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The thoughtfulness of comments on Civil Beat has been incredibly rewarding for those of us working in the newsroom. But we know that keeping up with all the discussions can be overwhelming. And that your time is precious. So we’re exploring a new member benefit that highlights “must-read” comments.

Winning Over China

Christine Lu wrote in response to Chad Blair‘s piece on the Shanghai World Expo, after spending a few days there. (Here’s another piece on the Expo by Chad.)

China is a market that Hawaii is definitely not paying enough attention to relative to its potential. Put it this way, the Maldives …and even Zimbabwe has a bigger marketing budget for attracting Chinese tourists. Zimbabwe!

Read more of Christine’s thoughts based on her experience there.

Dave Kozuki brings a sense of history to the question of attracting Chinese tourists.

I’m glad we are doing as much as we are in China. Those of you who grew up in Hawaii or were here in the ’70’s/80’s remember the busloads of Japanese tourists that evolved into repeat visitors and fueled our economy. There was no Little Tokyo in Waikiki back then. We must work hard to win over China because of their growing middle class, huge population and geographic proximity. Brand Hawaii must be promoted there in a big way.

Lessons On Homelessness, From New York

We have members across the country providing valuable perspective on Hawaii issues. David Bornstein of New York wrote in response to a Chad Blair’s article on a legislative hearing on the homelessness issue where just two lawmakers showed up, even though they had called the meeting.

To begin with, it’s important to disaggregate the category ‘homeless.’ The problem of chronic homelessness is very different from short term homelessness. And family homelessness is something different entirely.

Here’s a that focuses on the work of Common Ground in New York city.

This approach is spreading to other cities, and I believe it offers perhaps the most cost-effective model for one particular category of homelessness: chronic individual homelessness.

Common Ground receives approximately $12,500/person in public subsidies at its facilities in New York (which house a mixture of chronically homeless and low-income tenants).

Compare that to a NYC shelter ($24k/year), jail ($38k/ year), psychiatric hospital ($117k/year), hospitalization ($1k/day). If someone spends a week in the hospital it’s equal to half a year of housing.

In Seattle, another successful model is Housing First. According to a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association, it’s approach saved taxpayers $4 million in costs in its first year alone.

Homeless is a problem that can be solved. We currently pay far more to keep people homeless than we would if we just build decent, well-managed housing, as these examples demonstrate.

A Debt Crisis For College Grads

Olin Lagon, responding to an article by reporter Katherine Poythress on the crushing debt many college graduates now face, recalled his days in the Peace Corps and the commitment of graduates who were deep in debt.

Katherine, when I read your piece on student debt, I was reminded of my time in the Peace Corps. Though I served in my upper 20’s and didn’t have any debt, I volunteered along side of a couple of dozen volunteers that had huge amounts of student debt, at least one in the six figure range. Yet they volunteered for two years in the name of peace and cultural exchange. I was awestruck by how freely they gave of themselves despite their debt load. College is not for everyone nor is it always an economical value. But for those that choose it and take on debt, attitude and living in line with core values does go a long way to re-frame the debt from a stressor to just something like a mortgage that is needed to finance part of a life. Yes, that may require significant changes in lifestyle, but so be it. That was one of my take aways from my fellow volunteers.

Lika Jordan has been sharing the experience of being a teacher with high aspirations for her students since Katherine wrote about her school as part of a package of stories on high school graduation re Nanakuli

There is hope and, against great odds, things are getting better at Nanakuli. Our young, hardworking principal is very well liked and respected and has instituted some good changes. We are keeping new teachers longer. As Matt mentioned, those student mentor/teacher relationships are a key to students’ living up to high expectations. How many times have you heard, “Students don’t care how much teachers know, until they know how much teachers care.”

As for the wonderful bunch just graduated, I’ll have to write, another time, about what made them special.

I have to get up at 5:00 A.M. on tomorrow’s first day of summer “vacation” so I can drive into town to pick up a donation of textbooks being discarded by a private school. I’m teaching a new class next year but there is no money for textbooks. None. And my students deserve better.

Lynne Wooddell responded to the same set of stories.

I always tell people that the difference between a good school and a failing school is expectation. Growing up going to a private school in Hawaii, the ingrained purpose/end-goal for me was not ‘will I go to college’ but ‘what college will I go to?’ This is a huge difference in mind-set and it should begin in elementary school. Our children should be given the gift that to assume opportunities for college are a given. And ‘college’ can/should include non-traditional post-high school education opportunities such as Trade School, or Technical School. How can we, as a community, get that ‘assumption’ of college ingrained into Public Schools the way it is in many of our Private Schools (and I think it needs to begin early–in Middle School at latest!) Some successful attempts so far are the Pueo Program at Punahou and a new program starting at I’olani–taking Public School ‘mid-performing’ kids and using summer sessions and parental ‘contracts’ to take these gap kids and get them ‘assuming’ they can succeed.

Share your thoughts on our comments and whether such an “executive summary” would be valuable to you.