Online readers are able to respond immediately to Star-Bulletin stories through our Web forum, which can be accessed at the end of stories, editorials and columns at starbulletin.com. Below is a selection of forum comments that appeared last week. Most forum contributors use pseudonyms; their “;names”; have been omitted here.

  ”;Post-marathon mess is city's fault, group says,”; Star-Bulletin, Dec. 16: One day of fun and profit-taking for the marathon crowd, and months of tire tracks, mud-caked grass and mosquito-infested puddles for the park and her visitors. Last year there were the broken shoe timers. This year there was water treated with some kind of bad-tasting additives. Both years it was a soggy mess. It's gotten too weird, and it isn't fun anymore.

  Why call for the end of these types of commercial activities (in Kapiolani Park) when they are obviously temporary and the trust states that no permanent activity is allowed? Why would we want to prevent activities that allow more of our visitors, and especially our residents, to enjoy the park? Too bad this is the mentality these days: “;If we don't like it, close it all off.”; If we applied this type of thinking to everything else, every single person, residents included, would be packing up to leave the islands.

  ”;Honolulu's cost of living ranks third in the U.S., report says”; Star-Bulletin, Dec. 17:, I don't believe that these numbers are true today. There has been a lot of changes in fuel prices and real estate markets in the islands this year alone.The nation's problems with foreclosures have just now caught up to Hawaii. Hawaii has never been a buyer's market in real estate and vacation travel until this year. Expect this to continue for the next 12 to16 months or until people can feel comfortable again.

  ”;Auditor slams state on Superferry,”; Star-Bulletin, Dec. 18: But it was OK to build airports? The Superferry is a business just like an airline. Its primary customers are the people of Hawaii rather than tourists, so it catches all this flack. I don't get it.

  Marion Higa's report confirms the Ship of State was not too ship-shape. Strange how so much time and capital was wasted trying to avoid requirements. Pirates aren't just on the other side of the world. So the state of Hawaii was scammed by a private company and the Department of Transportation may plunge more public funds into a financial black hole.(The Kahului barge really got slammed from ocean surges and expensive repairs are needed.) So what other financial disasters are new?

  Marion Higa's report is just like all her reports - negative and damning. I don't think she has ever reported anything positively in any of the investigations she has made. I'll bet she would have nothing good to say about Mother Teresa. If you look hard enough you can always find something wrong with anything, and this appears to be her MO. She seems to have a need to punish. I don't think she is a very objective person.

Money spent on airports (even though not everyone flies) benefits many companies from all the different airlines to food vendors to taxi cabs, etc. Money spent on harbor ramps benefits one and only one company - the Superferry.

  These barges and ramps are hardly a waste of money. The people of this state (except Kauai) are benefiting immensely from this investment. If you want to look at a waste of money, look at the legislators' pay.