Telescope Crackdown: Arrests on Mauna Kea, Haleakala
Hawaii Dodges $500M Bullet as Billionaire Movie Mogul Declares Bankruptcy
Hawaii Family Forum: Let's Unite to Defund Planned Parenthood
Auditor: Lack of Procurement Controls Exposes Health Department to Waste and Abuse
First Day Back at School--Parents Greeted by Letter from Matayoshi
HTA: Visitor Arrivals, Spending Up in First Half of 2015
Senators Try to Separate Jones Act, Oil Export Ban
Study Suggest ‘Regressive’ Gas Tax Hike for Hawaii
9th Circuit Rejects Hawaii Jones Act Suit
Martin vs Caldwell: Politicians Harness their Chariots to The Homeless
ILInd: ...the issues raised by homelessness in Honolulu may be providing the first skirmishes in upcoming elections in 2016 and 2018.
Gov. Ige announces his “Leadership Team” to address the issue of the homeless this week (from the political point of view, I think it’s the homeless, rather than the condition of homelessness, that is seen as front and center). And within days, there were immediate public rifts between its members.
The governor said he did not intend to immediately clear the homeless encampment in Kakaako, saying the underlying issues have to be better understood.
According to Hawaii News Now:
According to Ige, there is no firm commitment to a specific deadline for removing the homeless people who are living there. The governor said aggressive enforcement without anywhere for people to go simply displaces them into other communities and doesn’t make sense until officials have a place to move the homeless to — including a temporary “safe zone” site or transitional and permanent housing.
Just one day after the governor’s press conference, the city came up with its own contradictory announcement.
No buildings or land have been found to accommodate people who will be removed from an expanding homeless encampment in Kakaako, but the city still plans to start clearing out occupants sometime next month, Managing Director Roy Amemiya told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in an exclusive interview Tuesday.
And the same day, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced that the city had dropped a plan to purchase the Hilo Hattie store in Honolulu for use as a transitional housing center.
As KITV reported:
Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration announced Tuesday it’s no longer pursuing the purchase of the Hilo Hattie store on Nimitz Highway as a transitional shelter for the homeless.
And then, a couple of days later, Council Chair Ernie Martin was calling out the mayor for having “thrown in the towel.”
According to Hawaii News Now:
Honolulu city council chairman Ernie Martin is clear he and other members of the council are not happy.
“I think the council’s perspective given the Mayor has thrown in the towel we will be working directly with the Governor to seek his leadership as to whether he’d be willing to get involved,” said Martin.
There have been rumors that Caldwell might use his base as mayor to launch a challenge to Gov. Ige’s reelection in 2018. But could Martin be looking to try to derail Caldwell’s own reelection next year?
SA: Police arrest juvenile suspect in Kakaako attack on Brower (Another politician's homeless media circus.)
read ... Leadership Already Divided
Ernie Martin Asks Ige to Build Giant Flop House in Middle of Nimitz Hwy for all Tourists to See
HNN: Honolulu city council chairman Ernie Martin is clear he and other members of the council are not happy.
"I think the council's perspective given the Mayor has thrown in the towel we will be working directly with the Governor to seek his leadership as to whether he'd be willing to get involved," said Martin.
On Tuesday the Caldwell administration announced its decision not to bid on the Hilo Hattie property. In May a pair of city council members floated the idea of making the retail space on Nimitz Highway a transitional housing facility with support services on site....
Really Obvious Question: How Much has the Owner of the Hilo Hattie Site Contributed to Ernie Martin's Campaign?
read ... Bums on Display
Martin Hires Kenoi Operative to Coordinate Homelessness
HNN: ...Peter Boylan starts his new job next month and will report to Honolulu Council Chairman, Ernie Martin.
Boylan most recently worked as an aide to Big Island Mayor, Billy Kenoi and served as spokesmen for Colleen Hanabusa's 2014 senatorial campaign.
He was also a member of the late Senator Daniel Inouye's staff....
read ... Homeless Kenoi Operative
New shelter rules would be less strict
SA: The city is taking a new, more lenient approach to encourage homeless people to leave the streets and move into temporary and long-term housing projects that will open over the next several months.
