Honolulu City Council votes to defer Bill 46 Empty Homes Tax
Designed to Fail: City Pretends to Select Wahiawa Location for Dump
Biden Admin Begs SCOTUS to Ignore Honolulu Climate Suit
Face It, Theyʻre Not Moving Back to Hawaiʻi
CB: … When it comes to coming back home, Hawaiʻi is not a magnet. It’s a beacon.
There’s a big difference. A magnet draws you toward it. It’s a strong, unstoppable pull, like coming back home to stay.
A beacon is more complicated. It can be both an inspiration and a warning, not a one-way pull. Something less certain and less dominant. Like the bright, rotating beacon atop a lighthouse, it’s both a warm sign that you are home as well as a warning that choppy waters may lie ahead, like why you left in the first place.
The idea that Hawaiʻi is a home-drawing magnet is a myth….
read … Neal Milner: Face It, Theyʻre Not Moving Back to Hawaiʻi
Applause as Council postpones empty-homes tax bill
SA: … An empty-homes tax meant to penalize real-property owners who leave their Oahu residences vacant for extended periods of time was formally deferred Wednesday evening by the Honolulu City Council.
Following hours of blistering public testimony largely in opposition, Council Chair Tommy Waters garnered a full Council vote to postpone the latest version of Bill 46 until a city-commissioned study on the EHT matter is completed early next year.
Before that vote, Council members Esther Kia‘aina, Val Okimoto, Augie Tulba and Andria Tupola indicated they would not support the measure in its current form, now a floor draft.
the level of opposition to Bill 46 appeared to make an impression.
“There’s been a lot of testimony today, and I take all of it to heart like I know you do,” Waters told his Council colleagues before the vote to postpone the measure. “But there’s a lot made about waiting for the study to be completed. And I’m going to recommend that we do exactly that. That we defer this until the study is completed.”
“The bill will stay alive,” Waters added, “We’ll be debating this another day, we’ll be taking testimony another day, but that’s what I’m suggesting.”
To that, a round of applause during the late meeting echoed from the Council Chambers’ gallery ….
During the Council’s Budget Committee meeting Nov. 21, city Budget and Fiscal Services Director Andy Kawano asked the Council to proceed slowly on Bill 46.
Noting the burden to implement the EHT program, Kawano added that Ernst &Young LLP, the city’s consultant in this matter, is being paid nearly $500,000 to study the implications of Bill 46. He said the consultant’s work involved two phases.
Saying the first phase would be completed by the end of January, Kawano asked that the Council “slow down and not go to third reading until we have a report back from the consultants on the feasibility of the bill.” …
CB: Honolulu Council Punts Empty Homes Tax Vote, Extends Sprinklers Deadline
read … Council postpones empty-homes tax bill
Manager of senior housing complex left injured resident to die on apartment floor, new lawsuit alleges
HNN: … The daughter of a woman left injured and dying in a state-run apartment complex is now suing.
The woman’s decomposing body was found after neighbors complained about the smell.
Kara Miller-Lim said she and her mother, Joe Ann Miller, were always close.
The two spoke just days before the 87-year-old’s decomposing body was found in unit 218 of the Honuakaha Senior Housing Complex on Queen Street in Kakaako.
Lim is now suing Honuakaha, the state of Hawaii, and the Hawaii Community Development Authority for wrongful death, negligence and inflicting emotional distress.
According to the Honolulu police report, the building manager on duty, whose name is redacted by HPD, said he checked “Miller’s room on October 27, 2022, and saw her nude on the floor of the apartment.”
Instead of checking on her, he closed the door and left….
The manager told police “that he had no medical training and did not want to disturb Miller.”
Four days later, on Oct. 31, a tenant complained about a smell coming from unit 218.
The tenant said “it smelled like death,” so management called Lim to check on her mother….
read … Manager of senior housing complex left injured resident to die on apartment floor, new lawsuit alleges
Star-Adv: City Must Make Ghetto Lottery Pay
SA: … The city had a clear path for case closure as recently as last month — but made the misguided decision to let it drag on. That prolongs the pain for everyone involved, and could well end up costing the city more than $1.5 million, the amount proposed to Myeni’s widow and two young children.
On Nov. 7, the City Council folded under pressure and scuttled the settlement proposal; dozens of uniformed police officers had appeared at its decision-making meetings. Though police officers were criminally cleared in the fatal shooting of Myeni, a former South African athlete, the city was sued for wrongful death in the controversial case that sparked scrutiny over that night’s circumstances, including whether officers had properly identified themselves.
Given the relatively modest city sum involved and the tragedy of this complicated case, it’s a shame the city did not do the humane thing and settle. Instead, considerable time, effort and pain will be poured into a trial that could run for more than a month….
(CLUE: If the lotto don’t pay, nobody will play.)
read … Editorial: City must reckon with HPD behavior | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
More red light safety cameras and speeding cameras coming to Hawaii roads
KHON: … The red light safety camera pilot program has been given the green light for expansion according to DOT Director Ed Sniffen.
“At the end of this year, our two year pilot formally ends, and once it ends, it allows us to expand beyond the original 10 locations,” Sniffen explained.
He said they plan to roll out an average of 10 new red light cameras per year. DOT is currently determining the locations, which will be announced in February, based on crashes, and incidents across the state.
According to Sniffen, the program reduced red light running an average 45%, with some locations reduced by up to 70 percent….
read … More red light safety cameras and speeding cameras coming to Hawaii roads
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