VIDEO: Hawaii AG Serves DHHL Eviction Notice to former Hanabusa Crony on H1 Freeway
HSDC Tries To Justify Hi Tech Self-Dealing
VIDEO: GOP Lt Governor Candidates Debate
Ocean Patch Claims Are 99.5% Garbage
HART: $250M in Cost Overruns Coming
CB: The Board of Directors for Honolulu’s $5.2 billion rail project approved an additional $6 million for two city contracts Thursday. But they didn’t do so easily, grilling city project managers and contractors about the necessity of spending more taxpayer money.
The scrutiny over the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s spending will likely only increase in coming months with rail officials estimating that costs associated with project delays could reach $250 million. That includes money paid to contractors to remain idle while the project was tied up in legal challenges....
For now, cost increases, including about $120 million in delay costs that have already been approved, haven’t raised the overall $5.2 billion rail price tag. The costs are covered by built-in contingency funds or absorbed elsewhere in the budget.
But HART CEO Dan Grabauskas told Civil Beat after Thursday’s monthly board meeting in downtown Honolulu that it wasn’t clear at this time whether the project will ultimately stay within budget in the long run.
SA: Rail board agrees to $6 million in added costs
read ... HART Board Approves $6 million in Added Rail Costs
HART Six Figure Rail Real Estate Salaries 'Startling'
HNN: Some startling salary figures were presented to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) Board today. Some contract employees will make six figures for less than six months of work.
Paragon Partners of Southern California is a right of way real estate consulting company. It was already awarded a $3 million contract in March 2012. Now it will get another $3.3 million to work faster.
The company will bring in 12 more contract employees to acquire 159 properties along the rail route by the end of the year. For the five and a half months of work the property manager position will make $165,000 plus $55,000 for incidental expenses. Up to five relocation agents will split $750,508 which on average will be $150,000 each. Up to four acquisition agents split $427,754 and averaged out will earn $106,000 each. The employees will also get money for rent, meals, cars, travel expenses and more which adds up to $515,700.
"The numbers are striking. They're startling not just to myself but to the other board members," said Ivan Lui-Kwan, HART Board Chair, who says it feels like Hart is being taken advantage of.
Hart blames the lawsuits (but nobody is fooled by this).
read ... Ca-Ching
OHA election really matters
SA: That investigation included the recent statewide series of hearings that drew emotional testimony, much of it from community members who opposed the "nation within a nation" model of sovereignty that the DOI could help enable. They said that this would foreclose on their prospects for winning an independent status for a restored Hawaiian nation.
OHA's official position, however, favors Interior's proposal to craft a rule re-establishing "a government-to-government relation- ship between the United States and the Native Hawaiian community." That, according to the written testimony, "is the most viable action that could be taken to protect and expand existing trust assets, federal programmatic funding, federal consultation rights and other self-determination rights under federal law."
OHA certainly can't speak for all Hawaiians, but it's hard to deny that the office holds a powerful microphone and a significant share of influence. A position has been taken, but depending on the makeup of the next board, its statement could change.
However voters come down on this issue, they ought to recognize that the platforms of the candidates run the gamut, especially among the 16 hopefuls vying for one of three at-large seats. The roster includes advocates for every position: restoration of the kingdom, securing federal recognition — or no special status for Native Hawaiians at all. Voters owe it to themselves to sift through all the rhetoric and find out where the candidates stand.
read ... OHA election really matters
Seniority--Hawaii's Cargo Cult
Borreca: Hawaii has had an almost cargo-cult worship of the ability of our federal representatives to bestow federal grants, subsidies and projects on the islands....
How important is it to have your U.S. senator squirreled away for decades and decades in Washington?
Apparently, not as much as it used to be. There is much more churn in the Senate. For instance, Schatz is ranked 84th in seniority because he was sworn in on Dec. 27, 2012. Mazie Hirono was sworn into the Senate on Jan. 3, 2013, and she is ranked 90th.
Reality: Seniority? Hawaii is better off without it
read ... Cargo Cult
Schatz, Hanabusa Agree: Neither Has Accomplished Anything in Congress
SA: U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz on Thursday night tried to undercut U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa's main political strength -- her legislative experience -- by claiming that she often talks about her record in the state Senate because she has not been very active in Congress. Hanabusa countered by suggesting that Schatz has embellished his record in the Senate.
read ... Nobodies Doing Nothing
Abercrombie Budget Axe Whacks 70 Jobs at UH
HNN: Chancellor Tom Apple said 50 to 70 positions will go unfilled this year as the university looks to reduce spending by $10 million.... Bob Cooney, an associate professor in the Office of Public Health Studies, said students in heavily impacted departments will be hurt most by the freeze as student-teacher ratios rise....
According to Apple, the state reduced funding to the UH by about $75 million in recent years and money from the state tobacco settlement has dropped by about $5 million a year.
