It is distressing that amid all the talk of plans for the Red Hill disaster, renewal of the Aloha Stadium area and budget surpluses so large that many taxpayers received a $300 check last year, I hear no discussion at all about the importance of routine maintenance.

I am told I should update my software monthly and my hardware every three years to “keep up.” Government workers use computer systems and equipment that run on unsupported, outdated and slow equipment. If keeping up to date is so important, why isn’t that part of yearly budgets?

Every new public construction in Hawaii, whether of state or county, should have as part of its budget, the cost of maintaining it in good working order, as well as its life expectancy. It is unfair to tell the public that the cost of constructing anything is finite, that it will last forever without care.

In Japan I saw jacquard looms more than 100 years old, working perfectly and looking old but polished. Why have our elected officials made so many visits there but never seemed to notice that routine maintenance is part of daily life there? How about spending that extra money on maintaining the things we have?

Mary Macmillan

Mililani

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