Hurricane Olivia Aims Directly at Maui
Hawaii Happiest--and Most Sleepless State in USA
Climate Change: More Fuel Tax Hikes, Fewer Lanes, More Homeless on Streets
IM: …Kirk Caldwell, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu addressed the crowd. “Things are out of whack and it`s because of climate change.” The Mayor discussed plans to expand biki, build rail, and plant thousands of new trees. “I`ve tried twice to raise the gas tax.”
Caldwell then discussed the latest planned bike route. “When we do our next bike lane when we go down Bishop Street. I was over there this morning...two top city executives in the city and county of Honolulu came down and told me, theyʻre gathering signatures, they`re organizing to stop it. I need your folks to help this make sure it happens.”
The Mayor added, “When there are these letters to the editor saying why we should not take away a lane from cars because they have a right to run over bicyclists, (This is the kind of paranoid conspiracy crap these religious fanatics are spreading around to the gullible faithful) you stand up and write a letter to the editor saying no, we need to live differently on this small island.”
One audience member wondered how the Mayor could sweep away the houseless while complaining about callus attitudes….
Maya Parish representing Malama Hamakua discussed the proposed Hu Honua Bioenergy facility.
“It`s a fake renewable energy incinerator style power plant that`s currently under construction on the gorgeous Hamakua Coast of Hawaii Island which is my home. It plans to clear-cut five acres of trees per day, truck them up and down the coast to the plant, which is 30 truckloads of trees per day and burn them for 21 megawatts of electricity. Hu Honua is set to open January 2019.
Parish noted that there are several obstacles ahead for the proposed facility: “Life of the Land has filed a lawsuit against them. Itʻs the first lawsuit about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions in Hawaii.”
“A lawsuit against Hu Honua by a private citizen has also been filed."
The State Department of Health (DOH) tentatively proposes to issue a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to discharge storm water associated with industrial activities from the Hu Honua Bioenergy, LLC facility, to receiving State waters. The Department of Health opened a thirty-day comment period starting on September 6, 2018. (Public Notices for NPDES Permits and Section 401 WQCs) Comments may be e-mailed to cleanwaterbranch@doh.hawaii.gov r sent by mail to P. O. BOX 3378, Honolulu, HI 96801 3378….
CB: Wood-Burning Power Plant? That’s So 19th Century
read … Honolulu Climate Rally Pushes For Faster Change
“We were Punatics. But we were also Adults”
CB:Assuming the Kilauea volcano does nothing unexpected, Puna’s one remaining shelter for lava evacuees, in Pahoa, is scheduled to close Sept. 17.
When it does, it will have been open 138 days — the longest that an evacuation shelter has been in continuous operation in the history of Hawaii, according to County Managing Director Will Okabe. When it opened May 3, it immediately became temporary housing for 570 people. Last week, that number had dwindled to about 45….
“They didn’t understand how we already knew how to live off the grid,” mused evacuee Corey Hale. “They could be learning from us. They knew a lot less about living rough than we did.” … (Wow. Just wow.)
for many evacuees, the shelters were actually campsites. They erected tents in the parking lot or slept in their cars.
Hale, who is 54, disabled, and walks with a cane, was among them. She camped in the Pahoa shelter parking lot for three months, sleeping in her van at first, then within a motley collection of tarps….
“It became very paternalistic,” she said. “They presented as being very entitled to our respect. There was a hierarchy that they expected to be adhered to. But we were Punatics. We were also adults.”
The new management issued different colored armbands, for instance, to the parking lot campers and the evacuees living inside. The outsiders could come into the building for services, but only if they wore their armbands. One day, Hale forgot hers when she went inside to ask for a pillow. She’d been there a month, she said, and the workers should have known her. But one refused to help her until she hobbled back to her car for the armband.
“He actually patted me on the cheek and said, ‘See? I knew you could do it.’”…
Another challenge that several evacuees mentioned was crime
“There’s no way to lock up anything,” said April Buxton, in an online video. “They come in and swipe somebody’s iPad while they’re sleeping, taking their car keys, opening up their cars, taking cash out of glove boxes … the cops come, they leave. Nothing gets done.”
The parks and rec department quadrupled the security officers on site, from two to eight.
“For about a couple of months there, parks and rec people were on site 24 hours a day, along with security,” said Waltjen. “Wherever we became aware of a crime, police were notified.”
