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This coronavirus is slowly spreading worldwide. People traveling abroad is the reason. Lots of people had made travel plans before this coronavirus got out of hand.
People will still travel because if they want to rebook for a later date or cancel their flight, they may have to pay a penalty or lose all of their ticket money.
Until this virus is controlled, airlines should allow travelers to rebook without penalties, or refund ticket fees. This would surely help this coronavirus from spreading.
I am going to Las Vegas next month because I don’t want to be penalized for rebooking my flight. I will rebook if airlines do not penalize me. I’ll bet there are plenty of people in my situation.
Bob Naka
Mililani
Ritz-Carlton parking lot built on incompetence
The article on the Ritz-Carlton parking lot (“Hidden lot open to public,” Star-Advertiser, March 2), made me stop and ask myself, “Really?”
Ritz-Carlton takes over the lot for four years, paying $750,000. They return it eight months late. No problem. If I stay late at an expired parking stall, I pay a fine. Same for Ritz-Carlton? Nope! It pays nothing.
Ah, but “in prioritizing the re-opening … the city is not pursuing compensation for the delayed return of the lot.” So the lot would be opened quickly for use? Nope. The lot was turned over to the city on Dec. 5. Signage is still inadequate and the lot remains virtually unused as of March 2.
Ah, but every effort is being made to expedite the signage. Nope. The city is cooperating with the Waikiki Transportation Management Association with no estimate on an installation date.
It must be exhausting to find ways to be this incompetent.
Andrew Corcoran
McCully-Moiliili
New school agency another bad idea
I was horrified to hear of the plan moving through the Legislature to create an agency free of legal restraints to develop and maintain our public schools (“New school agency would dodge legal safeguards,” Star-Advertiser, March 2).
The last time the Legislature tried to get involved in this type of activity was when they devised and foisted the Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) upon us to oversee the redevelopment of Kakaako back in 1976.
Forty-four years later, Kakaako is still a mess; local families are priced out of the high-end apartments being built, the number of “affordable” units provided is laughable, the infrastructure is still sub-standard, there are no schools or parks.
In short, HCDA has been an abject failure to the citizens of Honolulu. The only beneficiaries are the developers of the high-end buildings.
Please let your elected representatives know that this is a very bad idea, as the state has a very bad track record with creating “special” agencies.
John Arnest
Wilhelmina Rise
Reduction of care at Tripler harmful to vets
The announcement last month by the Trump administration to reduce and/or eliminate medical care for active duty and retired military veterans across the nation is a threat to our lives and our pocket books. Our esteemed Tripler Army Medical Center is among the treatment facilities threatened by “being considered for recapitalization following additional market analysis.”
Downsizing in medical care by Tripler has the potential of affecting thousands of military and their family members, active duty and retired, residing in Hawaii, not only by no medical care but no pharmacy service.
For your future health and medical care, please write Tripler to express your concern. Any downsizing would also reduce the staff of doctors, nurses and other vital employees.
Richard H. Rothrock
Kahala Nui
Mathematician broke gender, race barriers
Maybe it was God’s plan for the late Katherine Johnson, a brilliant mathematician, to work for NASA’s space exploration program (“Pioneering black NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson dies,” Star-Advertiser, Top News, Feb. 24).
What she accomplished in her extraordinary career dispelled the myth that only the white male is capable of doing complex computations. She made it possible for Alan Shepard to be the first American to launch into space, and for John Glenn to be the first American to orbit the Earth.
As revealed in the film, “Hidden Figures,” she also had to endure severe humiliation. But why was this kept in the dark so long? It was the era they were in — bigoted views of females and people of color, their story squelched. Johnson must have had nerves of steel and unflinching confidence.
Failure was not an option. Failure meant disastrous results for the space program and the safety of the astronauts. But she succeeded and proved that it is neither a person’s skin color nor gender that is indicative of a person’s mettle.
Gary Takashima
Waipahu
Proposed laws would infringe on gun rights
News reports at the beginning of the year described crime in Hawaii, its rise and its violence. Meanwhile, the Honolulu Police Department is hundreds of officers short of its full complement, and Washington and Oregon are recruiting our officers with high salary offers.
The Legislature has proposed a slate of laws to reduce the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, proposing laws that criminals typically ignore because they are criminals.
The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 17 of the Hawaii Constitution say that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, but the Legislature in its wisdom constantly proposes laws to infringe that right. They are all infringements.
There already are laws against murder, robbery and assault that are regularly ignored by criminals, but the Legislature wants to criminalize the mere exercise of the Second Amendment, a right. The Legislature treats ordinary citizens as potential criminals. When will it stop?
What we should want is the end of crime rather than the criminalization of constitutional rights.
Michael Lee
Wilhelmina Rise
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