Bless you for your recent feature articles that put a human face on homelessness — both the homeless themselves and the individuals and groups who are moved to help them.

Most media coverage has treated the homeless as a stubborn public nuisance and eyesore. The images are of the tons of trash they generate, and concern is about the public’s threatened health and safety, not theirs.

The “solution” seems to be to clean out their nests, confiscate and destroy their few possessions, and remove them to someplace where we won’t have to see or think about them.

Fortunately, your coverage appeals instead to the instinctive compassion Hawaii is known for that leads us to respond with overwhelming generosity to people in need. It’s hearing the individual stories that brings out that natural empathy.

Thanks for telling some of those stories and for giving concerned people specific suggestions of ways to help.

Sue Cowing

Niu Peninsula

Homelessness at a tipping point

I know we on the “Traffic Isle” are constantly talking about our homeless problem and what to do about it.

I have been watching sleepy Hilo transform from a small town with a sort of renaissance of emerging artists and farmers, to a rather depressing night scene of people sleeping in nearly every storefront. Violent crime is on the rise.Many of the older mom-and-pop shops that have invested a lifetime to build up are in serious danger of going down.

My observation is that these homeless seem to be from elsewhere. These smaller communities have little resources to combat the issue.

When old ladies are having their purses snatched from their carts in the grocery store, it will all go downhill from here.

Wake up and smell the stink; it will only get worse and cost more if we turn away now and ignore it.

Nick Blank

Hawaii Kai

Driverless cars would save lives

I wish that driverless cars would become a goal of the climate change conference in Paris (“Leaders gather for climate talks,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 1).

Currently some 35,000 Americans are killed in car accidents every year. Add the number of pedestrians killed by cars and you can easily top 40,000 annually.

Over five years you’ll easily reach more than 200,000 Americans killed in car or vehicle accidents. If this were an outbreak of a disease, an immediate response would be made nationally and internationally.

Needless to say, driverless vehicles would end all of this, at least on a very large scale. In addition, the country would benefit by an increase in health and well being. The private sector would be rejuvenated by having all vehicles adjusted to fit the mold of a new transportation infrastructure. The overall climate would benefit by reducing the number of vehicles using enormous amounts of non-renewable energy and increasing smarter driving, with an emphasis on safety and efficiency.

Jay Pineda

Waikiki

Don’t let NextEra take over HEI

I would like to voice my opposition to another mainland carpetbagger- style takeover of a utility that has not kept up with the times but is still an asset to the state, unlike NextEra from Florida.

It appears Hawaii will become a live experiment for how to make money with alternative energy.

Please notice the politicians and labor leaders who have changed their tune in the last 60 days to support the acquisition.

Mark James

Pacific Heights

Isle shareholders would benefit

When deliberating the pros and cons of the proposed merger of Hawaiian Electric and NextEra, the state Public Utilities Commission should consider the elderly people of Hawaii whose livelihood and estates depend on their Hawaiian Electric dividends and the value of their Hawaiian Electric stock.

I am in favor of this merger.

Fred Boll

Mililani

Ratepayers will fund upgrades

State Rep. Chris Lee is right in saying that Hawaii residents would actually be paying additional billions on our electric bills for so-called NextEra investments (“NextEra takeover of HEI would serve only to enshrine status quo monopoly,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Nov. 29).

That is absolutely true because all of NextEra’s energy investments, including a $30 billion grid infrastructure expenditure, would essentially be billed back to us as added electrical costs.

NextEra would cleverly benefit by skimming billions off the top as shareholder profits, resulting in massive exports of precious Hawaii dollars out of the state each year.

The last thing Hawaii needs is a slick, profit-oriented organization that blatantly refuses to disclose its energy plans, specifics and timelines. We cannot fall victim to sheer deception and a lot of unknowns.

Instead, we need to immediately pursue the formation of an energy co-op owned by the people of the state. And who could better lead this co-op than the politically astute Lee, Jeff Mikulina and Blue Planet and others who are akamai in the clean energy and energy self-sufficiency fields?

Ed Uchida

Hawaii Kai

Terrorists seem to be winning

The other day you printed a letter encouraging the admission of Christian refugees since they have “already been vetted” by Christian churches and charities and by virtue of the fact that they’re not Muslims.

The real terrorists win if we repudiate the principles of equality and religious tolerance on which America was founded. They win if they can scare us enough to get us to forget our humanity, disregard our Constitution, repudiate international law and turn our backs on the desperate, innocent men, women and children fleeing for their lives and begging for our help.

What does Hawaii and America stand for if we are no better than that?

Aaron “Jake” Jacobs

Kailua-Kona

ERS comments explained more

Thank you for your “Name in the News” article (“Thom Williams,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 20).

Two of my responses might benefit from clarification and a more in-depth response:

» While inquiring about the number of investment managers we work with and how they are paid, a more complete response would have conveyed that: “At present, we have about 100 external managers. They are compensated by charging fees based on the level and types of assets they manage.”

» Regarding our funding, the state of Hawaii contributes $400 to $500 million annually to fund benefits accruing on behalf of its employees, thereby contributing to the overall funding of the system.

Our operating expenses are paid from earnings on employer contributions, as well as those from investments.

Thom Williams

Executive director, state Employees’ Retirement System