Affordability is the problem

City Council Chairman Ernest Martin wrote an article, "Put city’s housing assistance where it can do the most good" (Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, March 4).

Yes, our homeless problem has gotten worse. It affects our quality of life; crowds our beaches, parks and sidewalks; and discourages visitors. Yes, from year to year, the numbers keep growing.

Yet all that is heard from our politicians is, "We must provide more for the homeless."

There’s nothing wrong with compassion, but they must also find out what is driving more people to becoming homeless.

The high cost of living here in Hawaii is a major factor.

The high cost of housing, food, fuel, parking, entertainment and every- thing that involves living. In August, our sewer fee will go up another 10 percent.

Whenever politicians decide to do more, the question"How do we pay for this?" should be tempered with another question, "How do we make living in Hawaii more affordable?"

Ted Kanemori
Kaneohe

Don’t let state run Connector

I was encouraged to see that the editorial staff at the Star-Advertiser thinks it’s a bad idea for our state government to take over the failed Hawaii Health Connector ("Don’t spend state funds on Connector," Star-Advertiser, Our View, March 2).

Our inept federal government provided more than $200 million for this enterprise, and so far the Connector has signed up just 4,600 people.

And our state lawmakers think it would be a good idea for us taxpayers to continue funding this overpriced behemoth?

It smells a lot like the soon-to-fail rail system that they have hung around our neck.

In the words of a well- known wisecracker: "Never start vast projects with half-vast ideas."

Peter Osborne
Kailua

Connector was a sweet deal

The story, "Isle Obamacare nonprofit afflicted" (Star-Advertiser, Feb. 27) said the Hawaii Health Connector online marketplace for Obamacare needed $15 million in fees to break even (i.e. to be an actual nonprofit).

The head of the agency, Tom Matsuda, admitted, "We’re not even close to breaking even."

According to the article, the Connector has received $204.3 million in federal grants and has spent or committed about half that money.

One must assume the grant money was used and committed for the $15 million in annual expenses; however, if I read the article correctly, the Connector was launched on Oct. 15, just 4 months ago, so even if you compute the operating expenses (roughly $1.25 mil- lion per month) through this coming Dec. 31, when the grant money expires, it comes to a little more than $17.5 million, which means they must have had a huge start-up expense.

I’m guessing that there are any number of private insurance companies that would jump at the opportunity to get a $204.3 million nest egg to do this job, and they wouldn’t just "break even."

Norm Guenther
Mililani

Bible doesn’t tolerate gays

Regarding Peter Iveson’s letter about Christian views on homosexuality ("Christians supposed to love thy neighbor," Star-Advertiser, March 3), we do not derive our standards from Canada’s laws, no matter how superior Iveson believes Canada’s laws to be over U.S. laws.

Nor do we derive our standards from his opinion of what Christianity should be. Bible-believing Christians derive their standards from the Bible, which clearly condemns homosexual activity.

Jesse Woodfin
Kaneohe

Kudos to those who backed rail

I was really glad to read that the federal courts gave the green light to the Honolulu rail project.

I was afraid that if the decisions went the other way, we would never see the rail system and would have to deal with terrible traffic congestion forever.

I also thought about former Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who were the champions of the rail project from the beginning. They stuck their necks out for the project and bore the brunt of criticism from rail opponents. They stood by their convictions even when the going was tough.

I think the courts’ rulings show that those two deserve credit, not blame, for supporting rail from the very beginning.

Maria Etrata
Pearl City