Mauna Kea: Is this all a joke now?
Governor Ige, It's Time
Pro-Telescope Rally Set for Thursday
Police Issue 100 Tickets a Day at Protest Site
HNN: … Hawaii County police have stepped up their ticketing of vehicles parked or traveling near the Mauna Kea protest site, issuing about 100 citations per day in the area since late last week. Protest leaders say that new enforcement push seems designed to put a damper on the opposition to the Thirty Meter Telescope.
But police Major Sam Jelsma said Monday the protesters or “protectors” on Mauna Kea are not being targeted. There have been two serious accidents in the area since the protests began more than a month ago, and Jelsma said officers are issuing tickets when they see violations by any motorists — not just by the activists involved in the protests.
“We’ve got all of these officers up there, and we’re kind of waiting for something to happen, so we’re doing what police do, so we’re out there enforcing,” he said. “For the record, we are not targeting protesters. We are targeting violations on DKI (Daniel K. Inouye) Highway.”
Jelsma declined to say how many officers are in the area, but said both patrol officers and police special response team members are working on traffic enforcement. Police are also setting up drunken driving roadblocks and setting up posts for seat belt enforcement in the area, he said.
Andre Perez, a leader in the protest movement against the TMT, said Monday the activists are still trying to figure out what the police activity is all about.
“It looks like they’re trying to minimize us and marginalize us being here by enforcing traffic regulations and setbacks from the highway and ticketing anything they can ticket, really, so we’re still trying to figure out where that’s coming from and why, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s an attempt by the county to just control and limit the amount of people here,” he said.….
WHT: Police ramp up traffic, parking enforcement, near Maunakea Access Road
read … Police step up traffic, parking enforcement near Mauna Kea protest site
After weeks of mostly silence on TMT, Ige offers no details on what’s next for conflict
HNN: … Who was in charge when 38 Thirty Meter Telescope protesters were arrested at Mauna Kea?
Big Island Mayor Harry Kim said last week that it was the governor who made the call to pull law enforcement back.
But on Monday, Gov. David Ige said Hawaii County police were in charge on July 17 when activists faced off with law enforcement.
The governor hasn’t publicly spoken about the conflict on Mauna Kea for more than two weeks. At a news conference Monday on back-to-school traffic, he addressed the conflict briefly.
“Certainly, we can talk about the command structure but Maj. Jelsma (of the Hawaii County Police Department) was incident commander at that time,” Ige said, while leaving the news conference.
It’s the first time since July 30 that Ige has said anything about the conflict, other than emailed press statements and repeated messages of support for TMT on his Facebook page.
At the news conference, he offered no insight into how authorities hope to resolve the conflict. ….
Last week, on Insights on PBS Hawaii, Kim said told Hawaii News Now managing editor Daryl Huff that Ige made the decision to call off the operation to clear the road.
“They called me in regards if I could pass word to the governor because since this was a state operation with DOCARE people, sheriffs and the police officers and the Governor obviously had a very difficult decision and said no we should not use force,” he said.
Hawaii News News asked the state Attorney General Clare Connors if there was confusion on the chain of command or blurred lines between law enforcement and politics.
In an email, she responded: “There was no confusion regarding the chain of command on the part of law enforcement. The deliberate and orchestrated manner in which the protesters blockaded the road is what led to the stand down order."
"To avoid causing harm to the protesters and officers, Hawaii County PD operational command made the decision not to engage further. This decision was reported to Mayor Kim," she added.
Connors also acknowledged that Kim called the governor and told him that force would be necessary to move the protesters.
“The governor did not give an order to stand down, as that had already happened. The only action the governor took that day related to the actual operations was to issue an emergency proclamation in response to Hawaii County PD’s earlier request,” she said….
Connors says Kim is responsible for coordinating Hawaii County law enforcement efforts, which are still supported by the State. Kim has said he’ll reveal a plan soon for a peaceful resolution.
