Letters To The Editor

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November 16, 2011 - MidWeek

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Rail lies

I am usually a fan of Bob Jones, but I must clarify some of his observations in his “Just Thoughts” promotion of the proposed railroad.

To begin with, the city refused to consider some alternatives. I submitted better ideas, and the prorail C&C folks did not even acknowledge receipt of them.

Light rail is not “streetcar.” There are both light and heavy rail trains.

More buses, more bus routes and greater bus frequency would take more cars off the road, just the opposite of what Bob suggests.

It is not too late to stop this proposed rail, to save billions of dollars that we don’t have and consider more economical, and more efficient alternatives.

The city has admitted that the proposed railroad will not eliminate traffic congestion. In fact, that is no longer their goal; they want to create temporary jobs.

We disagree on the city’s and governor’s plan to build what Bob calls “vertical housing with retail space,” because those areas are already congested and will be worse with the addition of thousands of apartments, and still more cars. Consider the vehicular traffic increases in Kaka’ako if the governor, Hughes and Bishop Estate build dozens of super highrise apartment buildings.

I don’t know where Bob has been if he has not seen and heard the lies, misleading and “mis-inferred” statements from the mayor and his “Gang of Three.” Carefully wording a ballot question, for example, to suggest that building a Kapolei-Ala Moana railroad is a fait accompli, and that the only question was “heavy steel-on-steel” or some other type of railroad really bordered on malfeasance.

Finally, the reason the city will not let the public vote is because they know that a huge majority of Oahu residents do not want, will not use, and can’t afford to build the proposed train.

Keith Haugen
Honolulu

Nice addition

Thanks for introducing E. J. Dionne’s column to the MidWeek mix.

With the hate-spewing Michelle Malkin and other right-wingers, it is nice to see you aren’t totally in the pocket of the money people and the far right.

I pick and choose what I read. I’m educated enough to distinguish hate/propaganda from news.

I do read the food ads though.

Dolly Madison
Honolulu

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