Sylvia Luke Buys Lt Governorship by Giving Lots of Money to HSTA
Immigration Fraud Plea Bargain in Philippine Church Case
Justice Department Alleges Disability Discrimination in Hawaii Condos
BWS: 5-7 Years of ‘No Development’ While New Well Comes Online
CB: … Where that contaminated groundwater is headed is a matter of debate.
The Navy has maintained for years that the water under its facility moves from the mountain to the ocean and would not threaten the civilian water source as long as its own Red Hill well was pumping water.
But earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Health officially rejected the military’s groundwater flow model that had been submitted in 2020 and ordered the Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency to make corrections.
“The Navy’s model is not what is being observed in the field,” said Erwin Kawata, a program administrator for the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.
One of the groundwater flow scenarios submitted by the Navy shows water flowing toward Pearl Harbor. It’s not necessarily the flow of contamination, which will be addressed in a future study. April Estrellon/Civil Beat/2022
Understanding Red Hill’s groundwater flow will be a critical factor in the Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s decision on whether to reopen the three wells near the Navy’s Red Hill shaft, BWS officials said. That includes the Halawa Shaft, which provided 20% of the supply for the region spanning Moanalua to Hawaii Kai.
BWS, unable to make up the difference with its remaining wells, has called on residents to conserve water and warned of impending shortages that could impact daily life and the island’s economy. New wells could take five to seven years to get online, and BWS Chief Engineer Ernie Lau has said he will not reopen the closed wells until he is certain the water pumped from them will be clean….
(IQ Test: Does it really take 5-7 years to drill and connect a new well?)
HNN: The Navy is working to install 18 additional monitor wells to test for contamination.
SA: Give BWS veto power over land development
read … Where Is The Red Hill Contamination Moving? Experts Are ‘Working Blind’
‘Affordable Housing’--Palolo Homes Center of $80M Extortion Scheme?
SA: …David Nakamura, executive director of the Mutual Housing Association of Hawaii, a local nonprofit affordable-housing development firm established in 1994, said he was stunned when what he described as attempted extortion occurred with Palolo Homes.
“It was traumatic,” he said of the ordeal, which led to litigation and could have resulted in lost jobs for his employees and financial hardship for around half the roughly 1,200 people living at Palolo Homes, where monthly rent ranges from $613 for one-bedroom units to $1,387 for five-bedroom units….
Palolo Homes dates back to the early 1950s and had long been an example of deplorable state-owned public housing. In 2002, Mutual Housing obtained a 55-year land lease for $1 a year, spent $17.5 million on renovations, followed by new programs for residents, and has managed the property where rents must remain affordable to low-income households throughout the lease term….
To help finance improvements, Verizon Capital Corp., though California-based Newport Fund 2000 LP, contributed $8.9 million in return for tax credits, according to Mutual Housing.
But after the 15-year period, Mutual Housing was rebuffed when it tried to acquire Newport’s partnership interest for no money based on IRS regulations.
Nakamura said Verizon/Newport objected to the nominal acquisition, and soon a new investor stepping into the Verizon/ Newport position, Denver-based Oceanside Capital Advisors LLC, sought over $80 million for the minority interest.
Oceanside, according to Nakamura, claimed that Mutual Housing violated its fiduciary duty to the partnership by not raising rents to maximum levels allowed under federal rules, and moved to oust Mutual Housing from control of Palolo Homes while also threatening to sue the nonprofit’s board for $30 million….
… State Rep. Nadine Nakamura (D, Hanalei-Princeville-Kapaa) introduced House Resolution 104 and House Concurrent Resolution 108 on March 11 in an effort to explore what can be done by state entities to prevent events similar to what happened with Palolo Homes….
read … Hawaii lawmakers look at preventing investor schemes on affordable housing projects
HTA ‘Regenerative Tourism’ Slush Fund --$250K Golf Tourney
SA: … The Hawaii Tourism Authority voted Thursday to move funding from its website budget so it could award a $250,000 sole-source contract to the 2022 Lotte Championship golf tournament — a controversial move that required the organization to seek an exemption from state procurement rules….
Several HTA board members said the decision was in the interest of forging future relationships with the Ladies Professional Golf Association and the Lotte Corp., a South Korean multinational conglomerate — brands it believes will be good partners in their efforts to grow “regenerative tourism.”…
Some critics say HTA’s decision to provide eleventh- hour funding to the Lotte comes across as somewhat tone-deaf. HTA is adjusting to its first year under state procurement rules while battling the Legislature to keep its $60 million budget.
Legislators in 2021 took out their frustrations about over-tourism by overriding Gov. David Ige’s veto of House Bill 862….
This year the state House of Representatives allotted HTA $1 to pay for its operations and eliminated all money for staffing in the version of the state budget that it transmitted to the Senate. The House’s version also allocated $1 for the Hawai‘i Convention Center and $1,000 to fix its roof.
The Senate Committee on Ways and Means has the measure and is expected to make a decision on it Tuesday.
HB 1785 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts and the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
Wakai said it’s problematic that HTA decided to fund the Lotte, even though the LPGA event was already coming to Hawaii this year.
“The request came very late, and the event is going to happen anyway,” he said. “We are going to get the free visibility anyway. We don’t have to put public funds into this tournament.”
