I am saddened to hear the news about the deaths of two Honolulu police officers while doing their jobs. What makes the story worse is that the suspect suffered mental illness. This serves as a wake-up call to see mental illness as a problem in Hawaii.
What makes the problem bigger is the lack of case management. People with mental illness need the support of case managers and peer specialists to help them cope with life problems, and more is needed.
Companies like CARE Hawaii, Helping Hands Hawaii and North Shore Mental Health need our help and support — as do other mental health companies to start business here.
Alan Kim
Moiliili
State leasehold units to help, not hurt, residents
Michael Ronald raises concerns about our ALOHA Homes proposal, which is based on the Singapore model that successfully houses 82% of its population in inexpensive, well-maintained public housing that does appreciate over time, providing equity for retirement (“99-year-lease housing plan is bleak future,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. Opens in a new tab19) Opens in a new tab.
The real “bleak future” of Hawaii is the bleak present of a net exodus of 14,000 local people from Oahu to the mainland every year. Those local people aren’t leaving because mainland houses are better opportunities to “build wealth” and “provide for retirement.” They’re leaving because they just can’t afford Hawaii’s stratospheric housing prices.
Unlike the Bishop Estate leasehold homes of bygone days, the state has no incentive to raise lease rents to market levels. The 75% equity share on resales of these homes would be a revenue stream to ensure excellent maintenance and also prevents the windfall profits that have made reserved/workforce housing units out of reach just a few years after construction.
Sen. Stanley Chang
Honolulu
Big Brother making way into isle traffic tracking
I was wondering why $52 million was wasted on that new Joint Traffic Management Center, until Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s proposal to tax motorists for driving in certain areas during busy times. High-definition cameras combined with emerging artificial-intelligence technology will enable the government to track everyone who dares to drop their kids off at school or go shopping during rush hour.
Eventually A.I. facial recognition software will enable the government to monitor, control and fine (tax) the people like Communist China does today. I recall Hawaii’s voters rejected this idea in the past — surveillance cameras monitoring traffic for the purpose of creating revenue for the government. Big Brother is watching.
Donald Wyand
Makiki
Pali Lanes lease terms changing, not for better
The current lease at Pali Lanes will end on Jan. 31. Then starting on Feb. 1, the new month-to-month lease will start. This lease is bad for business and is bad for the community.
The business is hurting as leagues are leaving due to the uncertainty of the lease. The community is hurting because it is at risk of losing the true gathering center of Kailua, Pali Lanes. With the new lease, Pali Lanes is unable to spend any money on renovations.
We need the community’s help. Now, more than ever, we need the community to get behind us and help us save Pali Lanes. We hold meetings every Sunday: they are held at Pali Lanes, start at 2 p.m. and end at 4 p.m.; contact us at savepalilanes@gmail.com.
Christian Arakawa
Vice president of Team #SavePaliLanes.com
Let’s hope some senators will check Trump’s acts
In 2016, candidate Donald Trump stated at an Iowa campaign rally: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
When he made that statement, I did not think that included Congress. Yet every Republican in the U.S. House fell in line behind President Trump, stating in effect, “Hail, my leader!”
There is a glimmer of hope that a few Republican senators may break with Sen. Mitch McConnell’s efforts to ram an impeachment acquittal through the Senate without even a thought about a trial or removal from office.
In my long, politically-aware life, I have never heard the words “unprecedented” used so frequently to describe a president’s actions. President Trump stood in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue and “shot” the Constitution repeatedly — as a candidate and as president. As predicted, he lost no voters in the House. Will he lose any in the Senate?
Jo-Ann Adams
Waikiki
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