Teachers Union: Push Sovereignty Movement in Classrooms
House Democrats Announce Committee Chairs
Public meetings scheduled for Oahu Climate Action Plan
More Traffic Jams -- Oahu Bike Plan update to be announced at public meeting
Does Your State Have a Marriage Penalty?
Premature Birth--Hawaii Grade 'D'
EPA requires closures of 10 illegal cesspools in Hawaii in 2018
Hirono to Telescope Protester: ‘The Court has Ruled’
FB: … I was appreciative that she answered my questions and was open to hearing my perspective on these heavy issues. I commended and thanked her on her bravery dealing with the Kavanaugh issue. But here is how our Mauna Kea discussion went.
When Mauna Kea was brought up her ano changed and she stated the court ruled and therefore consequences will have to be dealt with. I reminded her that many “Native Hawaiians” are against TMT. She stated that there are “Native Hawaiians” who support the TMT.
There was a long silence my heart was heavy.
I informed her that there is a petition with 69,000 signatures against the TMT and there was a petition that was for TMT that had only 2,000 signature (however this was in correct it’s actually 7,000 signatures - I’ll inform her office of this error). She asked if there could be compromise that included the building of TMT - I shared I didn’t see that happening….
read … Hirono on TMT
News Flash: So-called ‘Monster house’ Really Two Houses built on Land Zoned for Apartment Building---Rampaging Mob of Star-Advertiser Editors Continues to Demand Demolition
SA: …The company that built nearly an entire two-story, two-family house in Kapahulu without a valid building permit — and then later while under a stop-work order — finally got its permit from the city last month and is now undergoing inspections by the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting.
The permit could render moot Resolution 18-212, a measure moving through the Honolulu City Council that urges DPP to immediately “serve an order” to those responsible for the structure to demolish it.
Technically, the building is no longer an unpermitted structure, DPP Acting Director Kathy Sokugawa told the Council Zoning and Housing Committee on Oct. 18.
The 2930 Date St. site has become a symbol for department critics who argue the agency has been ineffective in enforcing building and land-use laws while, at the same time, has been slow to meet the demand for permits by builders and architects during an islandwide housing crisis….
But … The 2930 Date St. property is in the apartment zone, which allows for larger buildings, so it technically is not a monster house…..
(Translation: This issue is 100% fake.)
SA Editorial: Rein in builders who ignore laws
read … ‘Monster house’ builder obtains permit for Date Street property
After a two-year dry spell, Hawaii once again has a lone Republican in the state Senate
HNN: … The Republican win in the longtime Democratic district marked an important shift for Hawaii’s GOP.
Fevella says he’s ready to be the only conservative state senator in the islands….
“I work well with my counterparts that’s going to be up at the Capitol. I’ve worked with them on other projects before as a volunteer,” said Fevella. “But now I’m going to be one of the senators to sit at the table and work with them and get things done for Ewa Beach.”
Fevella says he fought hard for a seat in the Senate and is excited to get to work. He plans to focus on schools and aging infrastructure. He also told HNN he’s willing to reach across the aisle if it’s what’s best for the community.
“The fact that he’ll be working with 24 democrats. I think it will be a great way for democrats to reach across the aisle too,” said the President of Hawaii Tourism and Lodging Association Mufi Hannemann.
In Mililani, political newcomer Val Okimoto’s victory enabled Republicans in the state House to maintain their five-member causus.
Polictical analyst Colin Moore say Tuesday night’s wins are an opportunity for the GOP to build momentum going forward.
“I think that they need to continue to recruit good candidates,” said Moore. “Last night’s wins show that they do have a chance when they get quality candidates and they run disciplined campaigns.”
Moore added one of the Republican party’s biggest challenges is convincing qualified candidates to run for office if they think they’re going to lose….
read … After a two-year dry spell, Hawaii once again has a lone Republican in the state Senate
Fevella’s win gives Republicans a state Senate caucus of 1 (again)
SA: …Fevella’s narrow triumph Tuesday night over Democrat Matt LoPresti, who spent the past four years in the state House of Representatives, was one of the few victories for Hawaii’s Republican Party. Fevella’s election also ended Hawaii’s short reign as the only state with an entirely Democratic Senate.
