A Year After Hawaii Fire, Rebuilding Has Barely Begun
Hawaii wants to force an oil ban on the rest of the country
Cockfighting ban legal in Northern Mariana Islands under federal law, Ninth Circuit says
Hawaii Second Amendment Rights Advocates Openly Carry Swords, Battle-Axes In Public To Celebrate New Law
Maui Officials Plot to Eliminate Front Street Lahaina
CB: … Front Street in Lahaina also fits into the category of a problem roadway. Molina’s crews are fixing sea walls, wave deflectors and railings on the historic street, devastated by the country’s worst wildfire in more than a century on Aug. 8, 2023.
The Front Street repairs are happening against the backdrop of a wider discussion at the county level about where and how to rebuild the famous street that was populated by art galleries, open-air restaurants, shave ice shops, gift stores and more before the fire.
Should Front Street revert to the way it was pre-fire given that it’s forecast to be underwater by the end of the century? Should it be moved back and out of harm’s way now? Or can it be built in such a way to coexist with inundation?
At public meetings at the Lahaina Civic Center and elsewhere, planning department officials have said the future of Front Street and other coastal properties is under consideration and they welcome property owners to meet with them and discuss what’s possible in Lahaina’s rebuilding process….
Maui County recently adopted new shoreline setback rules that took effect Sunday. The updated rules say, among other things, that new buildings cannot be constructed in what is predicted to be the inundation zone: the places expected to be covered by several feet of ocean water by 2100. Property owners can seek exemptions and those requests would be reviewed by the volunteer Maui Planning Commission, which has authority to make decisions about development in shoreline and Special Management Areas….
(CLUE: Sea level rise is 1.5mm per year. It will be 150mm in 100 years = 6 inches. Source: NOAA)
read … Government Bureaucracy Complicates Maui's Response To Sea Level Rise - Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawai‘i’s Condo Insurance Crisis Is Now Hurting -- Sales Down 48%
HB: … Sales fell 48% in Waikīkī and 38% in Makiki-Mō‘ili‘ili in June. Both neighborhoods have lots of underinsured, older condo buildings….
Honolulu’s condominium market is starting to show the effects of skyrocketing insurance rates for homeowners associations: The number of condo sales in June was down nearly 25% from June 2023, even though more units were for sale than at any time in the last three years….
An estimated 400 condo associations on O‘ahu have elected to carry less than 100% replacement coverage on their master insurance policies, which means they won’t have enough money to rebuild if their properties are damaged or destroyed in a hurricane or other disaster. Some associations have secured insurance coverage on the pricey secondary market, but that means condo owners must deal with higher maintenance fees or assessments to pay for it, in addition to the premiums on their individual homeowners insurance known as HO6 policies.
Local banks, in most cases, won’t take the risk to lend on units in underinsured buildings. That makes it difficult, if not impossible, for buyers without access to large amounts of cash to buy condos in those buildings and puts sellers in a similar pickle. Some buyers have canceled sales after going into escrow because they weren’t able to secure their mortgages.
“My intuition is we’re going to definitely see this reflected in the market in the next six months,” says Fran Gendrano, president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors….
The impact is already starting to show in the board’s monthly reports. The O‘ahu condo market, while battered by rising interest rates over the past two years, had shown some recovery in four of the first five months of 2024.
But then condo sales on O‘ahu dropped 24.5% in June, compared to the same month in 2023, and were down 25.7% from May. Larger drops occurred in neighborhoods with the largest concentrations of condo buildings on the island and many older buildings. In Waikīkī and Makiki-Mō‘ili‘ili, sales plunged 48% and 38%, respectively.
Islandwide in June, the decline in the number of condos that sold was largest among condos that sold for less than $700,000, according to Honolulu Board of Realtors statistics. That month, the number of units sold for $500,000 to $599,999 fell 37% compared with June 2023, while the number sold for $600,000 to $699,999 dropped 48%.
Even sales of units that sold for less than the median price of $530,000 fell. The number of units that sold for $300,000 to $399,999 dropped 31.6% in June, and the number that sold for $400,000 to $499,999 declined by 24.4%....
Some local credit unions are still providing some first mortgages and home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, for condos that don’t carry 100% replacement coverage. But that’s on a case-by-case basis and comes at a premium. Big banks are not….
Gendrano notes that the condo insurance problem is not unique to Hawai‘i. Condo communities in Florida, Maryland and California have also been hit with skyrocketing premiums.
She says the government needs to do something because affordability is being wiped out by the higher insurance premiums and limited access to mortgages. Differing bills that addressed the issue (House Bill 2686 and Senate Bill 3234) passed in their chambers this year, but a conference committee in the final days of the legislative session failed to find a compromise.
