Waikiki's high prices drive away local people

Members of the business community say they can do most things better than government. I find that suspect in light of our bus situation, the many indicted CEOs, the rise and fall of seemingly great private enterprise businesses such as Enron, and so on. It is people that make the difference.

In Hawaii our mayor has said he and the Waikiki business community want to attract local people to Waikiki, The Gathering Place. We went to The Gathering Place on the Fourth of July to have dinner and watch fireworks. I had two beers at $4.50 each. The food did not rise to the level of many of our favorite lunch wagons, although the prices surpassed them.

My wife requested water and the waitress told her it came in bottles for $2.50 each, but the waitress -- cute local girl -- managed to get her a cup of free water. When I asked for a cup of coffee, the waitress assured me that I should pass because it cost $2.50 and the cup size was not even 8 ounces.

It doesn't take a marketing analyst to figure out that local people are not going to Waikiki to pay these prices.

Kenneth L. Barker

Somebody needs to fix Ewa traffic problems

Every morning I wake up thinking I will be able to make it to school on time. But I always dread that morning traffic going out of Ewa Beach. There should be something done about this traffic situation. It's also a bad way to start off the morning.

Even though we leave our house early, we always hit the traffic coming out of Ewa Beach. To make matters worse, new homes are being built all throughout the Ewa district.

Before there's another accident or stalled vehicle, we all should just leave a half-hour before we have to get to our destinations until these matters are fixed. Something really needs to be done about this horrible traffic. I guarantee you that us Ewa people will be a lot happier leaving in the morning.

Michelle Chanel-O'Neil

Rezoning farm land costs money and lives

More fatalities on Farrington Highway in Waianae. The Mormon church plans to displace Gunstock Ranch and build a housing development on the open spaces mauka of Malaekahana State Beach Park. Dole intends to expand development at its visitor center north of Wahiawa. Oahu suffers a decline in tourism. What do these all have in common? Runaway urban sprawl on Oahu, the loss of agricultural lands, and developers who place enormous burdens on existing infrastructure.

If tourists eat and shop at Dole's visitor center, they won't be eating and shopping in Haleiwa. With central Wahiawa in dire need of investment, how can the city allow commercial development on the surrounding agricultural lands? Why should the city reward the Mormon church for bringing an end to Gunstock Ranch, a successful agricultural operation? Landowners will never be committed to agriculture if they can count on getting the land rezoned. Kamehameha Highway on the upper Windward side is as dangerous as Farrington Highway in Waianae.

The added burdens on infrastructure when agricultural land is rezoned for urban use aren't just an inconvenience or an expense to taxpayers. Such spot rezoning is criminal when it leads to the dramatic increases in traffic fatalities that we see in Waianae, on the upper Windward side and in front of the Dole visitor center. Let's have responsible growth that follows the dictates of good planning.

Stanley K. May
Haleiwa

Christian group left out many families

We would like to express our exasperation at the judicial ruling that banned lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) families from participating in the Family Day parade (Star-Bulletin, July 4). The Christian Coalition has sought to narrowly define "family" and allow only those that fit their values-based definition into the parade. The city's support of this event evokes the constitutional right for everyone to have equal access, regardless of values.

There are many LGBT families in Hawaii who do not fit the Christian Coalition's definition. Nevertheless, they are families. Last week's ruling excluded those families from participating in the event, which was promoted as celebrating families and children. It is the Christian Coalition that has won, not the children of Hawaii, especially those children and families who do not fit the coalition's narrow definition. Children whose parents are LGBT and children who are LGBT have been shamed and excluded based on sexual orientation. This is a civil rights issue.

Beverly McCreary Nickie Golden

Swimming pool users need adequate fluids

The head of the Parks and Recreation Department, Bill Balfour, has recently matched the Aloha Stadium folks with an edict that defies common sense as well as medical sense: He has banned all food and beverages at our community's swimming pools. The rule has merit up to a point, and that point is plain, old, everyday drinking water.

Apparently, Balfour believes swimmers don't exert enough energy to require drinking water at least every 15 minutes of active swimming. And this includes pool exercise swim instructors, the physically disabled taking water aerobics classes, young children struggling to learn swimming, and senior citizens trying to exercise to stay alive. "Excuse me, class, while I leave the pool to locate the nearest drinking fountain." "Excuse me, teacher, I need to take a break to get out of the water instead of using my plastic bottle conveniently here at the end of my lane."

The USA Swim Web site (www.usswim.org) includes information about the need for swimmers to have adequate fluids during our year-round high temperatures.

Don Neill
Kailua

All those signs don't seem to be working

Why do the state and the City & County of Honolulu waste so much money installing signs? One good example are speed limit signs that no one understands. Why not just put up signs that say "GO FOR IT." Signs on the Pali Highway read "Minimum speed in right lane is 40 mph, 45 in the left lane." If you are driving 45-plus in the left lane you will be passed by everyone behind you. Even if you are driving 55 mph, that is too slow for those behind you. So just change the speed limit signs to read "GO FOR IT" and let it all hang out; after all, the average driver apparently can't read. That also goes for warning signs that are supposed to protect hikers, but don't. Just another sign to shoot at or paint graffiti on.

Curtis R. Rodrigues
Kaneohe

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