KITV: Hirono spotted visiting with kupuna and kia'i on Mauna Kea
read … After weeks of mostly silence on TMT, Ige offers no details on what’s next for conflict
Mazie Hirono visits TMT protesters at Mauna Kea
SA: … U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono visited the site of the protests against the Thirty Meter Telescope and toured the tent encampment at the base of the Mauna Kea Access Road for several hours Monday morning, speaking with protest leaders and Hawaiian elders who assured her the demonstrations are organized and peaceful.
“They’re very committed,” Hirono said in an interview after she met with the activists. “They view the mountain as a spiritual and real fountainhead for their culture and their heritage, and it is critical for them to take a position now.”
During her college years Hirono herself joined in protests against the Vietnam War, and she said that “I believe in the rule of law and that there has been an appropriate process, but I also believe that people have a right to civil disobedience.” ….
Hirono spoke briefly to law enforcement officers before she met with protest leaders and kupuna, or elders, and she mostly listened during her visit, according to the activists….
Hirono said she also met Monday with Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim. Kim has been tasked by Gov. David Ige with leading the discussions to try to resolve the impasse over TMT and Mauna Kea.
“There is a hope that things will move forward, but I think Harry knows that this is a very deeply, deeply held position that the protectors have … but he is very committed to the rightness of going forward, also,” she said. “So, I wish him the best. I really hope that this situation can be resolved.
“How can you not respond to the depth of their sense of the rightness, for them, of what they’re doing?” Hirono said of the protesters. “I hope that there’s a resolution that will be pono. I don’t have an answer or that path forward, but having spoken to Harry, he has a commitment to that kind of an outcome.”
KITV: Senator Mazie Hirono talks about her recent trip to Mauna Kea, her thoughts on gun control and more
read … Mazie Hirono visits TMT protesters at Mauna Kea
Cowardly Legislators Avoid Taking Position on Telescope
HTH: … Inouye is not the first state legislator on the island to publicly support one side or another in the TMT issue.
Sen. Kai Kahele has previously visited with demonstrators multiple times and has said he opposes the project in its current form….
Rep. Richard Onishi said Monday that he has “always supported TMT,” explaining that the project has the legal right to proceed.
“There’s some things that are in play that have to be worked out,” Onishi conceded, but he added that he expects the state administration to enforce the law.
“I would hope for a speedy, nonviolent resolution to this, and a compromise between all parties,” Onishi said.
Rep. Chris Todd of Hilo said he wants astronomy to still have a future on Hawaii Island, “but not at the cost of arresting potentially hundreds of people.”
“I got involved in politics to break the cycle of poverty, and I view astronomy as a powerful tool to do that,” Todd said, explaining that the demonstrators at the access road, many of whom are friends of Todd, are simultaneously inspiring while also setting a possibly worrying precedent wherein projects can be disrupted with little or no consequence.
Puna Rep. Joy San Buenaventura said Monday that she has chosen to remain neutral on the issue for the time being, because she currently is not in a position to influence the outcome of the issue.
“If I had any say in telling (Ige) to uphold the law, or get TMT to move on to somewhere else, I would take a side,” San Buenaventura said.
San Buenaventura said she likely will have to make her stance on the issue known when the next legislative session begins next year.
Other Big Island lawmakers could not be reached Monday, although some have made public statements regarding the issue in the past.
Sen. Russell Ruderman was quoted by The Ka‘u Calendar as having written a now-deleted Facebook post in July saying, “My feeling has been that if its permits were found to be legal, then it should be built … I also support Hawaiian rights, and recognize the many broken promises they’ve endured in every arena, and the historic mismanagement of our beloved Mauna Kea.”
Rep. Mark Nakashima, within whose district is the TMT site, has not explicitly stated his stance on the issue one way or another since the protests began on July 15….
read … Cowards
Rejecting Telescope Will Damage Hawaii For Years to Come
HNN: … You have to wonder what that next decade will be like – given the disheartening place we are today.
The telescopes many called pimple on the mountain are examples of the highest of human aspiration.
So were the voyages of the original navigators who found Hawaii in the center of the vast ocean – guided by the very stars that are being studied today.
But now – we are told that the modern star-gazers are desecrators. This slur unfairly focuses anger on innocent and well-intentioned people.
