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You have to admire the audacity of Hawaii’s so-called business leaders, who are dismayed by protests surrounding local construction projects (“Protests concern isle business leaders,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 16).
Through its political influence, the construction industry has effectively bankrupted Oahu. Honolulu’s rail project, for example, is costing the taxpayers of Oahu $6,000 per resident and most will never use it. The sole reason for rail’s existence, as far as I can tell, is to enrich developers and the construction industry.
Meanwhile Hawaii’s schools, roads and sewers are falling apart for lack of needed maintenance that would create meaningful employment for thousands of local residents. At the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where I work, it is nearly impossible to get money for maintenance, but relatively easy to get money for yet another building.
Protests are appropriate, but what we really need are publicly funded elections so that politicians aren’t forced to be puppets of the construction and tourist industries.
Neil Frazer
Kailua
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