Waikiki not what it used to be

Ihave read several letters lately by tourists who don’t like what Waikiki has become, with panhandling and homeless people occupying the public sidewalks.

Not only is it tourists who feel this way, but also residents like myself who hardly ever go to Waikiki anymore.

In the ’70s and ’80s when my children were in school, we went to one of the Waikiki hotels every now and then.

We just enjoyed ourselves walking around, shopping, eating at restaurants, etc. Today … never!

We and our legislators need to wake up and do something about it or pretty soon we may not have many tourists and maybe even fewer residents, as the young people can’t even afford a home here and many will move to the mainland.

Hawaii is not the beautiful state it used to be.

Gloria Gilmore
Kaneohe

Legal pot will cause problems

I hope the people of Hawaii are smarter than those in Washington and Colorado states regarding legalizing marijuana.

Working in the addiction field for 20-plus years gave me insight into the problems all drugs cause.

After working with hundreds of people, every person I worked with started with marijuana, then when it didn’t do the job, they moved on to other drugs.

Studies have shown that Eskimos, Indians and Hawaiians are highly susceptible to addiction.

The people of Hawaii need to wake up and not believe that marijuana use is OK, even medical marijuana. Don’t promote more addiction by legalizing marijuana and adding another addiction problem for the people of Hawaii.

Joann Oswald
Kahuku

Free health care leads to abuse

The recent audit of Hawaii’s Med-QUEST or Medicaid did not tell the entire story.

The law is fundamentally flawed and allows for massive exploitation.

The law allows recipients to have assets such as a house and car. A recipient of free gold-plated health care can own a Cadillac and have hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity in a home.

Gold-plated health care means that the recipients do not have a co-pay like most citizens.

Additionally,free health care is given openly to non-citizens who often come to Hawaiifromthe PacificRim.

It is unfair that a honorable laborer living in a rented home, riding the bus to work and paying taxes with his employer is paying for health care, while others with many assets collect free health care.

No wonder more than 300,000 Hawaii residents collect taxpayer-funded health care.

Fred Hemmings
Kaneohe

Don’t change school’s name

Who can oppose Senate Bill 2446?

The people of Kihei can oppose the naming of the new Kihei high school after Patsy Mink Takemoto.

A hearing for the bill is scheduled in Honolulu.Why not on Maui?

Why do politicians forget the people they represent?

This is a very emotional issue for people of Kihei.

I acknowledge Patsy Mink and all of her accomplishments, but would it not be better to name a more public facility in her honor, as she represented all of Hawaii and not just Kihei?

Please, for the sake of our Kihei students, I hope our legislators will revisit and reverse this decision and help Kihei become a unified community, where our diverse population will be able to support our educational institutions through instant name recognition — Kihei Elementary and Kihei High School.

Kapena Whitford
Kihei

Make legislators work in the heat

Instead of shuffling Senate Bill 2559 off to be "studied" by the state Department of Education, perhaps the whole state Senate should set up shop at Campbell High School until May 1.

I’m sure the students wouldn’t mind changing places with the Senate for a few months.

No study can substitute for firsthand experience.

Suzanne Ramos
Downtown Honolulu