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"Sad Malihini Histrionics": Anti-GMO Protesters Resented by Kamaaina
SA: The pitched battle over the so-called anti-GMO bill on Kauai has simmered down for now, but the clash left the island bloodied, bruised and a little wobbly after laying bare a festering schism.
"It's a civil war, I gotta tell you," said Jerry Ornellas, president of the Kaua'i County Farm Bureau. "It's family against family. I've never seen anything like it. The community is deeply divided."
An apparent widening gulf between what some have described as politically active newcomers, or malihini, and longtime local residents, or kamaaina, has made for uncomfortable times for some on the Garden Island....
the mostly rural island is home to just under 70,000 residents. But the population is expected to climb to nearly 85,300 by 2035, according to Kauai County projections. From 1990 to 2011, the county's population grew by 31 percent -- more than double Oahu's 15 percent growth during that period.
Maui and Hawaii island have experienced similar population growth and, perhaps not so coincidentally, are confronting some of the same divisions over genetically modified organisms and pesticide use as increasing urbanization clashes with the islands' agricultural legacy....
Along the way there was aggressive, in-your-face political campaigning, tense confrontations and marathon public hearings featuring sign-waving, shouting and tearful testimony....One side was emboldened by a robust social media network and reinforced by off-island and mainland anti-GMO groups....
Some railed against the newcomers.
"Who are you to speak for me?" Jason Manawai wrote in a Nov. 13 letter to the Garden Island newspaper. "No one speaks for the majority of those who live on this island, especially when you look into the audience at the public hearings and see a sea of pink faces, faces that have no roots here and yet think they know better than me and have a right to come here and tell me what to do."
Social media played a big role, allowing widespread dissemination of sometimes distorted information....
Conrow said watching the histrionics of the past few months was sad....
"It's an issue I'm interested in and have long been concerned about. But there was so much dishonesty and negativity in the campaign, it just turned me off. It made me think: Is this how it's going to be on Kauai from now on? Where everyone is at each other's throat?"
As for the movement's political power, Conrow's not sure it will translate into election success....
SA: Developers revive plan for 597 homes on Maui farmland (Clue: If GMOs are banned 1000s of acres of farms will be shut down. Houses will sprout up in their place. How obvious is this?)
read ... Seeds of division
Anti-GMO Activist in Midst of Squabble over Surfer's Cancer Money
SA: In late November dozens of family and friends scattered ashes of Montgomery "Buttons" Kaluhiokalani into the placid water off Waikiki Beach. Meanwhile, back on shore, a storm was brewing among those closest to the iconic Oahu-born surfer.
At least $45,000 has been raised online and through several fundraisers by well-wishers across the globe to help cover health care costs and other expenses for Kaluhiokalani, who was diagnosed with lung cancer last summer. The famed waterman, widely credited with helping to revolutionize surfing in the 1970s before struggling with substance abuse for decades, succumbed to the cancer Nov. 2 in Malibu, Calif.
In the wake of his death, unanswered questions over that money have brought a simmering feud between several of Kaluhiokalani's oldest children and his longtime partner, Hiriata Hart, to a full boil. Now both sides say they're considering legal action....
(Anti-GMO activist) Eddie Rothman, leader of the famed North Shore surf tribe Da Hui, paid approximately $5,000 of that total in order to bring Kaluhiokalani's body back to Oahu from Malibu, according to family members and others Kaluhiokalani acquaintances. Rothman did not return calls for comment.
"We tried to ask for receipts," Marrero added. Hart "said she was going to get it, and she didn't."
Hart disputes that. The family did speak with her but never asked for a specific accounting of the spending, she said.
"They never asked me for receipts," she said. "They never did."
Most of the money raised went to alternative medicine treatments in Malibu for Kaluhiokalani's cancer, at a rate of $6,000 per week, Hart said. She said she did not have bills or receipts available for those treatments.