In the state House, Republicans were able to maintain a total of five seats out of 51, with incumbents Bob McDermott, Cynthia Thielen, Lauren Matsumoto and Gene Ward winning re-election. Newcomer Val Okimoto beat Democratic opponent Marilyn Lee to fill the open seat representing Mililani and Waipio Acres.
Fevella doesn’t have experience in the Legislature, but spent more than a decade on the Ewa Neighborhood Board and has a long track record of civic engagement. He’s fought for improvements to public schools and parks, and said he wants to continue this advocacy in the Legislature.
He said his top priorities are securing funding to improve the cafeteria at Ilima Intermediate School and supporting the creation of a girls athletic locker room at James Campbell High School, noting that it’s an issue of gender equality. The high school, which opened in the 1960s, has never had a girls locker room. The boys have a locker room.
Fevella said that he wants to serve on every Senate committee he can, and he’s not worried about being the only Republican.
“I don’t feel that because I’m a Republican, I’m alone,” he said. “I think we are an ohana here in Hawaii and in the state Capitol and I want to take it as that, as we’re one big family. At the end of the day, we can agree to disagree, but at the end of the day, we’re still family.”….
“The Democratic monopoly and majority, they take over and they help you, but they also exact a price for that. The price is that they want you to vote the way they do and they really stifle independent thought,” said Slom. “That is why the last two years, there was hardly any public debate on major issues and major cost items.”…
read … Fevella’s win gives Republicans a state Senate caucus of 1
LoPresti Refusing to Concede?
AP: …Rep. Cynthia Thielen, who was re-elected to represent Kailua, said she was encouraged by the outcome. She said it was difficult because Republicans had to fight the impression many voters had that the election was over after the August primary, when the Democratic Party held heated contests for their governor and U.S. House candidates.
She said the Republican Party's goal was to encourage voters to cast ballots in the general election so Hawaii will have a vocal minority opposition in the Legislature.
"Otherwise everything is decided behind closed doors in Democratic caucuses. We know that. As Republicans, our responsibility has been to open up the government process so the public is aware of what is actually going on at the Capitol," Thielen said.
Republican Kurt Fevella was leading Democrat Matt LoPresti Wednesday for an open Senate seat representing Ewa Beach in west Oahu by a razor thin, too-close-to-call margin of 117 votes. Fevella had 6,204 votes to LoPresti's 6,087.
LoPresti didn't immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment on whether he would concede. Under Hawaii law, a candidate, qualified political party or 30 voters in a district have until Nov. 26 to request a recount.
His campaign may have been hurt by a video from a home security system that captured him stealing his primary election opponent's campaign literature from a resident's door. The video surfaced just days before the primary election, when early voting was already well underway.
Fevella has served as chairman of the Ewa Beach Neighborhood Board and co-founded a Lions Club. He said he hadn't heard from LoPresti but that it wasn't customary for candidates in state legislative races to call their opponents to concede.
LoPresti is a Hawaii Pacific University professor who has represented Ewa Beach in the state House. The two were competing for a seat that opened up when Sen. Will Espero mounted an unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.
Fevella said his priorities would be to secure funding for the cafeteria at Illima Intermediate School in his district. He also wants to get money to pay for girls' locker rooms at James Campbell High School. Girls' sports teams at the school don't have locker rooms.
In the House, Republican incumbents held on to four seats while political novice Val Okimoto defeated Marilyn Lee, a veteran former lawmaker, to represent Mililani.
House Minority Leader Andria Tupola didn't run for re-election because she was challenging Gov. David Ige for the state's highest office. The party's candidate to replace Tupola in a seat representing Nanakuli and Kalaeloa was disqualified because she wasn't an American citizen….
read … Republicans Hold Steady With 5 Seats in Hawaii State House
Tommy Waters not conceding to Trevor Ozawa in Honolulu City Council race
SA: Former state Rep. Tommy Waters declined Wednesday to concede the race for District 4 of the Honolulu City Council to incumbent Trevor Ozawa.
Final results released at 4:11 a.m. Wednesday showed Waters behind by 22 votes with 18,335 votes to Ozawa’s 18,357 votes. There were 2,908 ballots with the council race left blank.
