HCDA catering to developers

It is appalling that the Hawaii Community Development Authority has allowed conditional approval for 10 high-rise condo buildings to be built in Kakaako when city reports say there is not enough information to make a full determination on infrastructure capacity.

The HCDA members are gubernatorial appointees who have direct ties with construction and development interests. They do not represent the interests of a balanced community.

The sewer in the area is old and incapable of handling the present community load — witness the unpleasant odor in the air during rain storms.

Ten high-rises will double the population. And who is the target population the HCDA developers are aiming for? Not median-income Oahu residents but foreign nationals who want expensive second homes and places to use as business client housing.

Read closely the skewed report data eliminating median-income people. Is this the kind of future community Kakaako wants?

John and Rita Shockley
Kapolei

Obamacare good but so is choice

As an American citizen, I support a public health care plan.

The Affordable Care Act is the first open resource that lets all citizens purchase a health care plan without health condition limitations.

There is a lot of debate between supporters and opponents of this Act. Without agreeable alternatives, it will be an ongoing issue for Democrats and Republicans.

I don’t think the federal government should make it mandatory for all citizens to enroll in a health care plan, or pay a penalty otherwise.

We are Americans. We are proud of and live for our freedom. We should have the right to choose what we want and what’s best for ourselves.

Bianca Yu
Punchbowl

Have U.N. broker Middle East talks

The United States can never be an honest broker for peace between Israel and the Palestinians because of the enormous political power Israel has within our country.

To win a national presidential election, one must boost ones’s chances by winning New York, California and Florida, states with large Jewish populations. Beyond that fact, Israel has an outsized lobby influence in Washington that gives it unequal influence with our lawmakers who often look to their next election results.

So what to do?

The U.S., along with the rest of the world, should support the United Nations as a third-party player to achieve a peace agreement. The signal to Israel would be that its land-grabbing days are over. The signal to Palestine would be that it has a real chance to achieve a state of its own.

It is worth a try, as nothing else has worked over the last many decades.

Thomas Gambino
Kailua

Kudos to hotelier for parks idea

Although many would have no objection to an ordinance that prohibits lying down in public places — directed toward behavior, not individuals — Outrigger Enterprises has come up with a most creative proposal for dealing with the homeless residential issue in our parks ("Hammer won’t ease homelessness," Star-Advertiser, Our View, Nov. 20).

It suggests that park maintenance responsibilities include nighttime closure, thereby emphasizing function rather than people.

We can thank our own locally grown hotelier for its initiative in going beyond the purely commercial and addressing its community responsibility.

Jack McDermott
Waialae-Kahala

Theft of carts simply a crime

When is theft OK?

All this nonsense about state Rep. Tom Brower’s attempt to draw attention to the failure of our officials to control the homeless is just that, nonsense.

Our politicians say they are doing things to improve the situation. Well, doing various things that cost money and improve nothing solves nothing. It is throwing money down the sewer.

I have one question to ask anyone who is sympathetic toward the homeless on our streets. When did theft become legal? These people have stolen the shopping carts. Stealing is a crime. When did it become legal to steal if you are homeless?

End of story.

Diane Tippett
Waikiki