Why is Council helping mainland chains?

The Honolulu City Council has scheduled Bill 5 for adoption on June 9. This bill grants seven-year real property tax exemptions for businesses that engage in new construction.

On the surface this seems like a fair bill meant to help our flagging construction industry. It doesn't take much digging, however, to realize which businesses this bill will really benefit.

Most small businesses are suffering and any movement by them is either 1) to close their doors or 2) to move into smaller locations. Local businesses that are doing well can find plenty of existing buildings that have been vacated and are available at extremely low rates.

The only businesses that really need to construct new facilities are those whose needs are greater than any existing locations. Those businesses are the big box stores.

Why should the Council enact legislation to help only the big box stores? These companies are already flocking to Hawaii without any tax incentives. Why offer them incentives that will further disrupt the balance between local businesses and mainland giants?

Robert Chanin
Kailua

DeSoto is wrong that people are apathetic

Very seldom do I get riled up about matters before the City Council. But after watching a recent Council budget meeting on TV, I am very upset about remarks made by my council member, John DeSoto. Talk about lacking an understanding of the pulse of our people!

Although DeSoto might think the people of Waianae "don't give a rip," I certainly do.

I give a rip when the cost of living in Hawaii continues to rise, resulting in my ohana leaving these islands.

Real property taxes are going to be increased, even though people are being fooled to think that "revenue neutral" doesn't amount to an increase.

The bottom line is that more money is coming out of my pocket to live in Hawaii.

I suggest that DeSoto get off his high horse and get back to representing the people of his district.

E. Atienza
Waianae

Quotables "Four rows ahead of me, the left wing was in flames. I felt, 'This is the day I'm going to die.' " Jeffrey Ko Sgt. 1st Class, Hawaii Army National guard Describing how he thought he would not survive last Tuesday's American Airlines crash in Little Rock, Ark. "If they amp me up, I feel a little bit of pain in my teeth, then I don't notice it. It becomes automatic." Julie Palu Hawaii epilepsy patient On how electrodes implanted in her neck and a pacemaker-like battery under the skin of her chest give her 30-second shocks every five minutes, helping to control her seizures

Gabbard misinterpreted reason for vote

Just as Mike Gabbard is displeased with Geneva Overholser's April 7 column (Letters, May 31), so am I displeased with Gabbard's peculiar form of "love" and "logic."

The issue in last November's election was not about the ceremony of marriage, over which state government has no control, but about the civil contract of marriage and the civil rights, benefits and obligations contained therein.

Churches still have the power to determine which heterosexual couples may or may not enter into the sacrament of marriage, as that was never challenged. Since they have the right to determine heterosexual marriage participants, it follows that even if the Supreme Court upholds Judge Kevin Chang's December 1996 ruling, the various religious institutions will still have the power to forbid homosexual religious marriages in their respective churches.

By hiding behind a religious cloak, Gabbard has done a serious disservice to his allies by failing to acknowledge the civil side of marriage, which the legal question is all about.

Martin Rice
Kapaa, Kauai
via the internet

What more must be done to save school?

How many more testimonials attesting to the value of the UH School of Public Health will it take to convince those in power to commit funds to assure the school's survival? Politics, coupled with a lack of perceived need, lies behind the problems at UH, plain and simple.

Laurence Raine
Doctor of Public Health
via the internet

Eco-camp project sets precedent

Developer Stanley Selengut has correctly concluded that the go-ahead for his proposed "ecological camp" at Pua'ena Point in Haleiwa will turn on the question of zoning (Star-Bulletin, May 12). Pua'ena is zoned for agriculture, and Selengut's eco-camp is a resort. Every developer, here and on the mainland, will carefully watch to see how the city decides on this precedent-setting conversion of ag land to development.

Selengut's latest plan reduces the number of cabins at Pua'ena by more than two-thirds, from 252 to 72. It's a smart move. His resort looks more like a campsite now, and the lesser of two evils when compared to a possible full-blown future resort complex.

Thomas Jacobs
Haleiwa
via the internet

Fine Janet Reno for nuclear theft

The idea of "punishing" China for stealing U.S. nuclear secrets is ludicrous. Stealing nuclear secrets for the protection of its citizens is exactly what China is supposed to do. We've taken the very same actions since our country was founded.

Don't let the hypocritical notion of retribution negatively affect U.S.-China relations. All the blame lies with those whose duty it was to protect our nuclear secrets. Fire Attorney General Janet Reno and every other government employee who should have prevented it.

Let's not be naive about the real world. China and the U.S. need one another.

Nicholas J. Ochs
Lanai City, Lanai
via the internet

Rock garden should replace Capitol pool

Why not fill the state Capitol pool with sand and build a Japanese rock garden? It would be a one-time cost and maintenance would involve clipping, raking, rearranging rocks, etc.

Putting tilapia in the pool is taking three steps backward and two forward, since thousands of fish were killed previously when the pool was drained.

Who is running Hawaii's government -- a bunch of bozos? I'm glad that I am living in Japan for the next two years.

Cassandra Aoki
Yokosuka, Japan
via the internet

Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes

---

Write a
Letter to the Editor

Want to write a letter to the editor? Let all Star-Bulletin readers know what you think. Please keep your letter to about 200 words. You can send it by e-mail to letters@starbulletin.com or you can fill in the online form for a faster response. Or print it and mail it to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or fax it to: 523-8509. Always be sure to include your daytime phone number.