PARKING

UH SHOULD FIND WAY TO HELP STUDENT-ATHLETES

Kudos to Colt Brennan for speaking up about how University of Hawai'i athletes have to pay for parking to work out and are ticketed and fined regularly.

As usual, no one at the university works together. These student-athletes live off campus (which helps ease the strain on overcrowded dorms) and are driving to, and parking on campus during summer break. There is a lot of parking on campus during the summer, so there is no reason some kind of arrangement can't be made to accommodate these student-athletes.

Anyone who has ever been a student at UH already knows about the long lines, overpriced food, shoddy dorms and all the other things that just seem unnecessarily frustrating. You'd think that with tuition constantly rising and enrollment as high as it is that things would eventually start to make sense.

STEM CELL

BUSH REPUBLICANS OUT OF THE MAINSTREAM

George Bush made a choice. With a stroke of his pen, he could have given hope to millions of Americans. Instead, he decided curing diseases such as Lou Gehrig's and Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, diabetes, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases and cancer was not as important as catering to his right-wing base.

Our own Sens. Inouye and Akaka voted the right way to benefit most of our community. Our president did not.

I urge the rest of you who are concerned about this issue to write to those in Congress who voted the wrong way and to President Bush and let them know how we feel about this important issue.

Now that George Bush has vetoed this legislation we need to make sure Americans know how out of the mainstream Bush Republicans are.

GOVERNOR'S RACE

IT'S IMPORTANT TO VOTE — AND VOTE FOR LINGLE

It saddens and worries me to hear about the increase in voter apathy and ignorance amongst Hawai'i voters. I am particularly concerned that this attitude might result in negative outcomes for the political races this year.

Everyone keeps saying that Linda Lingle has it in the bag; so no need worry about voting for her. But let's remember there's never been a Republican governor re-elected in the state of Hawai'i. And we certainly need one re-elected this year!

Any Democrat who runs, however inexperienced, automatically gets 25 percent of the vote just because they're Democrat.

I hope voters will take the races seriously this year and get to the polls. Hawai'i needs another four years of Governor Lingle's leadership, and we can't let apathy ruin this chance for Hawai'i.

OVERCROWDING

STATE CAN FIND WAYS TO KEEP PRISONERS HERE

I wonder when the state will seriously look at the implications of shipping prisoners to the continent.

Although Gov. Lingle claims communities reject prison-building, the reality is that very little debate or input has gone into the current policy of banishment.

Unfortunately, the discussion has remained superficial and the consequences of punitive policies have been largely ignored. While some may not want to build more prisons, that doesn't mean the answer is to ship 'em off. Somewhere in this rhetorical divide, real issues and real lives get pushed to the side.

Why would the state only want to build "smaller" reentry facilities, when many prisoners, families, advocates and researchers have shown these solutions work well? Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona campaigned vigorously for drug court when he was a judge, and indicated its high success. Why not spend where success has already been proven?

Waiawa Correctional Facility's KASHBOX (treatment and reentry program) has also proven to be effective in comparison to simply dumping people into warehouse prisons. Waiawa sits on 66 acres of land; more space and treatment could be built into that facility. There is a wide net of solutions and there are many people who are deeply concerned about the problems and who are committed to implementing already successful solutions that are cost-effective, as well as socially and culturally sound.

PUBLIC WORKS

RAIL TRANSIT WILL COST TAXPAYERS TOO MUCH

The Advertiser reported that the cost of the sewer line they are building in Waikiki has exploded.

The government's estimate in 2005 was way below the actual cost. So how much do you think the railway that Mayor Hannemann is pushing will cost? Look to the Big Dig in Boston to get an idea how grossly underestimated these kinds of big public works projects cost.

It cost at least four times the original estimate to build the Big Dig in Boston. Count on at least that in Hawai'i. The city estimated $3 billion. Try $12 billion to $15 billion. Mayor Hannemann, do us all a favor and kill Hawai'i's Big Dig, the transit railway system.

The mayor is behind this system, which won't make traffic any better, because the unions want the construction work.

HOMELESS

WEST SIDE OF ISLAND BEARS MOST OF BURDEN

Why are there so many homeless on the west side? Why not somewhere else?

Our beaches are filled with so many homeless it's an eyesore. You cannot even enjoy a family picnic anymore with all these homeless taking up all the space. Remove the homeless from our beautiful west-side beaches so we can enjoy our beaches again. This is not our kuleana.