Letters to the Editor
TEACHER
DOLLY TAKEUCHI, THIS RETIREMENT'S FOR YOU
After many decades of teaching in the Hawai'i public school system, my wife is finally retiring at the end of this month. Like many of her hard-working and dedicated peers, she has never received any awards or public recognition for her many years of exemplary service.
The last 36 years of her tenure has been as an elementary school teacher in the Kalihi district in Honolulu where the No Child Left Behind goal is very, very difficult to achieve.
My wife's career has always been dedicated foremost to the education of the children the state has entrusted to her care. I can truly say that she has done an outstanding job in this regard, not only in her classroom but at home where she has spent many, many hours doing countless things for the benefit of her students.
The approximately 1,000 students who have had the privilege of being assigned to her classrooms during her teaching career have all left much more learned, not only academically but also personally, because of her influence in their lives.
So, Dolly Takeuchi, without your knowledge or consent, I publicly recognize and applaud you and the many other similar "teachers in the trenches" for your many distinguished and dedicated years of service in the education of all of the children who have passed through your classrooms.
Walter Takeuchi'Aiea
FORBES CAVE
PERHAPS ARTIFACTS MEANT TO BE FOUND
Regarding the Forbes Cave Collection: Hawaiians in general, prior to 1778, had a far more sophisticated and comprehensive worldview than did the small but influential early missionaries. The latter's challenging views were based on a strict education that while sincere and soul-wrenching, was narrow rather than global.
It may be assumed that sometime, presumably after 1820, these objects (and probably many more) were to be destroyed. One can easily conjecture that a small, concerned group, likely kahuna, deliberately secreted them away and hoped that in time they would be indeed discovered and provide documentary evidence to the vibrant, creative, holistic and unique way of Hawaiian life that was fast slipping away.
Cultural objects may be regarded by some as mute, but in fact they do indeed provide eloquent testimony. Perhaps we now are slowly starting to learn how to "listen" to them. Imagine the public outcry if they were "written" documents not yet translated.
We all, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian, should be thankful that these objects exist — vital fragments of history from which all may learn from. Mana does not disappear and mana is renewable.
John Cotton WrightKailua
BLAME HARRIS
MAYOR HANNEMANN'S FIRST YEAR A DISASTER
Now that the year is coming to a close, I thought it would be a good time to review Mayor Hannemann's first year in office:
He will gladly tell you all this is the previous mayor's fault.
Mahalo, Mayor, on a great first year.
Skip RudolfKapolei
MAINLAND
O'AHU PROPERTY TAX IS COMPARATIVELY LOW
This won't be a popular view, but our real property taxes are low. I have owned homes on O'ahu since 1974, and my recent assessment just went up 25 percent after going up 33 percent the year before.
I have owned homes in Colorado and Virginia. The tax rate on O'ahu is about 25 percent of the rate in Arlington, Va. Right across the Potomac River in Montgomery County, Md., the rates are even higher. I should mention that the median home prices in Arlington and Montgomery counties are about $600,000. To make it simple, if you owned a $600,000 home in one of those counties, your tax would be the same as someone owning a $2.4 million home on O'ahu.
For homeowners on O'ahu over age 62 who are "house-rich" and "cash-poor," I suggest taking out a reverse mortgage to increase their income to pay taxes and even enjoy life a bit more.
Robert EdmondHonolulu
WINDFALLS
DOUBLE PROPERTY TAX IS COMING TOO QUICKLY
I thank Jim Scofield for calling attention to the city's property tax windfalls over the past five years (Letters Dec. 27), but his calculus is too generous to the bad guys.
He says that increases of 10 percent per year would spread a doubling of taxes over 10 years. In fact, a 10 percent interest rate would cause a doubling in just over seven years. An interest rate of just over 7 percent would double in 10 years.
The so-called Rule of 72 is a guide to how this works. Divide 72 by an interest rate, and the answer will be how many years it takes to double. At 6 percent, doubling occurs in about 12 years. At 8 percent, doubling occurs in nine years. It also tells us that at 36 percent, doubling occurs in about two years (actually closer to 1.8 years).
C'mon guys. For us long-time owner-occupants, let's push for an above-the-inflation-rate increase of no more than 4 percent to hold the doubling time to 18 years. Let the fat cats fatten their "rainy-day" funds at the expense of real estate speculators who are reaping the big bucks.
Victor MeyersKailua
KAILUA, LANIKAI
GILL NETTING DESTROYING MANY FISH POPULATIONS
I began pole fishing for papio in the waters off Kailua as a young boy. Kailua Bay used to be teeming with o'ama, papio, kumu, moi, o'io and other great fish to catch and eat.
