Bra and Panty Birthday Parties: Lawsuit Details Work Life at Hawaii DOBOR
Hawaii Towns with Highest & Lowest Credit Scores
More Red Light Cams Activated
Hawaii taxpayers shell out more than $5,500 in state and local taxes
Hawaii Population Declines 0.8% During COVID
Donovan Dela Cruz Controls The Money And The Power At The Hawaii Legislature
CB: … On Thursday morning WAM will announce its action on the state’s two-year, $37 billion budget, a spending plan likely to hold over $1 billion to fund a range of projects that include repairing dilapidated facilities, protecting threatened natural resources and paying for affordable housing projects.
The budget — House Bill 300, which passed the full House March 15 — helps pay for not only the needs of the state for the two years beginning July 1 but also the wish lists of the new Green administration and all 76 members of the House and Senate. Any differences will need to be hashed out in the coming days with the House Finance Committee and its chair, Kyle Yamashita.
On Friday morning WAM will consider Gov. Josh Green’s appointment of Sabrina Nasir to be deputy director of the Department of Budget and Finance.
That afternoon, the Senate Water and Land Committee will consider Green’s nomination of Dawn Chang to lead the Department of Land and Natural Resources….
Given the Senate’s rejection of three previous Green appointees this session, there is some anxiety over the confirmation chances of Nasir and Chang. And Dela Cruz has not yet scheduled a hearing on Nasir’s boss, B&F Director Luis Salaveria….
under Dela Cruz WAM seems more about transactional politics — “What can you do for me?” — rather than public policy…
WAM has 13 members and includes Dela Cruz allies Michelle Kidani, Glenn Wakai and Donna Mercado Kim….
2017: DTL/WCIT: It Sure Does Pay off to Keep a Senator and BLNR Member on the Payroll
SA: Past Hawaii governors also hit nomination roadblocks
SA: Green’s Cabinet nominees face tough slog in Hawaii Senate
read … Donovan Dela Cruz Controls The Money And The Power At The Hawaii Legislature
Carpenters Union Fights Against Pre-Fab Affordable Housing
CB: … The Hawaii County Council recently smoothed over the building codes for factory-built housing in a county that forecasts a need for up to 13,500 new houses by the end of the decade.
It’s also expanding its planning and permitting team.
The county is now currently reviewing 81 building permits for prefabricated dwellings, with a list of 18 pre-approved models that it already has on its books.
Now, according to a county spokesperson, if a house design is already approved, site plans are approved within six days….
PM aims to construct a larger, dedicated facility to help prefabricate the housing, to be transported and constructed on site.
HPM and fellow building supplier Honsador Lumber, of Oahu, have remained in steady conversation with the county to make that happen….
HPM is confident its modular, prefabricated housing units will be “well below” Big Island’s $200 to $450 per-square-foot building costs…
Pacific Resource Partnership — the partnership between the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters and more than 200 other contractors — is concerned that factory built housing has a competitive advantage over traditional “stick built” housing controlled by building codes.
(Translation: We paid good money for these politicians and we expect them to kill this proposal.)
PRP Government Relations Manager Christopher Delaunay says the idea that factory construction is a “silver bullet” for Hawaii’s housing market is misplaced, given the costs associated with land, shipping, transportation and following government regulations.
(Translation: We paid good money for these politicians and we expect them to kill this proposal.)
While Delaunay says PRP embraces new technologies to find efficiency, it should not come at the potential cost of jobs and good wages….
(Translation: We paid good money for these politicians and we expect them to kill this proposal.)
read … Pre-Fab Housing May Finally Be A Viable Option For Big Island Farmers Trying To House Workers
Next Boondoggle: City kicks off $43M renovation of aging Blaisdell campus
HNN: … The city is about to embark on a $43 million renovation project of the Neal Blaisdell campus, which includes the arena, exhibition center, and concert hall….
Take the doors for example. “They’re a little creaky, they don’t work very well…
It’s a complete makeover that includes changes to electrical infrastructure, exhibition hall suites, plumbing, air conditioning, and backstage accommodations.
“The fire protection has been the biggest challenge because it’s the original system and you can’t add anything to it anymore and it’s getting very hard to find replacement parts,” said John Condrey, architect with the city’s Department of Design and Construction.
“Electrical is another big challenge….
Some work is already underway, but parts of the campus will soon be shut down:
The arena will be closed from May to November;
The exhibition hall from June to August;
and the concert hall will close its doors for a year on July 1.
