DOE, Fork Over That General Ledger!
Warmers: $23B Homes to be Destroyed in Urban Honolulu
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted June 8, 2019
Shapiro: Homeless help must sometimes be forced
Shapiro: … It gives impetus to calls by Lt. Gov. Josh Green and homeless care providers to more aggressively treat mental illness and drug addiction on the streets, even if help must sometimes be forced.
Inflexible civil liberties arguments to “live and let live” can translate in reality to “live and let die.”
A balance of these interests must be carefully constructed, but it’s simply inhumane to allow premature deaths of this magnitude to continue when there are effective treatments to prevent them….
Green told Hawaii News Now, “We’re passively depriving people of their civil rights because they’re so sick, their mental illness — usually schizophrenia, sometimes drug influence — is so severe they can’t make decisions any longer for their own well-being. … They have no idea they are profoundly schizophrenic and have been there for months or years.”
Green said there are effective medications for many forms of mental illness and drug addiction, and treatment is often clinically uncomplicated; the complications are with the law.
“We’ve seen some individuals get just a little bit of care … and they’re returning almost to normal,” he said. “They’re able to function. They’re able to say, ‘Yes, I want a home. I don’t want to be homeless.’“
But Hawaii’s assisted community treatment law has been so restrictive on the side of civil liberties that there have been fewer than 10 cases of court-ordered treatment for mental illness in the last five years.
The Legislature this year amended the community treatment law to give judges, doctors and agencies more legal options for treating incapacitated homeless, but likely only a few will end up being helped after lawmakers removed key funding for intervention efforts.
The medical examiner’s disturbing analysis starkly highlights the need to move more urgently and compassionately on this front as many Hawaii homeless needlessly suffer….
Background: Death Gets 373 Homeless off Streets
read … Better legal options needed to help mentally ill homeless
LG Josh Green: “Get these people off the streets or their health problems will blossom and they will die”
SA: … Green and Kaneohe physician Dr. Scott Miscovich, started the center to first allow the homeless people to catch their breath, clean up and get quick attention, with the hope it would move them into a more complete care center.
“The real focus is first hygiene and respite,” Green said in a telephone interview.
“But still, we can only see these people for two hours at the most, we can deal with their anxieties, give them antibiotics, but there’s a good chance they are going to lose their meds, they will contact every complication, they are going to need more,” Green said.
Today the center, dubbed H4 Hawaii, passes out pills, does vaccinations and stitches, and helps with burns, allergies and asthma attacks.
“We have an epidemic of homelessness in Hawaii and it has to be treated as any other major illness. We have to set up and prepare for the entire state to offer medical respite,” Green said. “First we have to get these people into a shelter and then we have to move them into some sort of a permanent housing community.”
Living as a homeless person in Honolulu could mean dying 30 years early, he noted. “There are many reasons, addiction, infection, sepsis.”
Green hopes the city will continue funding the treatment center to include full-service urgent care center a respite center for patients to stay for a short time and also a transition center to get patients focused on living on their own.
Without that, the medical diagnosis is blunt and grim.
Said Green: “You have to get these people off the streets or their health problems will blossom and they will die.”…
read … Force them off the streets
Homeless Criminals who evaded police Demand Permanent Homeless Tent City in Kakaako
HNN: … "We are losing our Aloha here in Hawaii for each other," said Hui Aloha organizer Alani Apio who shared their groups vision with State Senator Sharon Moriwaki.
Essentially, they'd look to encampments like the one that's developed on the west side: Puuhonua O' Waianae.
"If you go out there and walk through their village, they love each other. They are not perfect. They are not perfect human beings but they manage even in that situation," added Apio.
The group is working with Lt. Governor Josh Green to find a suitable spot somewhere near Kakaako it’s far from official but the coalition is hopeful.
"At last count, 89 people from Kakaako have signed up and said yes, we will abide by the rules of the community and we are ready and willing to move there," said Alpio.
State Senator Sharon Moriwaki says she was encouraged to see Saturday's effort and wants to create better communication between the homeless community, HPD, and state resources.
"There are problems, there are people committing crimes and how do you ferret that out from people who really do care and want to do something like this group who wants to clean up who wants to find housing," said Moriwaki.
During those recent police raids over the last few days 40 people were arrested with a total of 200 outstanding warrants. In the Kakaako area alone, 11 people were taken in with a total of 67 warrants….;
KITV: Doctor wants to give free contraceptives to homeless women
read … Solution: Force them into shelters
Maui police arrest Molokai police officer suspected of multiple drug-related offenses
SA: … Maui police are reporting that they have arrested one of their long-time police officers on suspicion of multiple drug-related offenses.
Police said Officer Daniel Imakyure, who joined the Maui Police Department in 2009 and was attached to the Molokai district for most of his career, has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending further investigation.
