Mayor gets his priorities in place

Mahalo, Mr. Mayor. You are filling the pot holes, at least on School Street by Lanakila Park. I have seen other streets being slowly repaired. This is a step forward.

Also, hurrah for cutting back on projects that are not needed. These are not priority undertakings. Let's take care of the potholes and sewers first.

We have got to take the bull by the horns. To me, Mufi has his priorities straight.

Contractors lax in repairing roads

Good story in the paper March 6, covering almost every aspect of potholes; how they are created and what they can do to our cars.

But there is one aspect not mentioned in the story and usually not mentioned elsewhere. I believe a major cause of potholes is the failure of contractors to properly and adequately restore the pavement after they have dug a hole to fix utilities or whatever. The poorly done restoration can be as bad as any pothole almost from the day it is done. And poor restorations deteriorate further in a hurry.

If the city and the state have any standards on the matter, they are not being enforced.

Why not establish a permit process for digging in our streets? The fee should be large enough to cover the cost for an inspection for adequacy of restoration and money to pay for restoration if it doesn't pass inspection. For those that do pass, the portion of the fee for restorative work could be refunded to the contractor.

EIS is appropriate for Superferry

Many young children believe in the Tooth Fairy. Apparently, many adults also believe in the Superferry. Just put $40 million in taxpayer dollars under the pillow. When you wake up there will be $200 million in federal loan guarantees and a fast, cheap ride to Oahu.

But wait, you say. How can the Superferry avoid whales and high seas, prevent interisland spread of drugs, stolen goods and alien species, and provide security, inspection and staging area for 250-plus vehicles, without further clogging our roads, at the already-crowded Kahului Harbor area? Easy ... it's magic! Don't you remember how that big genie could fit in Aladdin's tiny lamp?

Hawaii Superferry's basic idea of bargain travel appeals to many. However, their numbers don't add up, except in the immensity of their subsidies. We should be using their full name: Hawaii Super-subsidized Ferry.

No state agency is above the law, and Hawaii Superferry has been led down the wrong path by the Department of Transportation Harbors Division in saying they are exempt from environmental review. Without an environmental impact statement, the chance of a "ferry tale" ending where we all live happily ever after is highly unlikely.

Follow the law -- do the EIS.

Constitution doesn't mention homeless

In response to Richard Hoke's March 6 letter stating "Government has a duty to provide its homeless citizens with the basic necessities of life": Perhaps Hoke can e-mail me the updated, socialist version of the Constitution that says that? The obsolete version I have -- it must be obsolete because it is more than 200 years old -- only advocates limited government and "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," not a government handout financed at the expense of the economic liberty the rest of us lose when the taxes are imposed to pay for such largesse.

Bush needs PR help with privatization

President Bush needs your help. It's important for him to use the right words, or the public won't approve of what he's trying to do to Social Security.

Since the term "crisis" no longer can be applied to it because the condition of that program is far, far from a crisis, the administration is now saying there are "problems" with it. That's a step forward.

But there's still that bugaboo of "privatizing." At first, it sounds like a good word, but the privatizing of everything from schools to prisons has left an unseemly aura around the word.

How about "decentralizing"? Or maybe "home rule"? That's still not quite it. So, do help your president out by sending him suggestions on what he should call his efforts to turn Social Security over to Wall Street.