New bus route offers convenient ride

I want to thank Mayor Jeremy Harris and the Department of Transportation with all of my heart for the new transit bus "E." Several people I know have mentioned how wonderful this new bus route is. It takes us directly to places which were inconvenient for us to get to before -- such as the Ward Center, Ward Warehouse and the Aloha Tower Marketplace -- without us having to walk several blocks, and the buses are super-comfortable and smooth to ride.

If more people got out of their vehicles to ride the buses, we wouldn't have the transportation problems we have here in Hawaii. When I sit waiting for a bus on Kapiolani Boulevard, 95 percent of the vehicles that pass me on that busy street have one person in them: the driver.

Council should have chosen mainland site

Hawaii needs a better group of people on the City Council to represent all the people. These biased members are only looking out for their own areas. How dare they damage and shorten the lives of citizens living near a landfill? What hurts the most is that it's for money. They brag that the city-owned land at Waimanalo Gulch is making big money, but they are not considering the asthma, lung diseases and cancer that people in that area have to suffer.

The City Council's latest serious mistake is not shipping out the landfill to host states that have arid, isolated wasteland. Many states on the mainland send their garbage to other states. It's the thing that's being done now, but I'm afraid Hawaii will think about it too late, when all the host states have as many contracts as they can fill.

Now is the time to save Hawaii's precious and limited land and not let it become unusable for many ages.

Is fixed-rail solution just for the other guy?

Are we willing to commit our tax dollars (probably billions) and those of our neighbors to a fixed-rail system so that the other guy will ride it, thereby making more room for our car? Or is it so that we can forgo the convenience of our car to ride fixed rail ourselves?

These are questions that need to be answered because if too many of us support fixed rail thinking that it will simply mean more room on the road for our car, then we will end up billions of dollars in the hole year after year throwing money at a fixed-rail system that no one rides.

Once a fixed-rail system is built, government will be very, very "driven" to motivate drivers to give up driving. The obvious hammer is taxes, of course. We could see a rise in gas taxes, vehicle taxes, licensing fees, new taxes and stricter licensing rules and exams. To some, "driving" up the expense of driving would be a good thing because that could lead to less traffic and less pollution. On the other hand, we will have to decide if it is fair that we might create a situation where only the rich can afford to drive and the poor ride fixed rail.

UH game obscured by airborne litter

What a game! It was a nail-biting final quarter as the University of Hawaii Warriors reigned victorious over the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday. Even better, ESPN was there and the victory got national coverage.

Could there be a down side to this? Yes -- the large amount of shredded newspapers flying down from the stands. The field was covered with it for most of the game. How embarrassing! The entire nation and our visiting guests see our disrespect for our land and our team with the litter. I noticed that our kicker, Justin Ayat, had to move several shreds of paper in order to have a clear kick. It was a windy night and paper was flying everywhere and it was very distracting and just plain ugly to look at.

Next season let's not be litterbugs. If we can't do this, then maybe they should stop giving away the free newspapers and line-ups at the beginning of each game.