Legislators did little to help commuters

I see many people coming up with ideas about what drivers should do to cut down on fuel consumption but no real solutions to the issue.

How many people are really going to ride a bike up and over the Pali to get to work in town or ride from Waianae?

Our legislators just wimped out on doing anything constructive, and I for one will remember that at the polls. I hope everyone else does, too.

Politicians tell you what you want to hear in the days leading up to elections, but you can always look back at their history to see if they have actually done anything proactive about the environmental issues. What they "plan" to do, and what they have actually done, are often at odds with one another.

Be careful who you vote for next. Look at what President Bush has done to this country.

Even with reduction, property taxes go up

The Star-Bulletin's May 26 front page headline read "Property tax cut bill advances." In reality, this bill proposes raising property tax bills for both residential and commercial properties compared to what we all paid last year.

Do the math: The property tax rate for residential properties would decrease about 4 percent, but the huge jump in property tax values would mean we'd all pay much more despite the lower rate.

Meanwhile, the 5 percent increase in commercial and industrial property tax rates also would result in much higher tax bills for those properties.

So the incumbents on the City Council are gonna campaign about how they cut property taxes when they in fact OK'd a whopping tax increase. It's bad enough when politicians treat us like we're idiots and hope to get re-elected anyway, but it's pouring salt on the wounds when the news media fail to blow the whistle on the miscreants.

Tax reduction means next to nothing

If they reduce property taxes 16 cents -- 4.3 percent -- and raise my assessment 23 percent, how much will I save? Looks like smoke and mirrors to me.

The assessed value of my home has gone up every year since 1983.

New airline's purpose is to sink other carrier

go! airlines is nothing but the latest alter-ego to come out of Jonathan Ornstein's Mesa Air Group. CCAir, Air Midwest, Freedom Airlines, Mesa and now go! are all owned by Mesa and only exist for the purpose of helping Mesa divide and conquer, much the same way Frank Lorenzo did in the '80s with Texas Air and Eastern and Continental.

These alter-ego companies are primarily designed by Mesa to abrogate contracts and working conditions within smaller labor groups. go! is only unique in that Mesa is now going after larger prey -- our Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines.

If Mesa wanted to fly interisland so badly it should have bid higher for Aloha and not tried to punish Aloha's new investors because they obeyed the law and in effect called Mesa's bluff.

Closing highways puts motorists at risk

When did we give police the authority to close down highways, endangering the welfare of literally thousands of people, to investigate a traffic accident?

Most often, the excuse for these closures, as cited by the press, is that HPD must thoroughly investigate the accident to insure that the city's liability is kept to a minimum.

What will happen when one of these all-too-frequent closures results in the death of someone trapped by the police in the resulting chaos?

What will happen when lawsuits are filed on behalf of the person who died as a direct result of a police closure? The death and amount of money awarded to their family will leave us all wondering how we allowed this situation to go unchecked.

At some point, the police began to assume that they do not have to take into account the welfare of the many, if their actions to protect the city are deemed necessary by those in charge.

I don't recall voting to give HPD that kind of power.

Returning veterans may need help to cope

The stigma of "battle fatigue" may keep veterans who need help to cope with post traumatic stress disorder from getting the help from people and facilities that could aid them.

The war in Afghanistan and Iraq is a very traumatic experience where normal behavior is thrown to the winds, and soldiers have to learn to survive. Survival is everything, and the adrenaline flow is high most of the time.

From the high of combat, then to the normal life in Hawaii, for instance, is a terrific change. Events that are normal for many may be disturbing for some of our returning veterans. At some time, they will come to the realization that they can't cope with their problems and hopefully will seek help at the Veterans Administration clinics.

The attitude of the general public, too, needs to be adjusted. Having signs of PTSD is not cowardice, but comes with the stress of combat and being in a war zone. Some are affected more than others. Seeking help with the problem is the first step toward licking it. Try to understand what the veterans are going through. The public's understanding will greatly help in their recovery.

My hope is that all who need help will go and seek it.

Hotels are making enough money already

Oahu reported 3,214,476 yearly visitors staying in hotels. The average weekly rate is $1,050 per person. This amounts to several billion dollars per year of income for the hotel industry.

Where are the billions of dollars going? Are the dishwashers and maids at our hotels getting six figure salaries?

Why sacrifice our precious beaches at Turtle Bay and other areas when locals don't receive the profits? All we will get is increased traffic, sewer fees and restricted beach access.