Shoppers lined up outside Ross Dress for Less and a few other shops, but business was still slow last weekend.

Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, also put out a plea in Monday’s COVID-19 Care Conversation that officials find lease rent relief for owners: “Cost is going up and up, and so is their debt.”

Finally, complainers about masks? Forget it.

“It’s not about you,” Yamaki added, “it’s about the safety of not only our employees but our kupuna, our children and the other people.”

Stormwater utility down drain, for now

Any election year, politicians avoid new fees like the plague. Imagine what happens when something like the plague is in fact unfolding.

The Caldwell administration has postponed plans for a stormwater utility fee due to the crippling blow the coronavirus pandemic has dealt to the economy. That delay is one the taxpayers should support wholeheartedly.

There is a need for Oahu to deal with heightened demands on its overburdened stormwater drains, but for now it goes on a priority list for … later.