None of the more than $20 million worth of projects -- in areas from Makiki to the Leeward Coast -- will be ready when the city starts clearing the first of an estimated 300 homeless people out of an expanding Kakaako homeless encampment next month. Only one -- the 87-bed Hale Mauliola "modular container" project on Sand Island Access Road -- is scheduled to open this year, sometime in the fall.
But when they do open, most of the new shelters will take in pets, allow people to stay indoors during the day, give them a place to secure their belongings and offer security and on-site social services, said Sandy Pfund, head of the city's new Office of Strategic Development....
City Councilwoman Kymberly Pine applauds the city's effort to build and buy new temporary and long-term housing that will address many of the issues that keep homeless people out of shelters.
In particular, Pine said, homeless people need to be able to lock up their possessions "so they can go out and look for a job -- or go get mental health treatment," she said. "These are their life possessions. And there has to be security. Having a place that's secure and safe will encourage people to move there and get the help that they need."
Planned shelter locations:
» Hale Mauliola, Sand Island Access Road: 87 beds, including 39 individual and 24 couple units in a total of 25 modular structures. Cost is approximately $500,000 for residential container module and site prep. The state is providing the land to the city for three years rent-free. Estimated completion: fall 2015.
» Waianae modular project, 86-537 Halona Road: $350,000 including site prep and purchase of modules. Container/module bid is still pending, therefore the exact cost is uncertain. Approximately 12 beds in three units for families. Estimated completion: first quarter of 2016.
» Two locations in Waianae on land owned by Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp.: Cost is estimated at $1 million to construct 12 modular units and hook them up to utilities. Approximately 50 beds for families. Estimated completion: first quarter of 2016.
» Unspecified 1-acre location on Leeward Coast: $1.25 million, including site work for 100 beds in 16 modules. Estimated completion: first quarter of 2016.
» Various unspecified areas in Makiki: Estimated $7 million, no contract yet. One site has been identified that could hold 125 beds if done dorm style, or fewer if converted to individual units. Estimated opening: first quarter 2016.
» Iwilei property, 431 Kuwili Street: $6.35 million to purchase plus $1 million for renovations, for 150-188 beds in 134 units. Estimated completion: second quarter of 2016.
» Winston Hale, River Street, Chinatown: $1.7 million for the repairs to existing units plus $800,000 to create an additional nine micro-units in the current commercial spaces. Would result in single units with 35 new beds. Estimated completion: first quarter of 2016.
» Halewaiolu senior housing, River Street, Chinatown: No cost to the city, resulting in 225 beds in 150 affordable senior rental units. The city will enter a 65-year ground lease for nominal rent in return for planning, design, construction and financing of the building by the developer. The investment by Michaels Development and estimated construction cost is about $48 million. Estimated completion: 2018....
DN: Trump and Brower as policy experts?
read ... New shelter rules would be less strict
“And I don’t consume marijuana!”
KE: ...It's been kind of a goofy, crazy month here in the Islands.
First we had a wacky, error-ridden LeMonde article by hack writer Corine Lesnes, who described a nonexistent "agrochemicals factory" in Waimea before interviewing Klayton Kubo on biotech:
“I have no qualifications. I don’t speak like their engineers," he says. "But I do know that they’re spreading massive quantities of poison.” The activist raises his black glasses to show his reddened eyes. “And I don’t consume marijuana!” he says....
The reporter does offer a pretty good assessment of who is behind the anti-GMO movement:
From Kauai to Molokai and Maui, complaints have multiplied at the initiative of a small group of farmers, organic retailers, educators, “Moms against GMOs,” and Europeans who came to this natural paradise to establish their yoga and meditation centers.
Don't forget the high-end Realtors slathering over that vacant westside land....
Meanwhile, their colleagues, the chem trail conspirators, are gearing up. Alarmingly, their ranks include Dr. Lorrin Pang, the state health officer for Maui County, as captured in this eye-popping video. Though Pang was giving an anti-GMO talk, the topic drifted to chem trails, with Pang paranoiacally speaking of tapped phones and how when “they catch wind of you monitoring, they spray the seawater” to cover their tracks....
