TRAFFIC

'SLUGGING' ISN'T ANSWER; FOCUS ON DEVELOPERS

To answer the question "Can we be slugs, too?" (Letters, Sept. 15), I would have to say that the method outlined in the letter is one way to survive the traffic dilemma in the D.C. Beltway, but do not be misled into thinking it a good, overall solution.

Having just left that area, I can tell you that even with their extensive Metro system, bus lines and, I suppose, "slugging," the D.C. metropolitan area has one of the worst traffic-congestion problems in the country. The joke there is that one day people will leave their driveways and be immediately stuck in gridlock, and I can vouch that they are not far from it.

The way to solve traffic is to not overdevelop an area where the road system (and, ultimately, school system, too) cannot sustain the population. There has to be balance and responsibility involved with planning communities and not just profits for an elite minority of developers.

Here's my question now: Any chance we'll see balanced and responsible decisions coming from our leaders and representatives?

AIRPORTS

TRAVELING WARRIORS SHOULD CLEAN UP ACT

On a recent trip to Chicago, I noticed the UH football team going up to Michigan. I was excited to see all the players in their warm-ups.

Actually, I was proud to see that they also had a support staff that accompanied them through the TSA area. When we arrived at the gate, I noticed that a few of the players were milling around the waiting area and not really sitting as a team or group. That didn't bother me at the time, but when it was time to stow the bags and get our flight off, I noticed that they were not paying attention to the flight attendants who were encouraging all the passengers to sit down and take a seat so all could be accounted for. I was really annoyed at the coaching staff for not sitting down and cooperating with the flight crew, too.

Coming back home, I had the team on my flight again. This time, they were in the boarding area but were "hogging" all the seats.

I noticed some older passengers standing right next to them, and they didn't even move over to share one of the two seats they were occupying.

As I was entering the corridor, I looked back to see all the empty bottles of Gatorade and water left behind by the players. It was also noticed by some of the other passengers who were going to visit the islands.

Is this how we represent our state? Come on, boys, you can do a better job when you're away and wearing your UH warm-ups. Coaches, you too need to support the effort.

KATRINA COSTS

RAISING TAXES WOULD HAVE OPPOSITE EFFECT

Regarding your Sept. 15 editorial "Restore tax-cut funds to pay Katrina costs": Raise taxes again? What a wonderful idea! Just as the average citizen is reeling from skyrocketing energy prices, you proposed to raise taxes. A move guaranteed to stagger the economy, and slow (or better yet, reverse) job growth and consumer spending.

With all the displaced people, we need more new jobs, not fewer. Bigger and permanent tax cuts are called for to generate the economy that can pay for the reintegration of New Orleans into our economy.

SPENDING

BLAME KATRINA, NOT GAS PRICES, FOR SLOWDOWN

I read with interest Dan Nakaso's intriguing article of Sept. 14 about the challenge businesses have been experiencing recently regarding fewer customers ("Gas prices curb customers, some say"). He quoted several individuals from varying businesses, many of them speculating that their decrease in business was likely due to the rising gas prices.

I was surprised that no one raised the thought that part of the lull in business might be related to Hurricane Katrina.

Most people have been glued to their TV sets for the past couple of weeks watching the devastation unroll before their eyes. This alone could have caused a noticeable drop in business.

Also, some individuals have donated disproportionately large sums to Katrina relief, leaving fewer funds for discretionary spending.

And, even those who have not donated to the cause may feel somewhat chastened by what they are viewing on TV, resulting in their being less likely to spend money on themselves when they are witnessing such desolation and distress on the part of the hurricane victims.

I believe that all three of these Katrina-related variables could have caused as much of a decrease in business activity as the rise in gas prices.

OUTSIDERS

VACATION RENTAL HAS SPOILED NEIGHBORHOOD

Anyone who owns a home or condo should be concerned about the number of vacation rentals and B&Bs in our neighborhoods. Many of the homes are being purchased by investors.

We live on a lovely residential street in Hawai'i Kai. Last year a house on our block was purchased. As future neighbors, we tolerated six to seven months of noise from hell. They worked seven days a week, nine to 10 hours a day. We had as many as 10 pickup trucks parked on our street. Again, we wanted to be neighborly and not complain. However, the truth is, the property was purchased by buyers in California. They have a Web site and advertise for $800 a day. That's quite a profit.

We have a lot of young children and have had to experience strangers in the neighborhood, extra cars, extra traffic, people blowing their horns, and worst of all, a man dying. On that day, we experienced police cars, a fire truck, coroner's car and people running in and out of the house.

The city administration must enforce the laws and protect our local neighborhoods.

TOUCHED

KATRINA VICTIMS ARE LIFTED IN OUR PRAYERS

Hurricane Katrina, which devastated Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, has touched everyone — including us here in Halawa prison.

I know I can speak for a lot of the brothers in prison to say that our thoughts and prayers are with those who are affected by Katrina. We stand shoulder to shoulder with you as we remember you in our prayers and fasting.

SAP DANGER

HERE'S HOW TO HANDLE MANGOES PROPERLY

The Sept. 1 letter from Carianne Abara regarding mango sap contained a surprise for me. Not because of mango sap. I have known the danger of mango sap for over 30 years. What surprised me was that her doctor did not know how to treat it.