There used to be thousands of o'ama (juvenile weke) in Kailua Bay to catch in July and August months, but now the once-huge schools show up only as tiny pockets or, like last summer, they were all gone.
Most evenings you can see crews of fishermen arrive to park their cars and lay their miles of nets just offshore Kailua and Lanikai. They leave their lay nets out all night (knowing that the DLNR is understaffed and unable to enforce the four-hour time limit), and they indiscriminately rape the local waters of whatever swims by (including the egg-bearing weke).
We residents here see these fishermen haul their dead catches in the morning regularly and toss out half of their "junk fish catch."
All reasonable water people in Hawai'i know that gill nets are decimating our fish populations and are devastating to our ecosystem. Today, the waters off Kailua and Lanikai hold a tiny fraction of the fish that were here just 20 or, worse, 10 years ago. Today, when I troll for papio on my kayak, I feel lucky to even get a strike.
Please voice your opinion to Gov. Lingle and the DLNR and ask them to ban all gill netting and save what's left of our fish populations.
Patrick HolzmanLanikai
DANGEROUS
KANE'OHE CROSSWALK SHOULD BE REMOVED
I was saddened to hear that a pedestrian was struck and killed while crossing Kam Highway in Kane'ohe near Star market. This is not the first time someone has been been killed while crossing in this particular crosswalk.
I do not know the specifics of the accident and whether the car was speeding; however, this is a very dangerous spot to have a crosswalk. It is on a five-lane highway that includes a center turning lane. It is a very busy area because there are some six driveways in the immediate area that cars turn in and out of.
There are two other crosswalks on both sides of this one, and these crosswalks are at traffic signals. If this deadly, marked crosswalk were eliminated, then it would compel most pedestrians to use either of the safer crosswalks at the traffic signals.
Pam MoriKane'ohe
GOVERNMENT
CONCON IS NEEDED TO ADDRESS OUR PROBLEMS
The abiding, overpowering issue for the public and the Legislature to face up to is the proper role of government.
The fact that you say that the "surplus" is an issue to deal with pretty much says it all.
Our ancestors created government to serve them as individuals. Instead, it now serves itself as a way to buy votes and corrupt free, honest elections.
In the process, some individuals are harmed, willy-nilly, to benefit the favored. Then the situation is reversed and the favored become the picked-upon.
All this is very confusing and getting more and more complicated. If this issue is not resolved, the obvious result is any surplus is "needed" for essential "services" and any shortfall is responded to by a tax increase.
The end result? Tyranny.
To give a concrete example, the state government future retirement requirements, not now listed as a liability on state government books, will eventually fail. Having the future obligations on the books would make the problems harder to ignore and create a demand for solutions.
So, two major issues:
The single solution? Let's go with a Constitutional Convention, which can address problems and other issues in a public forum and get them resolved.
Richard RowlandPresident, Grassroot Institute of Hawai'i
TUNNEL, OVERPASS
'EWA ROADWAY CLAIMS UNWARRANTED
The state Department of Transportation would like to clarify and correct Mr. Tom Berg’s claims in his Dec. 15 letter to the editor criticizing the state’s transportation initiatives in 'Ewa:
The U.S. Navy and Air Force have both publicly stated that they would not support or allow a public road through their military installations for security reasons.
In addition, the proposed tunnel, estimated to cost between $3 billion and $6 billion, is currently not on the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Regional Transportation Plan for O'ahu transportation list, meaning it will not be eligible for federal funding.
The overpass along North-South Road. Rep. Cabanilla and Mr. Berg continue to demand that a North-South Road overpass be constructed over Farrington Highway in 'Ewa, instead of placing a traffic signal at that intersection. In analyzing an overpass concept at this intersection, the DOT determined that the proposed overpass would be too close to the planned interchange at H-1 and that safety of the motoring public would be compromised.
$4.1 million in state Highway Fund money to connect Kamokila Boulevard with Roosevelt Avenue: Both the governor and the DOT have explained to Mr. Berg that state law prohibits the use of state highway funds for purposes other than the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of our state highway system and that expenditures for anything else would be inappropriate and not permissible.
The state DOT also continues with work on the long-awaited North-South Road, which will provide another road into and out of the 'Ewa region.
Design work also is scheduled for completion next year on a new Kapolei Complex Interchange to provide residents of Kapolei with another alternative to access the H-1 Freeway.
Spokesman, state Department of Transportation
