Bride of Frankenbill
Case Joins the Bipartisan U.S. House Problem Solvers Caucus
Hawaii Family Forum Legislative Week in Review
Envelopes Stuffed with Cash Smooth Approvals at Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting
SA: … It can start with a simple box of malasadas for the people at the front desk of the city Department of Planning and Permitting.
(The malasadas let them know you know how to play the game. Therefore they will begin helping you.)
From there, according to several people who have had dealings with the agency, getting official approvals for completing a construction project can entail thousands of dollars in cash stuffed into plain envelopes or even sponsoring DPP employees in a golf tournament.
In the wake of federal charges brought against five city employees March 30, some builders and contractors say bribes are just part of doing business on Oahu.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged current and former building plan examiners, a data access and imaging employee, and a building inspector with soliciting thousands of dollars to move building permits through the city approval process. An architect also was charged.
The federal prosecution gives weight to decades-long rumors about corruption in a city department that holds the key to everything from small renovations at mom-and-pop businesses to major development projects.
One Oahu contractor told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the culture of bribery in DPP is “systemic.” …
According to the Oahu contractor, the gift of a box of malasadas quickly turned into him sponsoring nine DPP employees to play in a golf tournament at $300 each, for a total of $2,700.
“It’s always indirectly. It’s the people that draft for me, or they’re pushing my plans through,” he said.
These kinds of bribes are harder to track because the payments are made directly to golf tournament organizers with the names of the DPP employees who are going to play….
A Kaneohe homeowner, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Star-Advertiser he was trying to get a permit to build an accessory dwelling unit on his property. The permit router he hired to shepherd the permit through the approval process submitted the application in July 2019.
“A couple of days later, he called me. He said one of the (DPP) workers said if you want to get my permit done in about three months, I need to put $2,900 cash in a blank envelope and give it to him and he’ll give it to the person,” the homeowner said.
“I said, ‘I refuse to give the money, … and well, my permit might go on the bottom.’”
More than a year and a half later, he is still waiting for his permit….
“The type of culture that allowed criminal behavior is completely unacceptable and we owe it to the public to ensure it will not happen again,” Blangiardi said (without laughing)….
As Explained: Free Golf, Methamphetamines, and Building Permits
read … Some say bribes smoothed approvals at Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting
Corruption Antidote: Blangiardi needs to embrace transparency
Borreca: … Last week, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that five current and former DPP employees were charged with soliciting bribes from builders to perform city services.
Blangiardi reacted by calling this unacceptable.
“The Department … and its operating practices needs a complete overhaul,” Blangiardi wrote. “The type of culture that allowed criminal behavior is completely unacceptable and we owe it to the public to ensure it will not happen again.”
I recall visiting City Hall’s 2019 Christmas display. Posted on several windows was a big blue poster framed with evergreen and trimmings, stating: “DPP is taking a NO GIFT POLICY this year 2019.”
Well, it turns out there was a Santa Claus already working at Honolulu Hale.
Blangiardi needs to do much better than finding corruption “unacceptable.” City Hall needs an entirely new spirit.
It should start by opening up the place, to make the operation public. Start by broadcasting Cabinet meetings live on the internet and then move down to putting everything online.
Nothing cleans like fresh air and sunshine….
AP: Hawaii adopts most extreme open records limits amid pandemic
(NOTE: Blangiardi can begin by ordering all County Departments to obey UIPA without regard for Ige’s COVID UIPA suspension.)
read … Concerning lack of confidence in city, from Honolulu police chief to Department of Planning and Permitting corruption
We don’t need Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s memory of rail’s institutional failure
Shapiro: … Seldom has a public agency needed a housecleaning more than the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.
And only in Hawaii would we have a union-led uproar when it finally happens 10 years and $7 billion too late.
HART’s new CEO, Lori Kahikina, former Honolulu planning director under Mayor Kirk Caldwell, has fired nearly half the rail agency’s staff to eliminate “redundancies and inefficiencies” as the project faces a $3.68 billion deficit and 12-year delay with construction indefinitely stalled at Dillingham Boulevard….
The Hawaii Government Employees Association is grieving the firings, and the Federal Transit Administration has concerns.
Much grousing involves the loss of “institutional memory” from the firings in a project that’s ballooned from $5.2 billion in cost to $12.4 billion across multiple regimes of mismanagement.
What a shame HART will lack bureaucrats knowledgeable about how to miserably fail at completing the transit line from Kapolei to Ala Moana Center despite two state bailouts.
