Helicopter Association Slams Air Tour Plans for Hawaii National Parks
Silence is Golden--Literally: Few Council members comment on pay hikes
SA: … Less than a month remains before the Honolulu City Council sees a more than 64% pay boost and Mayor Rick Blangiardi and top city executives receive a nearly 12.6% salary increase.
In the meantime, following the Salary Commission’s April 25 adoption of the city’s 2024 fiscal year salary schedule, many on the City Council have largely remained silent on the subject of their pay raises, which would boost their salaries to $113,304, up from $68,904, and the Council chair’s pay to $123,288 from $76,968.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Wednesday asked all nine Council members where they stood on the salary issue and whether they will call for a public hearing on the pay raises before they take effect July 1.
Three of the nine Council members immediately replied — two in support of the pay increases and one who was not….
Vice Chair Esther Kia‘aina, representing District 3, which covers Windward Oahu from Ahuimanu to Waimanalo, said in her written response that although she preferred to see the Council salaries “phased in over time, I support the Salary Commission’s recommendation to account for the actual performance of our jobs and I think the basis of their recommendation is sound.”…
Council member Calvin Say, representing District 5, which covers Palolo Valley, St. Louis Heights, Manoa, Moiliili, McCully, Ala Moana, Makiki and portions of Kakaako, said he supports salary increases for those serving on the Council….
Council member Augie Tulba, representing District 9, which covers Waipahu, Iroquois Point, West Loch, Ewa Villages and portions of Ewa Beach, expressed his continued opposition to the roughly 64% Council salary increase….
The Council members who had not responded to the Star-Advertiser’s request for comment are Tupola, Waters, Matt Weyer, Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, Radiant Cordero and Val Okimoto….
PETITION: Tommy Waters - Let the people decide your 64% pay raise!!!
read … Only 3 of 9 Council members comment on pay hikes
Hundreds of tour boat jobs in peril
TGI: … Several Kaua‘i tour operators say they may be forced to shut down after a bill aiming to reduce the number of commercial use boating permits passed the state Legislature last month.
The legislation, House Bill 1090, would allow the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to reduce commercial boating operations throughout the state by canceling permits and reissuing them to various set limits. The DLNR says the bill would help manage overuse at some harbors due to concerns of increasing environmental impacts….
BH: Hawaii Boat Tours To Be Greatly Curtailed In Latest Measure
CB: Tour Boat Companies Say Bill To Beat Overtourism Would Sink Their Business
read … Hundreds of jobs in peril
Punatics and Grifters Protest Against Geothermal
HTH: … Others were less diplomatic, directly addressing Kaleikini as well as Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz, who also was in attendance.
“You’ve always been an Uncle Tom to me,” said (convicted drug dealer and thief) Palikapu Dedman to Kaleikini after critiquing the EIS’s failure to acknowledge the project’s impact on Native Hawaiians. “You’re like a Palestinian working for the Israelis.”
“Enough is enough, Mike!” shouted Emily Naeole, a longtime resident who said her daughter died of whooping cough, which she insinuated to have been caused by PGV. “Ashley Kierkiewicz, this is bull—-t! You think you’re better than us?
(Fun read: Naeole’s ex-husband domestic violence complaint … and More of the complaint.)
“Go home, PGV. We no like you,” Naeole concluded, to applause from attendees….
IM: Energy Equity & Puna Geothermal
CB: Longtime Geothermal Critics Refuse to Back Down As Puna Plant Eyes Expansion
read … Tempers flare at PGV meeting
Perfectly Good Telescope being Dismantled to Satisfy Activists: decommissioning to be complete by end of summer
HTH: … The decommissioning of the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory on Maunakea will no longer require several road closures.
CSO is the first of five Maunakea observatories slated for removal in exchange for the planned eventual construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. The decommissioning process will entail a full dismantling of the facility and the removal of its 34-foot primary mirror, which is to be sent to an observatory in Chile.
But where the removal of the mirror was previously expected to present a logistical challenge requiring an elaborate ballet of road closures, nighttime driving and practice runs, that process has been simplified, said CSO Director Sunil Golwala.
The original plan for removing the mirror was to keep it in one piece and transport it from Maunakea summit to Kawaihae Harbor, using a specialized trailer to carry the instrument and closing stretches of several roads in the process.
“We discovered that the cradle for the mirror we were going to use was not able to meet our needs,” Golwala said.
Instead, Golwala said, the mirror will be disassembled at the summit into four pieces small enough to fit into standard 40-foot-long shipping containers, obviating the need for any road closures….
read … Dismantling of CSO mirror to ease move; decommissioning to be complete by end of summer
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