Cut nonteachers from the payroll

This Furlough Fridays nonsense is really tragic. The dirty little secret is that of about 82,000 Department of Education employees, only about 12,000 are in class—seven employees for every classroom teacher.

Some of these are janitorial, cafeteria, maintenance and security people. But there is an unseen army of tens of thousands of administrators. We could double classroom teachers' pay by eliminating the nonproductive 50 percent of positions.

Meanwhile, the teachers union's entitlement attitude is shameful. For others professions, “;preparation days”; are called “;evenings and weekends.”;

This mess is the result of a union stranglehold: Public servants become public masters. We beg and plead while their demands rise and the children fail.

Typical of government unions is that front-line people—police, teachers, librarians—are used as pawns in demands for never-ending budget increases. Higher taxes are always proposed to solve the resulting public frustration, rather than even considering reduction of the number of thousands of paper-pushers behind the scenes.

We simply have far more government than we can afford, and no one seems to have the fortitude to fix it.

Homeless fixes could use aloha

No mayor, governor, city councilman, legislator, churchman or social worker here has found a solution for homeless except to move them where tourists cannot be offended by them. However, in Seattle, churches take turns putting homeless communities on their grounds, with sanitation, tents, security and some food and blankets provided.

In Hawaii we want to charge homeless to put up tents and that will solve the problem? How about getting affordable housing—an empty school perhaps?—that would be a permanent solution. They would no longer offend tourists, who probably have homeless in their own backyards at home. Let's lead the country with a solution with aloha.

Do you really believe all homeless like living in the streets?

Put scarce resources into main UH campus

The Star-Bulletin editorial of Feb. 16 advocates going through with the building of a major University of Hawaii-West Oahu campus at Kapolei (”;New campus needed”;).

For those of us at other UH campuses around the state, who see our students unable to get the classes and counseling they need because of cutbacks, our facilities in disrepair and crumbling and our lecturers being fired, this seems like a crazy idea. To fund this project, the state will spend millions of scarce dollars and sell off valuable lands that are the patrimony of the people of Hawaii to private developers. For what? To construct a large, four-year campus when one already exists 15 miles away? That campus is called UH-Manoa and it is eroding fast. Let's put our resources into maintaining our existing institutions and making them first-class.

Legalize and regulate all marijuana usage

Not only should medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but adult recreational use should be regulated. Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don't ID for age, but they do recruit minors immune from adult sentences. So much for protecting the children.

Throwing more money at the problem is no solution. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

Taxing and regulating marijuana, the most popular illicit drug, is a cost-effective alternative to never-ending drug war. As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized crime, consumers will continue to come into contact with hard drugs like crystal methamphetamine. This “;gateway”; is a direct result of marijuana prohibition.

Rail would help put people back to work

My cousin called me and asked if the company that I work for had any job openings. I told him that we did not, and that it has been slow and will continue to be slow for this year and next. This got me to thinking, and I got angry because the only true economic stimulus that is right in front of us and is “;shovel ready”; is the rail project. Yet it seems that we are willing to risk 4,000 potential jobs initially, and no telling how many more jobs, because the environmental impact statement will not be signed as soon as the city submits the final EIS. Time is of the essence now, not later.

I personally know of so many people who have been laid off. What will happen to them when their unemployment runs out? Some already have no unemployment benefits and they have no job and soon they will have no home. Is our government prepared to build more homeless shelters? There will be more people on food stamps and, as the news was reported, we are not ready for that. Build the rail now.

This reminded me of the time of the H-1 pedestrian bridge mishap, with many people stuck all over the entire island trying to get home. I had a nephew in one of the school buses trying to get home and his parents were frantic and worried. We had no other alternative and still have no alternative. Rail would help remedy that problem.