The strategy seems to have helped. Police logs do show a steady stream of reports from the Pahoa shelter. But in later months, the reports were increasingly about trespassing and less about thefts. (Translation: They were picked clean.)…
The lava shelter building did not qualify as a hurricane shelter. Had wind hit as well as rain, the evacuees would have had to move. As it was, those in the parking lot were forced to move into the building until the downpour ended….
Hale’s leaving, too, for the mainland, where she plans to continue her nomadic existence, at least for a while….
CB: How to get many more drug addicts on the streets
SA: Pahoa shelter closes leaving legacy of help, complaints
read … The Lessons Learned In Puna As Lava Shelters Shut Down
Usual Suspects: Don’t Build New Prison, Lets Release Lots and Lots of Prisoners Instead
CB: …For the past year, the task force has been studying alternatives to jailing more people and ways to reduce the need for a larger facility.
The group’s interim report issued a year ago said its most important recommendation was for Hawaii to “transition from a punitive to a rehabilitative, restorative and therapeutic correctional model.”
(Translation: Let the criminals back out on the streets.)
Members have discussed ideas like replacing cells with onsite drug treatment programs and counselors, better vocational programs, direct mental health treatment — anything to keep the cost of criminal justice lower while keeping the public safe….
(Translation: Let the criminals back out on the streets.)
“Bail reform would significantly reduce the pretrial population at OCCC and all community correctional centers in Hawaii,” said Carrie Ann Shirota, who leads the Hawaii Justice Coalition. …
(Translation: Let the criminals back out on the streets.)
Bail reform is actually being examined by a second task force headed by Circuit Court Judge Rom Trader. (Translation: They had to form a group without all the woolly-headed dreamers so they could come up with some real ideas.) The HCR 134 Task Force is also finishing its final report for the Legislature that zeroes in on pre-trial procedures so the courts can better manage caseloads.
Trader declined to comment specifically on the final report, which will also be sent to lawmakers in December. But he indicated there would be few surprises, meaning a recommendation for a radical departure from the current bail bond system is unlikely.
read … Why Gov. Ige’s Plan For A New Oahu Jail May Be Premature
Caldwell: Raise DMV Fees, Create more ‘Positions’—and Blame the Public
SA: …her department is considering requiring those who sign up for an appointment to put down a deposit fee, possibly $6, she said….
(Skip multiple paragraphs blaming the public for DMV incompetence.)
Council members, frustrated by an ever-growing number of constituent complaints about long lines, have introduced two resolutions and are urging Mayor Kirk Caldwell to take whatever steps possible to alleviate the problem.
>> Resolution 18-150, introduced by Councilman Brandon Elefante, calls on Kajiwara’s department to fill existing staff vacancies, offer additional driver’s license appointments and provide more locations for state identification services.
>> Resolution 18-174, introduced by Councilman Trevor Ozawa, urges the administration to do something about long lines and address “other frustrations” faced by Oahu residents seeking to renew their driver’s licenses at satellite city halls…..
SA: Don’t blame drivers for DMV problems
read … More Fee Hikes
New online tool tracks nearly $400 million in Hawaii IT-related project funds
CB: …In a few clicks, the award-winning dashboard shows project timelines, financial overviews and project statuses of nearly half a billion dollars of IT projects across 16 departments in the executive branch. It even outlines delayed projects and is upfront about reasons for setbacks.
So far data from the tool enabled the state of Hawaii to significantly lower the bill for common software critical to the government’s function. Such was the case when Nacapuy’s office, the Office of Enterprise Technology Services, reduced the state executive branch’s Adobe Acrobat Pro software expenditures from $2 million to $475,000….
read … Tracks
Navy plan for Red Hill tanks
SA: …It would involve coating the lower domes of the tanks to prevent corrosion — something that is already current practice for Red Hill tank repairs — and coating tank nozzles. The Navy would also fund an upgrade to its leak detection system and consider applying an experimental epoxy coating to one of the tanks.
The Navy’s choice for improving its tanks, which were hastily built in the 1940s, must be approved by the EPA and state Health Department, but it’s already alarming advocates who want more stringent protections of the area’s groundwater.
Applying a protective coat is estimated to cost $10 million to $25 million per tank, whereas a double wall to protect against leaks could cost between $100 million to $250 million per tank, according to Navy estimates….
read … Navy plan for Red Hill tanks in question
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