Over 30 years ago, I made the mistake of slicing the flesh of a mango half into cubes, inverting the skin to expose the cubed flesh, and eating the cubes. Inverting the skin causes sap in the skin to go into the mango flesh. I broke out with pustules that itched terribly. Carianne called the pustules hives, which may not be medically correct.

On the second day, I went to my doctor. He immediately recognized the problem and gave me an antidotal injection. The pustules subsided and the itching was gone in about three hours. The doctor told me that mango is related to poison ivy and poison oak. The sap in mango contains the same irritant. The "poison" cannot kill anyone, but it can make a person miserable for a couple of weeks if not treated with an antidote.

I have a mango tree and allow friends to take all the fruit they want. After I handle the fruits or any other parts of the tree, I wash up thoroughly. When fruits are picked, sap will run from the picked end. It is best to wash the sap away under running water. Any drop of sap that gets on the skin must be removed under running water immediately. Mango can be prepared safely by slicing the skin away, then slicing the flesh away from the seed.

POLICE BEAT

CAREFUL WITH HOMELESS

In reading the Police Beat posted on the online edition of Sept. 15, I noted that the paper used the term "homeless man" to identify two suspects in two separate briefs. In at least one of the two instances, being homeless did not appear relevant to the alleged crime (i.e. second-degree forgery). Using the headline "Homeless man arrested in Pearlridge" certainly attracts attention but at the expense of perpetuating the public's fear and discrimination against individuals who are homeless.

IT’S NOT NICE TO TAMPER WITH THE FREE-MARKET PLACE

A wonderful thing happened. There were no lines at the Alakawa Costco Gas Station. What an amazing thing the gas cap has created. Suddenly, there’s all the gas you want at a price you’d be a fool to pay.

The wonderful thing about a free-market society is that it brings buyers and sellers together and, as the economist Adam Smith said in 1776, “Let trade be free; and the Unseen Hand of Providence will ensure that men who are admittedly seeking only their own interests, succeed as well in advancing the interests of others.”

In other words, the unseen hand sets the price of a commodity based on supply and demand.

In Hawai‘i, however, that hand is seen and it’s published on the Internet by the state Public Utilities Commission. By noon Wednesday, anyone who listened to the news was aware that gasoline would be 50 cents a gallon cheaper today. Who in his right mind would buy any product, unless it was absolutely essential, when he knows it will be substantially cheaper in a few days?

Let’s carry the absurdity of the Legislature’s gasoline cap just a little further and apply it to the stock market. Suppose I want to buy 1,000 shares of Google stock for my aged aunt and today’s price is $300 per share. How many buyers do you think there’d be if the Public Utilities Commission told me that Google could sell for no more than $250 on Wednesday?

The marketplace is a wonderful thing. In 1917, the Russian Revolution attempted a grand social experiment to replace the market economy with a state-ordered economy. We need only look to the situation the former Soviet Union was in or North Korea is in today to see the results of attempting to control prices and allocate resources by fiat.
We may not always like Chevron and Tesoro and we may think that they’re taking advantage of a bad situation, but, like Matson, both refineries are there for us through the good times and the lean times. On an island, we need that kind of dedication, perseverance and loyalty.

Let’s end this charade before Chevron and Tesoro’s unseen stockholders move the refineries to states where there are no price controls.

HAWAI'I: CATCH A WAVE ENERGY

I recently attended the 6th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference in Scotland, an international gathering of scientists and government and industry leaders involved in the field of wave- and tidal-delivered energy.

I presented a proclamation from Gov. Linda Lingle, expressing her commitment to move Hawai'i to the use of 20 percent renewable energy for power by 2020. And I invited scientists and engineers to consider Hawai'i for their wave-energy projects, noting what they knew already, that Hawaiçi has one of the best, most energetic and most consistent wave climates in the world.

Wave energy could provide all of the needed power for the Neighbor Islands and approximately 80 percent of the power for O'ahu.

Our misguided dependence on fossil fuel is adding 16.6 percent to residents’ electric bills, due to the rising cost of oil (Advertiser, Aug. 25).

EPRI, the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., has identified Hawai'i as a leading site for wave-energy development. EPRI says coastal wave energy has nine to 10 times the energy provided by U.S. hydroelectric dams.

So what’s the holdup to harnessing energy from waves? HECO is reluctant to use this source because oil is easier. But once a wave project is developed and in place, it can provide power at 5 cents per kw. HECO’s cost to consumers on O'ahu is 17.6 cents per kw and on

Moloka'i, MECO’s cost is 28.8 cents per kw.

Some wave technology has matured and is hooked up to the grid. Ocean Power Delivery Ltd. in the Scottish Orkneys is providing power to 500 homes.

There are several wave energy efforts already moving ahead. They include Pelamis, a wave technology appropriate for our Islands, which is constructing three 750-kw wave machines, the initial phase of a 20-mg project in North Portugal.

Wave Dragon, developed in Denmark, is a slack-moored wave-energy converter, with 15,600 hours of experience. It won’t be long until it will provide electricity for 40,000 to 60,000 homes from seven units.

Ocean energy has the ability to turn on the lights for Hawaiçi within 10 years, much faster and with more natural power than wind. A small project should go on-line in December at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i. But we need more.

State tax credits exist for investment in non-fossil fuel energy, which is a qualified high-tech business. The federal energy bill includes ocean renewable-energy provisions. The framework is in place. It’s time that ratepayers insist HECO catch a wave.