It appears that people who call themselves “homeless” merely drive to Walmart, buy tents and household necessities, and then occupy beach parks and city sidewalks. They are an eyesore and source of health hazards throughout the islands. They urinate, defecate, and generate and scatter rubbish in places they inhabit.

It seems that many of these campers have money for tattoos, cigarettes, booze and drugs, but none for rent. Many of them look healthy and fit to find work and support themselves.

Today, there are many citizens who work at low-paying jobs and are struggling financially. They don’t rely on the government for rent support. Our taxpayers’ dollars should provide temporary aid for those who lost their jobs but more importantly, help senior citizens, disabled people and the mentally ill who are not able to help themselves financially and are in dire need of housing assistance.

Robert Hatakeyama

Salt Lake

Recycling supports life on the streets

Did it ever occur to anyone out there that we fuel the homeless situation?

Hawaii needs to do away with the bottle bill, as mean as it may sound. Recycling is a lifeline for the homeless; we need to make the Institute for Human Services their lifeline. I know it seems heartless but continuing down the same path is even more so.

Sue Kachiroubas

Moiliili

Swing states control presidential election

Once again the Electoral College and the popular vote disagreed. This time it came at a time where the country is more divided and scared.

The Electoral College was established to give smaller states more of a voice in selecting who becomes the president. However, it no longer serves its purpose.

In past elections, we’ve seen that the decision of who becomes president falls to a few number of swing states. Candidates for president usually spend a majority of their time in these states rather than any other state, regardless of the amount of electoral votes. Throughout this general election cycle, no major candidate for president visited a state with three electoral votes.

If the Electoral College no longer serves its intent, it should be abolished and the country join other countries to adapt a popular vote system.

Adrian Tam

Kakaako

Liberals intolerant and hypocritical

I love my liberal friends. After all, we live in the bluest of blue states and they are all around me.

I quietly watched as the progressives of our country had thermal meltdowns when Donald Trump won the election. The rioting in the streets matched the riots after Mitt Romney lost — oh wait, there were no riots in 2012.

There have been calls to eliminate the current Electoral College system. That way only New York and California need vote. Everyone else could stay home.

Two things I have learned about lots of liberals: They are intolerant and hypocritical. There are bad things being said about the winning candidate, yet nothing has been mentioned about the transgressions of Hillary Clinton. As a kid on Kauai, we had a name for her sort — pilau wahine.

Sam Wallis

Hilo

Shapiro poor choice for news columnist

While Ben Shapiro may not deliver fake news, his website shows that he walks the line and only writes for the extreme right wing. His website blames the “left” for everything bad in our country.

In these times of unbridled partisanship, it seems extreme to have such a biased columnist in your paper. I don’t think your paper has ever had this kind of opinion writer in the past. Perhaps talk about Republicans and Democrats is appropriate but the “right” and “left” fight is not appropriate for a newspaper that serves the general public.

Jan Montgomery

Kailua

Like it or not, Trump will be our president

Many of us in Hawaii were counting on a different election result Nov. 8. After digesting the outcome for a couple days, I have come to grips with reality.

Yes, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. However, with an unprecedented assist from the director of the FBI, Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote. And sadly, that’s the only vote that counts.

As disappointed as I am with this outcome, I respect our Constitution and acknowledge that Trump will be my president — our president — for the next four years. In this regard, while I have absolutely no respect for Trump, or his many supporters who overlooked his blatant vulgarity and multiple transparent disqualifications for high office, I do hope and pray he will be a better president than he was a candidate.

Only time will tell. I wish him well.

Jerome Comcowich

Kailua

Wahine victory buried in back pages

I was dismayed to open Friday’s sports section to see a story about the failing University of Hawaii football team and the upcoming men’s basketball game with North Carolina on the front page.

One had to turn to Page 7 to find the story about Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji’s 1,200th win — only the second volleyball coach of all time to reach that milestone — and the team’s clinching of the Big West title (“Wahine clinch Big West with sweep,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 18). This program deserves more respect from its hometown paper. Maybe if the program got more respect at home it would get more respect from the NCAA.

Kathy Bentley

Kaneohe

Build parking lot on Waikiki property

There is almost no parking in Waikiki. What to do? To get locals to come to Waikiki, we need parking.

There is a patch of city land next to the entrance of the Ala Wai Golf Course just sitting there not being used. A two-deck parking lot could be built and retailers can donate money to help the city. The land is only about 600 yards away from Waikiki.

Pat Carvalho

McCully-Moiliili