In response to Lee Cataluna’s “Sweep leaves beach clean only a matter of hours” (Star-Advertiser, Oct. 2): I get it. Homelessness is a frustrating boondoggle. It is healthy to vent. It is normal to feel frustrated. Rage-dumping on nameless strangers, however, is seldom helpful and often counter-productive.

Cataluna further marginalizes those who have no voice in our civic life, feeding a virulent and popular animus against a disfavored class of persons, while doing nothing to resolve the underlying reality that economic insecurity is especially dire for those with behavioral health conditions who have difficulty accessing needed medical care and stable housing.

I wish we were just one angry rant away from solving the complexities of houselessness in Honolulu, but it is not that simple. Cataluna tritely dismisses the work of service providers and makes Mayor Kirk Caldwell a punching bag (again) with no recognition that visibility of those suffering is a call to action for all of us in the “land of aloha” to do better by the most vulnerable.

David Shaku

Makiki

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