Astronomers and telescopes cannot be compared to those who stole Hawaii’s sovereignty, corrupted the homelands program, abused the Ali’i trusts, and misused ceded lands. They weren’t really even responsible for past mismanagement of Mauna Kea.
These historic grievances took place over decades and could take nearly as long to reverse.
Turning away the TMT may make a few people feel good for the moment – while damaging Hawaii’s reputation and economy for years to come, and doing literally nothing to address the legitimate grievances of the Hawaiian people….
read … TMT and Hawaii’s Statehood Anniversary
TMT should be built, says Hokule‘a navigator Baybayan
SA: … Chad Kalepa Baybayan, a former captain on the Hokule‘a and navigator in residence at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i, has a different perspective.
Born and raised in Lahaina, at age 19 he first sailed on the Hokule‘a in 1975 and has been on the crew of all major Hokule‘a voyages. In 2007 he was one of five Hawaiian men initiated into the order of Pwo, a 3,000-year-old society of deep-sea navigators in Micronesia.
Question: If there’s one point you want to get across to the public as a reason to support TMT, what would it be?
Answer: As a Hawaiian I recognize that I am a descendant of some of the best oceanic astronomers and navigators the earth has ever produced. However, astronomy is the providence of humanity; it belongs to all mankind. As a citizen of the human race, I am committed to humanity’s progress and quest for knowledge. It is important to me to be on the right side of humanity, on the right side of enlightenment and knowledge, and on the right side of education that is inspiring a whole new generation of explorers.
Q: Do you see a direct link between your lineage as a Hawaiian navigator and the construction of TMT?
A: As a Native Hawaiian, I support TMT because it continues our oceanic tradition and legacy of exploration. My perspective of Mauna Kea is based on a tradition of oceanic exploration and the legacy of a people who left the safety of the coastline, sailed away and, in so doing, discovered the stars. As a Hawaiian, I recognize that I am a descendant of some of the best naked-eye astronomers the world has ever known. It is culturally consistent to advocate for Hawaiian participation in a field of science that continues to enable that tradition and a field of work in which we ought to lead.
Q: TMT opponents say the project will desecrate sacred land. How would you address their concerns?
A: The argument that telescopes or any structure on the summit desecrates the mountain is a matter of opinion. To date, there has never been a court case challenging structures on the summit as a form of desecration. There is no heiau on the summit and very little archaeological evidence of human use….
read … TMT should be built, says Hokule‘a navigator Baybayan
Hawaii Supreme Court to hear case involving state’s breach of Hawaiian Homes trust
ILind: …On Wednesday, August 21, the Hawaii Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Kalima v State of Hawaii.
This is another case involving rights of beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was originally filed in 1999. No, that’s not a typo. We’re talking 20 years. And these Hawaiians, who have been adjudged to have suffered damages caused by the state’s breach of trust to Native Hawaiian benficiaries, are still waiting. Some plaintiffs died waiting.
The court issued an earlier opinion in this case on June 30, 2006, which summarized the background of the layers of problems with the Hawaiian Homes program over the years….
SA: Native Hawaiian homestead case to be heard by Hawaii Supreme Court
read … Hawaii Supreme Court to hear case involving state’s breach of Hawaiian Homes trust
City issues first 5 illegal vacation rental citations on Oahu
SA: Notice of Violation letters went out Thursday via certified mail to the owners of five Oahu properties who the city alleges were advertising illegal short-term vacation rentals, a city Department of Planning and Permitting official said Monday….
Under the new law the city will issue roughly 1,700 new hosted vacation rental permits — but not until October 2020.
Operators said that’s too few and too late for them to stay in business, and warned of dire consequences to the overall visitor industry and Oahu’s economy in general.
Caldwell said Monday the DPP will continue to crack down on violators despite two lawsuits challenging the law that were filed this month.
Asked about the outcry from the operators and their supporters, Caldwell said, “I do think there are things (in the ordinance) that can be fixed around the edges. … There are areas that perhaps could be improved or fixed.”
