RECYCLING

PUBLIC STILL HAS MANY QUESTIONS ON PROGRAM

This whole recycling program is just plain ignorant. Bad planning from A to Z.

First, we can recycle plastic bottles, but not the caps. Aren't they plastic too? Why can't we recycle them as well?

Second, what about all the water we waste rinsing out the containers? Aren't we supposed to be conserving water?

And where does the extra 1 cent we pay per container for recycling go?

I believe these questions are on everyone's mind and deserve a truthful answer.

HEADACHE

NEW PASSENGER POLICY CLOGGING ZIPPER LANE

As a frequent user of the zipper lane, I'm hoping the Department of Transportation will reconsider revising the two-passenger minimum back to three passengers.

It's frustrating to see regular lanes on the freeway moving quicker than those in the zip lane. And it remains clogged up until the split past Radford Drive.

I wonder why the DOT even created the Zipper Lane if this is the case? What's so special about it now? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's just another headache for those trying to vanpool or carpool.

HANG-UPS

WE TOOK TWO STEPS BACK WITH BOTTLE LAW

Since the state started the container recycling program, it has been an ultimate challenge to get our deposit back.

First the state started charging a fee before we could actually redeem our deposits. Now Reynolds Recycling is so unorganized, it is pathetic.

When I recently talked to a woman at Reynolds, I was told that its policy was $35 returned deposit per person per day. That very next day, Reynolds changed it to $35 per vehicle. I complained to the state Department of Health and also Reynolds and basically got nowhere.

The state gladly accepts the deposit money no matter how much it is. To get that money back takes an extreme effort by consumers. Who has 45 minutes to stand in line to get your $35?

Reynolds and the state need to expect that whatever goes out in a day will come back in a day. Meaning, if the stores sell 70,000 containers in a day, that should be the amount to expect coming back.

Recently, my neighbor took his brown beer bottles to recycle. He stood in line for an hour, only to be refused by the clerk, who said they couldn't accept brown bottles that day. How is a person to read an 8-by-11-inch sign all the way in front of the line when his main concern was to get in that long line?

'IOLANI PALACE

SEGREGATION RALLY RECALLS OTHER EVENTS

How very nice for Lahela Rice (Letters, Aug. 14) that she can feel "a surge of pride" while participating in a rally at 'Iolani Palace, which, when you break it down to basics, was to promote the segregation of people due to their race.

I can only imagine how really proud she might have felt had she also participated in very similar race-based mass demonstrations that took place in Germany during the 1930s and in the South in the 1950s. This said, I would love to ask Miss Rice if they teach her any other kind of "history" at her school other than Hawaiian.

SHIFT FOCUS

HAWAI'I WAR ON ICE ISN'T ON THE RIGHT TRACK

While your Aug. 21 headline declares "Hawai'i war on ice 'on the right track,' " most of those quoted from law enforcement, the community, social services and government apparently disagree.

After holding neighborhood meetings and receiving input from front-line experts and community members, the administration has yet to commit to the only realistic and effective approach to ice: treat it as a public health issue, and shift from judging and punishing to policies of harm reduction to save lives.

Both the "war on drugs" and the "war on ice" have failed, and the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i believes there are better options. At our annual dinner on Sept. 7, ex-undercover drug cop Jack Cole will outline one such option. After more than 25 years in law enforcement, Cole wants to legalize and regulate drugs, including amphetamines. He speaks for thousands of present and former law enforcement officials who have joined with him in Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. More information on Cole and the forum is at our Web site, www.dpfhi.org.

Instead of politicizing the problem and pursuing policies that will never work, it's time for breakthrough thinking to end the destruction of lives and wasteful spending of the "war on drugs." It's time to hear from people like Jack Cole so we can escape the trap that ineffective approaches to drug policy have laid for us as a community.

PLANNING

RAPID TRANSIT SHOULD ALSO BE IN THE MIX

Regarding mass-transit planning: Has rapid transit been considered? This is usually called a subway and examples abound, such as New York City and the San Francisco BART system.

A subway solves some critical problems such as right-of-way — it's a mix of underground, surface and elevated. It can be designed to touch each main urban center, have a local and an express track, and it can tie in with the existing local bus system.

The other thing that may be missing in all of the planning is a series of central transit stations such as one that would combine bus, transit and even ferry lines. Exit one line and board another, all using one gold pass, as in New York.

On the Big Island, a very innovative idea is in use and being expanded: free bus service. Ridership is way up, and efficiency is improved. The payback is in the increased jobs and shopping, developing the new tax revenues to fund the system. What's not to like about free? Tom Brown is the Hawai'i County administrator of this success.

MONSTROSITY

HOT LANES ARE NOT TRANSPORTATION ANSWER

Cliff Slater, Panos Prevedouros and the like will have a tough time convincing me buses and cars can carry as many if not more passengers than trains or tramways.

To even think that we could end up with High-Occupancy Toll lanes, some monstrosity of a double-decker carrying polluting buses and taxis, is almost comical when cities worldwide are getting rid of their elevated highways (Boston, Seoul to cite two).

Mass transit will never replace personal transportation, but it offers the perfect alternative at a fraction of the environmental and visual costs of any elevated HOT lanes.

I would like to see a tramway much like the tramway found in St. Denis, France. It carries close to 80,000 passengers daily along 43 miles of tracks and is integrated into the urban landscape.

LEEWARD

PROGRESS IS PAVING OVER OUR QUALITY OF LIFE

I live on the Leeward side, and what I am witnessing is progress at the expense of our lifestyle and quality of life. Let's see how many big concrete boxes we can squeeze into a city block. How many Wal-Marts do we need within a 5-mile radius?

In Waipio Gentry, a planned community where poorly zoned commercial land is invading residential areas, people who used to have a view of an open field and the Ko'olau mountains now have the view of a two-story storage unit facility.

We live on an island with limited land. We must walk a fine line between preserving our open spaces and progress; if not, we will be living on an inhabitable concrete slab.

People of O'ahu, make your city and state representatives accountable. These people who represent us seem to be making either poor or greedy decisions concerning land use and are forfeiting our island beauty for a buck.

SHAKA

YEP, IT WAS LIPPY

I agree with Donn Terada: Credit Lippy Espinda for the origin of the shaka.

You could get it firsthand from Lippy at his 76 station on the mauka-diamondhead corner of Kalakaua Avenue and Kapi'olani Boulevard.