Police said they got a tip early this year that the 39-year-old officer could be involved in drug-related activity on Molokai. After vetting the information, police launched criminal and internal investigations.
On Friday, police said they obtained warrants allowing them to search cellphones, computers and lockers related to their cases. Based on the evidence gathered, Imakyure was arrested Friday for promoting a dangerous drug in the first degree, criminal conspiracy, and criminal attempt to aid another. Police said he was released pending further investigation….
Imakyure was one of the officers who pushed to make Maui Police Department the first in the state to outfit officers with a nasal spray that provides an antidote for opioid overdoses.
MN: Chief: MPD officer arrested for promoting drug
read … Maui police arrest Molokai police officer suspected of multiple drug-related offenses
Kealoha Trial in Recess This Week
SA: … The proceedings take a one-week recess starting Monday ….
read … Reporter’s notebook: An inside look at the Kealoha trial
Vacation rental giants look to temper Council bills
SA: … Representatives for two of the world’s largest operators of web platforms that broker vacation rentals voiced disappointment at a Honolulu City Council committee’s decision Friday to advance two bills they said will cause thousands of job cuts in Hawaii and severely hurt the visitor industry.
Bill 89 (2018) allows for up to 1,715 newly permitted hosted vacation rentals, also known as bed-and-breakfast operations, but allows no new whole-home vacations rentals, or what the Department of Planning and Permitting refers to as transient vacation units. The bill also heaps a bunch of regulations on operators and makes it tougher for the estimated thousands of illegal rentals to stay open.
Bill 85 (2018) provides stronger enforcement tools for DPP but no newly permitted vacation rentals of any kind….
Friday’s Council action was cause for cautious optimism among opponents of vacation rentals that the city might finally get something done to address the issue. A string of mayors and Councils have tried unsuccessfully to impose new rules on vacation rentals. No new city permits have been issued since 1989. DPP said there are 816 legally permitted vacation rentals on Oahu and up to 8,000 illegal ones.
Larry Bartley, longtime head of Save Oahu’s Neighborhoods, said his group was encouraged to hear several Council members say their top priority is preserving housing for locals.
“After 14 years of trying, we finally see the first effective enforcement bills heading for third reading with solid support and the possibility of becoming law,” Bartley said.
“But they still face third reading and if passed there (they) face a possible veto by Mayor Caldwell,” he said. “Then there is the question of the necessary political willpower to make things happen. No predictions; the road is still lined with possible potholes and detours but we are more hopeful than ever.”
read … Vacation rental giants look to temper Council bills
Hu Honua Faces Four Legal Actions
IM: … There are four on-going regulatory/legal proceedings. The first three must be resolved before Hu Honua can start operations.
The first action is the Life of the Land challenge of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approval of the HELCO-Hu Honua contract. The Hawai`i Supreme Court upheld the appeal on May 10, noting that Life of the Land`s due process rights for a clean and healthy environment were violated and that the Commission is mandated to consider greenhouse gas emissions. The case will be remanded back to the PUC in June or July for a full contested case proceeding.
In public announcements and in the press, Hu Honua gave a general description of the wood they planned to burn for electricity, but refused to provide any detail in the PUC proceeding and during the Hawai`i Supreme Court oral arguments.
The second action involves the pro se complaint by Claudia Rohr against Hu Honua, Department of Health (Clean Water Branch & Safe Drinking Water Branch), Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC), Department of Land and Natural Resources (Board of Land and Natural Resources, Aquatics Division & Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands), County of Hawai`i (Planning Department & Department of Public Works) and the Windward Planning Commission.
The complaint asserted that Hu Honua needs to file an Environmental Assessment for the proposed project. On June 6 Judge Nakamura heard and rejected Motions for Summary Judgement filed by Hu Honua, Hawai`i County and the State of Hawai`i. The case continues forward.
The third action involves the need for updated UIC permits. Hu Honua asserted that water discharged from the proposed facility would be gravity-absorbed into 400-foot Underground Injection Wells. The test failed. Hu Honua has applied to the Department of Health to dig the wells to 800 feet deep.
The fourth action will not delay opening the facility. The Hawai‘i Department of Health`s Clean Water Branch issued a Notice of Violation and Order (NOVO) to Hu Honua Bioenergy for an unauthorized discharge of industrial wastewater on Nov. 9, 2018. The proposed fine is $25,000. Hu Honua asked for a contested case proceeding, perhaps only the second fine-based contested case hearing in the history of the Clean Water Branch. The hearing will be held on August 28, 8 am 4:30 pm at Kanau Hale, across Queens Hospital, in Conference Room. ….
read … Hu Honua Faces Four Legal Actions
Hawaii County: 21 charter amendments heading to 2020 ballot
HTH: … The charter amendments headed to the ballot ….
read … 21 charter amendments heading to 2020 ballot
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