Is it the return of the trade winds, or the breeze being created by the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope pulling out of Hawaii?
It’s a good thing that our state budget is in such good shape that we just don’t need the extra money that would have been spent here by the TMT operation.
Well, not until all the rail construction costs are added up.
Greg Schmidt
Hawaii Kai
What’s so hard about operating a monopoly?
Will someone please explain why Connie Lau deserves so much money for overseeing Hawaiian Electric Co.?
HECO is a monopoly. What could be easier than overseeing a monopoly?
I own a small business, and every morning I wake up and have to compete for business. My competitors are trying each day to take a bigger slice of my business. I often dream what it would be like to not have any competition. But every person on the island who wants electricity has to buy from HECO, period. No options.
If HECO makes so much money that it can pay Lau and other executives millions of dollars every year, then why are our rates so high?
We are just innocent people who need electricity to take care of our families. Lau should be required to pay our money back.
John Wong
Aiea
New dialysis center needs state to certify it
There is a new and urgently needed dialysis center in the Koko Marina Shopping Center in Hawaii Kai.
It has 24 positions for dialysis patients and has been operational since last October. There are only three privately insured patients receiving dialysis in the facility. Medicare patients are not allowed because the state Department of Health has not certified the facility.
Can someone get the Department of Health moving on this? The community needs it.
Terrence Vukoty
Hawaii Kai
Puerto Rico blamed Jones Act for its woes
Few people I know in Hawaii are aware that Puerto Rico has declared itself “bankrupt.”
Even fewer know that government leaders there blame the Jones Act restrictions for causing their bankrupt condition.
Puerto Rico sought relief through the U.S. Supreme Court after the commonwealth government there was told by a U.S. District Court that it could not amend its bankruptcy laws.
Officials attempted legislatively to comport Puerto Rican law with the latitude allowed the states. The U.S. Supreme Court found favorably, allowing Puerto Rico to amend its governmental agencies’ bankruptcy provisions.
While Hawaii is not bankrupt at this time, Hawaii is headed in the same direction as Puerto Rico.
Because of the fragile economy, increased homelessness, limited agricultural production and high government spending, we must address the solutions rather than discuss the problems.
If Hawaii were given relief from the Jones Act, our state’s economy could parallel or exceed the economies of Singapore and Hong Kong.
John S. Carroll
Downtown Honolulu
It’s shocking that Hawaii is not missile-protected
It was shocking to learn that Hawaii does not have an active anti-ballistic missile system in place while we spend billions on defense systems for South Korea and Japan.
Will it take another Pearl Harbor for the sleeping giant to awake?
Edward D. Lasky
Hawaii Kai
