The Hawaii Tourism Authority just awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to the Council For Native Hawaiian Advancement to market the state to U.S. visitors (“Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau loses contract to Hawaiian nonprofit,” Star-Advertiser, June 3).

What qualifications does the council have regarding marketing and how does that provide for Native Hawaiian advancement?

But even more important — considering that tourist visits are now back to their pre-pandemic levels, pumping millions of dollars into our economy and tying up traffic and tourist locations — why does any money need to be spent on marketing our state? Do people really need to be encouraged to visit Hawaii?

It would be really helpful to see what that marketing money had been spent on in the past and what they’re planning for it in the future.

Roger Garrett

Kapahulu

Biden should reject student-loan forgiveness

It would be a huge mistake if President Joe Biden goes ahead with his plan to forgive student loans. Such an idea would penalize other students who worked through college by working during the day and attending evening classes in order to pay off their college debts.

It promotes irresponsible behavior and reckless borrowing by sending a corrosive message that student loans are not something to worry about because the government is going to take care of them anyway.

It was reported that a big chunk of the student loans was incurred by upper-income families. Therefore, canceling student loans would only benefit the rich at the expense of poor working families, who also will share the burden of replenishing the funds lost as a result of canceling the loans. Further, it mocks those who behaved responsibly.

Biden should not succumb to the wishes of the left-wingers in his party. Otherwise, the Democrats will suffer another shellacking in the 2022 midterm elections.

Rod B. Catiggay

Mililani

Access to Haiku Stairs can easily be managed

The city’s direction on Haiku Stairs is bewildering.

Managed access is working at Hanauma Bay and would work just as well for the Haiku Stairs.

Make a reservation, pay a fee, check in at Windward Mall for a safety/environmental/cultural briefing, shuttle to the stairs over government-owned land, make a guided climb and shuttle back.

Fees would pay for stairs maintenance, operation and security.

Trespassing from the Windward side would be eliminated.

Why hasn’t this solution been implemented? The collective failure of government for the past 20 years is the reason.

The Haiku Stairs are an exceedingly safe way to the ridge with metal stairs, handrails, no erosion, no lawsuits and no accidental deaths or life-threatening injuries for 80 years.

If the city removes the stairs, the much more dangerous and eroded Moanalua Valley Trail will be used more. More injuries, more rescues, more deaths, more erosion.

Bewildering!

Bill Hicks

Kailua

Vote for public servants, not party politicians

Wouldn’t it be amazing if Democrats and Republicans got together and set aside their ambitions to serve themselves and actually serve the public? What happened to the public servant?

Think about it: no homelessness, less crime, no debt, paid education through college, paid medical and medical support for those with mental and physical disabilities, no one going hungry, better-planned communities and urban development, better roads, clean water and electricity paid for by our taxes and oh, yes — fewer taxes. To quote John Lennon: “Imagine.”

It sounds improbable, but maybe we can start somewhere by voting for non-self-serving people, like those willing to draw lower salaries and forgo the ridiculous perks paid for by we the people.

Stop voting for the party, and maybe then parties will be eliminated and we can imagine with hope.

Lincoln Whang

Waialua

Formula shortage shows weakness of U.S. system

I’ve been fascinated and entertained by two items recently, to wit: the wonderful editorial cartoon of the old, worn-out, baby-delivering stork that was dragooned to be a Grubhub carrier of baby formula (Star-Advertiser, May 24); and the photo of storks in Hungary elegantly perched on top of light posts along a highway (Star- Advertiser, June 1). My thought could only be: Those Hungarian storks are on-station, waiting for their Grubhub minders’ command to pick up and deliver the next consignment of baby food to desperate American mothers for their at-risk infants.

How “delicious” is that? And how evocative is the cartoon-plus-photo that combines to shine light on the flailing and failing U.S. uber-capitalist system that has shown itself, along with its belligerent, warmongering “elite,” to be a wanna-be emperor with no clothes?

In the foreign-affairs realm that willy- nilly bleeds over to the U.S. domestic scene: Diplomacy, anyone? Negotiation, anyone? Active listening, anyone? Peace, anyone? A gentler, kinder American “democracy” for the benefit of everyone on this suffering planet?

Robert H. Stiver

Pearl City

Indigenous, Western cultures not at odds

The article, “Maori knowledge aids, agitates scientists” (Star-Advertiser, June 3). I thought this was an interesting discussion of the debate regarding science in Western culture and the understanding of nature by Maori culture. There is, of course, a connection to the current Maunakea controversy in Hawaii.

I have no problem with the content of the article, but the headline created a black-and-white picture of Western science versus knowledge of indigenous peoples. There is, in fact, a much more nuanced set of issues that are at play.

We need to bridge the understanding of nature between Western and indigenous cultures. I recommend to avoid casting the issues into simple black-and-white terms. The original New York Times article had this headline: “Can Ancient Maori Knowledge Aid Science? Ask These Freshwater Crayfish.”

Alan Tokunaga

Punchbowl

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