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Lawsuit Freezes City TVR Enforcement?
SA: … The city Department of Planning and Permitting has not issued any violation notices tied to the new vacation rental ordinance due to a pending lawsuit, a city official said Monday….
Ordinance 19-18, formerly Bill 89 (2018), which passed earlier this summer, took effect Thursday….
The Kokua Coalition, also known as the Hawaii Vacation Rental Owners Association, filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court seeking to stop the city from enforcing the ordinance. The group’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the city is scheduled to be heard by Judge Derrick Watson on Aug. 15.
The group represents operators of so-called “30-day rentals,” where the operator and tenant agree to a 30-day exclusive use agreement even when the renter doesn’t stay all 30 days. DPP signed a consent decree stating they would not cite those with those arrangements, and the group’s lawyer said that practice should continue. DPP, meanwhile, is stating on its website that such arrangements are illegal.
When the Honolulu Star- Advertiser inquired Monday whether the city had issued any notices of violation from the new law, DPP spokesman Curtis Lum said, “We are continuing our investigations under Ordinance 19-18. However, because of the pending litigation, we have not yet issued any notices of violation.”
Asked to clarify, Lum reiterated that investigations are ongoing but that no violation notices have been issued since Thursday because of the pending litigation. He declined to say whether any violation notices would be issued before the Kokua Coalition lawsuit is concluded….
read … City not issuing vacation rental violations
Caldwell Claims he is Going After TVRs
SA: … Kathy Sokugawa, acting director of the Department of Planning and Permitting, said the first violation notices could be issued as early as later this week.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell said at a news conference this morning that DPP is “investigating a couple hundred violations right now.” …
He added: “I don’t want anyone out there who has an illegal vacation rental to think that because of this lawsuit, or others that may be filed in the future, that the City and County of Honolulu is not going to enforce the laws that’ve been enacted by the Honolulu City Council and signed into law by the mayor.”…
Caldwell took issue with today’s Star-Advertiser story and said it is wrong to say city enforcement is on hold due to the lawsuit.
“We are going to be enforcing (the bill) that I signed about a month and a half ago,” he said. “”If you have a vacation rental that is less than 30 days that you don’t have a nonconforming use permit for, that is not in a hotel and resort, if you’ve been violating the law since the 1980s, under the law I just signed, you continue to violate the law.”….
HNN: City Claims Number of illegal vacation rentals has dropped sharply in wake of new law
read … Caldwell insists city is proceeding with vacation rental enforcement
Prosecutor Candidate Raises $26K
ILind: … Attorney Robert J. Brown, who has formed a campaign committee to support his run for Honolulu prosecutor, led the newcomers by taking in $26,471. Two other first-time candidates, both running for seats on the Honolulu City Council, were also among the top fundraisers. Alan Texeira, who is on the staff of current council chairman Ikaika Anderson, took in $20,750 to launch his campaign for the seat currently held by his boss, who will not be eligible to run again due to term limits. And Jacob Aki, a 2013 graduate of Kamehameha, raised $15,216 in a bid to represent the council’s District 7….
read … A quick look at 2019 campaign contributions (so far)
Tsuneyoshi uses Taxpayer Funds to Hire PR Firm
SA: … An annual $25,000 contingency fund that goes to each City Council member is intended to cover expenses incurred while conducting official city business, such as the purchase of lei for honorees and travel-related costs. Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi has raised eyebrows by tapping the fund to outsource her community outreach. Since April, she has maintained an $85-an-hour contract with a firm that also worked on her 2018 election campaign. While city rules allow spending related to “community outreach and assistance,” a fine line separates the reporting of Council district news and the glossy art of political self-promotion….
read … A PR firm for Tsuneyoshi
TMT not giving up on Hawaii
SA: … Thirty Meter Telescope officials insisted Monday that news of their Canary Islands building permit application does not mean they’re giving up on Hawaii.
TMT Executive Director Ed Stone said submitting the application is just another step in the project’s ongoing effort to secure a “Plan B” site on La Palma island if it becomes impossible to build on Mauna Kea.
“This process has been ongoing since 2016,” Stone said in a statement Monday. “Maunakea remains the preferred site for TMT.” ….
MTV: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MAUNA KEA PROTESTS IN HAWAII -- 'THEY ARE BENEFITTING OFF A HISTORY OF IMPERIALISM AND WHITE SUPREMACY AND TRAMPLING OVER INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE' (Now you know why pop culture exists.)
read … TMT not giving up on Hawaii
Teacher shortage: About 600 classrooms staffed by long-term substitutes
HNN: .,.. again this year, substitutes will be filling in. The Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) says all public school classrooms have teachers, but about 600 of them are staffed by long-term subs….
"Every year we're looking for anywhere from 1,200-1,300 teachers. We fill that with some mainland teachers, some local teachers and some temporary hires," said Kishimoto…..
read … Teacher shortage: About 600 classrooms staffed by long-term substitutes
Maui Injection Wells: Enviros Overreached, now they want a Mulligan
CB: … The Maui wastewater case has far-reaching ramifications for the nation’s rivers, lakes and oceans. And it’s headed to a Trump-packed Supreme Court….
Reality: WOTUS: Lahaina Injection Wells Case to be Heard by US Supreme Court
read … Losers Lose
Kauai might host missile tests
SA: … The end of the Intermediate- Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was announced in February and enacted Friday based on the U.S. contention that Russia was not abiding by it.
New Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who stopped in Hawaii on Friday to meet with the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on his way to Australia, said he would prefer the deployment of missiles with conventional explosives to Asia within months, but he acknowledged development work still is needed.
China said today it “will not stand idly by” if the U.S. deploys intermediate-range missiles in the Indo-Pacific region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would deploy new intermediate- range missiles only if the United States does, and called for urgent arms control talks.
The Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai could play a key role, meanwhile, in the testing of multiple versions of the missiles — possibly as early as November — as well as with hypersonic missiles also being developed, defense experts said….
read … Kauai might host missile tests
Eco-Religion to Bless Kona Homeless Shelter Coming
WHT: …The Office of Environmental Quality Control has received a draft analysis for the county’s planned emergency shelter and an affordable rental project in Kailua-Kona.
That document, which is a draft environmental assessment for the project, is expected to be published in the Thursday edition of The Environmental Notice.
… The 2019 Point-In-Time count, conducted in January, tallied 690 people experiencing homeless on Hawaii Island….
“What we see based on the data in our Homeless Management Information System is there is a number of single individuals who are experiencing homelessness,” Hirota said. “And all of our shelters are, at any given point, at full capacity.”
The first phase of the effort includes 20-30 emergency shelter housing units to be constructed along with an assessment center.
Future phases would allow for another 60-90 emergency units in clusters, and there are preliminary plans for a mini-mart to serve as part a job and/or financial counseling program.
The permanent supportive housing component will go on the southern part of the area below the emergency housing with roughly 12.7 acres that can be developed with an approximate density of 20 units per acre….
read … Analysis for emergency shelter coming
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