CUTS CONCERNING FOR HUNDREDS OF CLIENTS

I'm writing about our concerns regarding funding cuts that will adversely affect the Deaf Services Section of the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Human Services.

Six positions, more than 66 percent, will be eliminated, leaving us with a young deaf counselor with 1 1/2 years of experience still attending UH for her master's degree, a counselor assistant, and a secretary. The supervisor's position was eliminated though she provides direct services to 174 clients, while the counselor has 70 clients. Furthermore, the supervisor who understands the deaf and deaf culture and who has decades of experience working with the deaf is a mentor to the young deaf counselor. No way will the counselor alone be able to service 244 clients.

We are concerned that consolidating the DSS with a hearing section where the staff are inadequately trained will adversely affect services. Furthermore we're concerned that without our own section supervisor, the DSS will be eliminated with more cuts coming. We'll be back prior to the 1990s when too many deaf without adequate training or education ended up eating off the government trough on welfare or SSI because no one would hire them. Despite what's happening, no one can adequately explain how VR will service 244 clients — and that's a tragedy.

Art Frank | Chair, Deaf Hard of Hearing Advisory Board

HEALTH CARE

'PUBLIC OPTION' LEGISLATION IS SHIBAI

I do believe our health care system, especially Medicare, needs an overhaul. Especially since the federal government will not allow insurance companies to compete across state lines, thus reducing competition and creating monopolies at the public's expense.

The bill(s) creating the so-called "public option," a government-funded insurance agency, to compete with private industry, is just plain shibai. Are we that dumb, that we should think the federal government will compete with private industry and not drive private industry, their competition, out of business?

President Obama now says it will only cost $900 billion over the next 10 years, not the previous estimated $1.5 trillion. And nonspecific government efficiencies can save this $900 billion so it won't cost the taxpayer anything.

But, we could use the new Pelosi "deficit neutral" spending plan to pay for it. Using this new "political accounting" method, it just might work. The voters are probably not smart enough to figure it out until after it gets passed.

Then we could use the new "deficit taxation" plan (insurance companies and rich taxpayers) to pay for it, the public would never know what it really is, until their insurance rates went up, with everything else.

Don Gerbig | Lahaina, Maui

RAIL TRANSIT

ELEVATED LINE IS BIG STEP TOWARD A BETTER FUTURE

Kamehameha Schools must release planner Phil Craig's study immediately, so we know the factors Craig considered, and what did he ignore.

The city has explained the problems of building any part of this line at ground level: many times more displaced residents and businesses, and slower train service. However, a ground-level line would also divide neighborhoods like Kapalama and Kaka'ako like a wall.

During peak hours, at least 34 trains an hour will cross the city: 20 trains to Ala Moana, 14 return. Each time a train crosses a street, crossing gates must stop traffic for 50 to 65 seconds. Randomly stopping traffic over 28 minutes of every peak hour would almost block busy streets like Kalihi, Alakea, and Pi'ikoi, leading to risky driving and fatal accidents.

No at-grade line carries as many trains as the proposed elevated rail line, and local residents complain bitterly about those that come close. For example, the 22-mile Los Angeles-Long Beach line, crossing 101 streets at-grade, killed 87 people in 795 collisions in its first 17 years.

Restoring mobility on O'ahu is a serious problem demanding realistic thinking: the "20-mile" elevated East Kapolei to Ala Moana rail line is an indispensable first step toward a brighter, cleaner, more efficient future for us all.

Hannah Miyamoto | Manoa

KAMEHAMEHA STUDY ALTERNATIVE WELCOME

Mahalo to Kamehameha Schools for funding a study of alternatives to the city's elevated rail proposal. As a Honolulu resident who shops, works and lives Downtown, I am very concerned about the aesthetic impact of the city's planned elevated rail, both from the pedestrian perspective and from my apartment's view-plain.

I like Kamehameha Schools' plan for other reasons, too. It's less costly, could be brought on line sooner, and by building the first phase Downtown, it would serve more prospective riders. Further, by reducing the need for some of the cement superstructure, it would be more environment-friendly, too. I hope the mayor and the council will reconsider before it's too late.

Elizabeth Winternitz-Russell | Honolulu