City imperils bikers for the sake of 'beauty'

In its so-called Lunalilo Home Road "beautification project," the city has created a dangerous and possibly life-threatening situation for recreational bicyclists.

Reducing parts of this urban speedway to two narrow lanes puts all bikers riding in those areas at risk. Is the city ready to accept the responsibility and liability for the accidents and injuries that are sure to follow this costly and ill-thought-out plan?

Jaren A. Hancock
Hawaii Kai

Terri Shiavo is only existing, not living

Concerning Terri Shiavo, the young Florida woman whose husband wants her feeding tube removed over the objections of her parents:

Webster's dictionary defines the word "vegetative" as follows: 1) Noting or pertaining to unconscious or involuntary bodily functions. 2) Inactive; passive; a vegetative existence.

Vegetation is defined as 1) the act or process of vegetating, 2) A passive existence.

Note that the word is "existence," not "life" or "living."

If you were in a vegetative state, or if your wife or daughter were in that state, would you want to have the plug pulled or not?

Tetsuji Ono
Hilo, Hawaii

Does Bush's war really help economy?

What has the Iraq war done for you lately? War promotes job creation and production, right? And the gross domestic product surged during the third quarter, according to the government. That report comes from the same government administered by President Bush, who used inaccurate government reports to send us to war, attacking a country that had no connection to 9/11, but plenty of oil and business opportunities for Bush's wealthy supporters.

Without the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the military, how would the GDP stand? Or would it be sitting down? Do you think someone might manipulate the GDP numbers to get re-elected? Research it yourself and decide. I'm voting ABB -- anybody but Bush.

The plan Bush should have used in Iraq was to behave like the United States did with China, helping them to establish businesses so profitable that they would not want to terrorize or attack us because we are one of their best customers. Bush's replacement may want keep that in mind.

Smoky Guerrero
Mililani

Has U.S. forgotten horrors of Vietnam?

I have been thinking about the Vietnam War lately. Given what's going on today, I now realize it was a "preventative" war. We went to war based on the government's "domino theory." We believed we had to stop the spread of communism and we chose Vietnam as the place to do it. Sound familiar?

Our soldiers couldn't tell the good guys from the bad guys because guerrillas were all around them. A lot of innocent people were killed. Can you see this happening now?

We eventually realized that we had gotten ourselves into an unworkable mess. But the most important thing is that the original domino theory was shown to be a false notion. After the war, when the communists took over Saigon, communism did not spread beyond Vietnam, and America's security was not threatened.

History has shown us that it only takes about 25 years for people to forget a terrible flood and build in the same place, or to forget about the importance of certain ideas, like civil rights. They only remember again when the big problems they used to suffer from return.

Now is the time for us to try to remember the horrors we have lived through before, and see if we are making some of the same mistakes again.

Shammy Dingus
Waianae

Public is behind ban on abortion method

The ink was not even dry on the "partial birth" abortion ban signed into law by President Bush when a federal judge issued an injunction against it. It is inconceivable that anyone could justify this inhumane, barbaric and gruesome procedure. Actually, only a small, fanatical minority (23 percent) do, citing the need to protect a woman's "health."

That qualification is a ruse, because "health" could mean anything from a headache to an ingrown toenail. The ban does allow an exception if the mother's life is in danger.

With 70 percent of the public against "partial birth" abortion and an overwhelming bipartisan congressional vote for the ban, federal judges, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU need to leave the ban alone.

Janice Pechauer
Honolulu

Don't allow developers to evade county rules

Developers on Maui are attempting to be the de facto head of our planning department. We have worked for two years to pass comprehensive planning legislation at the county level, only to have developers go to a state agency, the Hawaii Community Development Authority, to get approval for a subdivision in a way that bypasses our standard review process.

I am greatly concerned when I hear Governor Lingle tell developers that there is no reason to work with legislators; if they want something done differently, they should just use their money to back someone else for elected office. This implies that we have to find ways around working together in our government.

This is a formula for greed and power to dominate. I have seen enough of this in President Bush, and the echoes of such policies in Hawaii greatly disturb me.

Sean Lester
Haiku, Maui

Charge toll on singles to combat rush hour

It seems absurd that our city and state governments once again are considering spending in excess of $2 billion in an attempt to solve a traffic problem that lasts only about two hours on weekday mornings and afternoons. For the rest of the day, traffic along the H1 freeway moves relatively smoothly, at the posted speed limit.

The goal: to reduce by a couple of thousand -- perhaps 30 percent -- the number of vehicles traveling east to west along this corridor between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., Monday through Friday, and at the same time provide adequate, low-cost public transportation for the displaced drivers to the downtown business area.

The solution: Establish strategically placed toll booths at the entrances to the freeway to extract $1 or $2 from all single-occupant vehicles. All other vehicles would proceed at no charge. The fees would be used to subsidize city buses, which would provide free transportation to Honolulu. Free parking and bus pick-up service would be provided at locations such as the Aloha Stadium.

No remedy would be required during the afternoon drive, as the entire problem would be parked at the stadium.

Peter D. Osborne
Kailua

More buses and routes would end traffic woes

In "The Life of Reason," philosopher George Santayana wrote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." That certainly applies to the current Honolulu fixed-rail transit plan.

The Sept. 17, 1989, Sunday Star-Bulletin contained a disturbing analysis of that era's rail proposals. Summarizing 10 recently completed rail systems across America, the report revealed that eight had less than 50 percent of the predicted weekday riders.

Eight of the 10 systems cost 140 percent or more of the forecasted operating expenses. The three worst ones cost 292 percent, 305 percent and 340 percent higher. The average cost per rail passenger was 468 percent higher than was forecast.

Those reports need to be updated as well as a previous federal study of fixed-rail and bus systems for Hawaii. Before betting billions on fixed rail, we should consider greatly expanded bus service at much lower cost.

Our dinosaur Republican legislators unanimously opposed Governor Lingle's planned transit system for the wrong reason -- higher taxes. They should learn from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who said: "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society."

Taxes provide schools, streets, courts, police, firefighters and other civilized necessities. Our crowded streets need flexible public buses to replace lone riders in their cars.

The growing traffic turmoil in Honolulu is uncivilized. To civilize our traffic, we need to choose and tax wisely for more buses and routes.

Jerome Manis
Honolulu

Rail commuters will need a place to park

Has anyone other than George Mason -- in an insightful editorial in the Nov. 7 Pacific Business News -- considered the problems that parking for any rail system will involve?

Folks just won't walk a significant distance to use a rail system. And they won't cotton to walking to buses to get to stations, either. There must be abundant parking at each station if the system is to attract riders.

Are we going to demolish blocks of homes and businesses to provide the land?

Sheesh!

Arthur Y. Sprague
Honolulu

Marines should clean up their mess

Again the United States breaks its word of honor. The Marines said they would clean up Waikane Valley and return it to its owner ("Waikane plans dropped/The Marines cite safety concerns," Star-Bulletin, Nov. 13).

Same with Kahoolawe. Same with numerous other military sites here. The truth is they cannot clean it up. The primary mission of the military is to blow up, not clean up.

Now they want 30,000 more acres. To allow them to ruin more land isn't patriotic, it's foolish. Foolish for our environment. Foolish because it encourages war. Foolish because we need the money for more important things like housing, jobs, schools and hospitals.

Steve Tayama
Waimanalo