25% of Hawaii DoE Students Chronically Absentee
Hawaii Budget Primer
Hawai‘i County Council takes big step toward adding more housing
Lahaina Fire: AG Report Shows Maui Officials Were Warned Again and Again—Did Nothing
Shapiro: … A great shame of 2023’s Lahaina fire, which killed 102, was that officials received the gift of all the information needed to avert tragedy but disregarded it and saw the horror unfold.
A similar 2018 wind-fueled wildfire burned 2,100 acres and destroyed 21 structures before being stopped frighteningly short of Lahaina town.
Instead of heeding the warning and taking measures to prevent future disaster, state and county emergency managers did little, according to the latest Maui fire report by the state attorney general.
An after-action report by Maui Emergency Management was never finished, and there was no sign other county or state agencies used lessons from the 2018 fire to address future risks.
When similar conditions developed in August 2023 with a hurricane passing south of Hawaii and sending us strong winds, the National Weather Service issued an unusually strong warning to Hawaii officials four days ahead of the Aug. 8 fire, the attorney general’s report said.
“Due to the exceptional certainty of the forecast models … the email was sent to provide unprecedented advance warning of the approaching fire weather,” the report said.
What did emergency managers do? “No evidence of pre-event preparedness plans by the Maui Fire Department were produced,” said the report, prepared for the attorney general by the Fire Safety Research Institute on a $4 million contract.
Maui’s top fire and civil defense officials were on Oahu for conferences the day of the fire. Mayor Richard Bissen was sporadically engaged.
After 2023’s trauma and further warnings that Hawaii is one of the U.S. states most vulnerable to wildfires as the climate warms, you’d think we’d have learned our lesson and been urgently planning for future threats.
But authorities appear to be devoting their best energy to covering their butts. Maui has stonewalled on turning over information to the attorney general and resisted interviews; Bissen agreed to an interview only if it wasn’t recorded.
The Attorney General’s Office has twisted itself into knots to avoid casting blame. A report by the Maui Fire Department and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to officially designate the fire’s cause still isn’t out in a delay that can only be described as foot-dragging….
In releasing the latest report, Attorney General Anne Lopez said, “This investigation serves as a wake-up call for the state and county governments to learn from the past and urgently prepare for the future.”
We’ve had many blaring wake-up calls for years; because we failed to actually wake up, 102 souls no longer have the chance to.
read … Volcanic Ash: We need a wake-up call to identify wake-up calls
What a Surprise: Artificially Imposed Water Restrictions mean more Lahaina Families Leaving Hawaii
CB: … It’s been more than a year since all of West Maui’s water users had to reapply to keep using water under a new state process that aims to better manage overtaxed streams and aquifers.
So far, none of the 115 applications filed under that Lahaina Aquifer Sector Water Management Area have come before the state’s powerful water commission. State officials now say they expect to bring the first group of water-use permits before the Commission on Water Resource Management for approval either late this year or in early 2025.
That timeline, following the wildfire- and staffing-related delays that already affected the review, has some Maui community members growing anxious. That includes affordable housing advocates worried about a continued exodus from the island by working-class families.
“I don’t think that the community anticipated how long it would take to receive and review and consider issuing permits,” Maui community advocate Kai Nishiki said.
The slow pace, she and others say, is delaying hundreds of urgently needed affordable housing units in the area, especially after the deadly wildfires that destroyed most of Lahaina last year.…
Nishiki and Maui council member Tamara Paltin, who represents West Maui, pointed to the upheaval surrounding the departure of Uyeno’s predecessor, former deputy director Kaleo Manuel, as another factor in the delay.
Manuel played a key role in establishing the special designation for West Maui’s limited water sources. He resigned in January in a swirl of controversy over a request to divert stream waters the day of the Aug. 8 wildfires in Lahaina….
Meanwhile, Paltin and others in the Maui community support changes to state law that would give CWRM more independence from DLNR and the governor, as well as more powers to its director. Such moves, Paltin said, could enable the commission to review and process (reject) water-use applications much faster (except for taro farmers who are a tourist attraction)….
MEANWHILE: Governor apologizes to former water commission deputy at Native Hawaiian Convention
read … Delays Hamper State Effort To Better Manage West Maui's Limited Water
Lahaina National Heritage Area is a tool for County, State to Seize Your Property
SA: … Although the designation doesn’t change how a property owner manages land under federal laws or regulations, “owners should keep in mind that state laws or local ordinances may affect National Heritage Areas if these legal mechanisms recognize and protect resources within the National Heritage Area, independent of federal law,” the NPS says on its website.
The U.S. law that creates a specific NHA can include provisions addressing concerns about the potential loss or restriction of private property, according to the website. Read more at 808ne.ws/3XrgdAU Opens in a new tab ….
May, 2024: Tokuda: Make Lahaina Federally Controlled 'National Heritage Area'
read … Kokua Line: Would U.S. heritage status affect private property in Lahaina?
Recession News: Protesters now run Tourism Industry, Mauna Kea, and Lahaina
CB: … Native Hawaiians now hold top leadership positions in tourism, Mauna Kea management and recovery efforts in West Maui after wildfires destroyed most of Lahaina in 2023.