Moriwaki said HTA’s decision to move funding from their GoHawaii.com budget for a last-minute golf request is an example of why lawmakers need to put controls on the agency’s spending.
“It’s ridiculous. (Their budget) is not a slush fund,” she said.
read … Slush Fund
Hawaii legislators consider allowing corrupt DPP to seize properties without court proceedings
SA: … To crack down on problem properties that rack up thousands of dollars in building violation fines, a bill at the state Legislature would allow counties to proceed through the foreclosure process without going to court.
The bill is raising concerns, however, about how it would be enforced and what it would mean for private property owners’ rights.
House Bill 1434 is part of Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s legislative package, with support from the city Department of Planning and Permitting….
read … Hawaii legislators consider allowing foreclosure on problem properties without court proceedings
Hu Honua price increases to consumers would be locked in for 30 years
CB: … “If the agreement is approved, it’s going to result in a price increase for consumers on Hawaii island,” said Dean Nishina, executive director of the Division of Consumer Advocacy, in an interview Friday.
“That’s not to say that when the commission is looking at renewable energy projects they can’t consider higher short-term costs, as long as there’s some reasonable expectation that the overall benefits of the project will actually benefit the consumers,” he said.
In Hu Honua’s case, the price increases to consumers would be locked in for 30 years.
“We’re telling the commission, ‘Hey, if you can’t verify that these benefits are going to be realizable … you should have questions and concerns about this project,'” Nishina said.
Why would higher-cost energy over the long term be a good thing and why would the commission authorize that? To critics, it’s a head-scratcher.
But proponents point to Hawaii’s stated goal of becoming 100% powered by renewable energy by 2045….
SA Column: Local forestry industry requires a biomass power facility
read … Hawaii Consumer Advocate Opposes Bioenergy Power Plant On Big Island
Anti-GMO Activists Fail in attempt to Exploit Audit of ADC
CB: … What remains alive this session is a Senate bill, introduced by Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, that will pull the beleaguered agency out from under the Department of Agriculture and move it to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
That measure is set for decision-making Tuesday before the House Finance Committee. Senate Bill 2473 has been panned by critics, who believe that transferring ADC to DBEDT would fundamentally change the corporation’s priorities, disenfranchise small farmers and herald a list of unintended and unforeseen consequences….
The (anti-GMO fruitcakes of) Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action was among those opposing the measure, contending the bill would be a waste of the audit’s work and findings….
read … ‘Business As Usual’ For The Embattled Agribusiness Development Corporation?
$47M a Year for ‘Free’ Dental Care
SA: … State House and Senate proposals to restore Medicaid dental coverage for more than 200,000 eligible recipients — after state funds were stripped 13 years ago — have received universal written support from state agencies, Hawaii’s major health care organizations, private dentists and their associations, medical clinics in Waianae and Waimanalo, and social service agencies serving the needy, seniors and the disabled….
The state funds would be augmented by federal money under the latest versions of Senate Bill 1294 and House Bill 1754.
Under the most expensive proposal, the state would contribute $16.1 million, with an additional $31.3 million from the federal government….
read … Support is overwhelming to restore cuts to Medicaid dental care coverage
New jail should be part of reform
SA Editorial: … The problems of the Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) are old, almost as old as the 47-year-old facility itself. Just nine years after OCCC opened in 1975, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit challenging its overcrowding and inadequate safety and programs.
There have been improvements over the years, but the state has been unable to get ahead of the deterioration, despite subsequent federal interventions. The organization’s most recent calls for review were made more broadly for the state corrections system as a whole.
These include a 2017 complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice seeking more investigations into persistent overcrowding and poor conditions. In 2021, the ACLU filed a court brief urging the Hawaii Supreme Court to continue oversight more specifically of the system’s management of COVID-19, given the chronically over-capacity jails and prisons.
With such a history of substandard conditions at OCCC, this seems the wrong moment simply to slam the brakes on a project that aims, at long last, to replace the facility in a new location….
Already the state House has stripped the budget proposal of the $15 million Gov. David Ige had requested to develop a detailed request for proposals to replace OCCC. That removal was led by state Rep. Sylvia Luke, who wields enormous power as chair of the House Finance Committee. Luke is also a candidate for lieutenant governor, and has campaigned on putting reforms ahead of a new facility….
“Before moving ahead with plans for a costly new jail, Hawaii must dramatically change its approach to corrections,” said Carrie Ann Shirota, ACLU of Hawai‘i policy director, in testimony on the now-stalled House Bill 2516, which would bar planning, design or construction of a new jail unless the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission participates….
read … New jail should be part of reform
California Criminal Comes to Maui, Stabs Neighbor, Gets Probation Again
MN: … Hamman said Martinez has convictions in California for serious violent offenses and has a “horrendous criminal record.”
“If I look at your record and I look at this offense, it appears that you are a risk to the community,” she told Martinez….
Hamman noted that in his youth, Martinez was in prison “for horrible crimes.”
She said he was on parole in California when he left without permission and came to Maui.
Defense attorney John Parker said (claimed) Martinez has a serious health condition (and the Court believed him) that was a factor in reaching the plea agreement. While he was in jail in the assault case, Martinez was (got himself) sent to an Oahu facility for months so he could receive ‘critical’ treatment, Parker said (without laughing out loud)….
read … Man arrested for stabbing neighbor placed on probation
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