Ensure infrastructure can handle tourism

I am not against tourism. I know how important it is to our economy.

But along with all the good and better news from the Hawaii Tourism Authority there is an important statistic that rarely gets mentioned in the newspaper and shows a vital need for planning: the number of tourists here on our soil on any average day.

HTA’s published statistics show that for the first 11 months of 2017 the average daily visitor census was just over 225,000.

That’s nearly 10,700 more than the number of visitors in the islands on an average day in the first 11 months of 2016, using our streets, our buses, rental cars, beaches, electricity, water, police, fire services and so on.

Jump back 10 years and we see that 2007 had an average daily census of 189,412, so the current figures are running about 36,000 a day more than that.

We need to make sure traffic, roads, drains and other infrastructure can handle that level of increase.

Russ Lynch

Kailua

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Legislator’s side pay wholly out of touch

I read the excellent article by Allison Schaefers regarding the “redevelopment” (selling?) of the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor with both disgust and amusement (“Conflicts arise over harbor contract,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 26).

I was disgusted by what looks like more potential conflicts of interest by our elected officials, yet I was amused by state Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz’s statements.

He said it is “healthy” for legislators to hold outside jobs because it helps them “understand the plights of making a living wage in Hawaii.”

He is paid somewhere between $60,000 and $125,000 by DTL for what he calls part-time work since he is not involved in the company’s day-to-day operations, and because of this he understands the “plight of making a living wage”? Seriously?

Perhaps we should ask him: “Did you not hear” that those of us in the real world make half that amount working full time?

Hong Lei

Waikiki

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Work goes on against disabled card abuse

Ron Palma called for the Legislature to pass legislation that would establish enforcement and penalties for the abuse of disability parking placards (“Combat abuse of handicap placards,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. 2).

The Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB) administers the parking program for people with disabilities. DCAB would like to clarify that current state law imposes a fine up to $500 for abusing a parking placard or for parking in an accessible stall without displaying a valid placard.

The possible fine rises to $2,000 if a placard has been forged or altered. Placards that are misused, expired, forged or altered may be confiscated.

Enforcement efforts are carried out by state parking enforcement personnel and by county police, including volunteer special enforcement officers. DCAB acknowledges that abuse of the placards does occur, and has multiple bills pending at the state Legislature designed to enhance enforcement and to reduce incidents of abuse.

Francine Wai

Executive director, DCAB

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‘Monster homes’ fill rental-unit shortage

I was disappointed to see that your article on monster homes with multiple bedrooms, bathrooms and wet bars did not address the reasons prompting them (“More ‘monsters’ are on the rise,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 2).

To me, they are a direct response to the glaring shortage of middle- and low-income affordable rental housing on Oahu. They are essentially houses being used as single-room occupancies, which were common in some mainland cities during the Depression. However, for many Oahu residents, a rental room is all they can afford.

Our tourism service workers cannot afford apartment rents of $1,800 a month or two-bedroom houses selling for $850,000, but they can maybe afford a rental room of $500 or $600 a month.

The owner’s issue is purely economic since it makes little sense to build a $450,000 house on a $1-million-value lot. Our systems for delivering affordable housing are cumbersome and lengthy; privately built monster houses are one response.

Harold Senter

Waialae Iki

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Rooming houses are zoning, taxing issues

Regarding Michael Thurman’s letter on large houses (“‘Monster’ description shows media bias,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. 4): Our media is just doing its job, like it or not.

Indeed, these “monsters” are what we used to call “rooming” houses. If they did not provide adequate off-street parking, such dwellings were permitted only near public transportation. They were taxed at a higher rate because of their obvious negative impact on public utility infrastructure (this applies to condominiums and apartment buildings, too). This would effectively hold the proliferation of such buildings in check.

This is clearly a neighborhood residential permitting issue. It should be subject to review and approval by concerned neighborhood boards.

Dennis Egge

Salt Lake