Caldwell originally proposed allowing a larger number of rentals be allowed and that TVUs be included in the mix. But given that the new law only recently went into effect, the mayor said he doesn’t believe he will be proposing such a change.
He said he and others are monitoring the number of flights and visitors arriving on Oahu to see whether, as vacation rental operators warned, the ordinance will create a drop in arrivals.
“But it’s too early to find that out,” Caldwell said….
SA Editorial: Get stricter with 30-day rentals
read … City issues first 5 illegal vacation rental citations on Oahu
Sen Wakai: Time to End State’s $85M/yr Solar Subsidy
KHON: … There is no current planned reduction or end to the state's solar tax credit but Hawaii Senator Glenn Wakai would like to change that.
"In 2009, we were all in for solar, but next it might be bio-fuels or geothermal but the state is all in on solar. I think we should be hedging our bets on other forms of alternative energy," said Wakai.
Hawaii's tax credit provides big savings to homeowners, but comes with a huge cost for the state.
"It burns the largest hole in our state coffers. $85 million last year went out in solar tax credits. We should be done with the solar tax credit," added Wakai.
The head of the Senate Energy Committee introduced a bill this past legislative session that would have provided more incentives for condo and apartment owners instead of homeowners, and also put an end date on the tax break.
Wakai plans to introduce another measure in January to reform Hawaii's renewable tax credit.
"If we ratchet down solar, then we could offer incentives for battery storage or other parts of our clean energy pursuits," stated Wakai.
While the national credit is set to slowly expire, there are lawmakers on Capitol Hill, pushing for an extension of the federal credits. Some also want to include energy storage in future tax breaks….
read … Impending tax credit reduction sparks Hawaii solar industry
Aloha Stadium to be Shut Down Soon—New Boondoggle Looms
KHON: … Nearly 50,000 people packed Aloha Stadium for Saturday’s Rams-Cowboys game, but it could be one of the last events of its kind to take place in that facility. Always Investigating reports on plans to redevelop the stadium district by …uh…2023. A new facility is being fast-tracked (LOLROTF!) with big money earmarked and a lot of different agencies involved ….
read … New stadium on fast-track to 2023 opening
Ala Wai watershed project: If you don’t do the project you won’t get the money for the project (duh)
HNN: … City leaders are warning more than $200 million in federal funding is in jeopardy if the Ala Wai flood control project doesn’t move forward….
(Really Obvious Question: Who could possibly be pressured by this argument. Of course you don’t get the funding if you don’t do the project. Really, they are arguing that the project should be done solely because the feds are willing to pony up some money for it.)
read … A Truism
Methodology used to test water for bacteria woefully outdated
SA: … Notice of Violation letters went out Thursday via certified mail to the owners of five Oahu properties who the city alleges were advertising illegal short-term vacation rentals, a city Department of Planning and Permitting official said Monday. ….
DPP spokesman Curtis Lum said three of the letters were sent to the owners of three units in the same Waikiki high-rise tower, while two were issued to property owners in Kailua.
“There are others in the works,” Lum said.
He declined to disclose the names and addresses of those cited because he had not yet verified that the letters were received by the owners….
Under the new law the city will issue roughly 1,700 new hosted vacation rental permits — but not until October 2020.
Operators said that’s too few and too late for them to stay in business, and warned of dire consequences to the overall visitor industry and Oahu’s economy in general.
Caldwell said Monday the DPP will continue to crack down on violators despite two lawsuits challenging the law that were filed this month.
Asked about the outcry from the operators and their supporters, Caldwell said, “I do think there are things (in the ordinance) that can be fixed around the edges. … There are areas that perhaps could be improved or fixed.”
Caldwell originally proposed allowing a larger number of rentals be allowed and that TVUs be included in the mix. But given that the new law only recently went into effect, the mayor said he doesn’t believe he will be proposing such a change.
He said he and others are monitoring the number of flights and visitors arriving on Oahu to see whether, as vacation rental operators warned, the ordinance will create a drop in arrivals.
“But it’s too early to find that out,” Caldwell said….
read … Methodology used to test water for bacteria woefully outdated
DOT to take up cheaper option to address traffic near Turtle Beach
HNN: … The alternate plan is to widen the highway or move it slightly mauka to make room for parking along the beach so people won’t have to cross the road.
