Do more to help mentally ill youth

The recent Roosevelt High School shooting reveals the failure of the state’s mental health system. It could have ended much differently.

Many families struggle to get help before it becomes a crisis. Hospitals refuse help for the mentally ill, unless the sick are escorted by the police.

The mom knew her loved one was not stabilized. Nobody listened. The neighbors now know the young person needed help.

The state Department of Health has a crisis-response team that could have been called. Publish the number, so sick people can get help and neighbors can become part of the solution.

Publish some of the symptoms of the illness, so more people can recognize it for what it is. Screaming, yelling and pacing back and forth are cries for help.

Pauline Arellano
Mililani

Mars was terrific in NFL half-time show

If you didn’t get "chicken skin" watching Super Bowl 2014’s half-time show featuring Bruno Mars, you might want to check your pulse.

What an entertainer! Pre-game hype from the media suggested this may have been toobig a venue for him. He proved them wrong — not that he had anything to prove.

Come on, now. You don’t get a Grammy because you’re pretty good. Au contraire.

Dawn Hayashi
Salt Lake

Use city garages to shelter homeless

Many of us support the City Council’s Bill 3 as another viable option to help our homeless off our sidewalks and into shelters.

Our sidewalks are not sleeping places for anyone. Keep public sidewalks clear for public safety and sanitation.

This tough love is especially urgent now, with recent acts of senseless violence against homeless folks. One homelessperson killed is one too many.

Our city can make economical temporary nightshelters by using our city parking garages — have the garages power washed before morning use, since there arealready security guards in places. Portable restrooms are easy to place and remove daily.

Enclose areas under our freeways and make them safe for our homeless to use temporarily.

We need to use our public facilities for multiplepurposes, since money will not be available for building Housing First. The Housing First dream is stilltoo far away.

Chu Lan Shubert-Kwock
Chinatown

High-rises are great, but not in Hawaii

I have seldom seen more breathtaking towers than those proposed by the Howard Hughes Corp. for Ward Village.

They should stand where they will be appreciated for the works of art that they are — in Chica-go, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur …

But what, pray tell, do they have to do with a Hawaiian sense of place?

When people come to Hawaii, they want to live here. They come for the specific cultural ambience. If they want to live in towers overlooking an ocean, they have Miami and the whole Gulf Coast, plus the northeast coast of Australia. These places are culture-neutral; you could be anywhere while walking the street.

Already, Auahi Street doesn’t look like Hawaii. Hughes is at a tipping point. They can affirm where they are building, or they can ignore it.

We have been insulted enough. I hope they choose to affirm.

Beverly Kai
Kakaako

15-year-old mother sends odd message

Kari Adams, a 15-year-old unwed mother, wants to be a role model for other teen girls who become pregnant ("Teen mother relies on family, strong faith," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 1).

We learned the heart-warming story of her beautiful child and the happy grandparents.She can stay in school and keep playing soccer because her family will help care for her daughter.She received positive feedback from her teammates, and her grades even went up.As a single mom, Kari will be eligible for generous welfare benefits, too.What a success story!

I can’t help but wonder if this really is the best kind of role-modeling message for our teens.With so much bliss, support and attention, I’m sure some girls may want toemulate Kari.

And what of the dad? Will he contribute a nickel?

John Corboy
Mililani

Governor forgets those who sacrificed

Remember when the state was in deep trouble and needed to stop the bleeding? The governor and Legislature gave the unions and state and city workers a last-and-best offer, take it or leave it.

By having everyone sacrifice their pay and medical coverage, the state now has a surplus, and now is looking to use it for more useless programs instead of creating more jobs and giving back some monies to the ones who made the sacrifice.

So, when you vote, remember who cut positions and made these workers take a furlough because of the last, best offer.

Allan Yap
Salt Lake

Move UH activities to West Oahu site

I’m reading all the articles about the University of Hawaii’s difficulties with facility maintenance and inadequate budgets to keep the Manoa campus in good shape.

I can’t help but think a possible solution might be to move to the UH-West Oahu campus, where new facilities could be built at a lower cost than maintaining old buildings.

I think the new campus could help in other ways, too, such as:

» Reverse some of the Hono-lulu H-1 traffic jams during rush hour;

» Provide riders for the new train, which will have a station nearby;

» Provide customers for the new mall being built nearby.

If I were a student, I would prefer to attend a new college campus like this, rather than a run-down, dilapidated facility.

Kerstin Lampert
Kapolei