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Oahu airport expansion doesn’t benefit Maui

Why spend $1 billion to expand the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport for the travel industry? Our legislators are very shortsighted on helping our islands manage traffic, sewage and infrastructure. Without these improvements, our visitors will fall short of the experience they expect from our islands.

On Maui, one just has to travel the inadequate highways to accommodate the increased traffic backing up to Maalaea to Lahaina, or the increased traffic from Lahaina to Kihei. The sewage issue is not going away, and it will be devastating to condominium owners and hotels if the issues are not addressed in a timely manner.

With the increased room rates each year and the slow increase in wages, you’d think that the visitor industry has done a remarkable job in influencing the legislators who vote for issues that do not benefit our island communities.

This increase is not needed because our capacity will not be able to manage it.

Increasing Hawaii residents with homes and jobs, and developing the capacity to manage our substance-abuse issues appear to be much more important than an airport expansion. We could limit the number of car rentals on Maui and increase capacity for mass transit.

Too many years of neglect have passed; it is time to change our community in a positive way.

Cliff R. Libed

Wailuku

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