Letters to the Editor
SAVE LIVES
PEDESTRIANS MUST BE AWARE OF TRAFFIC
It is sad that another pedestrian death has occurred, particularly so close to Christmas. My heart goes out to his family.
However, many of these deaths could be avoided by teaching, especially the elderly and children, how to cross a busy or not-so-busy street. And I am talking to the families and relatives.
So often — just today twice — I encounter children and elderly people who, without hesitation or safety precaution, step right into traffic onto a crosswalk.
It appears that in many minds the crosswalk can be used — safely — at any time. But you have to watch traffic, you have to make sure you are being seen and if possible make eye contact with the driver to safely move across the street.
I also see reckless drivers who try to squeeze by when pedestrians are halfway in the crosswalk.
But my main concern is the pedestrian. A crosswalk is not necessarily a right-of-way. And a moving car has to stop before you walk on — especially when you have two or more lanes.
Lives could be saved if everybody used common sense and courtesy.
Dieter ThateKailua
MOEPU
ARCHAEOLOGIST WRONG ON FUNERARY OBJECTS
Regarding the Dec. 17 letter to the editor by Lloyd Soehren: Mr. Soehren is mistaken as to the meaning of the Hawaiian word "moepu" (funerary object), both on the legal and cultural levels.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act defines funerary objects as "items that, as part of the death rite or ceremony of a culture, are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally at the time of death or later with or near individual human remains."
NAGPRA is the applicable law in the Kawaihae Caves reburial case.
Mr. Soehren's assertion that only items placed with the decedent at the time of death are moepu is incorrect as a matter of federal law. More importantly, as a matter of Hawaiian culture, the term "moepu" refers to items placed with the dead. There is no requirement as to when placement occurs for it is solely the act of placement that qualifies an item to be moepu.
Finally, it is important for readers to know that Mr. Soehren is an archaeologist who over the years has been responsible for the removal of iwi kupuna (ancestral bones) and moepu. Significantly, he did not facilitate the reburial of these remains. Instead, most of these reburials were conducted by Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei.
Mr. Soehren should leave Hawaiian cultural matters to Hawaiian cultural practitioners.
Edward Halealoha Ayau, Kahu Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell, Wilma Healani Holi, Ka'ohuoka'ala Seto, Konia Freitas, Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole, William Aila Jr., Pualani Kanaka'ole KanaheleHui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei
PROPERTY TAX
INCREASE EXEMPTION AS HOME VALUE RISES
Most homeowners complain when the latest assessed valuation increases their property tax. But how many complain about the increased value when they decide to sell? They smile all the way to the bank with the extra profit.
But it is fair if a progressive system of property tax assessment would include some credit as long as the person lives in that house.
Instead of a flat exemption for owner-occupied homes, I suggest a percentage that would increase the exemption as the values rise.
Vernon WongWaipahu
FUND SHARING
GOVERNOR COULD HELP EASE PROPERTY TAXES
The City Council and the mayor will never support lowering the property tax rate or increasing the homeowner exemption — they need the money to pay all of the city's costs. Remember, the state gets to keep all of the state income taxes, excise taxes, transient accommodations tax, parking meter and parking ticket money, etc., and it gives back only a small percentage of it to the city.
Our governor used to be the mayor of Maui, so she knows about this unfair balance of revenues and expenses. She really could be the one to take the lead and work with the the state Legislature to help the counties get a bigger piece of the pie of these funds.
I think our tax policy should, along with the things it already promotes, such as exemptions for advanced age and medical conditions, also promote:
So to promote these, we would give higher tax exemptions to those who fit under the above categories and increase taxes to those who own properties who don't.
Libby TomarKailua
PROPERTY TAX
MESSAGE TO POLITICIANS
What if all property owners on O'ahu appealed their property taxes? Do you think the mayor and City Council would get the message? If they don't, perhaps they will get the message at the next election.
Craig WoodKailua
YOU'VE BEEN MISLED
IF YOU DON'T LIKE TAX BILL, VOTE DIFFERENTLY
I'm laughing to keep from crying. Like many citizens, I have just received my real property tax letter from the city.
Everyone is loudly protesting the excessive increase in property tax. Why? Why blame our elected officials? You put them there; they continue on a regular basis to financially rape you, and you go right back and re-elect them, over and over again.
Haven't you realized that the major political parties are, much like labor unions, special-interest groups? Unfortunately, neither of those parties has the best interest of the majority in mind. Each has its own agenda.
