Homelessness still a problem

Back in May 2011, Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced his 90-day plan to end homelessness in Hawaii.

Astute observers noted that the timetable of this plan coincided with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, when President Barack Obama and other leaders would be visiting in Honolulu. If all the homeless could be in shelters at this time, the governor’s plan would be successful. Abercrombie described this as a "happy coincidence."

Now we hear that the state has a budget surplus of more than $800 million and by a "happy coincidence" something could actually be done with those resources to help eliminate homelessness in Hawaii. If this is rejected by our elected representatives, then I suggest giving the money back to Hawaii’s hard-working citizens.

That would be a real stimulus program.

Mark Saxon
Kahului, Maui

Scalia’s remarks were appalling

Justice AntoninScalia recently told a group of University of Hawaii law school students that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Supreme Court issued a similar ruling in favor of internments camps during a future time of conflict ("Internments can happen again, Scalia warns," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 4).

Are we turning the clock back 70 years?Is Scalia saying that the highest court in the land would disregard the basic rights of American citizens, based not on crimes against this country, but solelyon irrational fears and ignorance toward a particular ethnic group?

The internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II was a dark stain on the history of this country.Scalia’s reckless statement reveals the out-of-touch, callous rationale of the far right at work today in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Hopefully Scalia’s lesson to the law school students will be a warning for us all.

Cheryl Cook
Nevada City, Calif.

Mars ticket sales handled poorly

What a shame, the way Ticketmaster handled the selling of tickets for the upcoming Bruno Mars concert.

Approximately 500 people went down to the box office, and dozens still waiting were told that the concerts were sold out. I feel so sorry for them.

Ticketmaster should have allowed only walk-up purchases for the first day, then from the second day allowed phone and online sales. That would have been the morally right thing to do. Allowing online and phone sales at the same time only promotes scalpers, who purchase tickets and prevent us hard-working people from getting tickets at face value.

To make things worse, that afternoon Stubhub already had tickets for sale at ridiculously high prices. I hope other local people like me will leave scalpers stuck with the tickets.

Randal Au
Waipahu

Coming soon: HECO highrise

Hawaiian Electric Co’s "white elephant" will be much more than that ("HECO’s waterfront white elephant," Star-Advertiser, Off the News, Feb. 4).

Several months ago, HECO announced its Kakaako plant was being phased out because of the wonderful success of solar photovoltaic on Oahu.

Shortly thereafter, the omnipotent monopolists at HECO announced that PV was saturating parts of the grid and therefore applications, permits and connections were subject to denials and increased costs to already way overcharged customers.

Unless you live in a cave it’s not hard to connect the dots. Thanks to the Hawaii Community Development Authority, Kakaako is for sale to the highest bidder. The Miamification of our Honolulu waterfront is well underway. Infrastructure? Who needs it? Just keep the checks coming.

So in the near future, look for HECO Luxury Towers, unaffordable PV-free living.

Tim Taylor
Wailupe Circle

Obama missed reset moment

Barack H. Obama, the 44th president of the United States, had his opportunity to be a truly inspirational leader in the beginning of his first term.

At that time, in 2008, with the world undergoing a drastic economic downturn, Obama could have instituted real and needed change. A reset of the world economy was in his grasp by denying bailouts of negligent large banks and corporations.

Yes, the aftermath would have been hardship for all, but now, five years later, we would be in the process of a broad, real recovery that would include everyone, not just those at the top.

Gary Pardy
Haleiwa