House Speaker Scott Saiki didn’t rule out a special session to reconsider the issue, but at this point there seems to be little momentum to call lawmakers back before January….
read … Hawai‘i’s Condo Insurance Crisis Is Now Hurting Sales
Let’s Do For Hawaii’s Nurse Shortage What We Did For Our Doctor Shortage
CB: … license recognition is a process whereby states recognize and honor valid licenses issued by any other state. As Grassroot Policy Director Malia Hill explained in her February 2023 report “How changing Hawaii’s licensing laws could improve healthcare access,” this is what Gov. David Ige provided for in his COVID-19 emergency executive proclamations starting in April 2020.
Another option is license reciprocity, whereby individual states enter into agreements with other states on a case-by-case basis to mutually accept each other’s nursing licenses.
Either option would be more effective than current practices. But perhaps the simplest legislative decision would be for Hawaii to join the NLC.
Rather than a Band-Aid approach, reintroducing and passing the NLC legislation could have the longest lasting impact on the state’s healthcare shortage by opening up our healthcare facilities to nurses from more than 40 other states and territories….
read … Let’s Do For Hawaii’s Nurse Shortage What We Did For Our Doctor Shortage
Some schools go "old school" when it comes to cellphones in the classroom
KITV: … At Iolani School, students return to the classroom with a change in the schools cellphone policy.
"In our lower school, you couldn't bring your phone to school. This year we've extended that to grades seven through nine.
So you can't use your cell phone on campus during the school day. And we're spending the year talking to the 10 through 12th graders about how we might do something similar for them moving forward," said Timothy Cottrell, the Head of Iolani School….
Hawaii's public schools leave the decision over cellphones up to individual schools and teachers.
"Our school has taken the stance for more than a decade that we will not allow students to use cell phones as soon as they're on campus," stated Aaron Kubo, a teacher at Hilo Intermediate….
read … Some schools go "old school" when it comes to cellphones in the classroom
Out on State Bail: Now facing federal charges in game room robbery
SA: … Three men are facing federal charges after they allegedly robbed an illegal gambling operation on Kawaiahao Street at gunpoint early Thursday morning.
Rogelio Tadeo-Burrows, 24; B.J. Bakol, 19; and Joseph Konno III, 19, are charged by federal criminal complaint with Hobbs Act robbery and using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
The Hobbs Act prohibits actual or attempted robbery or extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce “in any way or degree,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice….
Tadeo-Burrows had posted $100,000 (STATE) bail Aug. 9 and was awaiting trial in connection with charges stemming from a November incident, according to state court records.
In that state case, Tadeo-Burrows was charged with place to keep pistol or revolver, ownership of an automatic firearm with detachable ammunition magazines, and criminal trespassing….
(Once again the feds doing the job the State Judiciary just won’t do.)
read … 3 face federal charges in game room robbery
BWS Consultants: Thousands Of Navy Water Tests After The Red Fuel Leak Are Invalid
CB: … Two separate lab-testing consultants hired by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply are challenging the Navy’s assertion that the elevated levels of petroleum it detected in drinking water samples last year around Pearl Harbor were merely false positives.
Further, those outside experts say a full two years’ worth of water quality testing conducted by the Navy is invalid because it had failed to follow a key step laid out by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Navy collected those 8,000 or so water samples after the 2021 jet fuel leaks from its massive, underground tanks at Red Hill. The spill contaminated the military’s nearby water system used by more than 90,000 people to drink, bathe and clean ….
A key flaw in the Navy’s approach was that it failed to remove residual chlorine from its drinking water samples as part of the process, Winkler told BWS….
HNN: Drinking water expert, residents concerned about lead detections in Navy tap
read … BWS Consultants: Thousands Of Navy Water Tests After The Red Fuel Leak Are Invalid
DOE contracts with Roberts Hawaii for school bus drivers to expire in October
KITV: … Hawaii Department of Education contracts with Roberts Hawaii are totaled $500,000 to provide bus rides to public school students.
The State made three contracts to find a solution to the school bus driver shortage. This provides school bus service to students on the Big Island, Maui and Oahu.
The contracts with Roberts Hawaii are expected to expire on Oct. 1, 2024. In October, that is also when the Governor’s emergency proclamation is set to end. If needed, the contracts could be extended.
After the contracts took effect, the DOE restored at least 50 suspended school bus routes ….
read … DOE contracts with Roberts Hawaii for school bus drivers to expire in October
Fatal Kauai Helicopter Crash Intensifies Spotlight On Air Tour Industry
CB: … A week before the crash, one federal agency criticized another for allowing risky practices and inadequate communication in the Hawaii air tour industry ….
read … Fatal Kauai Helicopter Crash Intensifies Spotlight On Air Tour Industry
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