CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
The news media received a June 9 tour of Battery Birkhimer, the state’s emergency operations center located inside Diamond Head Crater.
Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.
Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.
So it begins, the Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz propaganda show-and-tell (“Old emergency management facilities in need of modernization,” Star-Advertiser, June 10). The tour was meant to make voters think there is a desperate need for the $470 million pet project for the senator’s district.
Instead it revealed more of the abysmal lack of care, planning and budgeting from our elected officials. Deferred maintenance takes on new meaning: a lack of forethought and ideas, mismanagement of resources, departments in silos. The state has been talking about updating and enhancing computer systems for at least 30 years and done countless costly studies, to no avail.
If there is no consensus for this project, that land should be put into agriculture for sustainable farming. We need food security and houses for the houseless.
And one last thought: Why would you want to put all of your eggs in one basket, when one accident or bomb could wipe out all of our essential services?
Andrea W. Bell
Kailua
EXPRESS YOURSELF
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser welcomes all opinions. Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor.
>> Write us: We welcome letters up to 150 words, and guest columns of 500-600 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Include your name, address and daytime phone number.
>> Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Advertiser 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite #7-500 Honolulu, HI 96813
>> Contact: 529-4831 (phone), letters@staradvertiser.com, staradvertiser.com/editorial/submit-letter