Here we go again (“State orders audit of its IT spending,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 1).

Another engagement of frivolous spending by our illustrious decision makers in government as they attempt to figure out another flawed contract awarded to another consultant.

You mean to say that of the 50,000 state employees, there isn’t anyone qualified to form an ad hoc group to review and compile the information technology expenditures?

They could have saved the $150,000 and applied it to helping the homeless get relocated.

Richard Ornellas
Liliha

Rail will never be right fit for Oahu

A rail system could reshape the suburban and urban landscapes in St. Paul, Minn., but not Honolulu.

Oahu does not have 400,000 people living within 10 minutes walking or boarding distance of the proposed rail line.

Until all of Oahu turns into a Hong Kong City, a New York City/Staten Island or Honolulu City, with hundreds of thousands needing to be either within walking distance of shopping and working or transported at high speeds to get there — and there is nothing indicating that it ever will — cars and roads, not rail, are the most effective way of transporting people from home to destinations and back.

Carl L. Jacobs
Aiea

City services being neglected for rail

My friend from the mainland visited last week.

After driving past a few Honolulu city parks and stopping at a city restroom, my friend got in the car and said, “The parks need maintenance, grass mowed, sidewalks trimmed, and a few flowers would be nice. And the bathrooms are the worst I’ve seen since Haiti! Aren’t those basic city responsibilities?”

Concerning rail, the mayor said he wanted to find out why rail may be over budget by another $200 million.

He should know already. That’s a lot of money!

Imagine how much good $200 million could do for our students, our kupuna, our homeless, and our city in general.

John Wong
Aiea

Putin is right to help Assad stay in power

I support Russian President Vladimir Putin for trying to keep Syrian President Bashar Assad in power.

I believe Assad is the rightful president, though he might be a tyrant like the late Saddam Hussein of Iraq.

It seems that Putin is very serious by staging air, sea and ground combat troops in western Syria.

Despite what we hear, I believe there is minimal danger to U.S. and coalition forces, thanks to human intelligence, satellites, and AWACS surveillance.

I do not concur with the U.S. and coalition forces in trying to oust Assad.

I commend Putin and Russia for their serious move to keep Assad in power, and hopefully oust ISIS.

Lawrence M.O. Chun
Kailua

Maybe prayer could make a difference

Prayers are not a sure thing but certainly couldn’t make things any worse.

Every day we read about thousands of people fleeing places like Afghanistan and Syria.

Why? Germany invited them?

Then I read that more than 200,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war.

Now Russia’s military is involved killing more people, some say to support Syrian President Bashar Assad.

This is contrary to our trying to help “rebels” defeat Assad and may interfere with the U.S.-led global coalition attempting to degrade and defeat ISIS.

What do we do about it? Respond to the newspaper’s Big Q, write letters to the editor, post surveys online?

I sometimes email President Barack Obama and our Senate representatives in Washington telling them what I want them to do.

Will they listen and act?

Probably not, but at least I feel better telling them what I want.

James Arcate
Manoa

Honolulu needs a vagrancy law

Our homeless problem is turning into an uncontrollable monster.

It can’t be fixed until we establish a vagrancy law. Until we have the power to forbid people to live on the streets and beaches, it won’t stop.

We need a law that would give the authorities power to force people into programs to start the process of helping the truly homeless and down on their luck or mentally ill and weed out the criminals, drug users and moochers, saving money in the long run.

We would eventually have a smaller homeless population we could better provide for, and we would develop a reputation as a state that didn’t tolerate freeloaders.

We can’t solve the problem by providing free housing if the homeless have the right to refuse to go there.

This situation is killing our tourist industry and costing us millions in cleanup.

We keep building shelters that sit empty because the homeless don’t want to follow “the rules.”

Let’s fix the problem.

Wesley C. Clingerman
Wahiawa