Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission: Republicans OK as long as they don’t spend any money defeating Hawaii Democrats
Maui County Releases Draft of Lahaina Long-Term Recovery Plan
SD22: Star-Adv Endorses DeCorte for Waianae Senate Seat
SA: … District 22 (Ko Olina, Nanakuli, Maili, Waianae, Makaha, Makua): To be blunt, much of this district is in crisis, with widespread homelessness, crowded roadways, inadequate affordable housing, and problems with drug use, guns and violence. Given the lackluster attention provided to Waianae by the state as West Side problems have magnified, it’s time for fresh representation for this open seat. Samantha DeCorte is a worthy candidate — knowledgeable, assertive and persuasive — who lost by just 40 votes in 2022 to former Sen. Maile Shimabukuro, who’s not seeking reelection. Though running as a Republican, DeCorte’s platform could be mistaken for Democratic: She favors expansion of support for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; publicly funded child care; more resources and attention to security issues for public schools; a state crackdown on hard-to-trace “ghost guns”; and support for service agencies working with the homeless. Her Democratic rival is Cedric Gates, who vacated his House seat to make this run for Senate ….
Feb, 2024: Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day: City Clerk Plans to do it Again in 2024
read … Editorial: Leadership shuffle impacts key races
DHHL Burns $90M Finding Excuses to Not Build 600 Homes
SA: … Plans for a Native Hawaiian homestead community in Ewa Beach have been scaled back due to issues (illusions) including sea-level rise and flood risks that have inflated estimated development costs.
(CLUE: NOAA says sea level rise is 1.5 millimeters per year, not three feet.)
The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands intends to develop 220 single-family and 120 to 160 multifamily homes on less than half of an 80-acre site the federal government conveyed to the agency in 2021.
(80 acres flat with utilities in an existing neighborhood. How will they find a way to not build on this?)
Over the past couple of years, DHHL had projected being able to develop 600 single-family house lots on the land for $48 million. The new plan, laid out in a recent draft environmental assessment, is expected to cost close to $90 million for site work, which doesn’t include building any homes….
(TRANSLATION: We just talked 600 down to zero. And zero will cost $90M.)
(DO THE MATH: $90M/80ac = $1,125,000 per ac for so-called ‘site work’. 160 homes/80 ac = 2 houses per ac = $562,500 per house for ‘site work’. This is the cost of believing in the eco religion.)
(IDEA: Give me the 80 ac and $10M cash. I will thereby save DHHL $80M they can use to build 160 houses at $500K each.)
REALITY: Sea Level Trends - NOAA Tides & Currents
read … Sea-level rise risk erodes Hawaiian homestead plan
30-year waiting period behind poor affordable housing sales
SA: … HHFDC believes the poor sales at Sky are due largely to a city requirement that restricts buyers from selling their units for 30 years; this requirement, developers say, discourages first-time homebuyers who need the ability to “move up” as their housing needs change. This is why HHFDC has a 10-year restriction period.
It’s because of the 30-year restriction period that HHFDC had been reluctant to use the DEP program at Sky, doing so only after the city relaxed its restriction to match the state’s 10-year period….
read … Letter: HHFDC clears air over role in Sky Ala Moana | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Insurance Prices Threaten An Affordable Housing Oasis In Hawaii
CB: … Her house sits outside Pahoa Village in an area that was threatened by a lava flow from Kilauea volcano in 2014. The lava never reached her neighborhood, but the danger is ever-present and she now faces a new risk.
The price of her homeowner’s insurance soared from $1,500 in 2022 to $5,000 the next year. Heen couldn’t afford that, she said, so she took a risk. She scraped together $30,000 in mostly borrowed money to pay off her mortgage, so she could go without insurance….
Earlier this year legislators considered bills to make coverage through HIPA and the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund available to homeowners who can’t obtain insurance through the private market if that becomes necessary….
Puna, which at about 500 square miles is roughly the size of Oahu, was the site of an eruption in 2018 in Leilani destroyed more than 600 homes, beginning the exodus of private insurers and a reliance on the Hawaii Property Insurance Association….
read … Insurance Prices Threaten An Affordable Housing Oasis In Hawaii
State Thinks Its Multimillion-Dollar Food Hub Is Finally Happening
CB: … After failing for years to hire a contractor to construct a highly specialized food processing and preservation facility in Whitmore Village, the Agribusiness Development Corp. is on the cusp of finding a new outfit to do the work.
The $5.5 million-plus facility will be part of the 34-acre Central Oahu Agriculture and Food Hub, a project worth tens of millions of dollars.
The food hub will also include the Department of Education’s long-awaited centralized kitchen that will serve thousands of schoolchildren across Oahu. The DOE is in the final stages of signing a $28 million contract to build the kitchen.
Taken together, the hub will be a blueprint for other islands and will help reinvigorate Hawaii’s agriculture economy, some legislators have said….
SA: Honolulu Council members urge new agricultural task force | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … State Thinks Its Multimillion-Dollar Food Hub Is Finally Happening
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