State Rep. Bob McDermott believes that the Hawaii Supreme Court "took the coward’s way out" in its unanimous 47-page opinion, authored by Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald, holding that McDermott and his co-plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the constitutionality of the Marriage Equality Act of 2013 ("Court tosses suit targeting gay marriage law," Star-Advertiser, May 28).

He is mistaken. Courts must dismiss lawsuits that are brought by plaintiffs who have suffered no legally recognizable injury, as the court meticulously explained in its exhaustive and textbook-perfect opinion.

In fact, McDermott is lucky that the court was unable to reach the merits of his claims, which were so frivolous that it is doubtful that his lawyer could have signed his lawsuit in good faith.

Steven H. Levinson
Manoa

Arizona Memorial was worth the cost

How important is the Arizona Memorialto our visitors?

I spoke with a couple who had to reschedule their return flight home so they’d still be here when the memorial reopened on Thursday. Changing their flight cost them an extra $320 in airline fees. They said it was worth it.

Bob Lamborn
Nuuanu

Hawaii too reliant on tourism industry

Tourism, the engine that drives Hawaii’s economy, is booming. Moreover, the number of jobs in all sectors of the economy is rising, and the statewide unemployment rate is low. The economy should be doing great, yet there are troubling signs.

Homelessness is getting worse, and many people are only a paycheck or two from homelessness. Many more families are also struggling financially. Charitable food-giving continues to rise. The brain drain continues.

Hawaii’s economic system is too weak to adequately support Hawaii’s population. Tourism may have once been a great economic driver, but no longer. As evidence, the preponderance of jobs in the tourist industry are low-paying.

Hawaii needs to economically shift away from tourism. The state appropriation of $70 million annually to subsidize tourism should be used instead to strengthen the economy by diversifying it, especially by encouraging high-tech businesses.

John Kawamoto
Kaimuki

China likely thinks ‘it’s payback time’

Addressing China’s belligerency, Art Todd asks what China’s president, Xi Jinping, can be thinking ("What can China be thinking?" Star-Advertiser, Letters, June 6).

A cursory look at Chinese history shows how all the major powers, including the United States, ganged up on China, forcing it to sell opium to its own people (see "Opium Wars" in any encyclopedia) but now the schoolyard victim has grown up some and learned martial arts as well.

As far as Japan becoming a nuclear power, no island nation can last even a day in a nuclear exchange with a super-continent. All those bullying nations created the China that we have to cope with today, so getting back to Todd’s question, my guess is that China is thinking, "It’s payback time."

David Yasuo Henna
McCully

Sea-level rise needs greater attention

As a 40-year Oahu resident, I’ve been alarmed about sea-level rise ever since about 1980, when Al Gore first brought global heating to the national attention.

In all that time, there has been no concerted action to address the certain disastrous local effects of sea-level rise.

With the new intergovernmental effort discussed in the newspaper, we finally are addressing the issue, but the talk is only about beach erosion ("Hui officials meet on sea-level rise," Star-Advertiser, June 6).

Excuse me? Just take a look at the University of Hawaii’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology website for a graphic showing Honolulu at high tide in about 2100. Waikiki and the airport runway, among other sites, will be partially flooded. To think that we just need to deal with erosion is folly; all the underground utilities will be flooded.

How in the world we could be among the last states to address sea-level rise is beyond comprehension.

Paul R. Brandon
Kaneohe

Letting homeless keep pets is wise

Mayor Kirk Caldwell and his team deserve to be commended for instituting pet-friendly policies at the homeless shelter planned for Sand Island.

The Hawaiian Humane Society believes that people should not have to choose between a roof over their heads or a beloved pet.

The National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that 5-10 percent of America’s homeless population has a dog or a cat. Although this is not a statistic counted in Hawaii’s pointin-time census, we think the same holds true on Oahu.

Pets provide unconditional love and often are the only source of comfort for people living on the streets. Rather than creating barriers by asking someone to relinquish his or her companion animal, the city’s administration understands the importance of keeping pets and their people together. We think that by opening this project to both people and their pets, more of those in need will be served.

Pamela Burns
President and CEO, Hawaiian Humane Society