Reapportionment panel actions reveal ugly truth

Every decade, after the Census, a politically appointed State Reapportionment Commission redraws the state legislative lines to ensure that people are equally represented. The purpose for remapping the political boundaries is so that The People are able to elect representatives who best serve us. The commission does not seem to understand this; it seems to think it should redraw political boundaries to provide for the easy reelection of incumbents.

While this commission attempts to gaslight the public by saying it listened to a majority of community concerns, the community sees that its redistricting maps only serve to protect incumbents and any benefit to the community is an unintentional byproduct. We see the ugly truth of the commission’s actions.

Clearly, it cares about only one community — those already elected to power. Give The People fair maps now for the health of our democracy!

Sandy Ma

Executive director, Common Cause Hawaii

Despite Navy talk, water problem is truly a crisis

The Navy has been insisting that the water contamination is not a crisis. Their officials have already shown that they do not have a handle on the situation. It took days before they acknowledged that their system was contami- nated after hundreds of people were complaining of strange odors from the water and getting sick.

Now their solution is to flush millions of gallons of water in order to filter the water, wasting that precious resource.

What happens if there is a leak and it contaminates the aquifer itself? How many millions of gallons of fuel will permeate the billions of gallons in the aquifer before we detect it? Once the aquifer gets contaminated, is there any plan to clean the water? How long will it take to find the leak and fix it? Is there any way to purify the tainted water or will the aquifer be unusable for decades?

If this is not a crisis, I don’t know what is.

Jon Shimamoto

Mililani

Makes sense to move fuel tanks, but where?

OK, everybody seems to agree that the Navy needs to move the fuel tanks away from the aquifer. Where do you want the Navy to put them?

There are very few places we can put a garbage dump because of the aquifer, so it would appear that would be the same for huge fuel tanks. And what neighborhood would readily accept them? Talk about a NIMBY issue!

Understand the Navy isn’t going anywhere and fuel storage is essential. If anyone has any bright ideas other than just drain the tanks, it would be a good idea to share them with the Navy or your politicians now. Otherwise, they will probably study the situation until after the next election.

Jim Slavish

Kailua

Hospitalizations, not cases, are true metrics

Unlike the situation in 2020, current data indicates that full vaccination and boosters have reduced the impact of the present COVID-19 variant to the equivalent of the “common cold,” as Harvard’s Dr. Joseph Allen recently said. Common sense, then, suggests that testing of these individuals if asymptomatic is not important.

This approach should especially apply to young healthy athletes with regard to cancellations of athletic events and inappropriate protocols. In general, the present metric and response should not be on the number of positive tests but on hospitalizations.

Peter Caldwell, M.D.

Alewa

Disappointment over lax city reaction to surge

I am shocked at the lack of concern Mayor Rick Blangiardi has expressed at the COVID-19 case count surpassing 2,000. Having his eye only on the hospital count does not consider those who will contract COVID-19 and suffer long-term symptoms although not hospitalized.

The concern for the economy trumps human life in his administration. I am disappointed.

Kathryn Sunada

Pearl City

Hawaii became home after dream vacation

We arrived back to New Jersey relaxed and happy. We stepped out of Newark Airport and it was gloomy, rainy and cold. Remembering the beauty of the islands and the warmth received from the people wasn’t forgotten. So we moved here!

I walked on the beach today under sunny skies. The sand was so smooth, it looked painted onto the shore. COVID-19 has brought us tough times. It is difficult to switch out of feeling overwhelmed. As we go through this together, it is better to be in a beautiful place like Hawaii, where the outdoors are at our fingertips all year round.

We are of many different colors and we go to different houses of worship. Faith is a common denominator here. Perhaps the Honolulu Star-Advertiser will bring back the Religion/Faith page. The need is great to know how everyone is praying in their own way.

Sandra Z. Armstrong

Kailua

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