January 2023 will mark 50 years since Chinatown became an historic district accorded national status and protections. It also will mark 30 years since legislation created an O‘ahu Historic Preservation Commission to which no people were ever appointed. The city recently recommended that the commission be repealed.

Every other county in Hawaii has an historic preservation commission, but not Honolulu. The historic preservationists who had the vision to “save” Chinatown by stopping its redevelopment during the urban renewal drive in the 1970s (documented in Nancy Bannick’s book, “A Close Call: Saving Honolulu’s Chinatown”) could play a key role in its revitalization.

Mayor Rick Blangiardi could appoint an Historic Preservation Commission by next week if he so desired. He could boldly go where no Oahu mayor has gone before and include the input of those who preserved Chinatown in his efforts to manage and revitalize it.

Lee Stack

Chinatown

It’s time to connect with nature, not gadgets

When I think about what it would be like to live on Mars, I imagine this completely artificial environment underneath some giant dome where virtually everything is human-made. Here on Earth, there is nature, there are people and there is stuff made by people. In thinking about living on Mars, I wouldn’t see anything that was the wild nature of Mars unless it was outside the dome’s window or in a museum. Why would anyone want to live in a place like that?

Then I realized that so many people already live in a place like that, spending so much of their time in front of screens and gadgets, and going about and seeing buildings, cars, streets, stores and highways — a world that is mostly artificial, virtual and confusing.

In that world we lose touch with the Earth and everything else that lives on the Earth. We lose track of the air on our skin, of our feet touching the earth, where our food comes from, the beauty of a butterfly.

Nature is real, water is real, trees are real. Humans need to get real before moving to Mars.

The Rev. Bodhi Be

Haiku, Maui

Democrats in charge, to blame for troubles

The claim that Republicans are to blame for the nation’s troubles is delusional and, at worst, poorly timed (“Republicans to blame for nation’s troubles,” Star-Advertiser, June 17).

The party in control, both here and in Washington, D.C., has been the Democrats. Blaming another political party not in control of the local and national governments is, frankly, feckless. Crime and the cost of living are out of control, all due to the failing policies Democrats have instituted both here and there.

People, open your eyes: Are you any better now than when the Democrats took complete control of this state? Or how about since the Democrats took over Congress or the White House 18 months ago?

There is gathering momentum for that Red Wave this fall. Let it happen here, too.

Don Clark

Aiea

Desalination plants expensive, dangerous

I have read letters in which people suggest that desalination plants be built to mitigate the water shortage caused by higher usage and contamination from underground fuel tanks.

Desalination is not a panacea. It is expensive, costing hundreds of millions of dollars to construct. Converted seawater is a lot more expensive than brackish water.

Chlorine, hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide are injected to treat the water before desalination. Every gallon of water produced leaves 1.5 gallons of brine, a hyper-salty slurry that needs to be pumped back into the ocean. That increases the salinity of the ocean, reducing oxygen levels and killing sea life in the area.

Marine life can be significantly injured or killed when trapped or sucked into open water intake pipes.

Byproducts of the chemicals used in desalination remain in the “pure” water and endanger the people who drink it. Desalinated water can also be acidic to both pipes and digestive systems.

Our best bet is to conserve water instead of choosing irrational options.

Jon Shimamoto

Mililani

America’s gas prices are a serious problem

Each day at the gas pumps, Americans wonder, “Why are we paying such a ridiculous price for a gallon of gas? We are making good wages but our family income is being eroded by high costs of gas, food and household items.”

The price of gas has an impact on the cost of goods and services on which the American people depend. Reopening the Keystone pipeline and reducing regulations on oil production should result in our nation being energy-independent again and make the cost of gas more affordable.

We can then stop relying on foreign oil from Saudi Arabia and from adversaries like Iran and Venezuela.

Our country is now faced with an inflationary economy and heading into a recession. America needs to act now. Otherwise, our people will continue to suffer financially and psychologically.

Robert Hatakeyama

Salt Lake

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