Subsidies won’t solve homelessness

In “Seattle struggles with homelessness” (Star-Advertiser, Feb. 19), we learn that “the city has set up camps and spent millions for services, but the population keeps growing.”

That line could have ended, “therefore, the population keeps growing.”

Seattle has offered cleaner, safer places for the homeless to stay, and in an effort to end homelessness, has built more than 6,300 housing units and helped nearly 40,000 people find houses. Yet the number keeps growing.

President Ronald Reagan and many others have pointed out that if you want more of something, subsidize it. As expected, the more money Seattle has spent on houses, beds and services, the more homelessness appears to be incentivized. What is wrong with this picture?

Government knee-jerk, feel-good solutions rarely consider unintended consequences. We must carefully avoid injudiciously providing houses, services, food and cash to our homeless, lest their numbers predictably continue to increase.

John M. Corboy

Mililani

Court order trumps right to privacy

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s position on not assisting the government to retrieve information on an iPhone is untenable.

If Apple is served with a court order to retrieve information, it cannot rely on privacy as an argument not to obey the court.

For society’s greater good, the right to privacy should be trumped by a court order obtained by the government.

Stuart Shimazu

Kapahulu

Bill would help ease long-term care perils

For more than 20 years, I taught courses on aging at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

I am aware of the difficulties families face in finding and paying for needed assistance in caring for their frail family members.

Now in my mid-70s, I personally know many friends who have been through this crisis, with the threat of losing all their savings for their care. Although there are a growing number of home care and residential options, these are all beyond the financial capability of most families.

The Legislature is considering Senate Bill 2478, which would create a modest social-insurance program to support long-term supports and services at home. A modest benefit of $70 a day for a maximum of 365 days would enable people to leverage their resources, help support a minimum level of care and enable individuals to stay at home.

I urge the Legislature to support this measure.

Eldon L. Wegner

Moiliili

Parking restrictions make Lanikai safer

Please, let’s stop the hyperbole regarding the recently implemented parking restrictions in Lanikai (“Lanikai is not a gated community,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Feb. 19).

The temporary parking restrictions were a result of the city working to find a solution to the dangerous traffic situation on busy weekends and holidays. I’ve seen police, fire, ambulances and lifeguards all stuck in the two-hour gridlock.

It is far better for all of us to be slightly inconvenienced than for someone to lose a life because emergency personnel were not able to respond.

Dana Edmunds

Lanikai

Use of “bt” can control mosquitoes

The alarm regarding mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue fever and Zika has public health officials frantically searching for more effective methods to control the mosquito vector that carries these two viruses.

We are cautioned to eliminate standing water in which the mosquitoes breed; and in the areas with heavy infestations of mosquitoes, spraying with pesticides is being employed.

I have yet to read anything about a readily available low-cost, nontoxic agent that will effectively control the mosquito by eradicating the breeding cycle in the larval stage. This is a soil- dwelling bacterium called Bacillus thuringlensis (Bt), which has been used as a biologic pesticide for 50-plus years. It is nontoxic to humans and animals and is available in garden shops and online.

Every four to six weeks, I scatter the granular form over the garden plants, in fish tanks, in bromeliads and have effectively eradicated the mosquito population.

Albert Yellin

Haleiwa

Schools lack buffer from toxic pesticides

It seems like a no-brainer that buffer zones around schools should protect our children from pesticides being sprayed on neighboring fields. Yet our Legislature did not even have the guts to pass House Bill 2564, which would have created a pilot project around just five schools.

Even better than buffer zones, the state should change the fact that large-scale pesticide application is even allowed near schools and homes.

Regina Gregory

Makiki

Don’t use left lane unless you’re passing

Let’s not make this too complicated.

In most states the rules are simple enough — the left lane is for passing only. If you are not doing that, you can be ticketed.

No “vehicular screaming” to get out of the way; none of that particular Pali Highway phenomenon where two cars pace each other below the speed limit, causing a huge backup in both lanes; and ideally, less road rage.

This is certainly easier to understand than lollygagging and trying to figure out how many vehicles may be behind the lollygagger and their rate of speed.

Andrea W. Bell

Kailua