ALOHA AIR

A LIFETIME OF LABOR FOR LOST PENSION?

I worked for Aloha Airlines for 37 years. During that time, I had almost perfect attendance. Even when I moved to the Big Island, I continued to commute daily to Honolulu to work until I had a stroke and was disabled. I had just purchased a home here and was not concerned about mortgage payments because I knew that I would have the pension coming.

I honored my commitments to Aloha Air for 37 years. I hope it honors its commitment to loyal employees.

$52 MILLION

TAXPAYERS FOOTING BILL FOR DOT'S IGNORANCE

Our Department of Transportation rivals the "Great Train Robbery"! The Oct. 7 headline "State to pay $52M for polluting waters" should instead read "Hawai'i residents to pay $52M for DOT incompetence."

Add this to the long list of issues such as the bottle scam, DOE, police radios, highway neglect, hurricane insurance and on and on. If heads don't roll over this one, then this Third World state is just asking to continue at the bottom of every list of social achievements generated by the "quality of life" survey pundits in the country.

SPECIES ACT

ABERCROMBIE VOTED WELL FOR LANDOWNERS

I don't think it is right to attack U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie for voting to compensate property owners when the government takes their land to protect endangered species.

Compensation is the single most contentious issue in the recently passed Endangered Species Act. As the law stands now, you receive no payment if your property is designated a "critical habitat" for an endangered species, even though you effectively lose control over it. That's unfair and it's just plain wrong.

The overwhelming majority of property owners are more than willing to do their share in protecting the environment. They just want fair compensation for their property, which, in many cases, represents a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice.

Mahalo, Neil, for having the courage to do the right thing.

MICHELLE WIE

SONY SHOULD CHANGE 'WEGA' TO 'WIEGA'

Now that Michelle Wie has decided to turn pro and has accepted a sponsorship from both Nike and Sony, she will be wearing the Nike "swoosh" trademark, but what will she do for Sony? I suggest they change their television brand to "Wiega" in place of "Wega."

GRIDLOCK

EAST HONOLULU NEEDS A BREAK FROM RACES

Isn't it time to give East Honolulu a break? Sunday's triathlon was the second of three major sports events this fall that will disrupt our traffic significantly. Don't the sponsors of the Honolulu Century Bike ride, the International Triathlon Union JAL Honolulu World Championships and the Honolulu Marathon realize that with all the new homes and traffic in Hawai'i Kai, the impact of their events on the residents of East Honolulu is tremendous?

Sunday's triathlon brought Hawai'i Kai to gridlock. It took us more than 30 minutes to drive from Koko Marina to our home by Kamiloiki School. Some folks couldn't even get home; they were blocked from crossing the intersection of Hawai'i Kai Drive and Lunalilo Home Road. Quoting the HPD officer directing traffic by my home: "This is terrible!"

Yes, we were warned. And yes, the sponsors will tell us how important these events are to our economy. But what about the economic losses that several hours of gridlock have on our businesses and our lives? I admire the athletes who participate in these events; I just wish the sponsors would take them elsewhere on O'ahu!

HAWAI'I KAI

ARMY BARRACKS DON'T COMPARE TO 'PENINSULA'

In response to Kate McIntyre's letter ("Stop despoilment of Hawai'i Kai land," Oct. 1), nothing could be further from the truth. How dare she compare the "Peninsula" section to an Army barracks. As a retired infantry officer who's lived in Army housing, I can assure her that the two have no resemblance whatsoever.

The architecture has more character and amenities than any barracks I've ever lived in. Early in 1958, in what was heralded as a revitalizing "slum clearance" initiative, bulldozers began tearing through one of Boston's oldest tenement districts.

The West End — a bustling urban neighborhood of brick apartment buildings lived in by generations of immigrants — was reduced to rubble, making way for bland, new housing developments. Boston's demolition of the West End under the banner of urban renewal has come to be seen as a textbook example of city planning run amok. Ironically, those same old buildings are today being refurbished as that neighborhood becomes gentrified.

Now that McIntyre owns a piece of paradise, she's not willing to share it with other newcomers. If NIMBYs like her had their way, we'd all be living in old, overpriced, single-wall homes.

UH FOOTBALL

ENDING FREE GAMES ON TV IS 'NO CLASS AT ALL'

University of Hawai'i football fans on the Neighbor Islands were fortunate to watch home games live on K5 until this year when everything shifted to pay-per-view. I enjoyed listening to Bobby Curran and Robert Kekaula calling the games live on the radio. I believe taking away the free live games on TV from fans who live on the Big Island and other Neighbor Islands is absolutely NCAA — "No Class At All."

If we could, we would be there in the stands, cheering for the UH Warriors.

'EWA BEACH

NEEDS IGNORED FOR ROAD-WIDENING PROJECT

It's unfortunate that in one of the fastest-growing communities in the state with the greatest need for road building our needs are being ignored. The widening of Fort Weaver Road into 'Ewa Beach from four to six lanes has been discussed for at least eight years and finally started last year, resulting in widening to three lanes in the St. Francis hospital area this year.

