Warts on New City Transit Plan By Richard O. Rowland, Rowland & Associates The Oahu Transportation Plan 2025 (TOP 2025) is an elaborate, detailed scheme for our entire transportation needs and wants spanning the next 25 years. It was put together by the same government departments that engineered our current traffic situation, including some of the exact same people. They are implying without precisely saying, that " we will get it right this time." The two chairmen of the TOP 2025 Plan are City Councilman Duke Bainum and State Senator Cal Kawamoto, neither of whom will suffer any financial or even personal reputation loss if the whole thing proves to be as disfunctional as the current monopoly operations. How can I say that when we have " one of the best bus systems in the USA"? Easy. All one needs do is figure out what the customer wants and check to see if he or she is getting such. It seems obvious that each individual wants to get herself and family where they want to go from where they are at any given time. And he wants to go promptly as well as at a reasonable price. Currently, the only means getting what is wanted/needed is to have one, two or three automobiles in each family. Even if someone lives right in front of a THE BUS stop the city system will not satisfy the want. Therefore the program is a failure. The TOP 2025 concept will also be a dud because it does not address customer wants.Further,İTOP 2025 makes no allowances for accomodating future technology breakthroughs or changes in customer desires. Seems like the plan should be renamed the " Won't Actually Reduce Traffic 2025 Plan," or , to give it a government acronym, let's call it the " WART 2025 Plan". How should the problem be approached? Why not eliminate all legal and regulatory impediments to competitive businesses running taxi's mini-buses, other buses and other vehicles yet to be invented? Why not allow entrepreneuersİto communicate by cell phone, computer, radio, hand signals or any other means with potential customers to find out how to serve them best, fastest and cheapest? If they succeed, lots of cars will come off our roads and many buses, etc. will be bought. If they fail, they will suffer dire financial consequences. Therefore many will not fail and customers will win what they want to include reduced traffic congestion. Why doesn't that happen now? Because your government at city, state and federal levels is intent on keeping, protecting and nourishing THE BUS monopoly. The current city system is a failure. WART 2025 will be a failure. We are left with two final important questions: Who is the TOP WART, Kawamoto or Bainum? Can we have TWO TOP WARTS, equal in every way? Perhaps that is the only fair and just way to do it.
Summer Challenges: Managing A By Suzanne Gelb, Ph.D., Psychologist Working parents and business owners invariably find themselves challenged year-round by the demands of their business. This focus and commitment doesn't necessarily stop for weekends, holidays or vacations. Even when their children's school lets out for the summer, many working parents need to maintain their business routines. A problem arises when parents don't plan how their children are going to use their vacation time. Just "letting things happen" can be dangerous. When children are left to wander shopping malls or surf the Internet without supervision, for example, they can encounter negative influences and may make poor choices. Working parents must organize their children's summer activities. Then they can continue to invest themselves in their business, with peace of mind that their children are spending their summer productively. Learning. Children hunger for knowledge and learning. Notice how they emulate rap music or repeat what they hear on television, even without parental direction. Summer activities can offer children valuable opportunities for learning. Increased leisure time enables them to participate in projects and learn skills that they didn't have time for during the school year. This can include volunteering at an animal shelter, or learning home-owner skills such as repainting a room while being supervised by a parent. Such activities build character and self-esteem. Volunteering enables children to feel good about contributing to the community; participation in household projects fosters teamwork and cooperation. Planning. If parents do not schedule these activities, they are not likely to occur. Children who are not assigned projects and responsibilities tend to become idle and bored. Although this can be offset by doing something productive, children do not always know how to choose healthy activities. They may arbitrarily seek stimulation that could be detrimental. Similarly, many children spend too much of their summer vacation watching television. Such viewing must be limited and supervised. Why Things Don't Work Out. Parents who do not structure their children's time tend to be preoccupied with their own lives and just hope that "everything goes ok with the kids." Many times things don't work out, be it children mixing with the wrong crowd, or watching television instead of doing remedial studying in preparation for the next semester. Both children and parents can suffer when things are allowed to "just happen." Children miss opportunities for positive development, and many parents feel tremendous guilt when they realize that their children's failures are largely due to their inadequate parenting. Organization. Parents must assign their children responsibilities, chores and projects. They must know where their children are at all times, and approve of whom they are with and what they are doing. They also need to spend quality time with their children. With these priorities in order, working parents can successfully manage their business over the summer, as their children participate in productive vacation activities and are enriched by a healthy family relationship.
By Marie Okamura, State Tax Director A number of tax measures made it this session and a few have been signed and enacted into law as of the publishing deadline. Some of the more significant ones affecting businesses thus far are the following: Act 36 allows licensed audiologists to certify the hearing impairment of an individual. Individuals who are certified as being blind, deaf, or totally disabled, or corporations all of whose shareholders are certified as being blind, deaf, or totally disabled, may qualify for certain tax benefits. Individual taxpayers may claim a $7,000 personal income tax exemption in lieu of the $1,040 personal exemption and the $1,040 additional personal exemption amount for taxpayers age 65 or older. For general excise tax purposes, qualifying individual and corporate taxpayers may claim a $2,000 deduction; the remainder of their gross income is subject to a maximum general excise tax rate of 0.5%. Act 36 applies to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2001. (See also Department of Taxation Announcement No. 2001-4.) Act 44 repeals the 2% penalty imposed on taxpayers who voluntarily participate in the electronic funds transfer (EFT) program but fail to actually remit their taxes using an approved EFT method (e.g., pay by check instead of by EFT) by the payment due date. Act 44 became effective April 26, 2001. (See also Department of Taxation Announcement No. 2001-5.) Act 45 extends the confidentiality privileges currently available under Hawaii's income tax law for communications between a taxpayer and any federally authorized tax practitioner (including attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, and enrolled actuaries) to all State taxes administered by the Department of Taxation under title 14, Hawaii Revised Statutes. Act 45 is applicable to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2000. (See also Department of Taxation Announcement No. 2001-6.) For the full text of these acts, go to the Hawaii State Legislature website at www.capitol.hawaii.gov. Department of Taxation announcements may be obtained at any district tax office, by calling our 24-hour request line at 587-7572 (toll-free at 1-800-222-7572), or on our website.
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