ACLU Challenges HPD Drugged-Driving Arrests
Downtown Honolulu to Suffer Three More Years of HECO Outages -- Due to Corroded Transformers
IM: … The HECO, MECO, and HELCO distribution systems consist almost entirely of radial systems where there is one path of power to flow from the utility to the customer. The radial system can handle the failure of one system.
One exception is the Downtown Network in Honolulu. The Iwilei 138 kV Substation provides two underground pathways from the substation or from a transformer to each customer. Customers pay a surcharge for receiving higher reliability.
The Iwilei 138 kV Substation has significant redundancy within the design of the substation. The network can withstand a double problem. The substation has three transformers and three switchgears that are connected and operate in parallel. At current load levels, peak Downtown Network loads can be supported by a single transformer.
Due to multiple incidences of water ingress, all three switchgears have significant corrosion issues. Transformers at the substation started having problems in 2017. HECO wants to procure two transformers to be installed in 2027 and 2028. It takes 42 months from the time a transformer is ordered to get the transformer on island.
Chinatown merchants were upset with a three-day outage earlier this year….
(Too bad HECO spent every penny on the green energy initiative.)
read … HECO`s Redundant Downtown Honolulu Grid Breaks Down
Bill 60: Honolulu Council to vote on massive sewer fee hike
SA: … A city-initiated measure that calls for a more than 124% increase to sewer fees for Honolulu’s average single-family residential customer over a 10-year period comes under City Council review this week.
If approved, Bill 60 would see all of the city’s rate- paying customers have a total fee hike of 115% over the decade-long time frame, according to the city.
Starting July 1, the city’s plan to increase sewer fees will affect single-family residential customers — who consume 9,000 gallons of water a month toward sewer use, like flushing the toilet — as well as all other customer classes served by the city and county’s sewer system.
Overall, the city’s proposed sewer rate increases will start with a 9% annual adjustment for the first six years, followed by smaller increases of 8%, 7%, 6% and 5% in the final four years, officials said.
Currently, the city says, an average single-family residential sewer bill totals approximately $110.89 a month. By July 1 that bill would rise to $122.05 a month.
And by July 2034, the city predicts, the average monthly sewer bill will be $248.53 — a 124.1% increase from the current average sewer bill. Rate hikes for commercial or nonresidential customers mirror the increase to residents, city officials say.
The Council is expected to hold the first of three readings for Bill 60 on Thursday.
“Sewer fees are based in (city laws) and can only be updated through Council legislative action — the passage of a bill,” ….
read … Honolulu Council to review sewer fee hike measure
Bill 50: Why Can’t Downtown-Chinatown Have Block Parties Anymore?
CB: … Proposed new rules and regulations in Honolulu City Council Bill 50 may challenge the neighborhood’s most popular events….
read … Why Can’t Downtown-Chinatown Have Block Parties Anymore?
Maui County Looks To Extend Tax Exemptions For Wildfire Survivors
CB: … Tax exemptions are likely to be extended for people who lost their properties in the August 2023 Maui wildfires and owners of homes renting to survivors displaced by the disaster.
Two bills to accomplish that have been approved by the Maui County Council Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee and will go next to the full council.
Bill 147 brings a few amendments to the Maui County Code.
Properties that were either destroyed or located inside burn zones were totally exempt from property taxes for the fiscal year that began July 1. Under this bill those exemptions would be extended for a second fiscal year ending June 30, 2026.
This exemption costs the county $21.1 million annually, county Finance Director Marcy Martin told the council….
The second tax measure, Bill 153, extends the deadline for wildfire survivors to maintain their exemption from tax year 2024 for properties where improvements were destroyed or made uninhabitable by the wildfires. This exemption was previously set to expire at the end of this year….
read … Maui County Looks To Extend Tax Exemptions For Wildfire Survivors
Health care workers across major Maui hospitals go on strike
HNN: … Hundreds of nurses and other healthcare workers at major hospitals on the neighboring islands went on strike Monday morning….
“We gave them a proposal, and on Friday afternoon, they basically gave us that proposal back rejecting it, 100% rejection, and so we’re pretty frustrated; it’s a blatant disrespect of our time,” Maui Memorial Medical Center Nurse Melissa Robinson said.
Maui Health officials said they are currently offering an 18% wage hike over four years.
However, employees said their current offer does not address staffing levels, which is their main concern….
The strike is slated to end Thursday at 7 a.m….
The next round of talks is set for November 14th….
read … Health care workers across major Maui hospitals go on strike
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