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Fund the Oahu rail and a Maui tunnel with a lottery

The Oahu light rail is, for the time being, dead on the tracks. Travel to and from the west side of Maui is apparently bottlenecked. Both of these issues are the result of budgetary quagmires in the state Legislature.

An article in the April 29 edition of The Maui News told us the Legislature will raise the hotel tax across the state by 2.75 percent to help pay for the light rail. Why should visitors to the other three counties pay for a system on Oahu intended to relieve gridlock primarily caused by residents?

Funding obstacles for both the Oahu debacle and the West Maui gridlock could be alleviated by a state lottery. The Legislature’s resistance to a lottery reminds me of news in California years ago that the Nevada gaming industry was lobbying to prevent expansion of gambling; i.e., losing big bucks from visitors from California.

Does anyone know how much money leaves Hawaii for Vegas casinos? I think it’s a lot. Fund the rail and a tunnel with a lottery.

Michael K. Nye

Maui Meadows

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