State leaders should be embarrassed. Just when it appeared that the new Halawa stadium project was progressing according to plan, they returned to form. Through a combination of incompetence and intransigence, it looks like they will succeed in adding more than $20 million to the cost of the project and delaying it by over a year. Never mind that no developer in their right mind will want to commit to a long-term relationship with a government entity that cannot be counted on to fulfill its end of the contract.

Rather than pouring more money into the rusting hulk of Aloha Stadium, maybe the best thing that could happen now is for the University of Hawaii football schedule to be suspended — not just for this season — but until a new stadium is actually ready for play. Perhaps only then will the current occupants of the state Capitol realize this is serious business that deserves their full attention.

Alan Ewell

Round Top Drive

Landlords, not just tenants, need aid, too

Regarding the governor extending the ban on evictions (“Governor to extend ban on housing evictions as growth in state slows,” Star-Advertiser, July 14): Has anyone thought about the landlords who now, quite possibly, can’t meet their expenses because they have renters who can’t pay their rent?

It’s not just the renters who’ve lost income, but their landlords as well. Why has no one thought to help? Why are they being forgotten?

Jeanne Moore

Nuuanu

Schools’ reopening needs safer process

As an educator and parent, we need to ask for more from our state during this crisis. We have no plans for testing, temperature checks or outbreak response at our schools. Politics is deciding to sacrifice students, staff and teachers when we have options to work remotely and virtually. It’s not ideal, but even one student, teacher or staff death is too many.

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said “only” 0.02% of students will die. Hawaii has 180,000 students: 3,600 students will die according to those estimates. What if it’s yours? What if it kills auntie, uncle, nana, you? Who cares for them then?

Please speak up, make your voice heard, and get the state to implement distance learning until it is safe — for our keiki, our kupuna and our teachers. I hope you would respect our lives as much as we do your kids.

Jacob Cassens

Halawa Heights

Stop playing politics with pandemic, lives

President Donald Trump never ceases to amaze me with how lightly he takes the COVID-19 pandemic. It dates back to the beginning when he blew off criticism as a “Democratic hoax” and then had him staging campaign rallies as if nobody present would be in danger. Now he is demanding that schools reopen in the fall with little regard for public safety.

There is nothing we would like better than to put students back in the classroom, but it has to be done safely.

Trump needs to understand that this is a health issue, not a political issue. To accuse Democrats of keeping schools closed for political reasons is just plain reckless. There probably are politicians from both parties using this pandemic for political purposes, but nobody more than Trump.

I do look forward to November. That’s when millions of Americans and I will do out part to make America great again by voting against Donald Trump.

Jim Gardner

Waialae-Kahala

Give public quick, detailed info on cases

Something is definitely wrong regarding local coronavirus reporting to the general public.

For example, a Hawaii Kai Safeway employee had contracted COVID-19 over two weeks before it was publicly disclosed. Virus exposure was likely, not only to dozens of Safeway customers, but to many others when considering the exponential effect of contact spreading.

Why did Safeway and/or the state Department of Health not report this infection as soon as the employee was tested positive? Is there not an ethical responsibility to immediately report virus activities in the best interest of the public?

We feel angst and apprehension when potential sources for major community outbreaks are not timely reported or are sorely lacking in detail. Please give us detailed information on coronavirus activities, and please do so promptly.

Ed Uchida

Hawaii Kai

HPD, prosecutor scandals unresolved

It is unfortunate that the criminal circumstances surrounding the corruption scandal with former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, and the city Prosecutor’s Office with Keith Kaneshiro, are not being fully addressed at both the county and state levels. I have yet to see public hearings on the matter. I have not heard from our elected officials if current laws need to be reinforced and/or strengthened to prevent this from happening again.

Unfortunately, the current Honolulu police chief had controversy with an out-of-court settlement (with taxpayers footing the tab) before her appointment (“City settles suit alleging Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard falsified recruits’ scores,” Star-Advertiser, March 9). It involved test-score rigging at the academy. There seems to be a systemic pattern of mistrust and lost integrity.

Most sadly, these individuals failed to uphold high standards of trust and integrity. As for the Honolulu Police Commission, it seems to be a rubber stamp for HPD and its chief. The ends don’t justify the means.

Jackie L. Grambusch Jr.

Kapolei

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