Tom Berg's opinion piece on Nov. 13 illogically ties together the issue of the Constitutional Convention and widening roadways in Ewa. It requires a response.

The people have spoken against a Con Con. He mistakenly implies that holding the Con Con would have enabled us to issue special purpose revenue bonds to assist certain developers. Not only is this false, but, in my opinion, the means do not justify the end.

In a declining economy, special revenue bonds are difficult or impossible to obtain. Special revenue bonds are funds issued by a private company guaranteed by legislation. When tax collections are in the negative and when we are in a global credit crisis, this is not a viable alternative.

  We all want the necessary infrastructure built prior to additional development; however, we still have to deal with the collection of impact fees. It will take years to accumulate the significant amount of money needed to get projects off the ground. This is a dilemma. I believe that having the roads built prior to construction should be something that developers should be required to do. The voters have told us that they are not willing to spend taxpayer money on a Constitutional Convention, and special purpose revenue bonds are just not realistic during this economic downturn.

House Bill 728 was a bill to amend the Constitution to allow private developers to get a loan so they can finance and build roads prior to construction, however this bill was deemed premature.

  In the case of Ewa, the vast area of land where 12,000 homes are expected to be built in the future is still zoned agricultural and is before the Land Use Commission for reclassification. The proposed East-West connector road also sits on privately owned land, zoned agricultural.

With the state's current budget crisis, releasing $50 million to the City and County to bring the roads to standard in Kalealoa would be nice to do, but not while we are expecting to cut huge percentages from state departments.

Currently, we are widening Fort Weaver Road, completing Kapolei Parkway and the North South Road, and construction of a freeway interchange is under way. The bottom line is that we cannot afford a Con Con, and we cannot afford to build 12,000 new homes given the lack of roads and infrastructure required.

The election is over, Mr. Berg. Let's use our time and resources this session on balancing our state budget and addressing our distressed economy.