Now the project has come to a stop, three miles short of completion. The Department of Transportation says the designer of the new roadway went bankrupt, leaving phase two from Laulaunui Street to Geiger Road (three miles) required to be placed out for new bids and delaying the project by more than 18 months.

How is it that DOT can level an entire mountain in Kailua, retile the Wilson tunnel and add a mile to the zipper lane in less than eight months while the people in 'Ewa Beach can't see their much-needed project even re-started for two years?

Our 'Ewa representative, Rida Cabanilla, and Sen. Willie Espero have been pushing for a tunnel under Pearl Harbor; how can they ask for a pie in the sky when they can't even get a simple road-widening project completed?

I ask Gov. Linda Lingle and DOT Director Rod Haraga to expedite the widening of Fort Weaver Road. If they can build the Golden Gate Bridge in four-and-a-half years, why can't we get a simple road widened in under five years?

CYCLE OF INCARCERATION DEMANDS ALTERNATIVES

Recent letters criticizing Kevin Dayton's articles on prisons miss the point. We, as taxpayers, already foot the bill for incarceration.

Each year, the budget for the Department of Public Safety keeps exploding. The state spends approximately $34,000 annually to incarcerate a person. (Imagine that is roughly four times the amount we spend to educate a child annually in our public schools). Yet, recidivism rates in Hawai'i ranging from 52 percent to 80 percent have not decreased.

This "lock 'em up" approach demonstrates that warehousing human beings in prison without job training, education, substance abuse and mental-health treatment is not only costly, but ineffective.

I would prefer that my tax dollars be spent on rehabilitation programs. The men and women who are incarcerated are still members of our community. Yes, they need to accept responsibility for their crimes and the harm that they have caused to their victims, as well as their 'ohana and themselves. At the same time, our community must demand more substance-abuse treatment and programs like Maui Economic Opportunity's BEST (Being Empowered and Safe Together) Reintegration Program that provides transitional support services for prisoners to succeed upon their release home.

The BEST program also has plans to replicate Delancey Street, a program in San Francisco that has helped thousands of prisoners turn their lives around. Why not have BEST programs on every island? We must not ignore the fact that keiki whose parents are incarcerated are six times more likely to end up in prison.

If we want to promote public safety and stop the generational cycle of incarceration, we must provide more alternatives to prison. Otherwise, our entire community will continue to pay the price of costly and ineffective incarceration.

ELECTRICITY

ARE WE READY TO GO NUCLEAR?

The Economist magazine recently reported that The Environmental Defense Fund and The World Resources Institute now talk favorably about nuclear power as one way of slowing global warming. That is because nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide; they emit only water vapor.

Would nuclear power not make sense in Hawai'i? Not only would it reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it would also reduce other noxious smokestack emissions; it would eliminate the possibility of power shortages due to shipping interruptions, oil embargoes and oil shortages; and it would end our status as hostages to the ever-increasing price of oil.

When Hawaiian Electric recently announced its long-delayed new generating plant, it seemed to automatically assume it would be another oil/coal powered plant, with no mention of nuclear power.

This is surprising, since 20 percent of the electric power generated in the U.S. today is nuclear.

According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, nuclear power plants are currently running safely in 31 states. Worldwide, 31 countries have nuclear plants. Even conservative, hidebound France gets 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear. China already has nine plants and is planning 30 more. Environmentally green Finland just started work on a new plant.

So why not in Hawai'i?

Our market is big enough to support a nuclear plant. Hawaiian Electric's Waiau plant has a capacity of 499 megawatts, almost exactly the size of Vermont's 506-megawatt nuclear plant. And some of the cheapest electric power in the U.S. is now being produced in nuclear plants, while rates on O'ahu are the highest in the country.

While nuclear power has disadvantages, escalating prices is not one of them. And once the fuel rods are installed, the plant runs for years without refueling.
So what are the disadvantages of nuclear power?

First there is the risk of a radioactive accident, as at Three Mile Island many years ago. But here in Honolulu, we are already close to several nuclear reactors. At any given time, Pearl Harbor is home to several nuclear submarines, which have presented no problems.

Then there is the cost differential in building nuclear. Initial construction costs for nuclear are about twice that for a coal plant and probably about the same premium to an oil plant. But once those costs are amortized, nuclear produces power at one-third to one-half the cost.

Finally, there is the nuclear waste disposal problem. But the federal government has no choice but to succeed in its nearly completed efforts at a storage site under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Nuclear plants include costs of this disposal in their operations.

Given our isolation here in the middle of the Pacific, and the stranglehold that oil suppliers have over our entire economy, it is about time that we at least consider this realistic alternative to our near-total dependence on carbon fuels for our energy supply.