

Audit the cost for all the change orders to date.

Include where the money for the power station, operation and maintenance, and the promise of a Manoa extension, will come from, since the current funding is inadequate.

Determine a final cost since the mayor and City Council have only a guesstimate. On time and on budget, indeed.

Peter Chisteckoff

Mililani Mauka

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Middle Street far enough for rail

We cannot afford it!

Our politicians have been acting like drunken gamblers recklessly taxing us, then throwing good money after bad to cover their bet on rail. The elevated train was a bad idea to begin with at one-third the cost. Now it has metastasized into an all-grubbing money monster.

Our rail cost, minus $3 billion of federal and tourist shares, is about $7 billion, by my calculations. Plus, we have a $20 billion unfunded pension and health care liability. Oahu’s unfunded share is $13 billion, for a combined rail/pension debt of $20 billion, costing each household about $68,000, an outrageous amount. Who can afford that?

Stop the bleeding. Cut the losses. Stop the elevated rail at Middle Street.

Besides, why should elevated rail wreck downtown? Run through Kakaako millionaire’s row? End at a tourist-only mall that is not even open during morning rush hour?

Dennis Callan

Punchbowl