I implore our governor, mayor and all their staff to read “Rough Sleepers” by Tracy Kidder. The book is about Dr. Jim O’Connell’s urgent mission to help homeless people in the Boston area. As a Harvard-trained physician, he dedicated his life’s work to offering medical help to the many who find themselves homeless. He went all in, providing not only medical care, but socks, soup, humor and most importantly, friendship — understanding homeless people through compassion.
If our state is truly serious about getting homeless people off the streets and off the beaches, then we need a new approach. Our traditional approaches have clearly not worked.
I agree wholeheartedly with David Shapiro’s assessment that the mayor and City Council members are tone deaf (“Mayor, Honolulu City Council asking big raises from handpicked panel,” Star-Advertiser, Volcanic Ash, March 19). If they are truly serious about helping the homeless, then they will put the money where their mouths are, and instead of increasing their salaries, will fund a similar program as the one outlined in “Rough Sleepers.”
Penny E. Nakamura
Haleiwa
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