'Chinaman's Hat' isn't racist in Hawaii

If Thomas Chan of San Francisco (Letters, Jan. 21) does not like locals calling Chinaman's Hat, Chinaman's Hat, then he should stay away from Hawaii. Mr. Chan is obviously too sensitive. He also should stay out of Chinatown in San Francisco, where they sell many "Chinaman's hats."

When do we stop focusing on such small nonsense and get with the bigger pictures of life?

Job with developer raises questions

Plans to build 11,700 more homes on the Ewa plain in a project named Hoopili will add to our ever-worsening traffic and other infrastructure problems.

The Ewa plain, particularly the Ewa Beach area has long been a symbol of runaway development without sufficient planning for infrastructure.

Unfortunately for all of us, the fox is guarding the hen house.

Our state senator, Willie Espero, who has been in office almost 10 years, has been a developer's dream. He has cleared the path for Gentry and Haseko developers to push through their projects regardless of community harm.

Maybe not so coincidentally, Espero was recently hired in "community relations" by D.R. Horton, Hoopili's developer, who must first get approval from the state Land Use Commission and city planning department.

Most people in Ewa Beach see this as it really is -- a conflict of interest -- and the job really one of an "unregistered lobbyist."

How is it possible for the people who have suffered so greatly from development to catch a break when their elected officials work for the developers?

School benefits from KD's generosity

In 2006, Waialua Elementary and its community had to deal with an eight-month-long bike path construction project in front of our school. The effects of such a project -- traffic, noise, dust -- were greatly mitigated by the efforts of KD Construction, the company that created the bike path along Waialua Beach Road.

After the project was completed, KD Construction came back to our school during the winter break and donated its resources and expertise to put in a sprinkler system for us and install some electrical conduits for our school. This work has saved our school, and taxpayers, thousands of dollars and provided important improvements to our campus.

As the principal of Waialua Elementary, I wanted to publicly acknowledge the generosity and professionalism of KD Construction. It is wonderful to see businesses reaching out to support public schools and their students. Thank you, KD Construction.

'No book left behind' needed at UH

In the governor's State of the State address Monday, I heard her speak of education as being among the primary principles to move Hawaii forward. I believe that if we have aspirations for the University of Hawaii to be a leading research institute in the Asia-Pacific region, we might want to support what is at the heart of our universities: books.

In order for UH to successfully compete, the students and faculty need access to the latest international publications of journals and books in our libraries. The estimated $1 million budget cut proposed recently by the chairwoman of the UH Library Faculty Senate for 2007-2008 is hardly acceptable in the light of our expectations and Hawaii's excellent scholarly potential.

Mesa CEO's words show his true intent

I'm so glad that you had an opportunity to get Mesa Air Group chairman and chief executive Jonathan Ornstein's explanation of go!'s true business plan in Hawaii (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 26). For months we've heard how go! is the answer to local families' travel habits and how Mesa claims to be a friend to the locals.

In your article, "Mesa delays plan to swap its fleet for larger aircraft," Ornstein finally put the record straight about his operation here in Hawaii. He is quoted saying, "It's critically important strategically that we can demonstrate to the industry our ability to operate an independent profitably." So what happens after that? I thought he was here to help local families? He is nothing more than another mainland company taking advantage of local families. After his false promises and lies he will leave residents high and dry and our interisland carriers weaker. In the end it is the Hawaiian culture and Aloha spirit that will keep our Island Air local.