The lead article on your Money section was surely well-placed (“Grand condo living at Ward,” Star-Advertiser, April 8).

Illustrated with a rendering of a private rooftop pool, it highlights a $36 million price tag for a penthouse atop the new Waiea condo tower.

In keeping with the Star-Advertiser’s ongoing and excellent coverage of homelessness, it would have been fitting to juxtapose a photo of one of the many families camping out on nearby Kakaako sidewalks. It would have graphically portrayed the escalating inequality between rich and poor — contrasting obscene luxury with abject poverty, and demonstrating a root cause of Hawaii’s housing crisis.

When will we start building affordable housing for our people to live in, and stop lining the pockets of high-end developers, investors and speculators?

Wally Inglis

Palolo Valley

KCC chancellor a poor leader

I commend the Faculty Senate Executive Committee at Kapiolani Community College for finally addressing the poor leadership of Chancellor Leon Richards (“KCC chancellor under fire,” Star-Advertiser, April 9).

Richards has been incapable for years of making timely or effective decisions on budget, personnel and the conditions of campus buildings.

His tenure has created a hostile work environment and low morale, leading to a diminished educational experience for KCC students.

He has failed to serve the needs of the faculty, who, in reality, are the ones in charge of education at any campus. No faculty? No students.

I was a faculty member at KCC for 11 years and left because the hostile campus environment there wouldn’t let me do my job.

My gratitude goes to the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly for creating a survey that enabled UH faculty to voice their concerns about campus administrators, which led to this action at KCC.

Kevin Roddy

St. Louis Heights

KCC’s Richards highly respected

The recent article about the action taken by the Faculty Senate of Kapiolani Community College stated some of the facts, but nothing was mentioned about the students (“KCC chancellor under fire,” Star-Advertiser, April 9).

I recently retired from KCC after approximately 30 years. I worked closely with KCC Chancellor Leon Richards to develop one of the best international college programs in the nation.

Richards cares deeply about individual students and knows students by name. He is not only highly respected in the United States, but in China, India, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, Micronesia and Morocco. His light is the first to go on and last to go off at KCC.

He also received the University of Hawaii Community Colleges 50 Finest Award.

Richards began teaching at Waianae High School and his students still remember him with respect.

Linda Fujikawa

Retired professor of Japanese, Kapiolani Community College

Hospital is issue of life and death

Our political leaders need to exercise some common sense.

Is having a hospital and emergency room nearby a matter of life or death?

Certainly. Hospitals are a necessary and valuable community resource, providing a wide range of medical services from pediatric to geriatric care, treating low-risk to high-risk injuries and diseases.

Wahiawa General Hospital does all this, including emergency care.

The fact that most of us may not live in Central Oahu or on the North Shore should not lessen our ability to make rational decisions, especially when dealing with issues of health and safety.

Our politicians must support Wahiawa General Hospital because for someone who lives out there, this is a matter of life or death.

Susan Okamura

Mililani

Travel ban sends loud message

After North Carolina and Mississippi passed laws to discriminate against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, the LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii reached out to Gov. David Ige and Mayors Kirk Caldwell, Bernard Carvalho, Alan Arakawa and Billy Kenoi to ask them to issue travel bans for their public employees.

We asked for the ban for several different reasons:

>> Protect our LGBT public employees who may be required to travel to these states as part of their jobs.

>> Ensure that our taxpayer dollars aren’t being spent to support states that have made discrimination their core value.

>> Send a message loud and clear that the Aloha State does not support discrimination.

Could it be that those who don’t understand the need for the ban don’t get it because these laws don’t target them?

America has already had the discussion about who can sit at the lunch counter.

Michael Golojuch Jr.

Chairman, LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii

‘Bathroom law’ is common sense

I applaud the state of North Carolina for passing a bathroom law that will protect our children, daughters and sons.

Predators will take advantage of the idiotic idea that it is OK for opposite sexes to share the same bathroom.

I am appalled that some of our politicians, famous athletes and companies decided to boycott North Carolina for standing firm on common-sense righteousness (“City trips to 2 states banned over laws,” Star-Advertiser, April 8).

It is not surprising that since same-sex marriage was allowed, homosexual groups have continued to push their agenda of creating an America that mirrors Sodom and Gomorrah.

Ramon Garza

Kekaha, Kauai

Rail car seems overly expensive

An “affordable” 988- square-foot, one-bedroom condo in Kakaako cost $442,246, while a rail car costs $2.2 million (“Officials tout arrival of 2 rail cars,” Star-Advertiser, March 25).

Why does a rail car cost almost five times that of a one-bedroom condo?

Dennis “DJ” Freitas

Kaneohe

Big Q on rail missed real issue

David Shapiro’s column would seem to squash any talk by the City Council or the public of stopping the rail at Middle Street (“HART schemes to end talk of cutting short rail’s reach,” Star-Advertiser, Volcanic Ash, April 3).

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation now says the Middle Street segment won’t even be ready until just before the opening of the entire rail system in 2022.

The Star-Advertiser’s Big Q of April 5 raised a moot point: “When the rail’s first segment starts running from Kapolei, supposedly in 2018, how far should it go?”

Asking readers if they want rail to begin operating to Aloha Stadium or Middle Street is pointless, as it is not possible.

The Big Q should have been: “Should rail continue to be built with continued cost overruns and years of delay, or is it time to recognize that costs are out of control and it needs to be stopped?”

Gerri Pedesky

Nuuanu