Want to make a change, vote for the person, not the party. You have been misled by your party. You have been lied to by your party. You have been financially raped by your party. No matter how hard you try, if you continue to do the same thing, you're going to get the same results.
John ShupeHonolulu
HEE, WATERS
WHY ARE LEGISLATORS MICROMANAGING UH?
I think there is something really suspicious in the problem between UH interim President David McClain and Sen. Clayton Hee and Rep. Tommy Waters.
Ordering a university president, via legislation, to transfer a position for an assistant professor of Hawaiian studies from UH-Manoa to the West O'ahu campus is the ultimate of micromanaging. Why on earth would the chairmen of the higher education committees be remotely interested in the location of a particular assistant professor? Is the professor a special friend of Waters or Hee?
This is an unacceptable invasion of the university's management, and with the "ordered" transfer being found unacceptable by the chancellors of both campuses involved, it is even more peculiar that they are persisting.
I think McClain should file a cease-and-desist order and a get a restraining order for harassment. He has done a remarkable job, and these two legislators are blatantly attempting to violate the intent of the autonomy legislation.
I hope there will be more information as to why this particular job is of so much importance to these two legislators.
Shirley HasenyagerKailua
WAIKIKI
STREET ACTOR CRACKDOWN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SAFETY
Philosophers define insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly, all the while expecting a different result. Bill 71, which is aimed at curbing street performances, has all the trappings of legislative dementia. We've already had this case before us. It was sternly ruled against. Why should we brook another bogus attempt at abridging the rights of street performers?
It is patently dishonest to clothe all this regulation under the guise of public safety. It has nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with protectionism of the Waikiki retail core. And I suggest that protecting this Waikiki retail core at the expense of our constitutional guarantees is not in the public's interest.
First, the concerns of Mike Peters, a Waikiki Neighborhood Board member, for safety and the ADA apparently only centers on four of the 80 blocks of Waikiki cityscape. So are we to infer that the other 76 blocks are OK to block pedestrians and endanger our tourists and locals? Curious how these four blocks correspond almost exactly with the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center and the Waikiki district's largest retail nexus.
And it is curious how the City Council wants to ignore history, definitive judicial decision and obvious popularity to protect a very small cadre of business owners. Once again, the taxpayers of the community are being asked to subsidize Waikiki business owners. These owners pay a disproportionately smaller share of their infrastructure costs, yet wield obvious overbearing influence at City Hall.
I hope Councilman Charles Djou, the Waikiki Improvement Association and the supporters of this very odious Bill 71 have been able to secure a bond for their egregiously negligent actions here. Bill 71, if accepted and enforced, would cost us dearly.
And I, as a taxpayer and Waikiki denizen, do not feel I should have to share in the penalty that this would inexorably exact. These penalties and fines and litigation costs should be borne by those who have caused it: the very curious supporters of Bill 71.
Mayor Hannemann, please do not sign Bill 71 into law.
Clarence SilvaWaikiki
LIMIT VEHICLES, PARKING
MASS TRANSIT MUST ADDRESS CARS
Am I the only one to notice that whenever people discuss mass transit for O'ahu to resolve our traffic woes, they only discuss one-half of a possible solution and never talk about the other half of the problem?
The problem is simply that we have too many cars on the highway.
Proponents of mass transit hope that with this new transit system, our friends and neighbors will use this mode of transportation (which will then free up space on the highway for the rest of us). But along with their proposed alternative transit system, they never propose a solution to the basic problems of how to deal with these cars.
Let me suggest two:
Unless we are socially and politically willing to make these hard choices, our traffic jams will remain with us for the foreseeable future — come mass transit, mini transit or any transit.
Until we are ready to address this point, I would be totally against spending $3 billion for a fixed-rail system, as well as paying for its ensuing operating costs, which we will pay in increasing amounts through the years.
Meantime, in lieu of fixed rail, I would prefer investing in a fleet of additional buses, in different sizes, so we can service all the valleys and hills where we live. The zipper lane would be reserved for buses only — no cars.
Our efforts and moneys would be better served in expanding our "second city" in Kapolei, developing a University of Hawai'i campus in 'Ewa, and encouraging the further expansion of both Turtle Bay and Ko Olina, all of which will provide a larger base of employment in these areas and reverse the traffic flow into downtown Honolulu.
Until such time as we are prepared to address our automobile problem, we will never satisfactorily resolve our traffic problem.
S.H. TabataHonolulu
