I’m disappointed in the media’s coverage of the proposed Honolulu Charter amendments, as well as the Charter Commission’s published information on them.
Information from the commission is inadequate to help voters understand the significance of a yes-or-no choice. Meanwhile, the media have provided no in-depth coverage of the amendments, only a surface review. Of key importance, several amendments are stacked with multiple provisions. The first provisions may sound so good voters won’t consider the impacts of successive provisions — a common tactic for sneaking in changes that favor select groups.
Amendments 4, 5, 6, and 8 all contain provisions that can be anticipated to serve real-estate developers and construction interests over the general populace. No. 19 benefits one political party over all others.
Too many special interests influence city politics. Therefore, proposed amendments should be limited to one issue, so a clear choice can be made.
Mathew Johnson
Kaimuki
Emails raise larger issues
The FBI director’s letter to Congress is troubling, not because of its untimely release, but because it brings to light many of the larger issues with unsecured classified email procedures that have brought us to this point.
It’s possible these emails were shared by Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin. Abedin could have either accessed these on the Clinton server remotely or sent them to a personal account so she could download and print them out at home for Clinton’s use.
Email copies were kept on her husband Anthony Weiner’s personal laptop and never purged.
If there are indeed thousands, you can bet that many of these were indeed classified. Information technology experts know that email is an octopus with a thousand tentacles unless confined in a secure enclave.
Who knows what other unsecured email accounts or devices may contain these and even some of Clinton’s deleted emails?
Joel Tanaka
Aiea
Trump would be disastrous
What would a Trump presidency mean to us and our children?
A Trump presidency would be disastrous for race relations, civility, environmental protection, economic equity, worker rights, civil rights, pay equity for women and minorities, rational gun regulation, international relations and national security, just to name the obvious.
He would stack federal courts with right-wing purists, reverse all of President Barack Obama’s executive orders and present an image of America roundly despised by most of the world, except Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Just imagine Donald Trump giving the State of the Union address and answering provocative questions at news conferences.
I can’t imagine any clear-thinking voter would want this for our country, no matter how much they despise Hillary Clinton for her emails and other personal shortcomings.
Isn’t what the candidates stand for, and how they will impact our lives and country, what is important?
Francis M. Nakamoto
Moanalua Valley
Waikiki residents need parking
I’m one of the almost 33,000 people who permanently reside in Waikiki.
Most of the residents are in older condominium or apartment buildings that have inadequate parking, i.e., less than one per unit.
Consequently, those folks must seek street parking.
However, our city officials now want to reduce the number of free street parking stalls by converting most of them to metered parking.
Ouch!
Those above-mentioned residents will have to pay for parking that should have been provided them with their condo or apartment.
The city’s objective is bent toward public transit vs. private transport ownership — counter to the public’s best interests.
Most people want and need their cars, and don’t want to walk a mile with groceries or the like to get home.
Jon von Kessel
Waikiki
