EVACUATION

WE SHOULD USE BUSES, UNDERGROUND SHELTERS

O'ahu does not have enough shelters for its population and most of these are not built to survive hurricanes with winds above 105 mph. Many older houses on O'ahu will not survive a serious storm, so remaining at home might generate the need for major search-and-rescue efforts. Nor can we evacuate large numbers of people.

In the event of a major storm, we should plan to shelter people in the underground military tunnels built during World War II and the Cold War. City buses could gather people from assembly points and take them to designated shelters, which would have minimum facilities.

Only a predetermined number of buses would be dispatched to any one tunnel to avoid overcrowding. There would still be major post-storm relief challenges but aid should reach such concentrations of people faster than it would isolated individuals.

PROVIDE SHELTERS

RESIDENTS WON'T LEAVE THEIR PETS BEHIND

Currently there are no shelters that will accommodate pets. It is very evident from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that many, many people will not abandon their animals during a hurricane.

The majority of pet owners consider their pets members of the family, which they will not leave behind, as suggested by Civil Defense officials. By ignoring the need for these types of shelters the state will be contributing to the chaos and needless loss of life of individuals who will stay behind with their animals.

It is imperative that the state provide adequate shelters for individuals with animals. The community and Civil Defense officials need to get together now to address this situation and come up with a solution.

REALTORS

MEMBERS ALSO GIVE BACK TO COMMUNITY

As CEO of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, I read the Sept. 16 article "State targeting property brokers" with particular interest.

The public should be assured that the state's allegations against a handful of individuals do not reflect the Realtor community as a whole. Since becoming the CEO of the Honolulu Board of Realtors earlier this year, I have been impressed by the competency, fairness and integrity of our members.

This is a group of hard-working professionals who not only help make homeownership dreams come true but also consistently give back to the communities in which they work and live.

For example, earlier this year, real estate professionals helped put the finishing touches on a new home in Waimanalo as participants in Honolulu Habitat for Humanity's Build-A-Thon. In addition, in August, a group of Realtors from East O'ahu donated more than $5,500 worth of digital cameras and computer equipment to area schools.

Our Realtor members also take great strides to identify and eliminate practices that may hurt the public or discredit the real estate profession. Toward that end, the Honolulu Board of

Realtors encourages its members to become and remain informed on issues affecting real estate and, as knowledgeable professionals, to share their experiences with others.

MAINTENANCE

KALAELOA PRIDE FIELD ISN'T FULLY A CITY PARK

This is in response to the letter from Dong Mejia (Sept. 10), who is apparently criticizing the facilities at Kalaeloa (Barbers Point) Pride Field without having the proper facts.

Since October 2003, the city has had a year-to-year agreement with the Navy to use the field. The Parks Department knew at the time that the field, its comfort station and other structures were in poor condition because they had not had much maintenance for years, ever since it became likely that Barbers Point Naval Air Station would be closed.

However, the city obtained the agreement with the Navy in response to demands from the growing community for more ball fields in that area. Kalaeloa Pride Field offers four baseball fields for public use. It is still Navy property.

We understand a housing development is planned there. We cannot put major improvements in because the city doesn't own it and only has temporary use of it.

We are not staffed to maintain Pride Field at the level of a city-owned park. Our staff does what it can, and the eight groups that use it agreed to help us with the maintenance, and we are grateful for their volunteer hours in that regard.

We will continue working with them to keep the fields playable. We are also grateful to the Navy for letting us use the fields. Although not ideal, it's better than the alternative, which is having four fewer fields available for the public to use.

TAX LAWS

PRESSURE SHOULD BE, CAN ONLY BE ON LEGISLATURE

Could the paper at least show some consistency? Last week you were calling for President Bush to raise taxes, which, by the way, he can't do, according to the Constitution, and now you are asking the governor to drop the gasoline excise tax, which, in case you have forgotten, the governor can't do.

Put the pressure on the Legislature, where it rightfully belongs.

GRAFFITI VANDALS

NARROWLY DRAFTED LAW PROVIDES DETERRENCE

I agree with Lorenn Walker's opinion, "Prison for graffiti will make matters worse," Aug. 23, that the "three strikes" laws may result in unintended consequences and disproportionately harsh terms of incarceration.

However, contrary to her portrayal, I am confident that Act 187 of the 2005 Hawai'i Legislature, establishing the new crime of aggravated criminal property damage, was narrowly drafted so as to present neither of these risks nor unduly burden our corrections facilities.

Whereas "three strikes" does not distinguish between the types of crimes being punished, Act 187 is specifically limited and targeted to criminal property damage, which otherwise, singularly would result in only a misdemeanor punishable by not more than one year's incarceration.

Harsher punishment of repeat offenders is important because the data on graffiti vandals demonstrates that their conduct is not limited to solitary incidents, but instead, is seen as habitual offenses.

Well aware of the relative weakness of previous laws, graffiti "artists" have admitted to committing dozens of violations. Communities have come together and called for stronger laws and better enforcement to curb and minimize these visual blights.

Working with the Honolulu Police Department, the Legislature passed Act 187 because its purpose was to provide a real deterrence without unpredictable applications.

It seems there are so many fallouts from gas price cap

How many of you remember legislative attempts five years ago to require no-fault auto insurance be paid for at the pump? We could be paying $5 to $6 per gallon today.

The Democrats finally succeeded in interfering with the market with their gas cap. Now we can look forward to the following examples of potential consequences: