Hawaii Claims the Highest Median Rent in the U.S.
What Happens when Hirono Retires from US Senate?
TGI: … Kawakami’s cut a deal with Senator Kouchi, and will run for Kouchi’s Kauai Senate seat (with Kouchi’s support) in 2026, and Kouchi will run for mayor (endorsed by Kawakami).
Kouchi ran for mayor in 2002, falling 1,657 votes short, and losing to Bryan Baptiste.
Further guessing and speculation: Kawakami will then sit comfortably in the Kauai Senate seat, awaiting the 2030 election cycle when both the lieutenant governor and the governor’s seats are “open.”
Still further wild-card guessing and total speculation: Recently re-elected to a 6-year term, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, who is 77, will one day retire. When she does, all hell will break loose on the political front.
Everybody and their mother will be seeking to take her place including but not limited to: Rep. Jill Tokuda, L.G. Sylvia Luke, and perhaps even Gov. Josh Green. To be clear there will be many names on this list (including a Republican or two) … but I’ll leave that speculation for another day.
Should Sen. Hirono retire “between elections,” Hawaii law says, “Pending the election, the governor makes a temporary appointment to fill the vacancy by selecting a person from a list of three prospective appointees submitted by the same political party as the prior incumbent.”
Such a retirement could be planned and timed in advance to “protect the seat” and assure whoever assumes the position is “the right person,” or the retirement could be sudden and unplanned due to health or other unforeseen circumstances.
Taking the speculation even further down the rabbit hole; Gov. Green could in theory appoint himself to the U.S. Senate seat, triggering the ascension of Lt. Gov. Luke to be governor. The Senate president by law would then assume the lieutenant governor’s seat….
read … HOOSER: Down the political rabbit hole
Child Welfare Services is doing almost everything wrong
CB: … Hawaii’s child welfare system is a disaster. It has been for a long time and as Civil Beat’s John Hill has shown in one of several stories, that includes state agencies clearly violating federal law.
A panel, the Malama Ohana Working Group, was created to examine the system and propose reforms.
The report is damning. It’s no exaggeration to say the child welfare services are doing very close to everything wrong, endangering children for sure.
Malama Ohana’s report says that the child welfare system “must be reimagined,” a namby-pamby way of saying things need to be changed from top to bottom. Legislators plan to hold a hearing about this.
What’s going to happen? First consider what should not happen but too often does: The public talks about it in terms of those lazy, incompetent bureaucrats more interested in protecting themselves and their bailiwicks than protecting the kids. Legislators use the hearings to make impassioned speeches about helping the keiki. The child welfare operation gets a portion of what they need. Everyone hopes for the best, but no one takes a deep look at how to make these changes and how to make them work….
PDF: MOWG+Report+Draft+11-19+final.pdf
read … Neal Milner: Firing Of UH Athletic Director Was By The Book. And That's OK
Maui Rents Jump 44%
CB: … with FEMA offering rates well above what residents typically paid each month in rent, some landlords kicked out tenants and housed wildfire survivors for more money. Local economists warned that rents could rise across the small island and that Maui’s housing crisis could intensify — and both have come to pass, Civil Beat and ProPublica found.
A study of the impact of emergency housing programs on Maui’s economy, commissioned by FEMA itself, found that median rent rose 44% from early 2023 to June 2024. Though researchers concluded that was primarily due to the loss of so much housing in the fires, they said anecdotal evidence and hundreds of complaints to state agencies indicated that “the behavior of some landlords may have changed” in response to FEMA’s high prices, leading to increased rents and displacement….
(CLUE: After mainland disasters, FEMA trailers begin arriving within days. But on Maui no FEMA trailers were requested by Green until one year after the fire. The first people are only moving in to them now.)
When it launched the program, the agency did instruct potential contractors to lease units “not available to the general public.” David Greenberg, the head of Parliament LLC, one of the companies FEMA hired, said in an email that the agency made it clear that leasing properties from landlords who had forced out tenants, even if the company didn’t know about it, would cause Parliament to lose its contract. He said his employees sought out properties advertised as vacation rentals and were instructed to “explicitly ask owners and property managers if there were any existing tenants.”
FEMA officials told Civil Beat and ProPublica that the 1,362 properties in the agency’s housing program were primarily vacation rentals and second homes, though they didn’t know exactly how many. They also said FEMA’s policy allows for flexibility; because housing on the island was limited and their program couldn’t meet survivors’ needs with vacation rentals alone, the agency allowed any property owner to sign up as long as the home was safe and ready for move-in….
PDF: Final Lahaina Wildfire Study with Foreword - July 2024 - DocumentCloud
read … FEMA’s Plan For Maui Wildfire Survivors Lacked Safeguards For Residents
Homeowner, 83, is first to rebuild in Kula after Maui wildfires
HNN: … Thomas Liu, 83, will spend his Thanksgiving in his newly built two-bedroom, two-bathroom cottage on Kulalani Drive. He’ll stay there until his main house is built on the same lot.
Twenty-six homes, including Liu’s, were destroyed in Kula during last year’s disaster.
Liu started building in June and passed his final inspection last week….
He’s grateful for how far he has come, and says it’s all thanks to the many hands that helped him.
He credits Maui County, the federal government, his neighbors, his general contractor, construction workers, volunteers and the permitting experts with 4leaf.
County officials say four Kula homeowners have permits for rebuilding so far and said nine permits are being reviewed….
MN: Blessing held for first Kula home to be rebuilt following 2023 wildfires : Maui Now
read … Homeowner, 83, is first to rebuild in Kula after Maui wildfires
Who needs Collective Bargaining? More Free Stuff for Teachers
SA: … More than a year after the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire displaced about a third of state Department of Education employees in West Maui, housing insecurity and financial challenges continue to threaten the department’s ability to retain and attract qualified educators.
Gov. Josh Green and DOE Superintendent Keith Hayashi on Friday announced two new teacher resiliency programs, including a $20 million workforce housing program and an initiative that rewards DOE employees in West Maui who played a critical role in keeping Lahaina schools open following the deadly disaster.
Green said a 47-unit rental housing complex will be built by Maui-based Dowling Co. using the state’s Major Disaster Fund and state capital improvement program funds.
According to the governor, displaced educators and new recruits will get priority for the below-market- priced rental housing, which is going up behind Lahainaluna High, Princess Nahi‘ena‘ena Elementary and Lahaina Intermediate schools. Green said some units will be available in July, with full completion by spring 2026.
The other initiative announced Friday is the HERO (Honoring Employees’ Resilience and Optimism) awards, providing selected DOE employees cash awards of $2,500 and $1,000, based on employment status.….
read … Below-market rentals, awards program support Lahaina educators
Importing Clean, Cheap Liquefied Natural Gas Faces Enviros Opposition
IM: … New efforts are underway to import LNG. The Hawaii State Energy Office is scheduled to release a report by the end of the year….
The Public Utilities Commission issued its comprehensive 189-page decision on March 7, 2024.
One month later, Governor Green suggested modifying the plan with the importation of LNG.
Energy industry stakeholders met at the Hawaiʻi Energy Conference held on Maui. On May 22, 2024, Hawaii Governor Josh Green asserted that economics might trump climate change, that the state should consider importing fracked liquefied natural gas (LNG). “We can’t let another 25,000 people leave the state. ALICE families. Our host culture. They are the first to go. We can’t let these people down.”
read … Importing Liquefied Natural Gas Faces Enormous Opposition | Ililani Media
Latest UH AD situation just long list of clown shows
SA: … Forget about who you think is right or wrong in the latest unintended dramedy. UH president David Lassner’s firing of athletic director Craig Angelos — a guy he hired 18 months ago — is just the latest in a long series of clown shows that take the stage when changes are made at AD or a high-level coaching position at Manoa….
“It seems they never learn,” said Carvalho, who added that the firing of football coach Dave Holmes, also in the mid-’70s, was very strange, too. “Incompetence, I don’t know what you call it. They consistently make the very worst moves at the very worst times. I’m not saying Lassner didn’t have the right to make the move he did, but it’s the worst thing at the worst time. It sounds like it’s pettiness, because (Angelos) stole his thunder by announcing the Mountain West move.”…
There have been so many other botched transitions since 1973 that drew public ire, some when trolls were just guys who lived under bridges and didn’t have Wi-Fi — so you can’t just blame the internet.
A few of the other lowlights: Basketball coach Riley Wallace was threatened with a “two-for-one” when he tried to stand up for football coach Bob Wagner at the announcement of his firing; football coach Greg McMackin was allowed to “retire” and “donate” half of his million-dollar buyout and pretend he wasn’t being fired; and — my personal unfavorite — a poorly written contract allowed fired basketball coach Gib Arnold to get paid for getting the program in trouble with the NCAA.
Which reminds me: Three years after Rocha was let go, the ‘Bows were on NCAA probation….
Rocha was described as a pawn in a power struggle between Cleveland and the Board of Regents, Hunter wrote.
When Angelos was hired in May 2023, you might recall, the Regents voiced their displeasure with Lassner’s providing them with just one candidate, Angelos, to consider. They ripped a faulty process, and three of the 11 did not say “yes” in the final approval vote.
The state legislature has been quiet this time around, but some of the lawmakers in ‘73 had plenty to say about what happened to Rocha.
State Rep. Jack Suwa said it was “very shady” in Hunter’s article.
Some of the regents threatened to fire Cleveland. One of them, Charles S. Ota, said the university was “a monster with no head.” ….
read … Latest UH AD situation just long list of clown shows
Former State Archaeologist Faces Ethics Probe Into Revolving Door Allegation
CB: … A former State Historic Preservation Division archaeologist faces an ethics investigation into an allegation he violated the state’s “revolving door” policy by going to work for a private business before a required one-year cooling off period.
The complaint alleges Andrew McCallister stepped down as a SHPD archaeologist on Maui in April, and soon after went to work for the development consulting firm AECOM — in some cases on the same projects he oversaw at SHPD.
“He is, in essence, reviewing and following the directives he wrote as a State employee,” Michael Dega, chief executive and principal investigator of Scientific Consultant Services Inc., in Honolulu, wrote in the complaint he filed with the state ethics commission….
read … Former State Archaeologist Faces Ethics Probe Into Revolving Door Allegation
Bird flu spreading in Hawaii for the first time
KHON: … “And the one we have right now is highly aggressive and especially extremely devastating to the poultry industry. It can kill almost all the birds in a flock very quickly when it gets into it,” said Feather & Fur medical director Dr. Brian Walsh.
Positive samples of avian flu from the Wahiawa wastewater facility were confirmed on Thursday, Nov. 7 and avian flu was detected just over a week later at a Wahiawa duck sanctuary.
Officials confirmed on Monday, Nov. 25 that a wild duck on Oahu’s north shore also tested positive for the virus — human symptoms should look something like a regular flu.
Experts said the disease likely came here through an infected bird that migrated.
“And so some duck managed — or some bird of some sort, we don’t really know, migratory bird — brought it to Hawaii. So, the odds of it having just gone only to that one sanctuary and not gone anywhere else is pretty low,” said Dr. Walsh ….
read … Bird flu spreading in Hawaii for the first time
At least $100K in transit fare revenue lost from cyber attack
SA: … A crippling cyberattack that targeted TheBus and TheHandi-Van earlier this year wound up costing the city $100,000 or more in lost fare revenues, Honolulu officials indicate.
Nearly a half-year later, Oahu Transit Services Inc., the private company that manages the city’s bus and paratransit system, said it’s still working on implementing cybersecurity measures to protect its fleet as well as its ridership.
Over several days in mid-June, OTS said, thebus.org website, HEA (also known as Honolulu Estimated Arrival) and related GPS services were inoperable due to the cyberattack….
read … At least $100K in transit fare revenue lost from cyberattack | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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