Open raceway park to deter speeding

I'm responding to yesterday's article about the Honolulu Police Department cracking down on speeding. (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 10) Well, "A" for effort, but I still think that if the state would have helped keep Hawaii Raceway Park open, the number of highway fatalities would be a lot lower.

This means we've got way too many police on the road catching speeders and not enough to cover other illegal activities. We could use these police on the west end of Oahu (Honokai Hale to Makaha), where we have a shortage of police and we have noticed crime is on the rise.

I hope the state gives a thought to reopening the track where it is legal to speed.

Pedestrians should use common sense

I am all for safer streets for bike riders and others. But pedestrians have got to be more aware, too. I often see people just step off a curb without looking. Just because you have a "walk" sign or right of way, it doesn't mean you don't need to look to see if someone is turning the corner into the crosswalk! It is just as bad for someone to enter a crosswalk when a car is in it as it is the other way around. The law should go both ways.

I saw on the news Thursday night where someone pulling out of the post office was watching to her right for a break in traffic. Two elderly people reportedly crossed in front of her from the left. They should have gone around her behind her car. You should never walk in front of a car waiting to pull out into traffic.

Fixing glitches could make things worse

While there was lackluster performance at the polls locally and a few glitches, I think the election went smoothly and professionally.

Suggestions for improvements to the system should always be welcome, but I for one want to make sure the bipartisan and independent nature of the board is preserved. The last thing we need is one-party control over elections, and political messes like we see in Ohio.

Wording on ballot caused confusion

I've had my share of basic education, and I'm sure that I wasn't alone upon reading the ballot question regarding the retirement age of our state judges, and voting with approval that they continue to work past 70 years of age.

It seems, after the results were published the following day, that even some of the judges had read it, and were surprised to discover the opposite, realizing their time on the bench was pretty soon up.

Also, I don't think it stated next to the Board of Education candidate "transgender," who subsequently succeeded in being elected. To the BOE?

I certainly feel a sad irony, and an observation from someone else above, when singing in church from the hymnal "ancient and modern," and wondering which direction we are indeed heading.

Economic wealth is killing the Earth

After reading about the sale of units in the proposed Trump Tower (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 10), I felt so small, insignificant, powerless and poor.

The kind of progress that is sold to Hawaii's people isn't the kind of progress that will literally save the Earth. We have maybe 50 years to turn around economics and the culture of gain.

Donald Trump's children are going to have to breathe the same sweaty air as the rest of us, and I hope he will realize why.

Besides, flaunting wealth is sooo tacky!