I utilize the Waialae Avenue eastbound offramp six times a week, every week of the school year. Every evening, we merge into the shoulder lane to get out of the way of other traffic heading into Hawaii Kai. We sit in that lane with dozens of other cars, waiting for our turn to head up the ramp, blocking no other traffic on the highway.

Yet, the Hawaii Department of Transportation has deemed the complaints of wealthy Kahala folks important enough to take action to “re-striping” the lanes — spending resources to add a new lane, when one technically exists already and people have no problem merging into the shoulder lane. This is a gross misuse of government time, money and resources.

Next time, please stop messing with lane lines that are perfectly fine, and instead, redo the sloppy lane lines on North King Street, fronting Farrington High School.

Emma Zheng

Kahala

Stop giving Saudi Arabia pass; hold it accountable

Why does Saudi Arabia always get a pass when its citizens murder and terrorize Americans? It’s time for some accountability from the Saudi government.

Maybe its time to re-evaluate our Middle East policy. I don’t recall Iran involved in terrorist activities in America — but its the bad guy while the Saudis are the good guys. Well there aren’t any good guys. And now the Saudi king has called our president and said he’s sorry — just hope he doesn’t offer another million-dollar horse to the families of the Pensacola, Fla., military base tragedy, a suspected terrorist attack.

Andrew Kachiroubas

Moiliili

Trump has made U.S. safer, more respected

While the drumbeat of anti-President Donald Trump haters appears frequently, they fail to see what he has done that has made the United States safer and more respected in the world.

During the recent NATO summit, President Trump continued to insist that member nations contribute at least 2% of their GDP (gross domestic product) on defense. Instead of supporting him, critics prefer to highlight some world leaders, who are delinquent in their defense spending, mocking the president.

The U.S. economy is the envy of the world. Employment is the highest in history, and particularly minorities are enjoying near-full employment.

For the first time in 70 years, a U.S. president has met with North Korea’s dictator and demanded to remove the nuclear threat from the world.

Hawaii was shaking in its slippers just a year ago, worried about North Korea’s missile threat to the islands. Fair is fair.

Earl Arakaki

Ewa Beach

Congress works for the people, not president

Russel Noguchi stated that the U.S. House of Representatives’ “most important” job is passing bills that the president wants and will sign (“U.S.House fails to get support for legislation,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Dec. 6). This may be how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thinks, but it isn’t the way our government is supposed to work.

The president’s permission or concurrence is not required before writing or voting on any legislation; he is not a king despite what Republicans seem to think. Congress is supposed to be working for the people, not the president.

Hundreds of bills, many bipartisan, are wasting away on McConnell’s desk. Any criticism of House Democrats not doing their job because of the ongoing impeachment is baseless obfuscation. Per the Constitution, the House has both legislative and oversight responsibilities, and it is doing a lot of both.

The Senate also can author legislation but seems too busy chasing debunked conspiracy theories, filling judge seats it failed to consider during the Obama administration, and trying to keep up with the president’s rotating group of appointees.

Chris Kempf

Kaneohe

Plastic grass doesn’t jibe with new plastics ban

First, our City Council bans plastic and styrofoam takeout food products to protect the environment.

A week later, comes news about plastic grass installed on city roadway medians so crews won’t have to maintain it. Does this make sense?

Creighton Goldsmith

Puunui

Ordinary table salt can help control weeds, too

Kudos to the city and state leadership for initiating ways to reduce the costs of maintaining landscaping on our roads.

We should also acknowledge public and private golf superintendents, head custodians, athletic directors and homeowners who apply ordinary table salt to control weeds. The key is using a natural sticking agent like dew or organic fluid for the salt to adhere to the weeds; then it takes a couple of days for effective dehydration.

This works best with salt-resistant hybrid grasses, such as seashore paspalum and zoisha.

These are ways to reduce exposure to children, the general public and vital pollinators from the harmful affect of chemicals. Investigate further and give it a try.

Sam Kakazu

Kaneohe

EXPRESS YOURSELF

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser welcomes all opinions. Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor.

>> Write us: We welcome letters up to 150 words, and guest columns of 500-600 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Include your name, address and daytime phone number.

>> Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Advertiser 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210 Honolulu, HI 96813

>> Contact: 529-4831 (phone), 529-4750 (fax), letters@staradvertiser.com, staradvertiser.com/editorial/submit-letter

SHARE YOUR RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS

“Pay it forward”: a situation in which the recipient of an unexpected good deed pays forward a kindness to someone else.

In this season of goodwill, think about it: Have you ever benefited from a “pay it forward” gesture, which in turn inspired you to bestow a random act of kindness?

If so, let us know in a 150-word letter to the editor, or in a well-written essay (500-600 words) — and submit it by Dec. 16 via email to letters@staradvertiser.com, or via snail mail to 500 Ala Moana Blvd., #7-210, Honolulu, HI, 96813, c/o Letters. A collection of these will run on Dec. 22.