Meet the Leaders:
read ... Setting the Tone for Agriculture
Stalled remedies vex DHHL homestead residents
SA: Denise Kaaa's Oahu home, which she bought new 13 years ago, has flooded so many times since then that she stopped counting. Mold and cracks along interior walls and other surfaces of her three-bedroom structure are visible. And a bottom-floor addition built a decade ago has been rendered useless because of water damage, according to Kaaa.
Harold Vidinha and his wife, Wendy, have pulled so many pieces of glass from their Kauai yard that they no longer bother to remove other shards newly exposed during heavy rain. They've also found metal debris and chunks of tar popping through the dirt, detracting from the new home they moved into three years ago.
Even though the Kaaas and the Vidinhas live on separate islands, they have one key thing in common: Their leasehold dwellings sit on property owned by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
read ... DHHL
Tourism agency taking too long to fix deficiencies
SA: A critical state audit renews troubling questions about the Hawaii Tourism Authority's stewardship of taxpayers' money. While we appreciate HTA President and CEO Mike McCartney's assurances that progress is being made on the report's key findings, the fact that similar problems were identified in previous state audits signals that greater urgency and accountability is needed.
The vice chairman of the state Senate's tourism committee predicts that a public legislative hearing is likely, given the audit's findings. That prospect is welcome, as such a forum would supply a much-needed opportunity for greater scrutiny of an agency that receives an average annual appropriation of $140.5 million in public funds. The HTA's mission is to bolster Hawaii's $14.4 billion visitor industry — which accounts for nearly 20 percent of the state's economy — a vital undertaking to which the highest public-policy standards must apply.
State tourism marketing would clearly benefit from improved plans, reporting and oversight, the audit asserts, finding that the HTA's "incohesive, self-described ‘marketing plan' and poor reporting on measures of effectiveness impede transparency."
The audit is pointed in its conclusion that HTA's leadership "mistakenly believes" that the agency's Brand Sustainability and Execution Plan satisfies statutory requirements for a tourism marketing plan "aimed at holding the authority accountable for the $58.9 million in taxpayer funds it spent in 2012."
Background: Auditor: HTA Does Not Hold Contractors Accountable
read ... Tourism agency taking too long to fix deficiencies
Clouds over Hawaii's rooftop solar growth hint at U.S. battle
R: What's happening in Hawaii is a sign of battles to come in the rest of the United States, solar industry and electric utility executives said. The conflict is the latest variation on what was a controversial issue this year in top solar markets California and Arizona. It was a hot topic at a solar industry conference last week: how to foster the growth of rooftop solar power while easing the concerns of regulated utilities that see its rise as a threat....
Since the Oahu rule went into effect three months ago, it has hurt business and "deflated the movement," Wang said. The rule led to a 50 percent drop in business in this quarter at many solar installers, according to interviews with many in Hawaii's solar industry.
Residential rooftop solar permits on Oahu are being issued at about half the rate they were just a few months ago, according to the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting.
That slide is an about-face for a state accustomed to more than doubling its solar installations every year since 2010. Hawaii's percentage of homes with rooftop solar systems far surpasses that in any other state....
By year end, nearly 10 percent of Hawaiian Electric customers will generate their own electricity with solar panels, the utility said. That is far above the 1.4 percent of households in California, which has more solar installed than any other U.S. state.
At those levels, about a quarter of Hawaiian Electric's neighborhood electricity circuits have reached a threshold that is dangerous to surpass without investing in upgrades to the distribution system. Customers who want to install solar in those areas now need to wait for safety and reliability studies to be performed. They ultimately would be required to pay for any upgrades needed to allow more solar.
read ... Reuters Analysis
See What Gifts Honolulu City Agencies Got This Year
CB: The Urban Land Institute gave $49,825 to the Office of the Mayor in September, for Caldwell’s participation in the Rose Center for Public Leadership Program, attending seven meetings and study visits throughout 2013 and 2014
read ... Gifts
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