UI offices must open for in-person assistance

The state’s unemployment insurance (UI) office remains closed to the public due to worries about angry UI applicants showing up (“Hawaii makes big dent in jobless claim backlog, but the call center remains overwhelmed,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 20).

Well, what do officials think retail employees have been dealing with this whole time? They are confronted by angry customers all the time, yet the stores still open. Meanwhile, many unemployed people lack access to computers and are having their mental health affected by calling the UI phone that almost never gets answered.

Those people need in-person services. The UI office had months to plan how to install Plexiglass, implement social distancing procedures and hire security officers, all to assist unemployed residents who need assistance ASAP.

It’s time for the state to stop making excuses and start living in the real world everyone else lives in, and open the UI offices already.

Pablo Wegesend

Moiliili

Har should resign over DUI incident

Ridiculously, state Rep. Sharon Har blamed cough medication and a beer for driving the wrong direction on a one-way street (“Legislator charged with operating vehicle under the influence,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 24).

She is a hypocrite for telling us not to drink and drive when doing so herself. She threatened public health by going out for drinks and dinner when she admits to having an upper-respiratory illness (during the COVID pandemic), exposing members of the public to her illness.

Har should resign.

David Kimo Frankel

Wilhelmina Rise

Government officials put selves before public

There was a time when government’s role was to serve the public and the public’s interest. It seems that today, elected officials believe that the public serves them.

It is disgusting that with Hawaii having the highest unemployment in the nation, elected officials are considering pay raises for public employees. The sense of entitlement and arrogance that comes with it of unions and elected officials is an insult to those who have lost their jobs and are suffering real economic damage.

COVID-19 clearly has demonstrated over the last 12 months that in this state, corruption, stupidity and a lack of common sense continue to run the show. It is more than unfortunate that the political machine, and the various interests that control it, have gotten so big that they forgot whom they are supposed to serve.

If elected officials and union leaders think the state can afford pay raises, I suggest they skip the raises and give tax breaks to all of us in the private sector. I think we deserve it.

Angelika Burgermeister

Haleiwa

Teleworking would give HGEA workers perks

Randy Perreira, HGEA executive director, said his union is open to its members teleworking from home, but things like higher home electrical bills likely will need to be negotiated (“Coronavirus pandemic turbocharges Hawaii government’s use of tech,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 22). Fair enough.

But did he also consider that members won’t have to commute, find parking, and will save on auto and fuel costs? Not to mention the convenience of doing personal business on the taxpayer dime with little or no supervision or scrutiny?

What could possibly go wrong with that scenario?

Orson Moon

Aiea

College graduates should pay own debts

I agree with the points made in the letter, “Less-fortunate pay for loan forgiveness” (Star-Advertiser, Feb. 21).

I would add that those who have student-loan debts are supposed to make a lot more money than those who did not go to college. So why should the public pay these debts?

Jim Killett

Lahaina

Plenty of corruption even without gambling

Many letters have been written concerning gambling in Hawaii, most of them being against legalized gambling. I must agree!

Imagine what might happen if gambling were legalized. We might end up with a corrupt police chief; suffer under a corrupt prosecutor; end up with a federal investigation involving possible illegal use of federal funds (the rail project, for example); have a politician purchase personal items using a government credit card (like for a surfboard or something!); have government officials spend money designated for Native Hawaiians on trips, cars and other personal items; have politicians push kupuna and health care workers aside and jump to the head of a vaccine line; give variances to developers (i.e., building height, glass reflectivity, fewer parking stalls, setbacks, orientation with respect to viewplanes); have poor roads riddled with potholes; and a terrible homeless problem.

Yuck! As much as I favor housing for Hawaiians, gambling in Hawaii is not the way to pay for it. Let’s keep Hawaii a law-abiding, aloha-filled state!

Don Voyce

Aina Haina

Don’t build monolith of greed on harbor

Years ago, Honolulu Harbor was the beacon to the world, gifting to it the virtues of Hawaiian beauty and culture. The harbor was the inviting force that brought alive the spirit of aloha to the world.

Now I am told that moneyed interests want to destroy the legacy, memories and beauty of Honolulu Harbor by erecting a monolith of greed that will rob the people of Hawaii of the views of that beautiful harbor (“Bill to let OHA build Kakaako Makai condos advances,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 17).

This cannot be. “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” This proposal is not righteous. It is merely a testament to greed and smacks of graft and corruption.

The Legislature’s duty to Hawaiian posterity is to preserve that land for future Hawaiians and their children as a testament to their culture and heritage. They must deny this abomination. The altar to filthy lucre in Kakaako must be stopped.

Glenn Shockley

Los Angeles

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