Parking tickets targeting visitors

I love your island. I am preparing to leave after my sixth visit. I just got married out here on the North Shore. Everything is amazing about the place, and we will be back again. The local people are wonderful. In the shops, too. Full credit to Foodland, too.

I only have one major gripe. Traffic wardens, as we in the U.K. would call them. We have other names, as well.

I was booked when totally legally parked. I was not in a tow-away or restricted zone. I was on the North Shore for the Pipeline Masters. I can read the signs and know where to park.

I got a ticket. So did many other cars that day, also legally parked on the roadside. All of whom got booked were all rental cars. But there were also several in the same area who had not got a ticket. They were clearly locals.

My simple accusation is that we—the tourists in our rental cars—are an easy target. The locals would write in and get off their fines and kick up a fuss. If we don't pay, the rental companies charge us at a later date. It makes me sick.

Less-dense areas best for homeless

I am in total support of city action toward reducing Oahu's homeless population, and to distinguish between those to remain permanently on welfare and those to become productive citizens again. I believe developing all future shelters in low-crime, stable communities like Waialae, Kahala, Hawaii Kai and Kailua, for example, would lessen downtown crime, reduce criminal activity islandwide and especially provide a healthier environment for rehabilitating the homeless. It would be a mistake to increase the density of shelters in Kalihi, Chinatown and Waianae.

Why no earmark for symphony?

The article “;Defense bill benefits Inouye contributors”; (Star-Bulletin, Dec. 23) describes some of the 34 earmarks worth almost $180 million sponsored by Sen. Dan Inouye. While acknowledging that there may be some worthwhile spending here that could provide local benefits, most seem dubious at best, such as $2.2 million for a half-scale model of an amphibious transport vehicle the Navy has already rejected. Why not an earmark for the Honolulu Symphony, of which the senator is honorary chairman? I guess the symphony musicians don't make political contributions; they only make beautiful music.

The Honolulu Symphony Society makes little or no effort to communicate with season ticket holders or apparently with the musicians. According to court motions, the musicians were never informed that concerts would be canceled through June 2010. My family learned of the cancellations in the newspaper.

The Symphony Society should learn from the leadership at another Hawaiian cultural gem, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, which by letter earlier this year informed its members of its budget issues and what was being done to cut expenses. There has been no evidence of comparable leadership from the symphony.

Texas pilots glad to be free of TFRs

Howdy, fellow pilots in Hawaii! Welcome to the world of TFRs—temporary flight restrictions!

We here in central Texas had to put up with it for almost eight years when President George W. Bush was at his ranch. Now it's others' turns in Chicago and Hawaii.

These TFRs can be dropped on the public with only short notice, and the president's security expects every one to be informed or read their minds. They also cause lost income to some businesses, cancellation of events such as airshows, and canceled air travel by anyone within the dreaded 60-mile circle.

You can fight it all you want, but it is another example of the elite over the peasants. The Washington crowd just does not care about us.

My advice to the pilots in Hawaii and aviation business there is to become too large to fail and ask for a bailout. Or just plan on staying on the ground during the Obama visits.

Security rules are very strange

During the last 10 years, I flew to the United States from Europe every year: in spring to Florida and in autumn to Honolulu.

Checking in in Europe and the U.S. was always an ordeal for me. I was always selected from the row to go to a separate room where a lady from the staff searched me from top to toes.

Last time I flew back from Honolulu (Dec. 8), I had to be moved around in wheelchairs. They searched me even more. I was truly fed up and glad that this was my last time to fly (on account of bad health). They searched not only me but also the wheelchairs, which belonged to the airports. Whenever I moaned about this annoying procedure for an old lady (I am 77), the answer was: “;It is not our fault. You are in the computer.”; Aha! But this recent alleged terrorist was not in the computer apparently, although his father had denounced him to the authorities. Very strange behavior.