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Differing views of
Ala Wai's future

Ala Wai is perfect site for a new stadium

Let's build a 60,000-seat football stadium at the site of the Ala Wai Golf Course. A stadium in town under the shadow of Diamond Head would be amazing. Imagine the fan base and easy commute.

Todd Furubayashi
Hawaii Kai

Tourists won't visit an inland park

There are already two parks that border the Ala Wai Golf Course -- Kapiolani Park and Ala Wai Field -- and neither is utilized by tourists. They come here to visit our beaches and other sites, not to go to parks. Why would our visitors want an inland park? The governor can't even provide any numbers as to how many people would actually use such a park. I predict it would be greatly underutilized.

I would think that both the governor and mayor would be proud that the Ala Wai is the busiest golf course in the nation and, from what I understand, the only city facility that is financially self-supporting.

Jeffrey Herman

Golf course brings in much-needed revenue

When will the building stop? Doesn't anyone care that another of our great landmarks may be gone?

The Ala Wai has been a landmark for decades, so it saddens me to hear of the governor's plan to change it into a park.

My late father loved that course dearly. As a young boy, I used to play golf there and still know many of the regulars who consider the Ala Wai their hangout. I don't wish the golf course to be taken away from them.

Will the park bring in more revenue than the golf course? No! With more than 176,000 rounds played a year, minimum, times that by the green fees.

I pray the Legislature will reject the governor's plan and leave the Ala Wai standing in all its beauty and glory for a long time to come.

Allen Lau
Hawaii Kai

Improved site will benefit more people

Relocate the Ala Wai Golf Course despite the minor concerns of the privileged current golfers. Think of the benefits for a wider group not being heard.

Potential and existing golfers near to the new golf site will benefit. Swimmers at Ala Moana and Ewa-end Waikiki can benefit from cleaner water, if the new project can trap canal effluent better.

All taxpayers will benefit if the new project can be more symbiotic with Waikiki as a renewed visitor attraction. And locals may love both the renewed park and golf course.

John Thorvaldson

Quotables "You have wannabes and has- beens. In my mind, I'm a could be." Kenneth Oki 59-YEAR-OLD KAUAI RESIDENT A Kalihi-born former pro boxer with Mensa-level intelligence who wants to do everything from coaching a champion boxer to writing a best-selling novel "Once there were these guys hanging around and they said, 'Ay, what you got in the paper bag?' So I pulled out a (fake) cut-off hand all covered in blood and juices, and they left me alone. They were probably thinking, 'What a sick haole guy.'" Bryan D. Furer HEAD MAKE-UP ARTIST FOR 'BAYWATCH HAWAII' Gearing up for Halloween by putting on make-up workshops at Prosperity Corner

Voting out incumbents was a good start

I say "good job!" to voters who ousted two incumbents in the primary election. If we don't like how government is run, we need to make changes and changes we made.

But the change is not complete. We need to vote out the remaining incumbents in the general election. We need to send a clear message to our government officials that we will no longer tolerate the "old boy network" and "business as usual." Let's continue to make changes so Hawaii will be a better place for our children.

Alan Kim

Legislature is villain in lease-to-fee debacle

Robin Smith (Letters, Oct. 3) and Miriam Rosenthal (Letters, Sept. 29) are wrong. The true molesters of the lease-to-fee conversions aren't the former Bishop Estate trustees, but the people who bought property on lease lands, because the rents were cheap.

They signed contracts that stated they could have fixed, low lease rents for a number of years. These would have to be renegotiated after a certain period of time. Since this made me very apprehensive, I purchased my house in fee simple.

When these leaseholders started the negotiating cycle, they soon cried foul. The lease rents were too high!

They kept crying to legislators, so the gang at the Capitol -- against intense lobbying by land-owners, including Bishop Estate -- passed the lease-to-fee conversion law. It condemned land for "the public good," although it wasn't good for landowners.

So don't blame the former Bishop Estate trustees, whose compensation was based on a percentage of profits. This forced sell-off of land brought them millions. If anyone is to blame, it is the Legislature.

I have no connection to Bishop Estate or any of the former trustees. I just think untruths and innuendo should be challenged.

Henry Pundyke
Kaneohe

Hawaiians want what is rightly theirs

The good thing about Rice vs. Cayetano is that people's true feelings about the situation in Hawaii are demonstrated. It also shows the weaknesses in the U.S. judicial system. Justices apparently cannot distinguish between right and wrong.

I decided to live in Hawaii and accept lower pay, limited opportunities and, yes, racial discrimination, because this is the home land of Hawaiians, and I am Hawaiian.

Every step that I take on this aina, I tread on the bones of my ancestors. Every time I go into the ocean, I swim where generations before me swam. Every drink of water, and everything I eat from the aina or from the sea, is part of my inheritance. And when I die, my spirit will leap into the waiting embrace of my ancestors.

So take your entitlements, money, neuroses and dysfunctions, and have the best life you can. By the way, you're in arrears. The deal is off. Return the land.

Charles M. Ka'ai'ai
Kailua

Trasks rail against their own heritage

The haoles came, saw and conquered. They decimated the Hawaiian people and its culture.

Still, if they hadn't come at all, where would we be today? Yes, all of us, even Mililani and Haunani. Trask, was it?

T. Ono
Hilo, Hawaii

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