Waters was spending time with his family and unavailable for comment Wednesday, his campaign said. But in a statement, he made no reference to conceding.
“With a race so close, we want to ensure the rights of every voter of Council District 4,” the statement said. “There are some open questions our residents have that we are looking into and with more information will be deciding next steps very soon.”
The result mirrors that of the previous race between the two in 2014, when Ozawa beat Waters by 41 votes.
Hawaii is not one of the 20 states that require a recount in close races, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. However, state law does allow for legal challenges of results based on a narrow set of criteria.
Following the 2014 election, Waters petitioned the Hawaii Supreme Court for a recount of the results. But justices declined to approve a recount, concluding that Waters failed to show “actual information of mistakes or errors sufficient to change the election result” as required….
SA: Hawaii’s law will force a recount only if someone sues over fraud or some other flaw, and the state Supreme Court agrees.
read … Tommy Waters not conceding to Trevor Ozawa in Honolulu City Council race
Toppled after 28 years at OHA, Rowena Akana punished for Giving Evidence to Attorney General
SA: …Incumbents John Waihee IV and Lei Ahu Isa finished first and second in the at-large race, followed by challenger Brendon Kalei‘aina Lee, president of the Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association, who served as chairman of the ‘Aha Hawaiian constitutional convention.
The non-qualifiers were former state Land Board Chairman William Aila, who finished some 2,500 votes behind Lee, followed by Akana and then former state Rep. Faye Hanohano of Hawaii island….
Akana said she became an election-year target after, as board chairwoman, she tried to get the trustees to fire CEO Kamana‘opono Crabbe and then went to the state Attorney General’s Office with information about alleged corruption within OHA.
Akana said her OHA rivals, including Crabbe, conspired to bring the ethics complaints to the Ethics Commission and have the contested case hearing scheduled at the worst time for negative exposure — when she should have been out campaigning….
One of the things she wants to keep an eye on, she said, is the potential for inappropriate development of OHA’s assorted land holdings in Kakaako Makai….
read … Toppled after 28 years at OHA, Rowena Akana says she was a target
Maui Anti-GMO Council Majority to Crown Biofuel Schemer King?
MN: … Six new council members, including four freshmen, and a new “perceived” 5-4 majority may spur major changes when business begins in January at the County Council.
South Maui Council Member Kelly King appears to be a front-runner for chairwoman in the new majority, though members declined Wednesday to view the council as being divided between ‘Ohana Coalition-backed candidates and so-called “establishment” members.
When the dust settled after Tuesday’s general election, only Council Members Riki Hokama (Lanai), Kelly King (South Maui) and Yuki Lei Sugimura (Upcountry) managed to hold onto their seats. Former longtime Council Members Alice Lee and Mike Molina claimed Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu and Makawao-Haiku-Paia seats, respectively.
First-time winners Shane Sinenci of East Maui, Tamara Paltin of West Maui, Natalie “Tasha” Kama of Kahului and Keani Rawlins-Fernandez of Molokai rounded out the nine-member council.
Leadership, committee and staff positions are all up for grabs in this new council with both Council Chairman Mike White and Vice Chairman Bob Carroll retiring at the end of the year. White had served as chairman since 2015….
MN: Tale of the tallies
Kelly King Background:
read … After election shakeup, dust begins to settle for new council
Precinct Vote is Anti-GMO, Absentee Vote is Pro-GMO (again)
KGI: …anti-GMO nut Felicia Cowden’s campaign party was over by the time she found out she snagged the last seat on the Kauai County Council.
She and her team were at the tail end of cleaning up banners and saying goodbye in the parking lot of The Bistro in Kilauea Tuesday night when the third printout came out and Cowden jumped from number 11 from the second printout to number seven.
That final count added more than 4,000 votes to her total, but Cowden wasn’t surprised.
“I always do the best in the last count because that’s when they count the walk-in votes from the side of the island where I live,” Cowden said. “I’ve run twice and in each primary and each general (election), I always do the best in the last count.”…
(Same thing happened in 2016 and 2014.)
