UH FOOTBALL

SUPPORT THE TEAM AT THE WAIKIKI PARADE

I was happy to read that fans in Hawai'i remain proud of our Warrior team. We felt that here in New Orleans, still holding our heads up through tears after the heartbreaking loss, remaining to the very end to cheer on June Jones, Colt Brennan, Tyler Graunke, and the whole team — our team.

They all brought us this far, all the way to the Sugar Bowl via an undefeated season.

And throughout the week, we showed our aloha and pride in the streets of "NOLA" clad in every UH outfit we brought with us (and added to our wardrobe from stores in New Orleans), and the impressive white-out at the Superdome. From the looks of things out on Canal Street, we continued to wear UH green and white with pride.

Everyone should come to the Parade of Champions in Waikiki on Jan. 20 to let the team know — we still believe!

HAWAI'I BOWL

EAST CAROLINA PIRATES PROUD TO PLAY IN ISLES

Good folks of the Hawai'i Bowl and Honolulu, thank you very much for inviting the East Carolina Pirates to your outstanding bowl. All the feedback from both players, coaches and ECU fans has been overwhelmingly positive. The entire Pirate Nation feels like we were fortunate to play in the best bowl available to CUSA, and that includes the Liberty Bowl.

I hope our team left a good impression with its behavior during the week and effort during the game. And I hope our fans left a good impression, both the ones in attendance and through our Tickets for the Troops effort.

We are proud to bring home the 2007 Hawai'i Bowl trophy, and the 2007 Hawai'i Bowl Champion T-shirts are already selling briskly!

MEDIA

TIME TO END THE USE OF THE TERM "MAINLAND"

Now is the time newspapers and other media encourage the public to make a resolution to improve their lives and impact the world in a positive way in the new year.

Well I would like to encourage The Advertiser and other media to make a significant difference for our Hawai'i in 2008 and beyond by making just one small change in the language you use to refer to our island home and its position in the world.

The change the media of Hawai'i need to make is to cease using the derogatory, anti-Hawaiian term "Mainland" to refer to the land mass to which Hawai'i is connected politically. It amazes me that you who create the public's frame of reference through the power of your pen fail to realize the damage you do to the psyches of all islanders through a reference which tells every Hawai'i child that he or she is inferior, because the land under one's feet is not the primary or main land that Americans across the Pacific live on. But to those of us who have a primary loyalty to these islands, we realize the only true "main land" is the one on which we were born and raised or have adopted, and which we call home.

I realize you will have trouble internalizing a change from a terminology you have used throughout your careers and have seen since birth. However, there is no better time than now to resolve to place Hawai'i on an equal footing with other Americans.

If you are looking for a term that better approximates the relationship between Hawai'i and the North American continent, you may wish to look to the United States' neighbors to the South who unanimously refer to the nation as "Norteamerica." North America sounds good to me. And good enough for us all.

SYMPHONY

LET'S LOOK AT THE FACTS ON CHANGE IN VENUE

Because of the immense pride Honolulu Hale has always taken in our superb Honolulu Symphony, we are distressed at the level of misunderstanding that has arisen in connection with "The Lion King"'s recent use of the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

When first approached by the Lion King producers, the city began discussions with symphony management on ways to minimize the impact of temporary relocation to other venues. Our efforts to help the symphony even included arranging a major six-figure cash compensation offer from "The Lion King," which the symphony management inexplicably declined.

The symphony's financial difficulties go back many years. And its recent well-publicized management problems also predate the "Lion King" visit.

The Hannemann administration has worked hard to help preserve this cultural asset, with cash grants and other assistance, and will continue to do so — for the sake of the people of the city and the state, as well as for the musicians who are sacrificing more than anyone to make possible live performances of the great classics.

We would also hope that the state would release funding it is holding back that would help the symphony to better deal with its financial problems.

The rousing success of the run of "The Lion King" proved that Honolulu residents will support first-class Broadway theater. We believe we can have both a successful symphony and theatrical productions staged at the concert hall. Both are important for a vibrant and thriving arts experience for our residents.

We invite the symphony management to join us in reassuring the public that we all seek the same goals, and that we'll work together harder to achieve them in the future.

ROAD REPAIRS

POOR ROADS WREAK HAVOC ON VEHICLES

Unlike some, I do not drive an enormous 4WD truck or SUV, which are apparently the only vehicles approved by the city for use on our roads. Without a heavy-duty suspension and oversized tires, my car is no match for Honolulu's pockmarked streets.

The first heavy rain of the season created more potholes than the Perseid meteor shower could have with a direct hit. Can you say "sub-standard paving materials?" California's roads do not disintegrate after the same heavy rains move east in the Pineapple Express? I believe the city has used and continues to use inferior paving materials that melt away like the rice paper covering a Tomoe Ame candy. What other explanation is there? I watched as Mufi's boys spread this mix of tar and gravel over huge craters along Kapi'olani Blvd. The resulting mound of blacktop unpacked by a roller created hundreds of loose projectiles that got kicked up by car tires, right into nicely painted hoods and windshields of the cars behind.

Mufi has us going from craters to molehills, suspension rippers either way. Your wheel is going to either fall into a crater, or roll up over an instant speed bump, easy to loose control either way. Mr. Mayor, allow me the dignity to drive my regular car, over properly paved streets. I shoulder a tremendous amount of taxes for this right.

Finally, are road repairs any indication of the city's ability to build and maintain a rail project that will cost 10,000 times what simple road maintenance costs?

VACATION RENTALS

CITY SHOULD WORK TO ENFORCE ZONING LAWS

Angie Larson — coordinator for a group that advocates the continued presence in our neighborhoods of vacation rentals and B&Bs because their guests don't want to go to Waikiki, Turtle Bay or Ko Olina — would have us believe that they are OK as long as they claim they are trying to maintain the small-town flavor (Letter, Dec 27).

Here's a news flash for Angie and her group. Your neighbors don't want the Waikiki, Ko Olina or Turtle Bay-like businesses invading our neighborhoods. What's next, a gift shop on the corner and a surf shop at mid- block? Enough already.

Despite the group claiming to care about maintaining small-town character and placing the hosting of visitors third on its list, it is clear that the intent is to preserve the golden goose so they can continue to reap its bounty. If this group truly cared about our neighborhoods and their sense of community they would have shuttered their mini-hotels long ago and become true members of the neighborhood instead of becoming members of a group that continues to advocate for businesses in our residential areas.

I look forward to the City Council deciding that instead of allowing expansion of businesses into our neighborhoods, that they will direct the various city offices responsible for enforcing our zoning laws to go out and enforce those laws and bring whatever means needed to bear to ensure compliance.

SHORT-TERM RENTALS DON'T ADD CHARACTER

In response to Angie Larson's comments on B&B's and their contribution to small town character (Letter, Dec. 27) I would like to quote from the California appellate court ruling which ruled in favor of the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea restriction on short-term rentals.

"Short-term tenants have little interest in public agencies or in the welfare of the citizenry. They do not participate in local government, coach Little League, or join the hospital guild. They do not lead a Scout troop, volunteer at the library, or keep an eye on an elderly neighbor. Literally they are here today and gone tomorrow — without engaging in the sort of activities that weld and strengthen a community."

The decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and that court denied certiorari (essentially agreeing with the appellate court's opinion).

Ms. Larson's nice words hide the real intent of her organization, that being to change our small-town character by profiting from tourists at the expense of her neighbors. Let's keep zoned residential areas residential and neighborly.