Mahalo to Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard, new to the job yet being open and honest about problems she sees at HPD that affect all residents and tourists (“Lack of officers is hurting operation, chief says,” Star-Advertiser, April 23).

We’d like to feel that we live in an island paradise visited by millions of people, which for the most part is true. However, it seems that long-term troubling issues — and needs based on crime and homelessness, as outlined by Ballard — are becoming a larger problem due to growth and a lack of funding and staff.

I liked that Ballard had specific recommendations and solutions to consider and fund.

I hope this means that our governmental leaders will accept and support the majority, if not all, of the chief’s proposals without establishing a special task force to review and uncover what is needed.

We don’t need more data to understand the problems, we need more people to address them.

Greg Schmidt

Hawaii Kai

—

Let parents choose schools

I’ll agree with Carol Pierpont regarding where children should be taught, if she will concede that parents have the right to decide which school is best for their pre-K to 12th-grade children (“Children should be taught in schools,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 23).

We already mostly know what our state Department of Education allocates per pupil; that’s what the voucher should be worth. We both know the Hawaii State Teachers Association won’t be happy, but maybe it’s HSTA’s turn to listen.

Regarding a teacher’s academic credentials: If parents can and do successfully prepare their children for higher education challenges, at their kitchen table, it could be argued that teachers are over-educated.

Mahalo to Peirpont for sharing her concerns with us. I’m following up with those elected to represent my interests in the Legislature.

Dennis Egge

Salt Lake

—

Luke’s apology ‘kind of pathetic’

House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke addresses her apology to everyone but barely mentioned the man whom she targeted for name-calling (“House finance leader apologizes for attack on Ige,” Star-Advertiser, April 22).

Having labeled Gov. David Ige a “crybaby,” and after comparing him to “a desperate caged animal” who is “kind of pathetic,” she now says it was wrong of her to disrespect “the office of the governor, the public … and members of the Legislature.”

In her next breath, she suggested that the governor is playing politics with Kauai disaster relief. She declined to elaborate.

Kind of pathetic.

Linda-Mei Jaress

Hawaii Kai

—

Thanks for story on e-bus failings

Thank you, Star-Advertiser and the bus rider(s) who exposed the shortcomings of the electric bus (“E-bus struggles to make the grade,” Star-Advertiser, April 20). Were city officials even on the bus?

First a glowing report on how well the buses performed, shortly followed by how poorly they performed. Simple things like this are why government often is distrusted and thought of as incompetent.

In this case they were BUSted.

Matt Hee

Kakaako

—

Total traffic mess on H-1 Saturday

The worst traffic jam possible occurred on Saturday. According to police, the state decided to close lanes going west on the H-1 due to construction-related work. It was a nightmare, to say the least.

Traffic was a total mess for about seven miles. All roads from H-1 were totally blocked; it took three hours to get to Waipahu from town. It normally would take 30 minutes.

Judith Kalin

Waikiki

—

Paid leave helps small businesses

Enacting paid family leave for all workers interests us because of our efforts as a medical practice to ensure the well-being of our employees. My husband is a plastic surgeon, now retired.

We did not try to avoid paying for health care by limiting employees to less than 20 hours of work per week. We hired a pregnant worker on a full-time basis so that she would get health care. When she had a C-section, her health coverage kept her from disaster.

We hired staff full-time so they could have medical, dental and eye care coverage. This cost us more, but we felt we owed it to our employees.

We hired older women and single mothers. We let them bring their children to work when daycare problems arose. I was their emergency contact in a crisis.

Small businesses should protect their employees as much as their bottom line.

An affordable state-run paid family leave plan will help them do so.

Joy Bliss

Niu Valley