Brainstorm! Challenge

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Offer some carrots along with tax hike

Thanks, Sen. Cal Kawamoto for proposing to raise our excise tax (Star-Bulletin. Jan. 9) to pay for rail transit!

We may need alternatives to our current gridlock, but please let's think this through.

Can we get some sort of tax reform, too? How about raising our excise tax to 5 percent, but exempt food and prescription drugs? Lower-income groups and the elderly, who spend a larger percentage of their wages on food and medicine, would benefit.

In the meantime, can we get rid of the HOV lanes so each lane can be utilized 100 percent of the time?

Curtis Takano
Mililani

Harris halted spending on road maintenance

Everyone is talking about the pothole problem and nobody seems to have any explanation as to why it happened other than the fact that there's been a lot of rain ("Potholes keep drivers vigilant and crews busy," Star-Bulletin, Jan. 6. Give me a break! The problem is simple and easily explained.

Prior to Jeremy Harris becoming mayor, the city repaired 220 to 240 lane miles of road every year using the city's general operating funds. Upon becoming mayor in 1992, Harris basically stopped repairing roads and after four years in office had repaired only 40 miles of roadway.

When he was actually forced to repair a road, he called the repair a "capital improvement" so he could borrow the money and divert operating funds towards his many "look at me" pet projects. That borrowed money costs $1.70 for every dollar borrowed!

Right now there are an estimated 1,700 lane miles that need resurfacing. The problem with roads is that once a road deteriorates, pothole fixes don't work and the road can't even be resurfaced. It has to be totally dug up, down to the underlying substrate and rebuilt, a much more expensive job.

For lack of routine maintenance, we are now faced with an overwhelming and expensive problem. Can you say "vehicle registration tax hike"?

Charles F. Fasi
Honolulu

Ailing airline makes some people rich

Bankruptcy for Hawaiian Airlines has turned into a cash cow for New York lawyers. First came John Adams, CEO, who took a cool $25 million from Hawaiian and then declared the company bankrupt. Next up is Joshua Gotbaum, bankruptcy trustee, trying to award himself nearly $1 million a year in salary as an employee ("Trustee's $840,000 wage bid 'exorbitant,'" Star-Bulletin, Jan. 7). Meanwhile, more than $1million from Hawaiian (and from Hawaii) is going out each month to other lawyers.

While taking his large share Adams tried and generally succeeded in getting pilots and other employee groups to take concessions. Gotbaum continues that money grab. For 20 years pilots have taken concessions to preserve their fund for retirement, which is mandatory at age 60.

Today Gotbaum is focused primarily on two goals: decrease costs by taking pilots' retirement and increase costs by awarding himself a big salary.

Lost in this whole mess is the primary goal to get Hawaiian out of bankruptcy. Now that Paul Casey's business plan has evolved and Hawaiian is making money, the time is right for Hawaiian to emerge from bankruptcy. The new fleet has resulted in a 47 percent decrease in maintenance costs and Hawaiian is one of the only profitable airlines in the United States.

Meanwhile, Gotbaum and his consultants are trying to convince everyone how bad things are. They are in no rush to exit bankruptcy as they will then lose access to the cash cow.

Jeff Lilley
Honolulu

Editor's note: Joshua Gotbaum later cut his compensation request to about $600,000 a year, with the understanding that a federal judge will consider additional benefits upon the carrier's reorganization.

Law should silence drivers with loud cars

Automobile "mufflers" and other devices that amplify engine noise rather than muffle it are shattering what's left of our once-peaceful environment. Surely, pathetic individuals who try to compensate for their physical and emotional inadequacies by rattling our teeth and skulls as they drive by can find other ways to express themselves.

Mufflers and other devices that disturb the peace need to be removed before a vehicle passes inspection. Likewise, the mental midgets who drive cars equipped with such devices need to be pulled over, given a ticket and fined for violating our ear space. Do we have even one legislator brave enough to introduce a bill to this effect in the next legislative session?

Tom Dolan
Honolulu

U.S. attorney carries drug war too far

I disapprove of the recent actions of U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo and his posse of agents who investigated, raided, harassed and arrested mom-and-pop stores for selling pipes ("Busts for drug paraphernalia net 10 arrests," Star-Bulletin, Jan. 7).

They need to be tied much closer to the constitutional anchor, as far as I'm concerned.

Who do these law enforcement guys think they are, the Hawaii Taliban? They need a new lesson in the spirit of the Constitution and the promise of free choice and personal liberty for all citizens. They have over-stepped their legal boundaries.

Drug prohibition and its supporters created the perpetual illegal drug problem in Hawaii. They love to create a panic and then magically have the solution, too. The only federal study to look at the issue found that marijuana eradication caused the ice epidemic in Hawaii in the first place.

Now law enforcers want to force their wicked solution on small store owners. Outrageous! Drug laws cause more problems than drugs do. Period.

Roger Christie
Hilo, Hawaii

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] What should the city do with the elegant old sewage pump station? It's empty and fading, and now it's taking a beating from all the construction going on around it. The O.G. Traphagen-designed sewage pump station on Ala Moana Boulevard, more than a century old, is a monument to the glory days of municipal architecture, when city fathers took such pride in their community that even a humble sewage station became a landmark structure. Millions of tourists drive by it every year, and it's an embarrassing reminder of how poorly Honolulu treats its historic landmarks. Over the years, dozens of uses and excuses and blue-sky speculations have been suggested for the striking structure. Now we're asking you, Mr. and Mrs. Kimo Q. Publique, what should the city do with the elegant old pump building? Send your ideas and solutions by Jan. 15 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or mail them to: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750