Anne Lopez seems more concerned about marijuana issues than with our real problems in Hawaii: housing and high cost of living, which will cause more and more people to leave the islands (“Committee endorses Hawaii attorney general nominee,” Star-Advertiser, April 13).

At least state Sen. Brenton Awa is trying to prevent our housing and our land from going to people and companies from out of state.

Developers don’t want to build for the people here but for out-of-state buyers who will pay prices unaffordable to our people. Why aren’t our city and state governments doing something?

If you lower housing costs, it will have a trickle-down effect on wages for our workers trying to buy a home and then cover the cost of food and goods in Hawaii. Maybe all these developers are kicking back to the politicians so they don’t want to rock the boat. But hooray for Awa for trying to stand up for the working-class folks.

The only way the politicians can live in Hawaii is by giving themselves undeserving fat raises (“Panel endorses pay raises for top Honolulu officials,” Star-Advertiser, March 22).

Ernie Itoga

Waialae

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