YARD EQUIPMENT

MR. MAYOR, PLEASE RID US OF OTHER NOISE BLIGHT

Now that Mayor Mufi Hannemann has eliminated ring tones from buses, perhaps he can take a long and hard look at another sonic blight that many communities across the country have already eliminated: the gas-powered leaf blower and weed whacker.

I'm sure my neighborhood is not the only one suffering from the audio equivalent of "the perfect storm" every weekend.

Come on, mayor, go for it.

PROPERTY VALUES

SECOND-HOME OWNERS NEED TAX RELIEF, TOO

There has been much talk about offering owner-occupied property tax relief.

What about the second-home owner who neither rents nor flips property? We are being taxed at investor rates.

We returned to the Islands in 2003 and purchased a condo for the sole purpose of vacationing in this beautiful paradise. We, as well as others in this classification, spend our money here for property taxes, increased gasoline taxes, excise taxes, electric and phone bills, groceries, theater productions, transportation, restaurant meals, air fares to and from the Islands, and other spending, thus boosting the Hawai'i economy, perhaps even more so than the owner-occupied homeowners.

We are not here to rent nor flip our property, and are not included in the homeowners exemption, yet we help support the Hawai'i economy. This category should be considered for property tax relief.

MILILANI TOWNHOUSE WENT UP BY $100,000

We relocated from Kaua'i a little over a year ago. We bought a townhouse in Mililani, but it was too late to file for the senior citizen property exemption for 2006.

We have owned our townhouse since October 2005, and have not made any physical improvements to it. Why has the assessed value increased by $100,000? An owner-occupant tax break like we had on Kaua'i would help us tremendously. We are both senior citizens and on a fixed income.

By the way, we don't plan on moving again.

2007

SIERRA CLUB OFFERS RESOLUTIONS FOR MAYOR

I'm happy to help the mayor cross one of his 2007 resolutions off his list early: The Sierra Club supports a comprehensive mass transit system to provide an attractive alternative to automobile use on this island.

Now that that's out of the way, we're happy to help the mayor tackle some of his other resolutions to make Honolulu a great city.

First, implementing true curbside recycling of glass, plastic, metal, paper and cardboard is the single best way to address O'ahu's solid-waste crunch. This, in fact, is now law, with more than 80 percent of voters supporting the curbside amendment to the City Charter last election.

Second, settling the ongoing sewage litigation by the Sierra Club and other citizen groups would help to end the city's near-routine spills of raw sewage that occur every time we get heavy rain and to prevent future catastrophic spills like the one that closed Waikiki Beach last spring.

Finally, it's great to hear that the mayor will be back on a bike. We all benefit with every additional bicycle on the road. But, safety first. We have quite a ways to go to make this island less dangerous for biking and walking.

Fortunately, voters overwhelmingly supported a Charter amendment to make it a priority that O'ahu become bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. We look forward to working with the mayor and the council to put this amendment to work and make our streets safe for all — from keiki to kupuna — to ride and walk.

With these resolutions complete, every O'ahu resident will want to join the mayor in song.

MILITARY JUSTICE

WATADA DEFENSE SHOWS IGNORANCE OF SYSTEM

A Jan. 3 Advertiser article accomplished something I thought was impossible: It made me feel sorry for 1st Lt. Ehren Watada.

It made me feel sorry because Lt. Watada is being poorly served by his defense counsel, Eric Seitz, and may get the maximum sentence.

So far, the defense of Lt. Watada consists of: The war is illegal. Everybody else did it, too. The Army is picking on my client. And my favorite, "Missing movement is like not going to work."

These statements reveal a profound ignorance of the military justice system that does not bode well for Mr. Seitz's client.

Mr. Seitz must realize several things. The court-martial board is not going to make a ruling on the legality of the war; it is going to make a ruling on the specific allegations against Lt. Watada.

The officers who typically make up a court-martial board have made many deployments without missing movement and have faced the duty that Watada is accused of shirking. They will not be sympathetic to the defense's arguments.

Watada's best defense may be to acknowledge his acts and convince the court that he had a crisis of conscience that was manipulated for political purposes by a group that, sadly, appears to include his own father.

