Condo conversion does not serve public

In response to the the Star-Bulletin's Jan. 22 article, "Lessees to take issue of conversion to court," I would like to point out that these lessee threats have been going on for years. However, many lawsuits have been won by the landowners, which also resulted in the city (taxpayers) having to pay legal bills.

This time the city should be successful in safeguarding itself against these threats, as its reasoning for not including the small number of lessees is that forcing leasehold conversion is not for a "public purpose."

There is no public purpose served by allowing lessees to ruin a project by taking a small percentage of it away from the landowner and forcing that landowner to become partners with those few applicants.

Saying Mahi was 'fired' is misleading

Aaron Mahi was not "fired" as was reported in your story Sunday. He simply has not been re-appointed as bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band.

When a mayor's term ends, so does the job of every appointed employee of the city. The same is true of the state government. Unless the mayor chooses to reappoint a cabinet officer, he is simply out of a job -- not fired.

To put that kind of a "spin" on the story makes it look bad for Aaron, who has been a wonderful bandleader, taking the musical organization to new heights while still keeping it very Hawaiian.

Bandleader serves as valuable city asset

There were certainly rave reports over the new mayor's public inauguration. One item commented on the young, fresh voice of Mufi Hannemann, who apparently had practice lessons before singing as he did that day. What is surprising is that a Samoan such as he fails to perceive that Aaron Mahi projects the beautiful and gentle soul of Hawaiians. It is under his guidance and inspiration that the Royal Hawaiian Band draws diverse peoples to listen and applaud the uplifting moments he creates lunch time at the palace grounds.

It is only Mahi who can create the musical finesse with its links to antiquity, and give his audiences dreamy moments, when the loud sounds of new, current music assail their ears.

While working at City Hall, I had the opportunity to study Mahi when he occasionally dropped in to visit our office. He is a perfect, gracious gentleman and would be a real loss for all of Hawaii if our mayor decides Mahi must go. Why?

I beg the new mayor that the old ways have their infinite blessings.

Senator should put aside partisanship

During the campaign, I received a disturbing mailer from GOP Sen. Fred Hemmings. The mailer asserted that Democratic state Rep. Tommy Waters "has tried to take credit" for district capital improvement projects which, it is implied, should be credited to Sen. Bob Hogue, Hemmings and other community members.

I am ashamed that a legislator in my own party would use false information. With the legislative session now under way, I think it is important that taxpayers understand how the state budget process works.

The budget originates from the governor's office and then goes to the state House. It then transfers to the state Senate, and finally back to the House and on to a joint hearing.

The governor requested more than $18 million to upgrade the Waimanalo wastewater treatment plant, and Waters ensured that allocation stayed intact when the House passed the budget to the Senate. When the bill returned to the House with less than $2 million of the $18 million-plus request, it was Waters who successfully persuaded Senate Ways and Means Chairman Brian Taniguchi to restore the full funding.

I say to Hemmings: Put partisanship aside for the sake of your district and take Waters up on his offer to work together.

Bottle bill has added benefits

What a great idea to turn our trash into treasure! I recently dropped off our family's empty cans and bottles at the Sierra Club's fund-raiser for the tsunami victims. It only took a few moments and the volunteers were very helpful and polite. I've seen so many letters in the newspaper saying that the bottle bill is no good and too hard to understand. But what could be bad about a law that helps charity organizations raise money for good causes while keeping our island clean and litter-free?

My only complaint is that I can't return my cans and bottles to Manoa Marketplace. When I lived in Oregon we could return our deposit cans to any supermarket while we did our shopping. Why do they refuse to do this service to the community in Hawaii?

Ohio vote challenge was pointless

In Ted Obringer's Jan. 11 letter, he cites Michael Moore's propaganda piece "Fahrenheit 9/11" as a source of factual information. However, several independent sources have de- bunked the "facts" in this film.

One tidbit of info related to Obringer's letter is the Congressional Black Caucus' challenge to the election results. What Moore and Obringer omit is that Sen. John Kerry was approached by Black Caucus members and asked to sign the appeal in order to have it presented before Congress and the Senate. Kerry refused to support the Black Caucus.

Obringer also omits the fact that Kerry has said that his own legal team had investigated the election results from Ohio and not only did they not find any improprieties, but they agreed that Kerry would have lost the election no matter what.

So what is the purpose of the challenge? Sounds like sour grapes from the Democrats.