MONEY BETTER SPENT IN STATE OR CITY ECONOMY

Your June 29 article on the city buying 20 hybrid buses does a good job of questioning the economies of hybrid versus clean diesel buses. My concern is the use of the money.

Rightfully or wrongfully, Congress released funds to spur local communities. We clearly need help in areas such as construction and the hospitality industry. Decreases of taxes from those businesses are leading to state workers facing hard options.

So how does the City and County of Honolulu spur the local economy? They send $19.3 million to Minnesota where these hybrid buses are manufactured. Any profit after manufacturing expenses goes to a Canadian company. How does this help the Honolulu economy? Were there no local projects where the money could be used?

James B. Mullis | Kane'ohe

TAX HIKES

OPEN HA'IKU STAIRS TO BOOST ECONOMY

Instead of nickel-and-diming us to death with endless tax and fee hikes, we should be thinking "out of the box" and consider new ways to enhance our economy.

Open and promote the Ha'iku Stairs as the Hawaiian "Stairway to Heaven." Where else can you go on the Mainland or anywhere else for that experience? There should also be an annual "Run to Heaven" event (3,900 steps). This would dwarf the annual running race up the stairs of the Empire State Building in New York City (1,576 steps), and it would probably get world-wide news coverage.

Legalize poker — not casino gambling, but just poker, as they do in California. This weekend in Las Vegas, the World Series of Poker Main Event tournament will attract more than 6,000 players from all over the world and many of their friends and family, too.

Poker in Waikiki would also attract players from all over the world on a regular basis, and Waikiki could be a premier tournament poker stop for the World Poker Tour and even a circuit tournament event for the World Series of Poker. Any premier poker tournament in Hawai'i would include plenty of TV time.

Brian Malanaphy | Waimanalo

ROAD CONDITIONS

DRIVERS RESPONSIBLE FOR STAYING SAFE

Now I think I've heard everything! The idea that roads are causing accidents is both reckless and nonsense. Sure, our roads aren't in great condition, but to attribute the conditions of the road to collisions is ridiculous. Most collisions are caused by driver error. Not the weather. Not the roads. Not the menehune.

Once again, as a driver education instructor, I am perplexed as to how to instill this idea of driver responsibility when my students are bombarded with misleading information. The simple fact is that good drivers adjust to road conditions. Bad drivers are going to be irresponsible even on the best-maintained roads in the world.

I applaud the DOT's Mr. Morioka for taking such a strong stance on this issue.

Kris Schwengel | Hawai'i Kai

BEACH BONFIRES

DLNR IS RIGHT TO FOCUS ON RESOURCES

Illegal beach fires creating hot ash pits full of rusty nails and shards of broken beer bottles buried on the beach paint an ugly picture about respect for our environment.

Who can say they haven't seen this scene or, even worse, been party to this abuse? Changing the objectives and strategy for the DLNR is way overdue. Over the past three years, I've seen the frustration build due to funding cuts and lack of resources required to protect our remaining natural resources. It is my belief that only with the combination of resources from state, city and local residents can this kind of abuse be reduced.

Refocusing the DLNR to protect the state's natural, cultural and historic resources is a good start. It is unfortunate that we even need to enforce the preservation and protection of our natural resources. It seems to be true that a few can ruin it for the many, and this is a reality of today's society — "If you can't protect it, why have it?"

Greg Schmidt | Honolulu

FURLOUGHS

UNION LEADERS SHOULD TAKE CUTS, TOO

Hey, I've got an idea!  Union leaders, in a true showing of solidarity, should issue a self-imposed 14 percent pay cut or three-day furloughs, per month, over the next two years. To complement this action, union leaders should simultaneously lower monthly union dues so state workers can keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets.

Any takers?

Kainoa K. Kaumeheiwa-Rego | Kailua

MICHAEL JACKSON

KING OF POP HAD UNIVERSAL APPEAL

As a person who loved listening to Michael Jackson during my years living in Honolulu, I agree with what Lee Cataluna wrote about those times — his appeal was universal!

In Michael Jackson's best music and in his electrifying stage moves, he called to the desire in all of us to cut loose from fake restraints, and be truly free. At the same time, his music and dance moves were so carefully constructed, so exact!

I believe the reason his spectacular performances have been loved by millions of people worldwide is explained by this principle of Aesthetic Realism, the philosophy founded by the great American poet and critic Eli Siegel: "All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves."

And so when Michael Jackson was free and precise, unfettered and sure at once, it was exactly what we want to feel in all the moments of our lives. I wish he could have known this — that the very thing that made his art so fine held the answer to what he wanted in his own life.

Kevin Fennell | New York City