Will improvements make traffic worse?

While it is common to see people snarled in daily traffic, wasting time and energy, there are only a few possible ways to build our way out of the mess we have created by failing to develop reasonable transit plans during the last decade.

Fortunately, most of the new City Council members have strong doubts about the viability of condemning four lanes now connecting Honolulu with Waikiki and the University of Hawaii and turning them into bus-only lanes. The new bottlenecks will make matters much worse, and the new BRT buses still will continue to get stuck behind others that make frequent stops.

On the other hand, I have heard little discussion of Lingle's proposal for a elevated roadway between Kapolei and Honolulu. Can such a new overhead level be built without closing lanes below them during the construction period?

Wally Bachman

Other cities enjoy mass transit success

I'm going to write the two words no one wants to admit as the solution to our traffic problems: mass transit.

With a cursory overview, anyone who has even an elementary understanding of traffic engineering will tell you that the Oahu metropolitan corridor cries out for mass transit. Think of San Francisco without Bay Area Rapid Transit. Also, in the San Francisco Bay area 20 years ago, Interstate 280 was empty. Now it runs at capacity every day. In response to worsening traffic, BART is finally being extended down the peninsula to lighten the load. San Francisco was an early leader in mass transit with the cable car system, which is now one of that city's major tourist attractions.

Many other cities in the same position as Oahu realized they would not solve their traffic problems with more roads. They have made the jump to mass transit, and it is time for us to make the same move.

Bruce A. Fink

TV news has odd concept of 'on time'

Hawaii is a rare media market. It is the only place I know where we have on-time, late-time and early-time television. First we had three stations, with on-time news programming. Now we have two stations that seem to have misplaced their studio clocks, but the channels that were moving to on-time broadcasting of their newscasts are jumping the gun. Change the channel to get their news and you probably missed the lead story.

My understanding is that broadcast stations -- radio and television -- are licensed in the public interest. I think local commercial television is showing a disregard of this trust. Further, they make it difficult to videotape programs accurately. Why not show your true aloha for your viewers and do it right? We can return with our mahalo.

Robert Zimmer

OHA views based on one judge's opinion

H. William Burgess claims OHA was "was sold to the public without full disclosure" and that voters did not endorse self-determination for Hawaiians (Letters, Star-Bulletin, Oct. 30).

A cursory review of newspaper articles at the time of the Constitutional Convention as well as the committee reports concerning the formation of OHA would inform Burgess that not only is Hawaiian self-determination frequently referred to and endorsed, but also that the public was well-informed regarding these issues.

Burgess says that the 14th Amendment prohibits Hawaiian self-determination and that Hawaiians have no claim as indigenous people to be treated as a political nation. This opinion is based on a concurring opinion in the Rice vs. Cayetano case that was written by Justice Breyer, whose opinion was not the majority opinion and is thus of dubious precedential value. The majority held that the 15th Amendment, not the 14th, was violated by the OHA voting process.

Nathan D. Miller
Juris Doctor Candidate
William S. Richardson School of Law

Harano name belongs on H-3 tunnels

Kudos to Gov.-elect Linda Lingle for making a commitment to restoring Tetsuo Harano's name to the H-3 tunnels. Not to diminish in any way the contributions of the late Gov. John Burns, but Harano's direct contribution on this project as state highways chief should be honored as it originally was.

Governor Cayetano said that if Lingle wants to restore Harano's name to the tunnels, it will probably make good political points for her (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 13). But he said that is not the way he does things. He must be joking. This is probably Cayetano's biggest, most expensive political yard sign, an in-your-face reminder of which party rules. And we all paid for it.

Well, things have changed. We now have hope in a new administration that promises to restore integrity and trust in government. Way to go, Lingle!

Russ Awana
Kailua

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