Letters: Technology campus would be a boondoggle; Property taxes revenue should be increasing; TMT developers just want to build telescope

More than $100 million, eh? For a future upgraded First Responders Technology Campus that would include, among a myriad of boondoggles, a shooting range, a fitness center, a swimming pool, a hotel and apartments (“Dream campus envisioned for 19 government agencies on Oahu,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 14).

Stop!

If taxpayers’ dollars are involved, let our elected officials “first respond” to all the homeless, helpless humans sprawled on the streets, sleeping on the sidewalks, and huddled in tents in this supposedly paradisiacal state of Hawaii.

Wylma C.S. Robinson

Ala Moana

Air Force should expect better from contractors

U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele says the Air Force suffers from “underfunding” (“U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele says Air Force suffers from underfunding,” Star- Advertiser, Nov. 17). Kahele wants more spending on USAF to meet the challenges of Russia and China.

Kahele, who is a pilot in the Hawaii Air Guard and sits on the Armed Services Committee, should know that the Air Force budget for FY 2020 was $165 billion. He also should be aware that the U.S. has the strongest Air Force in the world and the best-trained pilots. The problem with USAF is not underfunding, but mismanagement and lack of congressional oversight.

If the Air Force needs money, it should cancel the F-35 fighter jet. This aircraft produced by Lockheed Martin is expected to cost taxpayers $1.7 trillion across its lifecycle, and already $165 billion over original cost expectations, according to the GAO.

Instead of asking U.S. taxpayers to pay more for defense, why not require defense contractors to do better?

Mark Saxon

Kahului

Public education system fails struggling students

The editorial, “Help students catch up, quickly” (Star-Advertiser, Our View, Nov. 22), should have been titled: “Crises in Hawaii’s public education system.”

The statistics outlined in the editorial are devastating, especially for Micronesian and Native Hawaiian students.

We can blame COVID-19 and remote- learning challenges, but early in the pandemic, instead of focusing on improving distance learning and reopening schools, the leadership focus was on pay raises and bonuses.

Elected officials continue to believe that more financing is the answer as we drown in federal money with little to show for the expenditures.

We are failing our students and there is no responsibility with the diffused accountability in the state education system. If ever there was a case for school choice, this is it.

Jim McDiarmid

Mililani

Property taxes revenue should be increasing

There are a lot of questions regarding the recent downward revision to the rail deficit (“Honolulu rail deficit estimate cut to $1.97B,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 18). Columnist David Shapiro called it a shell game (“Latest Honolulu rail numbers are a new twist on an old shell game,” Star-Advertiser, Volcanic Ash, Nov. 21). Columnist Richard Borreca said that the revised figures are still a financial disaster and that the cost overrun is not accounted for in any budget (“No matter how it’s spun, Oahu rail deficit of up to $2 billion is still billions we don’t have,” Star-Advertiser, On Politics, Nov. 21).

I’m wondering if the growth of Oahu is accounted for in the rail deficit figures. Single-family homes are now valued at more than $1 million. Thousands of luxury condo sales, many of them purchased by investors who do not qualify for residential tax rates, are being built and sold.

These are indicators that the city coffers should see significant increases.

The future benefit of the ever- increasing property taxes for Oahu caused by increasing property values is an elusive figure but could be a game-changer. The use of the current budget to determine the amount of the rail deficit is problematic.

Stuart Shimazu

Kapahulu

Cal Thomas off the rails with vigilante ‘justice’

Cal Thomas concluded his column by saying that you should “be glad that a Kyle Rittenhouse is patrolling your streets like a neighborhood watchman, doing the job the police are unable, or reluctant to do” (“When police stand down to rioters, you need a militia,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 23). He illogically and frighteningly claims that it is best to have a vigilante rather than police protect you and your property.

Wait: An untrained 17-year-old driven by his mommy across state lines with a borrowed semi-automatic rifle in hand (wisely bringing a first-aid kit to claim altruism at his anticipated criminal trial) is felt to give comfort to citizens of Kenosha?

Vigilante “justice” is not a Second Amendment corollary and must be condemned. And Cal Thomas must again be dismissed as an attention- seeking right-wing zealot.

J. Marc Rosen

Kaneohe

HTA shouldn’t control board members’ speech

A key measurement of any business is transparency and accountability, and it is critical when an organization is using public monies. The Hawaii Tourism Authority started life as an intermediary between the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Legislature. With interference from key legislators, it became the marketing arm for statewide tourism. Lately it has morphed into an organization trying to limit tourism and educate all tourists in everything Hawaiian.

HTA defies the Legislature and the taxpayers of Hawaii with a lack of transparency and now wants to stifle debate at the board level by asking any board member in disagreement on any issue to resign (“Proposed Hawaii Tourism Authority board rule criticized as ‘gag order’,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 8).

Dictatorships are born from any attempt to control free speech and this proposal needs to be stopped before it starts.

Paul Casey

Makiki

TMT developers just want to build telescope

So the Thirty Meter Telescope folks plan to “listen and learn from the community” (“TMT wants community healing,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 7). But they likely will argue the same old position: Be reasonable; do it our way.

What will the TMT project on Mauna Kea truly cost the kanaka maoli community? Bulldoze the mauna — bulldoze the culture.

“Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono” indeed.

Bill Friedl

Kailua

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