Bills would protect Hawaii's legacy

Cynthia Oi's March 9 "Under the Sun" column, "We could end up saying 'Remember Pupukea?'," brought back many memories for me. It was a nostalgic trip back to old Honolulu.

Her last five paragraphs are about the value of natural areas. She mentions that natural areas have a lot of value. I totally agree. Two bills before the Legislature, HB1308 and SB1897, titled the Legacy Lands Act, would set aside money from an increase in the state conveyance tax to purchase land for preservation purposes. I believe that these bills should become law not only because we owe it to future generations but also because our main economic engine, tourism, depends on protecting our natural resource base.

Oi's final sentence is as true today as in days of old: Natural areas are our true legacy.

City should accept donated pavement

The city has a problem with not accepting any donations of privately owned driveways, curbs, sidewalks and streets. The city will not accept any of those properties that are not up to city standards. A private landowner usually does not have the financial ability to upgrade their properties to city standards. Many would gladly donate these small pieces of their property to the city just for the cost of upgrading.

When the city repairs a stretch of driveways, curbs, sidewalks and road, the privately owned portion will be untouched. Even if the private landowner wants to donate this small piece of land to the city, the city will not accept it.

For the safety of the general public, the City Council must change this "up to standard" requirement and accept from private landowners those parcels that prevent a consistent improvement of driveways, curbs, sidewalks and streets that are used by the general public.

Let's look at all angles of traffic solutions

While the Legislature has tabled a bill proposing an increase in the general excise tax to fund fixed rail, as discussed in Richard Borreca's "On Politics" column of March 13, we still have the problem of freeway congestion and the matter will certainly come up again. Before it does, here are some points to consider:

It appears there will be time for such studies before another bill wends it way through our Legislature.

Social Security funds used for tax cuts

You probably realize by now that it was necessary for President Bush to raid Social Security trust funds to fix Social Security. How did that work? Simple, the money Bush appropriated from Social Security funds was used to furnish tax cuts for the wealthy. To make it fair and balanced, Bush will provide cuts for the poor and middle class, but of a different kind. Those are Social Security benefit cuts. Think of the symmetry if Bush can get the cuts to match. What a coup!

If you support Bush's program to profitize Social Security, you may want to sign up now for stockbroker training in anticipation of the opening of millions private accounts called for by Bush's plan. What a guy -- Bush knew that if we all became stockbrokers to handle the private Social Security accounts, our commissions would be plenty to take care of us in our golden years. So before Bush's scheme, I mean plan, becomes law you may want to contact your congressman and tell him what you think about it.

Did you know the Congressional Budget Office found that Bush's budget plan raids the Social Security trust fund every year between now and 2012?