It’s a scenario that seemed unlikely just five years ago after decades of Hawaiian-led protests over environmental issues, tourism and development culminated in a standoff on Mauna Kea between law enforcement and activists opposed to the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
There was the sense that Native Hawaiians weren’t given a seat at the table where decisions are made. Now, it seems, they run the show.
The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement wrapped up its annual conference at the Hilton Waikoloa on the Big Island last week. It was the largest gathering yet, with more than 2,000 attendees. Panel discussions explored what Native Hawaiian leadership would mean for the future of some of Hawaii’s biggest issues such as tourism and resource management.
(CLUE: They will line their own pockets. Tourists will stop coming. Lahaina will be stripped down to reinvent the ‘Venice of the Pacific.’ Hawaiians will move to Las Vegas. Telescopes will move to Chile. The military will pay more for land leases. Graft is not a plan for economic growth.)
While many of those initiatives are just getting started, conference attendees hope that the discussions will lead to a greater focus on caring for the land and its people cash flow for them too….
CNHA CEO Kuhio Lewis recalled organizing protests against tourism in Waikiki as a college student. “We still protesting guys,” he told a packed ballroom Thursday. “We’re just doing it at our computers and in boardrooms.”…
read … Convention Highlights New Prominence Of Hawaiian Leadership - Honolulu Civil Beat
How Maui County's Deed Restrictions May Be Affecting Access To Housing
CB: … The most important deed restrictions to know about are owner-occupancy requirements, buyback programs, equity sharing programs, and proximity-to-work requirements….
Maui’s current deed restriction policy is in Chapter 2.96 of the Maui County Code. But when first introduced in 2006, Maui County’s deed restrictions were more stringent. The county required any project with 10 or more units to provide 50% of units as affordable. These affordable units also had a 25-year deed restriction.
A lack of housing production led to loosening of the rules in 2014. Now, only 25% units need to be affordable. Of these affordable units, 30% are set aside for below-moderate income individuals (80-100% AMI) with a 10-year deed restriction attached to these units; 50% of units are set aside for moderate income individuals (100-120% AMI) with an eight-year deed restriction; and the last 20% are set aside for above-moderate income individuals (120-140% AMI) with a five-year deed restriction.
Maui County’s current deed restriction includes an owner-occupancy requirement, a buyback program, and an equity sharing program.
Maui’s Chapter 2.96 has not been without controversy. Some critics say that Maui’s deed restriction policy reduces production of housing. And these critics have a point….
read … How Maui County's Deed Restrictions May Be Affecting Access To Housing
Hawaii teacher: DOE is 'incompetent' amid payroll issue
KHON: … It is Lee Mauk’s first year teaching in Hawaii after a career in California and Kansas, but he is a month behind on Hawaii Department of Education paychecks. Mauk was given a $2,000 zero-interest loan for his August Pay and officials said two of his paychecks for September would clear on Friday, Sept. 20.
“So then I’m like, ‘Okay, well, maybe, maybe since they gave this loan, maybe they’re going to give it to me all on September 20th, right? The two payments.’ No, nothing,” said Lee Mauk, 8th grade science teacher at William P. Jarrett Middle School. “And we’re supposed to give that loan back in full by this pay period, which I have no plan of doing that.”
The HDOE informed the Teachers’ Union and the House Education Committee on Thursday, Sept. 19 that 419 public school teachers and 1,000 charter school teachers have been offered placeholder payments for their first two paychecks that must be paid back when their actual paychecks arrive.
“My whole thing is, how is it possible that we can pay them a supplemental paycheck, but not actually pay them their actual paycheck? It doesn’t make sense,” said Rep. Diamond Garcia of the House Education Committee.….
read … Hawaii teacher: DOE is 'incompetent' amid payroll issue (khon2.com)
Council approves ohana regulation changes
HTH: … The Hawaii County Council last week approved changes to the county’s regulations regarding ohana housing.
Bill 123’s most significant change allows up to three ohana units — now called “accessory dwelling units” or ADUs — to be built on a single lot, as long as that lot is within a zoning districts that permits ohana units. On lots where more than one primary dwelling is permitted, one ADU would be allowed for each primary unit….
Only one ohana unit on any given site would be permitted for use as a short-term vacation rental under the bill.
Other changes include the establishment of building requirements for ADUs, and the repeal of existing ordinances that require builders to obtain a separate ohana unit building permit in addition to a standard building permit to construct an ADU….
HPR: Hawaiʻi Island councilmembers expand number of allowable ADUs
read …Council approves ohana regulation changes
Supreme Court Orders new Trial in Tourist Murder
HNN: … The Hawaii State Supreme Court overturned Oscar Cardona’s guilty verdict and life sentence on Friday.
He was convicted of murdering a 19-year-old tourist in Waikiki three years ago.
Cardona claimed self-defense but was convicted in 2022.
But in a ruling Friday, the state Supreme Court overturned it, citing ‘prosecutorial misconduct’….
read … Man sentenced in 2021 Waikiki stabbing that left visitor dead (hawaiinewsnow.com)
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