Aloha should have planned better
If anyone is to blame about the demise of Aloha Airlines, it's the management of Aloha Airlines. Let's be real many blamed the mainland box-retailers for putting the mom & pops out of business. Well, did we boycott WalMart, Sam's Club or Costco? No! Why blame go!? Competition is healthy. No one had control of Aloha's financials except Aloha alone not the government, the Legislature, go! or anyone else.
We were ALL affected by the fuel increase. What did we do? We adjusted and made sacrifices wherever necessary. Isn't this Economics 100? The top guns at Aloha saw the writing on the wall years ago, so they claim, so why didn't they make the necessary adjustments and sacrifices then? The problem usually starts from the top. Check it out, Aloha employees! They are living in nice homes, driving nice cars, eating at fancy restaurants, taking nice trips, and paying enormous private school/college tuition.
Stop blaming the government, outside competition and cost of living. Adjust accordingly some of us do that every day! The price of living in paradise.
K.C. Castillo
Honolulu
Aloha can't blame anyone but itself
Hummm, lets see, Aloha folds, Hawaiian posts a $7.6 million profit "Mesa no Aloha?" I don't think so. I'm as sad as anyone to see a venerable 60-plus-year firm go by the wayside, however its time for management to take some personal responsibility. Blaming it on competition? Bad idea. Perhaps its George Bush's fault.
Dan Doyle
Kailua
Self-promoting letter was inconsiderate
Jim Delmonte's lack of sensitivity and compassion for the 2,000 or so Aloha Airlines employees and their families, who no longer have income, medical, and retirement benefits, among other things, was beyond appalling
(Letters, April 1). Was it really necessary for him to rub salt in the fresh wounds of the Aloha Airlines employees and their families or was the purpose of his letter to puff out his chest and boost his own ego, to let everyone know, not once, but twice, that he had the financial means to purchase Aloha Airlines but wouldn't.?
OK, you're rich, we get it. But while you're counting your money, these people are trying to figure out how to make their next mortgage payment, support their children, pay their utility bills, buy food for the table they have no more paychecks coming. None. My sister and her husband both lost their jobs and you have the nerve to complain about the small seats and bad food. The last I checked, we didn't choose a particular airline because of their food. You want good food, go to a restaurant.
This is Hawaii, where we support each other or at least I'd like to think we do. I am positive that everyone in the state is affected in one way or another by this tragic loss.
James Wataru Jr.
Honolulu
It's going to be a long and bumpy ride
The closure of Aloha Airlines, Molokai Ranch, pullout of NCL ships and other establishments this year all add to the bleak picture of Hawaii's economy. While many financial experts say we are in good shape, I say bull. I feel that by the end of year 2008, Hawaii will see the highest unemployment rate it has achieved within the last 10 years. With the cost of housing constantly rising, that too will be a challenge.
Hawaii always lags behind the rest of the United States by six to 12 months, so our foreclosure rates will also be substantially higher. With our high cost of living, being driven higher by the cost of fuel, from gas for our vehicles to electricity, to products in the stores, all due necessity of gas. Most of Hawaii's income is geared around tourism, and if people cannot afford to come to Hawaii, that will hurt. We are already seeing a lower rate in tourism here.
Remember the early 1980s, when home sales were driven to 25 percent and higher reductions just to sell. Incomes derived from tourism jobs certainly do not afford $600,000 homes unless double or triple incomes are used. I feel we are headed for a roller-coaster ride so be prepared.
Lawrence Barr
Honolulu
Transit panel members don't work for PB
Keith Sullivan's March 29 letter to the editor is completely incorrect. Perhaps your readers would be interested in knowing the facts about the expert panel selected by the City Council and city administration to select the technology for the transit program. Sullivan states definitively that four of five of the experts "work for Parsons Brinckerhoff," an engineering firm performing work on the project.
As a former senior executive of that firm, I know that none of the members of the panel work for Parsons Brinckerhoff, although one of them did serve as a consultant with the firm some years ago. Here are the facts:
» Ron Tober, chairman of the panel, recently retired as general manager of the Charlotte (N.C.) transit system. His career has been entirely in the public sector, including work for the Miami Dade Transit Authority, Seattle Metro and others.
» Steve Barsony is a retired public servant, formerly with the Federal Transit Administration and focused primarily on transit technology.
» Ken Knight currently consults to the Toronto Transit Commission, and formerly worked on mass transit projects in Phoenix, Buffalo and elsewhere. Ken served as a consultant with Parsons Brinckerhoff while working on a portion of the Phoenix transit program.
» Henry Kolesar is a transit manager with BART in San Francisco.
» Panos Prevedouros is a professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa and has never worked for either Parsons Brinckerhoff or any transit authority.
Each of these individuals received a nominal payment for their participation from the city, generally less than each would have received on a commercial consulting assignment. Their travel expenses were also covered. The city provided this appropriate and customary reimbursement to the panelists through InfraConsult, the program management company for the transit project.
Sullivan is certainly entitled to believe that constructing an expensive, elevated toll road may be a panacea for Honolulu, but he should have correct information before writing a letter to the editor.
Michael Schneider
Managing partner
InfraConsult LLC
Olympics won't affect oppression in China
As the summer Olympic Games draw nearer, we are reminded in Tibet of the other face of the Chinese regime the one-party dictatorship and the oppression of ethnic peoples (Uighurs, Tibetans), religious organizations, human rights activists, internet dissidents, labor union organizers, Falun Gong and others.
In its rigid response to events in Tibet and refusal to negotiate with the Dalai Lama (one of the world's great spiritual and religious teachers), we see the fear of the Chinese government to lessen or share any of its totalitarian power. It refuses to even respond to reasonable requests.
The Dalai Lama has never called for Tibetan independence. He wishes to negotiate with the Chinese regime for the greatest autonomy for Tibet, as a region still part of China.
Theodore Taba
Honolulu