The City Council is considering increasing current $1.50-an-hour parking meter rates to between $2.25 and $3 an hour, and current rates of $3 to between $4.50 and $6 an hour (“City considering increasing Oahu parking costs,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 24). Wow!

Why? Because maintenance, police enforcement and meter upgrades cost the city $11.4 million a year, while the meters and off-street parking only bring in $6.7 million.

If the city is losing millions of dollars a year by running the meters, wouldn’t it make more sense to just get rid of meters entirely, instead of piling such a tremendously high parking fee onto the already great expenses of struggling taxpayers?

We need to be aware that a $6 parking fee is currently more than half the hourly salary of people making minimum wage.

How glorious it would be for our Hawaiian paradise to have free parking for all. Why have hell when you can have heaven?

Kioni Dudley

Makakilo

We must find more ways to help the homeless

I went through the drive-up window recently at the McDonald’s Beretania Street restaurant.

I noticed a homeless local man standing next to the building near his belongings as I drove in.

He held a sign that read, “PLEASE help.” The next line said, “Do what you can” with a dollar sign flying in between. His cane was leaned against his pants leg so that he could hold the sign with both hands.

He didn’t look that old — just desperate and definitely needing a “hand up.”

I felt it was a message to me as well as to all of us to “do what you can,” because Lord knows we haven’t been doing much of that for a long time now.

Homelessness is mounting. A recession is coming. We need to find a way to help the homeless.

Cassandra Aoki

Kaneohe

Raise beverage deposit from 5 cents to 25 cents

Let us convert the HI-5 beverage deposit program to HI-25 and again provide an incentive to recycle.

In the 20 years since it was conceived, HI-5 — the Hawaii Deposit Beverage Container Program — has lost its effectiveness, as the value of container deposits has been overtaken by inflation. The fact is, a nickel is just that — a nickel.

Make the deposit worth a U.S. quarter and people will definitely pause before discarding that aluminum can or No. 1 PET plastic container. Hawaii can lead the nation instead of merely following. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Von Kenric Kaneshiro

Downtown Honolulu

Beautiful plants shorn from median strip

Have all of our city’s landscapers been fired? In addition to our Capitol and grounds looking neglected and ugly (“Capitol and grounds need to be refurbished,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 11), so do many of our city streets, which are overrun with weeds and litter.

For decades, the median strip on Vineyard Boulevard between the Pali Highway and Nuuanu Avenue flourished with beautiful oleander. It is now a slaughtered ugly mess. Why has this been allowed to happen?

Drinda Maxwell

Nuuanu

Elected officials should unite, not divide, us

Hopefully the upcoming election and those to follow will herald an opportunity for leadership in communities and this country to right the wrongs of hyperpartisanship, new tribalism, gamesmanship and obstructionism (“The great divide,” Star-Advertiser, Insight, Aug. 21).

In maintaining their respective, uncompromising postures, our many elected officials give the public an implied consent (as well as acceptable examples to follow), to not seek common ground for the welfare and well-being of others. The public is indeed left with the impression that their governments are more broken, “causing Americans — and people around the world — to lose faith in democracy as a model of governance.”

Such conduct is truly a disservice to us all. We deserve better for the faith we bestow upon all those heeding the call to public service.

Sam Hashimoto

Mililani

Criticism of Anderson’s smile unsubstantiated

Ikaika Anderson offered his candidacy because he knew he could make a positive and constructive difference for all of Hawaii.

Judd Ota has decided that, based on what he saw on television, he can determine the sincerity of a political aspirant (“Anderson, Penn need to adjust their approach,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 25).

Ota declared that Anderson comes across as “fake.” Credentialed critics might be better served by appreciating what candidates face when dealing with cheap, unsubstantiated shots by self-declared “humble” writers.

Keep smiling.

Gerald de Heer

Kahala

Point missed in debate over mall shooting

Both sides missed an important point in the debate over whether Elisjsha Dicken was a hero for his intervention in the mall shooting in Greenwood, Ind. (“Is man who killed mall mass shooter a hero?,” Star- Advertiser, Aug. 22).

All are agreed that he saved many lives, risking his own life to save others. All agreed that Dicken was a fully vetted, trained and licensed 22-year-old gun carrier. What if he had been a similarly vetted, 22-year-old off-duty police officer?

I am pretty sure that the great majority would agree that his intervention in this case would have been considered both heroic and fortuitous.

Ronald Kienitz

Kailua

EXPRESS YOURSELF

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser welcomes all opinions. Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor.

>> Write us: We welcome letters up to 150 words, and guest columns of 500-600 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Include your name, address and daytime phone number.

>> Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Advertiser 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210 Honolulu, HI 96813

>> Contact: 529-4831 (phone), 529-4750 (fax), letters@staradvertiser.com, staradvertiser.com/editorial/submit-letter