Bumpy's the man with the plan for OHA

Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele is the man with the plan -- no more being wards of the state.

We Hawaiians can have true financial freedom and make our own decisions. We would not have to receive money from the taxpayers of Hawaii. No more houseless in parks or on the beach. Our children would have a better future forever. Our young adults would not have to make the wrong decisions and grow old in state and federal prisons because they would see that there would be a future in this world of uncertainties. We would not need handouts from any government or organization.

We need an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee who would speak for all of us and not just the ones who will go along with the status quo. Bumpy has the plan and you can bank on it.

Vote 'yes' on safety for walkers, cyclists

With the increasing population on Oahu and the growing number of cars, it is imperative for the citizens of Honolulu to vote "yes" City Charter amendment question No. 8.

This measure revises the duties of the director of transportation to make pedestrian and bicycling safety a top priority. With the state scoring in the lower percentages statistically, our city should improve the pedestrian and bicycling facilities. Why should our pedestrians and cyclists fear for their lives? With near-perfect weather and warm temperatures, why not use your feet for transportation in lieu of a car?

I encourage all citizens to vote in the upcoming election and vote "yes" City Charter amendment question No. 8.

Don't reinvent the wheel, Mr. Mayor

I was shocked by Mayor Mufi Hannemann's comment, "We at the city share that frustration. ... We found ourselves in competition in getting on the only radio outlet that was available to the public" ("City works to improve info flow," Star-Bulletin, Oct. 21).

I would dare say that the managers at KSSK would not agree with this assertion. After having listened to KSSK for approximately seven straight hours following the quake, I heard on-air folks struggling to get information from anyone who could provide it. It didn't seem to me that Bill Brennan from the mayor's staff had any trouble getting on and telling the community what he didn't know.

Tentative plans for an AM station, broadcast "break-ins" on the local TV stations, possible use of the Internet and other equally dumb ideas to provide disaster warnings cause me pause. Who the heck is thinking some of this stuff up? Civil Defense has been around for many years. There are superb plans available that have 50 years of previous use. There are many new voice warning systems that have been installed around the mainland that would work very well here. I would recommend that the mayor and his folks simply find them and figure out how to implement them rather than attempting to reinvent the system. KSSK was on the air and attempted to get info out, but they didn't have the initial info from Civil Defense at either the state or county level. My friends on the mainland watched KITV on Grudge.com, but we couldn't since we didn't have electricity, remember? Oh yeah, you weren't here, were you, Mr. Mayor?

Fix your system. Don't try to reinvent or come up with "out of the box" thinking that is just simply wrongheaded.

HECO hopes to learn from quake blackout

On behalf of everyone at Hawaiian Electric Co., I want to thank each of you for your patience and understanding during the islandwide blackout last Sunday following the earthquake.

You have our pledge to continue our look at what happened and why, using experts from Hawaii and elsewhere to make sure we do a thorough and complete review. We will work with the Public Utilities Commission and the consumer advocate to find the best answers for our customers.

We also need to improve the way we communicated with you that day. Not enough information got out fast enough, and getting information to you is critical. Finally we will work with the state and counties and with the media to help create a system of response that better serves our community.

All of us at Hawaiian Electric feel a personal responsibility in providing service to our customers, and we deeply regret the frustration and inconvenience we know folks had to endure during those long hours without power.

Turn off the lights and turn on the heat

I personally want to thank the folks at Hawaiian Electric Co. for the earthquake day blackout. I had planned to work in the office all day and into the night to get ahead for the following week's business. But with no electricity at the office in Haleiwa, I decided to stay home.

With no power at home there weren't too many choices of activities. I lay back in the recliner staring at the blank TV for about 20 minutes imagining an NFL game, and then suddenly I was off to la-la land for a nap I never planned on. I slept for nearly three hours and awoke refreshed.

I then spent several hours in intimate conversation with my wife -- something we hadn't had time for in quite a while. At dusk we put up candles around the house and spent a romantic evening together. We were somewhat disappointed when the power returned around 11 p.m.

To think I would have missed all that and spent all day at work in the office. Mahalo, HECO. I anxiously await the next unplanned power outage.

Cameras don't make intersections safer

A few recent letters have called for ticket cameras at intersections controlled by traffic lights. Unfortunately, these cameras make a bad situation worse. A recent extensive study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation and conducted by the Urban Transit Institute shows that installing ticket cameras causes more accidents at intersections.

After analyzing 17,271 crashes at 303 intersections for five years, including two years before the cameras were introduced, the study found that "the results do not support the view that red light cameras reduce crashes. Instead, we find that red light cameras are associated with higher levels of many types and severity categories of crashes."

The study can be found at www.ncat.edu/~traninst/Research.html.

Dangerous intersections generally can be fixed by using simple engineering solutions such as lengthening the yellow light time or adding metal backers to traffic lights for improved visibility. A ticket camera-enforced location in Virginia saw a 94 percent drop in citations, from 52.1 per day to less than one per day, by increasing the yellow time by 1.5 seconds, from four seconds to 5.5.

Ticket cameras do not stop dangerous drivers or fix problematic intersections. They simply create a profit source.

BOE dishonest about per-pupil funding

Let's be clear: The proposed charter school budget passed by the Board of Education will not result in $1,000 more per pupil (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 21).

Under this budget the charters will receive only $30 more per pupil over what they received this school year. And facility funding will no longer be provided to start-up charters (schools that started as charter school and do not have school buildings). This year, start-ups received, for the first time, $649 per pupil for facilities. In reality the net effect is that start-up charters will receive less funding, not more. In fact they will receive $619 less per pupil, which will be a significant difference in their overall operating budget.

The BOE also fails to say that some of the money in its budget is earmarked for specific purposes, like support for three new start-up charters and mediation. These special-purpose funds will not be part of the per-pupil allotment, but the board includes them in its calculation of the per-pupil funding level.

The BOE members should communicate in a clear, open, honest way. After all, the public has a right to know the true effect of their actions.