That will cost anywhere from $6 million to $8 million, and take about two years.
Meantime, the state wants to bring back the concrete barriers that were removed four years ago.
They were done away with due to a lawsuit. Re-installing the barriers would require the city’s permission, or the plaintiffs would have to drop their case….
read … DOT to take up cheaper option to address traffic near Turtle Beach
Ethics complaint filed against Hawaii County Board of Ethics
HTH: … Tucker, owner of Modular Farm Buildings, had filed this first complaint over what he saw as preferential treatment of some builders over others.
Tucker said Monday his beef with the Building Division has since been resolved. But he remains at odds with the Board of Ethics and the board’s Deputy Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto over the way his case was handled.
“If the ethics commission’s job is to enforce ethics within the county government, I just really couldn’t let it pass that they lack the ability to process my hearing under the rules of the law,” Tucker said. “There were at least three lawyers in the room and they all should know what the principles of discovery and cross-examination are.”
Tucker in early 2018 had brought a similar complaint to the ethics board, but withdrew it after the board agreed to hold a meeting with him to discuss board policies and procedures….
read … Ethics complaint filed against Board of Ethics
Critics Question Ernie Martin’s Ties To North Shore Project
CB: … One of the last actions Ernie Martin took as Honolulu City Council chairman last year was to recommend a permit approval for a development that had been plagued by permit violations and community complaints.
By the time the permit was reviewed and approved over three weeks in November, Martin had accepted $9,450 in congressional campaign contributions from developers associated with the Hanapohaku LLC project and their family members. Immediately upon leaving office, he got a job at the law firm that represents Hanapohaku.
Opponents of the development are crying foul over what they believe to be a conflict of interest. …
Flashback: Schatz-Connected Developer building ‘Shopping Center’ at Pupukea
read … Critics Question Former Council Chair’s Ties To North Shore Project
Native Hawaiian Health Nonprofit at Center of Federal Tax Fraud Scheme
KGI: Obstruction of justice and extortion have been added to the list of charges against a Lihue woman accused of filing fraudulent tax returns, laundering money and attempting to undermine a federal investigation into the alleged scheme.
According to court documents in the federal case pending against Leihinahina Sullivan, she allegedly continued to file tax returns on behalf of multiple people without their knowledge, even after she was indicted and arrested in February 2017.
… According to charging documents in the case, Sullivan allegedly engaged in a wide-ranging and varied scheme involving dozens of her associates, among them, clients of her nonprofit, Mobile Native Hawaiian Health Inc., college students applying for scholarships, and multiple people who entrusted her to file their taxes.
Sullivan allegedly gave the IRS multiple fraudulent tax documents including itemized medical expenses, charitable donations and unreimbursed employment expenses, and prepared tax statements containing false information regarding filing status, dependents, business expenses, income and claims for tax credits such as child care, according to charging documents.
“For college-bound students, Sullivan prepared and submitted false student loan, grant, scholarship, and financial aid applications and documents that requested money,” prosecutors wrote in one of the three subsequent indictments filed against Sullivan after her Feb. 23, 2017 arrest, when she faced only a dozen counts related to fraud.
“She also prepared and submitted false college applications in which she wrote student essays with lies about the students’ financial and living conditions,” the 2018 indictment continued. “In some instances, she solicited payments as donations,” to her nonprofit mobile health clinic and “communicated with the providers and colleges as if she were the students.”…
Sullivan’s most recent period of incarceration at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu began when she turned herself in on July 26, the day after prosecutors filed a fourth indictment against her for allegedly trying to persuade a witness not to talk to law enforcement agents, to give false testimony about her to a grand jury and to destroy a cell phone containing potentially incriminating evidence….
LINK: Sullivan Entities
read … Woman charged with extortion, obstruction
Tourism, Hawaii's biggest industry, is lowest-paying in the country, study finds
PBN: … Although the hospitality and tourism industries generated more than $1 trillion across the United States in 2018 — including $2.7 billion in state tax revenue in Hawaii alone — its workers get paid the least of any other labor industry, according to a recent study done by Florida State University.
