Letters: Chinatown needs help; Drive safely and obey traffic laws; Rail project could follow California’s bad example

The Chinatown coronavirus story has been in the international news the past few days. The word from my shopkeeper friends who speak Chinese is that there’s misinformation spreading rapidly on the web, around the world.

The streets have been empty this past weekend and, in the meantime, we have a news conference with a discredited mayor waving some produce in the air and a governor who unsurprisingly has gone MIA.

Chinatown is about to be metaphorically torched again and Waikiki will be next. We need help. We need to send a strong signal around the world, and we need to do it immediately.

Oren Schlieman

Chinatown

Drivers should take care where pedestrians walk

Hawaii drivers are causing crosswalks and walking beside the road to become death traps, with their inattention, me-first and speeding attitudes.

My wish is for all to drive safely and obey traffic laws.

Michael Augusta

McCully-Moiliili

Leaders not only ones to set community values

Two stories appearing in the Star-Advertiser involving the Roman Catholic Church raise interesting thoughts about Maryknoll School and Pope Francis (“Maryknoll alumni, students rally for former director”; “Pope Francis denies bid to allow female deacons, married priests,” Feb. 13). As a Protestant minister, I’m hesitant to add my voice but, as an ethicist, I must.

The most important issue, for me, is discerning the values we provide our youth. Established religion should be involved, but to what extent? The entire community needs to be heard, but who makes the final decision about which values?

It seems like the moral guidelines of Western civilization are changing and, for me, this means we all need to participate in the decision-making process.

No person or institution should have a controlling influence and everyone’s basic interest needs to be honored. Personal freedom, privacy, responsibility to others and spiritual integrity are just a few of the critical concerns.

John Heidel

Kailua

Some public figures display their cowardice

In 1955, John F. Kennedy published his prize-winning book, “Profiles in Courage.” Recent events suggest the use of that title in a new volume with an important twist to read “Profiles in Cowardice.”

Any number of public figures might qualify for “cowardice” but let’s start with U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (see no evil, hear no evil) and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (the quintessential hypocrite).

The Senate impeachment trial was a sham. Most Republicans have no sense of shame.

Carl L. Hanson

Makakilo

Rail project could follow California’s bad example

It is unfortunate that a softball report from the Associated Press, placed in the Honolulu newspaper, seemed to encourage Hawaii to continue to ignore reality and copy California like a little brother (“California rail project adds $1.3B to total bill,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 13).

The California high-speed rail was originally voted in as a $34 billion project, from San Diego to San Francisco — spending a huge amount of taxpayer money on 200-year-old transportation technology instead of modernizing and improving local air travel (faster, more economical and more popular).

The first major step was to cancel the San Diego-to-L.A. leg. Now the project looks to triple its original costs, from $34 billion to an estimated $95 billion.

Imagine moving the decimal point and we see the Honolulu rail project with scary similar increases, false or empty promises, questionable assurances and continual movement of the completion date.

After 25 years, the California high-speed rail will not be high speed, nor will it have the ridership necessary to avoid a forever drain on taxpayers. What do you think we in Hawaii will experience?

Joel Brilliant

Hawaii Kai

Retirees enjoy Las Vegas’ superior DMV services

My wife and I recently moved to Las Vegas, and we are both retired. Having owned our own businesses for more than 30 years, we know the shortcomings of state and city government in Hawaii.

I recently had to surrender my Hawaii driver’s license and license plates in order to drive my car, which I had shipped to Las Vegas. I made two separate appointments for each transaction, and I had to arrive only 15 minutes before. Each transaction only took about 45 minutes. The Las Vegas DMV is a well-oiled machine.

I was not at a main location, just one of three around the city. Now here’s the shocker: There were 43 — that’s right, 43 — service windows. I recently had to take my mother-in-law to the DMV in Hawaii, and we stood in line for four hours.

The people of Hawaii need to wake up and put pressure on the city of Honolulu.

Eddie Okamura

Las Vegas

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