Repairs at UH are shovel ready

I am writing in response to Georgette Stevens' letter (”;Rail would help put people back to work,”; Star-Bulletin, Feb. 22). Stevens tritely promotes the “;shovel readiness”; of rail as a means of stimulating our economy through job creation. However, as a University of Hawaii-Manoa student, I have a better suggestion. My campus is beyond “;shovel ready”; — it already exists, yet is crumbling daily.

Peeling paint, mold infestation and cracked and uneven walkways are the hallmarks of our campus. Duct tape is frequently employed to repair worn carpet and linoleum floors, while fluorescent paint highlights the trip hazards of the jagged sidewalks that the university cannot afford to repair.

Wake up, Hawaii. UH-Manoa is supposed to be a leading research university. I am daily embarrassed for the international students who arrive here expecting more.

Put Hawaii's people back to work repairing not only UH-Manoa, but the nine other campuses in the UH system that face similar conditions. These campuses need attention and are revenue generators, unlike the multibillion-dollar proposed rail system.

Disabilities agency weighs in on homeless

Rep. Rida Cabanilla makes worthwhile points in her recent Island Commentary (”;Helping the homeless is not an easy matter,”; Star Bulletin, Feb. 12), but two corrections are in order.

First, the Hawaii Disability Rights Center is not a state agency. We are a nonprofit corporation funded by grants from three federal agencies as well as the state, but independent of state agencies. Our mission is to protect the rights of people with disabilities who live in Hawaii, at last count about 200,000 people.

Second, while some legal services agencies have argued that laws prohibiting vagrancy, loitering, sleeping on sidewalks and living in public parks violate constitutional rights, HDRC is not one of them. Our focus is to obtain home and community-based services for the mentally ill and disabled that would avoid both homelessness and placing people in institutions.

Under the U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead decision in 1999, states must provide services that give people with disabilities a choice of living in institutions or living in local communities, whether at home or in foster homes or group homes. One example of HDRC's advocacy is the 1999 Makin case, which led to an agreement eliminating the wait list for community-based services for people with developmental disabilities.

Columnist not writing about ocean enough

The Star-Bulletin (our only local daily) has a column called “;Ocean Watch.”; Unfortunately, it has slowly become “;Watch Susan.”; Watch Susan run, do drinks with important people 5,000 miles away, be invited on-board for dinner in Mexico with that very rich and entertaining couple from France.

The ocean is Hawaii's biggest story—not in the front-page headline sense but, in our everyday life. In the past, Susan used to write about the fish, animals and ocean quirkinesses around our islands. Today it's “;Susan did this and Susan did that.”; It's time for her to get back to basics about the ocean here in Hawaii.

Unfortunately, many people here in Hawaii know very little about the ocean. We need an Ocean Watcher who watches the ocean.

Tiger Woods' privacy being grossly violated

Tiger Woods' life situations are nobody else's business but his and the few people's involved with him. But the media are usurping the freedom of the press for the love of money and themselves. It's pathetic to watch how these opportunistic folks are preying on their fellow citizens. It's a feeding frenzy.

Every American, including Tiger, has, or is entitled to, the right of privacy and the pursuit of happiness.