Details and updates on closures can be found by clicking here….
SA: $43.6M makeover to start at Blaisdell
read … City kicks off $43M renovation of aging Blaisdell campus
Marijuana Bills: Dispensaries Target Bumpy Kanahele’s Gigantic N. Shore Grow Op
HNN: … the farm’s critics say Hawaii’s licensed and regulated cannabis dispensaries are an essential service and are threatened by large shared grow sites, which don’t have the same regulation as dispensaries.
“We all know that cannabis is still a harmful product,” said House Health Chair Della Belatti. “That’s the reason why we have dispensaries. That’s why we have the medical cannabis laws.”
The issue has led to heated testimony at House and Senate hearings.
At a recent hearing Brian Goldstein, the founder of dispensary Noa Botanicals, told senators he checked out Care Waialua personally.
“I can tell you I walked into this facility, signed a couple of pieces of paper and was welcomed to purchase cannabis within about 15 minutes of arrival,” Goldstein said.
“So this is not a cooperative. This is an unlicensed and unregulated dispensary.”
Hanley said like other new patients who sign on, once a they register as a grower with the farm, they can be given access to plants that are ready for harvest.
The popularity of the shared sites, which exist on every island on a much smaller scale, may be luring patients away from the dispensaries.
The Health Department said most of the state’s cardholders are not buying from dispensaries.
The hearings are seeing growing numbers of Care Waialua supporters coming forward.
At a recent House hearing, Dennis “Bumpy” Kanahele ― founder of the cultural village Pu’uhonua o Waimānalo ― said 100 cardholders from his Waimanalo village joined Care Waialua.
“We used to have a grow there,” Kanahele said. “We stopped because of Jason (Hanley), his expertise, the quality of medication, and a whole bunch of other things that is unseen. A lot of work went into that place.”
There were also accusations of unfair influence.
Al Keaka Medeiros, an advocate for traditional agriculture, said dispensaries’ political donations are buying them protection from competition.
“This shows a list of many different politicians and senators who are being bought out by these dispensaries,” he said, naming Sen. Joy Buenaventura and Belatti, who responded in an interview….
After the Health Department proposed that cooperative farms be limited to five cardholders, lawmakers upped the numbers. The House would allow up to 20 growers, the Senate 50.
But either number would effectively shut down Care Waialua’s 1,000-patient site, according to Joseph Rosenbaum, attorney for Care Waialua and other legal cannabis companies….
2018: Dope Magazine Tours Bumpy's Marijuana Grow-Op
read … Contentious measures threaten future of 1,000-patient medical marijuana farm on Oahu
Methamphetamines News: The Homeless Are Changed for the Worse
CB: … Fifteen or so years ago, a homeless Vietnam vet named Mark would regularly hang around and sleep near Kumu’s entrance. He joined in the conversations, and sometimes someone would give him something to eat.
He and Kumu’s staff had a deal. Mark would be gone for every performance from an hour or so before the house opened until well after the audience left.
He was social, compliant and easy to be around — an uninvited but generally accepted guest.
Over the years, after Mark left, there have been some incidents and some trespass orders involving other homeless people near and at the theater.
Now, on most nights there are two or three homeless people around. They sleep only around the dark edges of the building. No one makes eye contact with them or even knows if they are the same ones every time. They are dark shapes and shadows as we look the other way.
Kumu Kahua Theatre on Merchant Street in Honolulu is frequented by a few homeless people. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2023)
The theater staff is more wary and less willing to develop the kind of relationship Mark had with them.
The present Kumu staff are as passive as Mark was engaging. Mark was homeless but he was also Mark. The new ones are simply homeless. They are anonymous.
One of the theater’s stage entrances is on the side of the building off Bethel. To use that entrance, actors must walk outside and around the corner.
The only worry used to be whether an actor would get there in time to make an entrance. Now there is a well-organized buddy system of actors. No one goes to or leaves the Bethel entrance alone at any stage of the play.
And Sunday shows, which hardly ever used to sell out, are now the hottest ticket because they are matinees.
Kumu’s surroundings are now less inviting. The pocket park next to the theater used to be a busy place for dog walkers and a nice side show for the actors and patrons before they went into the theater. Not anymore. The park now has closing hours. The lady who used to bring her small dogs over in the saddlebags of her moped is long gone.
It’s a different feeling all around, one that depends much more on distancing and caution….
read … Theatergoers Need To Get Comfortable With Chinatown's Homeless People
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