City should try private bus stops

Maybe it's time for the city to privatize the bus stops. Many cities do that while they take federal money for transportation.

Bus stops could be sold/leased/rented for a nominal fee, and the business or organization could put a small sign denoting ownership. Then police could respond to calls to have vagrants and druggies removed legally.

Many bus stops are approaching critical mass now, or should I say “;critical mess.”; Maybe bus riders would patronize the businesses that sponsor.

If you say that the Outdoor Circle, which objects to signs, would complain, why not have it offer a very nominal fee to adopt the bus stops and privatize them and put a small sign?

As the weather gets worse this winter, far too many bus riders are left standing in the rain while the bus stops have become smelly camp sites.

Try it on a trial basis.

Don't let DLNR ignore testimony

Now that the public hearings for the Recreational Renaissance Plan B Proposed Rules have been completed and that the collective testimony presented at these hearings was overwhelmingly in opposition, will the state Department of Land and Natural Resources ignore this clear and legal message of the “;public interest”; and ram the rules down our throats anyway?

It wouldn't be the first time. Let's keep an eye on this and not let it happen.

Public workers must sacrifice, too

The public worker unions seem to have missed that we are in a recession with layoffs and salary cuts being inevitable. The private sector has already suffered the consequences resulting in a 10 percent unemployment nationwide. Now it is time for the public workers to take the hit. When will the unions realize that the good times are over and that they have to accept salary cuts, too? Hawaii is in bad financial shape, there are too many public employees, a bloated administration and a Legislature that is twice the size that is appropriate for a small state like ours.

What was point of Will's column?

George Will used his nationally published opinion column to “;expose”; a left-leaning photographer, Robert Capa, who staged a single photo of a soldier's death during the Spanish Civil War 70 years ago (”;Staged war photograph stains Capa's legacy,”; Star-Bulletin, Nov. 15). Why? What lessons for today? According to Will, “;noble purposes do not validate misrepresentations.”; The misrepresented truth being, I suppose, that soldiers didn't die during the Spanish Civil War. Of the 5,000 Americans and 500,000 Iraqis who died during the Iraq War, how many of them do you remember seeing dead or dying? I recall very few. Perhaps in his next column, Will may discuss another kind of misrepre- sentation of war, one that misrepresents by omission.

Ivy college folks blind to isle ways

Apparently Harvard didn't teach Mufi Hannemann anything concerning island ecology, carrying capacity, urban sprawl and true quality of life. Alas, Yale doesn't seem to be doing much better, as evidenced by Tyler Dos Santos-Tam's letter to the editor (”;Rail needed for next generation,”; Star-Bulletin, Nov. 12). Princeton and the other Ivies cannot be far behind. Viva developers?