For the study, FSU researchers compared salaries throughout the country and found that those in the tourism industry have the lowest earnings of all the labor sectors. The study found that, while the average weekly wage in the U.S. is $710, the average worker in the leisure and hospitality industry only got paid about $311 per week.
Researchers also ranked each of the 50 states and Washington D.C. based on its economic dependency on tourism, and found that the the top three tourism states are Nevada, Hawaii, and Vermont at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The three states where tourism has the smallest economic impact are Nebraska, Delaware and North Dakota.
FSU researcher Tarik Dogru said in a statement that the reported hospitality wages did not include tips, due to a lack of available tipping data — which might account for some of the large wage gap between hospitality workers and employees of other professions.
read … Tourism, Hawaii's biggest industry, is lowest-paying in the country, study finds
Hawaii’s Only Federal Halfway House Is Closing
CB: … the only halfway house in Hawaii is closing when its contract with the government expires next month.
The building will instead be used as a new home for the Sand Island Treatment Center, a nonprofit rehab supported by government contracts and whose clients, in many cases, are referred by courts. The City and County of Honolulu purchased the building leased by the federal halfway house for $9 million for Sand Island, which is being forced from its current home by the expansion of the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said in an email to Civil Beat that the contract with T.J. Mahoney and Associates Inc., a Las Vegas-based nonprofit that runs the Honolulu federal halfway house, will expire on Sept. 30.
…The Honolulu halfway house, called Mahoney Hale, houses more than 70 people. Some of those people — both men and women — who have remaining sentences would be sent back to prison, Skedeleski said, which could mean losing the jobs and lives they’ve rebuilt outside prison walls.
Since Hawaii is nowhere near any other state, offenders cannot be reassigned to other facilities, as happens elsewhere, he said.
read … Hawaii’s Only Federal Halfway House Is Closing, Putting More Offenders Behind Bars
Garbage Piles up in Chinatown as Homeless Drug Addicts Rip up Caldwell’s Bags
KHON: … The city’s new ordinance for trash pick-up for Chinatown Businesses has become a literal dumpster fire.
Back on August 8th, New Life Church in Nu’uanu had a trash pile that had sat outside of their facility for days. It was eventually lit on fire, and had to be extinguished by the Honolulu Fire Department.
It’s a symptom of Honolulu’s rule that went into effect on June 1st, demanding that trash be put into bags in order to be picked up every morning.
The well-intentioned rule is being thwarted by those ripping open and rummaging the waste.
“It happens once shops close at night, sometimes even in broad daylight.” said an anonymous business owner.
“The trash has to be bagged up now so they’re going out and buying the bags, they’re putting it out in the evening, but by the morning time they’re coming back and it’s all been spread out it’s all been ripped open.” Chinatown Business & Community Association member James Logue said.
“So they’re re-bagging the trash hoping that later that evening it survives that night so it can be picked up in the morning trash pickup.” he added.
City garbage collectors do not pick up trash that is not bagged….
read … Chinatown trash ordinance being ripped apart
Speeders Launch Cars Right Over Caldwell’s Roundabouts
KHON: … "You can hear them gassing their engine and then they get to the roundabout and they launch right over."
Nozawa says drivers speed through her neighborhood at all hours of the day to avoid traffic lights on Kamehameha Highway.
A dash cam captured multiple vehicles flying right over the roundabout at Anoi Road and Ulilehua Street.
Nozawa says her neighbors' parked cars and property have recently been hit by reckless drivers, and she says something needs to be done before someone gets seriously hurt.
"The neighbor, when she came home, she just opened her door and the car clipped the edge of her door. If this was their neighborhood and they had kids, I'm quite sure they wouldn't want people speeding through here," said Nozawa….
The issue was taken up by the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board last Thursday where more than 60 people showed up to complain.
"I heard things like tear them out and install speed bumps," said board chair Mo Radke….
read … Roundabouts in a Kaneohe neighborhood are catching drivers off guard
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