Another big problem: the UH Cancer Center. Apple said the center has been operating a $10 million a year deficit and that deficit could grow....
"The money to support the Cancer Center is coming out of undergraduate tuition and yeah, (students) are paying for the mistakes others have made," said Cooney.
Remember This? Abercrombie Rewards UHPA's Campaign Support with $32M -- 'Unprecedented' Early Contract
read ... Abercrombie Budget Axe
Hawaii Co Pushback Against Property Tax Hike
HTH: Hawaii County is hearing mixed reviews from its effort to crack down on property owners suspected of abusing the agricultural tax break, according to the real property tax division chief.
Following an aerial analysis, the county sent 577 letters in early June asking tax break recipients to reapply for the exemption if there was no sign of farming on their land.
read ... Ag tax break review gets mixed reaction
Abercrombie: Sea Level Rise "isn't going to happen"
IM: Governor Neil Abercrombie spoke on the difference between environmentalists who are seeking to find ways to limit greenhouse gas emissions and conservationists who are accepting of the climate change reality and who are working on mitigation.
“There is emerging a differentiation between environmentalism and conservation. Conservationists and environmentalists are not necessarily speaking the same language.
And I think that this needs to be addressed.
I believe there is an element of ideological fervor that is coming into the discussion that takes place. And we have to be very, very careful I think that we don’t form a version of a left wing Tea Party.”
By the end of this century many coastal areas and low-lying areas, including most of Waikiki and Kailua are expected to be underwater. Many people believe that there needs to be greater coastal set-backs for proposed construction projects.
Governor Abercrombie disagreed.
“What about the oceans rising”? I don’t want to read any more letters to the editor saying, ‘Let’s move everything back a mile.’ Right?
I mean, please, that isn’t going to happen. You’ve got beach front property still for sale. Okay. I’m not going to go down there … and say no you can’t do it.”
read ... Governor Abercrombie spoke to conservationists about climate change
There’s Something Better Than Dreams of Silicon Hawaii?
SA: Allocating startup money can be controversial, and it raises a lot of questions. Why try to resemble something we’re not? Why replicate the blandness and frivolous non-innovation of the monoculture in Silicon Valley, especially in a place like Hawaii where diversity and nuance are everywhere? Why strive for maximized cash flow if it calls for a corresponding reduction in kuleana?
Moreover, why isn’t Forbes asking the most essential question of all: What makes every tech community valuable in its own right, for its own community?
“Leaders and policymakers do the public a disservice by exalting Silicon Valley as the ultimate goal, then asking entrepreneurs to pursue the same path of the Bay Area’s high-growth, high-tech startups,” Ross Baird of Village Capital writes. “Silicon Valley-style companies create a ton of wealth, but they rarely create jobs at a meaningful scale.”
Instagram, for example, which was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion, employed only 12 people. Another startup, WhatsApp, acquired by Facebook for $19 billion, employed a whopping 55.
read ... There’s Something Better Than Dreams of Silicon Hawaii?
EMS workers unhappy with UPW's proposed 12-to-12 shift change
KHON: EMS workers KHON2 spoke with say they would love to switch to 12-hour shifts, because it would cut down on having to work back-to-back eight-hour shifts. They say it happens three to four times a week because EMS is so understaffed.
But many have families or are single parents, so they say working 12-to-12 would be extremely difficult.
“With those shifts, you’re either starting at midnight or getting off at midnight, which means you’re dropping your children off to someone at midnight or picking them up at midnight, so it’s very difficult for families,” said the worker.
The proposal also includes taking away seniority when it comes to picking your ambulance unit and letting supervisors pick first, “so someone with 20-year seniority is going to let a supervisor with eight-year seniority have the first choice over him,” the worker said.
The proposals were put together by a committee and KHON2 was told a majority of them are supervisors.
Workers have gone to their union, United Public Workers, to complain but say they’ve been ignored.
KHON2 has been trying to get a hold of UPW state director Dayton Nakanelua all week.
read ... EMS workers unhappy with proposed 12-to-12 shift change
Honolulu City Council to discuss extending Criminal background checks
KHON: Should a background check show someone’s entire criminal past?
The question is being raised after two young women say they were sexually assaulted by a cab driver.
The company that previously contracted the driver did a background check on him, but the company’s owner told us it only went back two years.
Another cab company asked KHON2 via Report It to see if something can be done.
In 2007, Charley’s Taxi CEO Dale Evans says she reached out to the city hoping to extend the current background check. Her goal was to let it show a person’s whole criminal past.
2011: Hawaii Restricts Employers Right to Investigate Criminal Background of Applicants
read ... Criminal Records Needed
Pivot: Obama picks non-pilot to head Air Force in Pacific
WT: Gen. Lori Robinson was nominated amid a diversity push by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and a general focus on women’s issues by the White House. Mr. Hagel has vowed to stamp out sexual assaults in the military and said he is open to studying whether transgender people are permitted to serve.
read ... Diversity
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