CB: Instead of getting ready for battle, Democrats should be working on reasoned and civilized dialogue based on irrefutable facts and not emotion.
read … Cowden’s comeback
Kauai 2020: Solution to Anti-GMO Ignorance—Abolish Polling Places
CB: When the Garden’s Isle’s 14 precinct stations shut down Tuesday night, it might have been for the last time. An all-mail ballot experiment begins in 2020….
read … Kauai: The End Of An Era For Election Day Polling Places
After Ruggles joins Sovereignty Movement--Proposal would give County Council power to censure absent members
HTH: …Puna Councilwoman Jen Ruggles announced in late August she will not be attending meetings to avoid committing war crimes against the Hawaiian Kingdom, which she said would occur if she voted or introduced legislation. Council members are required to vote at meetings they attend….
Ruggles, who has missed the past six council meetings and many more committee meetings, said she will continue to receive her $5,834 per month ($70,008 per year) salary.
But two years from now, voters might get a chance to enact a contingency, should such a situation arise again.
Bobby Jean Leithead Todd, a member of the county Charter Commission, said she is drafting a proposed change to the charter that would allow a majority of the council to censure a member and suspend their pay if they miss three consecutive meetings without being excused.
Leithead Todd, a former council member and county department head, said it’s based on a similar rule used by the City and County of Honolulu….
HTH: Officials studying best course of action to move forward with fewer council members
read … Proposal would give County Council power to censure absent members
HPD Chief: Police Not At Fault In Closing Of Domestic Violence Program
CB: … Ballard provided data to the commission that showed that 7,480 domestic violence calls came into the department between January and October of this year, at least 750 a month. Of those initial calls, 5,653 involved family arguments and only 1,827 resulted in criminal charges.
The chief told the commission that HPD officers have so much to do when they answer a call that they do not have time to wait around for an advocate.
She also said the reason officers would wait to call the center is because they were busy securing sometimes dangerous scenes and interviewing witnesses. And she said that by the time an officer leaves a scene, victims usually don’t want to talk to anyone else.
That was the reason DVAC didn’t get a lot of calls from officers. Ballard did not provide the commission with any numbers on how many times HPD contacted the group.
“They refuse services,” she said. “You don’t want officers hanging at your house.”
Commissioner Richard Grimm defended the chief and the department. “The thing that upsets me is an NGO is trying to run your department,” he said. “DVAC is not going to save lives.”
That prompted Commission Chair Loretta Sheehan to zero in on the chief’s explanation and provide some figures of her own based on information provided by DVAC. Despite more than 700 calls coming into HPD each month regarding domestic violence incidents, no more than 25 or 30 calls were made each month by HPD to the center, requesting an advocate.
read … HPD Chief: Police Not At Fault In Closing Of Domestic Violence Program
Hawaii Harbors Division looking to capitalize on development opportunities amid rail project
PBN: As work on Honolulu’s 20-mile rail line begins to enter more populated areas, the state’s Harbors Division said it is looking at how it can capitalize on transit-oriented development opportunities….
“There are advantages at looking at where rail goes and how it impacts us,” said Davis Yogi, harbors administrator for the Department of Transportation’s Harbors Division, during a transportation panel on Thursday.
The panel, which was hosted by the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii also included Blaine Miyasato, state government liaison for Hawaiian Airlines, and Vic Angoco, senior vice president of Matson’s Pacific division.
The panel was moderated by Scott Ishikawa, senior account executive at Becker Communications and a former Hawaii State Department of Transportation spokesperson.
Davis said the department, which is currently in the midst of its statewide $850 million harbors modernization plan that includes the construction of the $450 million Kapalama Container Terminal, is looking at commercial opportunities that would come with Honolulu Harbor’s proximity to the rail stops.
“I think in discussing things with rail, we are also talking about making sure that what they didn’t think was possible, can be possible,” Davis added. “For example, makai stairways on the ocean side. Everything was more on the mauka side above Nimitz and Ala Moana Boulevard.”…
It’s not the first time the Harbors Division has talked about the opportunities that the rail project presents.
Last year, Young told PBN that the department was vetting ideas that included parking garages that would collect revenue from rail ridership….
Totally Related: Harbors Division Fee Hike designed to boost $77M OHA Slush Fund?
read … Hawaii Harbors Division looking to capitalize on development opportunities amid rail project
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