What a loss HART won’t have “experts” who can coordinate past misinformation they spread about rail with new lies.
The most valid concern about the housecleaning is that it partly involves replacing devotees of former Mayor Mufi Hannemann with allies of Caldwell; it’s a coin flip as to which is more responsible for Oahu’s rail disaster….
The FTA has put up $750 million of the $10 billion misspent on rail so far, and for this very minority contribution it demands final say on how to proceed over local taxpayers, who put up far more funding.
This is like a rich uncle contributing $750 to your $10,000 wedding and demanding veto power over every aspect from flower girls to pupu — and won’t let you move the party inside from the garden when torrential rain comes.
Now HART tells us this partner won’t contribute its remaining $750 million unless we cough up $3.68 billion more local money and spend it exactly as FTA says.
When HART board member Joe Uno recently tried to start discussion of a “Plan C” — an excellent idea given that the agency has no idea how it’ll cover its nearly $4 billion deficit and can’t even start planned interim service to Honolulu Stadium because faulty train wheels don’t fit track junctions — he was shot down by Chairman Tobias Martyn, who insisted HART must follow the letter of its “Full Funding Grant Agreement” with the FTA that has failed us so spectacularly..
Seeing where our kowtowing to the FTA has gotten us so far, perhaps it’s time to tell Uncle Rich that we’ll take it from here and conclude the sputtering project in whatever way best suits our changing needs.
We can leave our congressional delegates, who claim new empowerment in Democratic Washington, to dissuade FTA from penalizing us for seeking our best way out of this dreadful mess it helped create….
read … We don’t need Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s memory of rail’s institutional failure
Shameless: 16-yr old kid killed after 30 arrests and no jail--but ACLU Hawai'i pushes to continue early-inmate releases
KITV: … group says the DPS has "utterly failed to implement adequate COVID-19 safety procedures."…
Best Comment: “Iremamber Sykap, 16, was arrested more than 30 times before being shot by HPD -- if he had been jailed, he would be alive today. The ACLU is responsible for his death.”
read … ACLU Hawai'i pushes to continue early-inmate releases
Home schooling rates soar during pandemic in Hawaii and nationally
SA: … “We are doing it because it aligns with our family’s values,” she said. “Other people are doing it because virtual school isn’t working for their children.”
The rate of U.S. households who home school doubled from 5.4% to 11.1% between April and October of last year, according to Census Bureau Household Pulse Surveys tracking the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey clarified it was focused on true home schooling rather than “virtual learning” from home through a public or private school.
Survey results differed widely across the states. Hawaii’s home-schooling rate rose from 4.5% to 8.1%, while California’s stayed relatively flat at 8.6% to 8.7% and Massachusetts’ soared from 1.5% to 12.1%.
Part of the reason for the rising numbers may be fears of contracting coronavirus at school campuses, while other families may have balked at the hours of screen time in “distance learning” for their kids and decided they could do a better job themselves….
read … Home schooling rates soar during pandemic in Hawaii and nationally
North Shore residents raise concerns about proposed military missile radar
KHON: … The public has until Monday, April 12, to voice their concerns for the potential projects.
The site at the Kahuku Training Center sits in Waiale’e, above the area referred to as Velzyland on Oahu’s North Shore….
“They’re going to be clearing 160 acres, that’s a lot of acres, a lot of animals, and a lot of owls that will lose their homes,” said resident Lynell Damate, who is also a part of the Koolau-Waialua alliance….
TGI: Missile-defense comment period ends Monday
read … North Shore residents raise concerns about proposed military missile radar
State ordered to pay $370K in attorneys fees in DHHL Waitlist case
SA: … The state is poised to pay $370,418 in attorneys fees after losing a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 2,700 Native Hawaiians who spent years languishing on the waitlist for homestead land.
read … Pay
Homeless Drug Addicts Rob Graves in Pearl City
KITV: … Pearl City Neighborhood Board Chair Larry Veray says conditions at the cemetery worsened in recent years and during the pandemic.
"There's a lot of transients that come through the cemetery. And unfortunately they pillaged the cemetery, breaking into the mausoleums the crypts, they've actually stole jewelry off the bodies," Veray said.
Other issues include crumbling walls, stolen bronze urns, a hive of bees in a crypt, an encampment and now graves are sinking….
read … More Homeless Mayhem
Legislative News:
Corona Virus News:
QUICK HITS: