Lawmakers cave in again to unions

Senate Bill 1352, forcing the city and state to negotiate with public worker unions before transfers or reassignments, is another bill crafted by the Legislature that caters to the unions and hurts the public. If union employees are doing nothing in Pearl City, why should the city or state have to negotiate for them to work in town, where the work is?

The only apparent reason to negotiate in this situation is to gain more for the union members at the expense of taxpayers. This is bad policy and irresponsible. When the bill is vetoed by the governor, it should be sustained.

Let tuition make up for loss of research

The protesters at the University of Hawaii referred to it as "our university" (Star-Bulletin, May 5). It's the state's and citizens' university. They just rent it for a few years to get an education (hopefully).

Interim UH President David McClain should not allow a small minority of students and faculty to subvert the course of the university. If the $10 million per year to be received by the university from a Navy research center is correct, how much tuition increase would be necessary to compensate for the loss? Let the entire student body consider that alternative and then see how many are really for turning down the Navy research center offer.

Waikiki Trump Tower part of bad trend

This is in response to the recent announcement of a pending Trump Tower in Waikiki.

With Trump and Irongate joined in a venture offering one-up-manship and exclusivity neatly balanced into Waikiki on the "ama" of an Outrigger, we need to ask, "Kokua brah, which way is up?"

The venture affirms the view that profitability will increase in Waikiki by appealing to a smaller sector of upscale visitors and wealthy buyers. Conversely, Waikiki should again become the exclusive playground of "royalty" -- the wealthy malihini. For those who remember Kihei before its transformation, they may feel out of place on an island where they are free to visit but cannot afford to stay. In short, "kokua" becomes redefined as a "neighborhood option," and not a social trait that welcomes all into a larger sense of community.

Living in an elite highrise provides proof of upward social mobility that only the wealthy can afford. What is being sold here is exclusivity set in a state of aloha. What is being created is social alienation that kills the goose that lays golden eggs and eventually aloha itself, but it will create more menial jobs in security, support services and crime to justify the added expense of the former.

GE tax increase will haunt governor

A friendly warning to Governor Lingle: Your advisers might think that you can take for granted all us fiscal conservatives who voted for you -- that you can approve the general excise tax increase passed by the Legislature -- because hey, we've got nowhere else to go. But soon you're going to be running against a very fiscally conservative opponent. Her name is Blank Vote, and she has never voted for a tax increase. And if you betray us by approving this massive tax increase, Blank Vote will scoop up the votes of those of us who won't suffer gladly spendthrifts posing as fiscal conservatives.

So, the politically astute way to handle this would be to oh-so-reluctantly veto the GET hike because doggonit, all those restrictions on how the money can be spent go against your view of county home rule.

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