First responders — police, fire, EMS — have been as active as ever in recent weeks, with criminal activity in Waikiki and elsewhere, house fires and hikers and swimmers in distress around the islands. The public deserves alerts to these issues, and the media needs timely access to incident reports in order to send out the news.

It’s disappointing, then, to see that Mayor Rick Blangiardi has not moved on requests to provide it. Other cities have enabled access to original communications, and Honolulu should, too.

Pedestrian bridge will be an asset

A pedestrian bridge to connect the towers and shopping centers of Ward Villages with Ala Moana Beach Park is a good asset to make the area more walkable and safe. Built largely with federal grant funding, it will serve residents of the Howard Hughes development and others passing through the mauka- makai corridor.

Now, about those long-promised improvements to Victoria Ward Park, a public green space connected to Ala Moana park by the bridge. In 2020, Ward Village reps said we could expect the build-out “in the not-too-distant future.” It is time.