I still cannot understand the love affair of our elected officials with PPP (public-private partnerships). Time and time again these have been shown not to benefit the public, as the public puts up the land and the infrastructure and the private entity takes the profits.

Oh, and don’t forget, like for rail, that the public gets stuck with all the downstream maintenance and operating costs. If the government (state or county) must go with this type of boondoggle operation, it should at least be doing something to benefit the populace.

Case in point: the Halawa stadium site. If not to be built as a stand-alone stadium, the land deemed to be not needed for the stadium should be dedicated to much-needed, truly affordable housing — not a totally unnecessary “entertainment” district that only puts money in private pockets.

John Arnest

Wilhelmina Rise

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