I took a drive on Kamehameha Highway from Kaneohe to Haleiwa with some guests of mine from the mainland. Some 21 abandoned vehicles, in various forms of decay, graced both sides of the highway alongside the beautiful natural landscape. That’s about one every four minutes.

The vehicles were not alone. We also saw a rusted-out water heater. I have not seen that kind of ugly rot gathered since before they cleaned up Kapaa Quarry Road in Kailua.

It seems to me the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau might want to assess the impact of this sight on our image as a beautiful destination to visit.

David Campbell

Kailua

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Public service can replace employment

What will humans do now that robots, artificial intelligence and other autonomous beings are rapidly replacing the need for human labor almost everywhere?

Picking up on proposed legislation that would guarantee every Hawaii resident a guaranteed annual income, David Shapiro (“Politicians provide year’s worth of foibles,” FLASHback, Dec. 31) wisely suggested that everyone “otherwise unemployable would get a seat in the Legislature.”

I agree! For far too long most people have been forced to work in order to live while their participation in democratic decision-making has been optional, difficult and ineffectual.

Now, with full unemployment and free access to the abundant goods and services that are produced without human labor, most of us will be able to concentrate on participating effectively in public decisions that matter to us, without wasting our time in labor that is otherwise meaningless, and increasingly needless and unavailable.

Jim Dator

Waikiki

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Crowds inundate Eddie surf contest

Dave Reardon mentioned “a few folks annoyed about the traffic jams” at the Eddie Aikau surf contest (“Will the Eddie still go?” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 7).

As a surfer who attended Eddie Aikau’s first memorial that spring day in 1978, I mean no disrespect to Eddie’s memory, nor the Aikaus.

At the last Eddie, people began arriving to stake their claims at about 3 a.m. Many planned to make it a real party, bringing lots of food and liquor. They essentially tailgated in residential neighborhoods and along Kamehameha Highway at turnouts and wherever they could find.

Later, an estimated 20,000 more people descended on the bay.

Where will everybody go to the bathroom? Where will they put their garbage, broken chairs and tents? You got it: There were piles of waste and garbage along our beaches and in the bushes near the highway.

Yes, many of us found this “annoying.” It boils down to a lack of infrastructure for dealing with a very large event.

Debbie Aldrich

Haleiwa

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State, local taxes add to high cost of living

I was disappointed with our congressional delegation for criticizing the GOP tax reform bill.

If there’s any criticism concerning taxes, it should come from Hawaii’s taxpayers. State and city taxes have added to our high cost of living. Poor and wasteful management of our tax dollars has resulted in the deplorable condition of our state.

When I see the state attorney general, our congressional representatives and a gubernatorial candidate making spiteful comments toward our country’s current administration, I shake my head. What good did all this name-calling and childishness do?

How can we trust these people to represent us in Washington, or to be our next governor? They have lost my respect and my vote.

Clarence Chun

Kalihi