It is the duty of counsel to make the best possible defense of his client. If Mr. Seitz is unwilling to make Lt. Watada's interests (like not going to jail for six years and being a convicted felon) his top priority, he is doing his client an injustice.

IRAQ

TELL ELECTED OFFICIALS TO BRING TROOPS HOME

More than 3,000 American service members are dead, more than 20,000 have been wounded and more than 600,000 civilians have been killed since we invaded Iraq.

We won the war against Iraq in April 2003. We have lost the majority of our people trying in vain to occupy this Middle Eastern country.

Our stated intention of trying to bring democracy to the entire Middle East sounds great, until history is reviewed. The people of the Middle East are quite familiar with occupations by foreign troops. Many Western powers have tried to occupy the region, and all have failed.

Occupations of foreign lands are not just a matter of military might and fancy technology; occupations are about negotiating political and economic solutions to the regional mess that we find ourselves in.

Contact your elected officials and demand that they cut off funds for the occupation of Iraq, and bring our troops and contractors home now.

GOVERNMENT

SURPLUS SHOULD BE USED TO PAY OFF STATE'S DEBT

I'm surprised that the state's financial surplus will not be used to pay off the state's debt.

Instead, the plan apparently is to return the money to not only poor taxpayers, but also to some middle-income people. Accomplishing this refund will be a substantial and nonproductive use of taxpayer money to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It seems reasonable that the surplus funds be used to pay off some of the state's indebtedness. This would save the taxpayers considerable interest, which we are now paying for servicing our bonds. It's a win-win situation.

Instead of wasting money in labor, materials and postage, we would be using it to further reduce our indebtedness.

We cannot borrow money forever. It's time to pay the piper.

TRANSIT

RAIL SHOULD HAVE BEEN VOTED ON BY THE PUBLIC

Would it not have been wise to put the issue of a 10-year rail plan that will cost billions of dollars to a referendum before approving such a plan?

Would most potential users still opt for the convenience of using their own vehicles rather than having to figure out how to get from their stops on the rail to their workplaces and back?

Perhaps we should try using more express buses to see if there are many more potential customers who would choose to use public transportation before we proceed with a rail plan on our small island.

There are other solutions to relieving our traffic problems other than a public rail system, let the people vote on the many choices, all clearly presented to them with both the pros and cons!

Rail mania seems to be on a roll, blinding our leaders. Let the people decide.

CHAIRWOMAN

MARSHALL A SMART CHOICE FOR COUNCIL JOB

Please add my congratulations to Barbara Marshall as the new chairwoman of the City Council.

I've known her since our days together at KHON-TV, and had the pleasure of working with her during my tenure with the Jeremy Harris administration.

She is a prime example of "what you see is what you get." She is tough, absolutely fair, objective and the hardest-working public representative I know. Ms. Marshall does her homework and does not suffer fools easily. To top it off, she's an extremely decent person who is guided by common sense and not ego.

I can't think of a better choice and wish her the best.

A SPECIAL AMERICAN

PRESIDENT FORD MADE UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION

The funeral for former President Gerald Ford reflected the service of a very special American — a common man called to a crucial role in American history.

Our thanks are due to the Ford family and all those who participated in recognizing the unique contribution of President Ford to the well-being of our country.

We will miss him.

TRAFFIC SAFETY

TOO MANY BUS DRIVERS ARE RUNNING RED LIGHTS

I have always been a believer in TheBus, and in the skilled and mostly cheerful operators of Honolulu's go-to mass transit vehicles.

I believe in giving way to a bus in traffic, in making room for 50 or 100 of my fellow citizens to go first, in order for them to get where they want to go in a timely manner.

Recently however, certain bus drivers — the number seems to be growing, as the phenomenon has now become a daily occurrence — have begun to knowingly and aggressively run red lights. In this they are simply mimicking many of the homicidal drivers around them — but this cannot be their excuse. Bus drivers are licensed to carry passengers on a public conveyance — the safety of those passengers (and the pedestrians and motorists the bus encounters on its route) is the priority. This puts the drivers in a class by themselves, as holders of the public's trust.

The city runs on aloha and on the trust we have in the predictable and rational behavior of those around us, in an increasingly crowded setting. Bus drivers are role models of this trust.