Public housing is more than shelter for low-income people; it is a solemn trust of the most basic sort between society and its citizens.

Without places like Kuhio Park Terrace and Mayor Wright's, many more of our struggling families would be facing homelessness and its assorted disruptions.

So it is with dismay that we read Jim Dooley's column in the Advertiser on May 16 detailing continuing problems concerning KPT's broken elevators.

According to Dooley's report, two of the three elevators in one of the project's two high-rises haven't been working for months on end, with little prospect that they're going to be fixed anytime soon.

As a longtime resident of Kalihi, I recognize that public housing serves a vital public need — and I am glad they're in our backyard. I also am well aware that some of the more egregious problems associated with such projects have been greatly improved since the government has moved from an operational role to a contractual one.

We are hardly out of the woods, however, in how we address our housing needs in Hawai'i, and we must never forget that we are dealing with real people with everyday needs.

Elevators are absolutely essential to a normal lifestyle if you live in any kind of building with more than three stories.

Mothers with small children, elderly people, handicapped persons, folks with groceries and heavy packages, and pregnant and/or sick people all depend on reliable elevator service.

No excuses should be tolerated — whatsoever — when elevators break down. Certainly, units are old and parts are obsolete; sure, vandalism is a major problem, and heavy usage is a fact. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that elevators are particularly prone to repair and maintenance needs and that such problems are predictable and manageable.

Such specific problems should be fixed immediately on an urgent basis. Repair and maintenance must be given a higher priority in all public works in our state, whether for housing, schools or parks.

So, my question is, where are our advocates for decent, workable housing? Where are our politicians and elected officials? Why aren't they speaking up to support the understandably agitated residents who are described by your reporter as "not happy?"

At our neighborhood board meeting, one of our state senators tried to explain to me that, "we just don't have enough money to go around." Ya-de-dah-de-dah! Excuse my French, but what a crock when a specific problem is addressed with an evasive generalization.

The fact of the matter is that Governor Lingle asked for $15 million to repair and maintain our public housing elevators and the legislators who represent our district voted to slash this by two-thirds.

This is outrageous. Vital parts of our housing system are broken, and no one seems to be listening. Can you imagine a private company like Starbuck's blaming a leaky cream dispenser on its customers? Yet there's never a shortage of finger-pointing when there's a breakdown in essential services in the public sector.

Is this because so many of our elected politicians are too isolated to find out how real people live in the real world? Is that why they give pay raises to themselves but can't fund fixing the elevators?

Broken elevators are an emergency: a health and safety issue.

To paraphrase what Marie Antoinette said to the poor, if they have no bread, let them eat cake, and if their high-rise elevators are broken, let them take the stairs. Perhaps they ought to shut the elevators down at the state Capitol until they fix the ones in Kalihi.

Ken Harding is vice chairman of the Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.