...you'll be relieved to learn that, according to Pang, “they” are using chem trails to “cool the Earth” and not for “mind control.”
Actually, it's not needed for that purpose, which has already been achieved through social media....
read ... Musings: Funnies and Follies
Hi Tech Tax Credits Being Given Away to Lo Tech Companies
CB: Hawaii’s High Tech Development Corporation helps companies with products as diverse as taro chips and T-shirts....
HTDC points to $30 million in tech-related appropriations in 2015.
While the $30 million includes a wide range of related programs and initiatives that aren’t solely aimed at tech startups, including infrastructure improvements and the high-profile goal for the state to be 100 percent renewable energy by 2045, there are a few bright spots for local companies interested in applying technology. Whether or not they are tech companies themselves is irrelevant....
That net is cast wide, with HTDC’s programs benefiting businesses in food, fashion and film, three industries that rarely pop to mind when you think of high-tech....
recent local winners of Small Business Innovation Research grants, which are managed locally by HTDC, include Hawaiian Chip and Kampachi Farms. Additional winners include more traditional tech firms Spectrum Photonics, Hawaii Biotech and the familiar Oceanit.... (Your campaign contributions at work.)
Most of the announced funding, $25 million, is earmarked for development of a broadband cable landing site in the hopes of attracting more trans-Pacific cables to land in Hawaii....
read ... Corporate Welfare
Many Residents Are Leaving High-Priced Honolulu
CB: Like the state, the capital’s population is increasing, but that doesn’t mean the high cost of living isn’t driving lots of people out.
read ... Leaving
Law Suit Against Kauai PD to proceed
KGI: ...The case stems from an incident that occurred on Christmas Eve 2008, when Kauai resident Alison Sanchez’s son was in a car accident on Olohena Road in Kapaa. Sanchez went to the scene to find out what happened but when she got there, she was told by the officers to stay back.
Sanchez was “all frantic because she wants to see what happened to her son,” Harrison said, explaining why his client disobeyed the officer’s orders to stay back from the wrecked vehicle.
According to court documents, Sanchez said the officers then twisted her arm behind her and handcuffed her.
She was then put in the back of the police car but was not buckled up, and during the drive to the police station she was banged around in the back seat, injuring her shoulder, her attorney said.
“That’s not how you treat someone in this situation,” Harrison said.
As it turns out, her son was not severely injured in the crash but he was transported to the hospital before Sanchez arrived on the scene.
She was charged with a criminal offense for refusing to comply with a police officer, but the charges against her were later dropped.
read ... Lawsuit
Former Hawaii County PD Sergeant Quits, Case Plead Down to Disorderly Conduct
WHT: ...The former police sergeant who allegedly injured and threatened family members has seen much of his case dropped.
Marvin Troutman, 62, was the sergeant for the District II Traffic and was charged with abuse of a family member, two counts of terroristic threatening II and terroristic threatening I after an incident at 1:50 a.m. on Jan. 29.
He allegedly pulled the hair of a 55-year-old woman and threatened her and an 18-year-old man.
Troutman had been charged with threatening Officer Jonathan Bartsch when he arrived at the scene. This charge was dropped by prosecution after a grand jury did not find enough evidence to charge Troutman.
After the incident he was placed on administrative leave, police said. He is no longer employed by the department, said Chris Loos, public relations specialist for the department. She directed further questions to Assistant Chief Marshall Kanehailua in the Administrative Bureau, who did not return a call for comment.
Attempts to reach Police Chief Harry S. Kubojiri were unsuccessful.
The plea agreement created a charge of disorderly conduct, to which he pleaded guilty....
SA: HPD’s failure unacceptable
read ... Dismissed
Anti-Semites, Maoists Harass Takai, Demand Nukes be Given to Iran
CB: Code Pink is urging supporters to contact the offices of 13 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives heading to Israel next week.
Why? To tell them to support the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel strongly opposes.
Those lawmakers include Mark Takai of Hawaii.
Code Pink, known for its vocal disruptions of congressional hearings, seeks to “end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs,” according to its website....
Reality: Onetime Antiwar, Environmental Protester Veers Into the Seamy World of Anti-Semitism
read ... Arm the Muslims, We can trust them with nukes
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