Supreme Court Upholds Tom Cook Victory over Kelly King
Senate Ways and Means Sets Informational Briefing Schedule
Rail Mismanagement Leads to $324.1M Lawsuit
SA: … On Dec. 20, Hitachi Rail Honolulu JV filed a more than $324.1 million “breach of contract and unjust enrichment” claim against the city and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation involving construction of the nearly $10 billion Skyline project.
Hitachi’s lawsuit, filed in First Circuit Court, alleges HART’s seeming dysfunction to set timely schedules caused cost increases to go off the tracks by tens of millions of dollars — expenses the train company says it’s been forced to solely absorb….
“Defendants’ mismanagement even included allowing track to be installed by another of HART’s contractors that was incompatible with the approved passenger vehicle wheel specifications that HART provided to HRH, which HART required HRH to resolve without compensation,” the suit claims.
“Additionally, defendants directed HRH to commence a costly 18-month operations and maintenance workforce mobilization effort at the same time HART knew or should have known that HRH’s mobilized workforce would not be needed for a substantial period,” the claim states.
In that instance, HART’s request allegedly cost Hitachi more than $92 million, the lawsuit claims….
“… for HRH to perform its work, substantial work first needed to be completed by the fixed facilities contractors,” the claim states. “HRH’s ability to timely perform its design-build work was and remains dependent on the timely performance of HART’s other contractors.”
“HART, however, was not up to the task of coordinating the numerous contractors involved — a task vital to the project delivery system HART chose,” the suit states. “HART’s failures in leadership and coordination resulted in extraordinary delays and cost overruns.”
By 2019 the project was five years behind schedule, the suit asserts.
HART now says the rail to Kakaako will be open for public use by 2031.
“In 2019, due to the extraordinary delays, HRH and HART amended their contract with a change order that extended the dates by which HRH would complete each of the project’s three segments by more than five years,” the claim states.
That amendment — known as Change Order 52 — also added dozens of new milestone dates “by which HART was required to provide HRH access to project facilities to perform HRH’s work and increased HRH’s contract price by $160,000,000 because of the delay,” the claim states.
“Almost immediately after signing Change Order 52, however, HART resumed its practice of failing to provide HRH with access to the project facilities by the requisite dates, and in fact, did not even come close to complying with the new milestone dates,” the suit states….
“A significant part of the $160,000,000 has not yet been paid to HRH,” the lawsuit states.
“… in February 2019, HART directed HRH to mobilize its project operations and maintenance workforce and vendors in anticipation of HRH initiating its operation and maintenance duties for Segment 1” — from East Kapolei to Halawa, the claim states.
“At that time, however, HART knew, or certainly should have known, that Segment 1 was not going to be complete for several years,” the suit states. “Needless to say, this premature mobilization — as directed by HART — caused HRH to incur extraordinary unnecessary costs.”…
SA: Why run Skyline for a few daily riders?
read … Hitachi Rail files $324M lawsuit against Honolulu, HART | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
“It’s easier to grow two humans than it is to get a building permit!”
CB: … people have described DPP as the epitome of “government at work” — a bureaucracy intent on nitpicking residents down to the most manini detail while turning a blind eye to the worst offenders, all while failing to keep its own house in order. (If you recall, five former employees were sent to prison for accepting bribes.)
At our Q&A with Mayor Rick Blangiardi this year, one resident who’d had two kids since submitting her application said “it’s easier to grow two humans than it is to get a building permit!” …
The department recently announced that it reduced its residential code review time from six months to nine days. Commercial code review time went from six months to two, according to city data.
Those reviews account for just part of the permitting process — delays persist elsewhere in a permitʻs journey from application to final approval — and DPP’s data is far from perfect….
read … At Honolulu’s Troubled Permitting Department, There Are Signs Of Hope
Kamehameha Schools plan for fire scarred Lands Above Lahaina? Two Ulu Trees
HNN: … Kamehameha Schools has committed $872 million to settle claims from the Lahaina wildfire, because the fire began in dry, invasive grass on its property.
But the institution is also contributing to the greening of Lahaina, now seen as more urgent since the disaster.
The hills above Lahaina were once the breadbasket of West Maui…
(But then Pioneer Mill shut down and KSBE has done nothing since.)
It started small, with an (ONE) acre just off of Lahainaluna Road planted with trees like milo, kukui, and some rescues.
“There’s two ulu planted here, and they were collected from root stock in Lahaina right after the fire,” said Natalie Kurashima, KS director of natural resources. Kurashima is referring to plants that have grown in the past year or so from a burned-out plant.
Spreading up and south from that first acre off Lahainaluna Road are a thousand (ACRES) more; Kamehameha’s Kuʻia lands from the bypass all the way up mauka, once leased for sugar and left fallow, now overrun with invasive grass….
(TRANSLATION: KSBE has no real plan to replace fire fuel with green plants on its lands.)
read … How Kamehameha Schools aims to bring abundance back to Lahaina
Maui County Refusing to Allow Lahaina Harbor to Reopen
MN: … Under a plan presented by Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen, Lahaina Harbor is to be restored within three to five years at an estimated cost of $30 million.
However, some fishing vessel owners want the state and county to put the harbor toward the top of the list, noting that it generates income and employment.
“It should be higher up in priority,” said Jeff Kahl, a fishing boat operator and organizer of the annual Halloween Shootout billfish tournament.
Kahl said Lahaina Harbor is one of the highest grossing small boat harbors in the nation.
“It’s really disappointing,” he said of the absence of harbor activity. “I have a lot of friends that are out of work.” ….
Lahaina is entering the high season for whale watching, and David Hudson, a vessel owner and former state harbor agent, said enough of the debris in the harbor has been removed so that, during an emergency, a dozen boats found safe harbor from a hurricane earlier this year.
According to Hudson, more than 100 people were employed at the harbor, and he’s waiting on passengers being able to use its loading and unloading dock again.
“With that, you can put half of the people back to work in the harbor,” Hudson said.
Officials with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said they hope to have the loading dock reopened for loading and unloading passengers once Maui County allows for access into the area.
However, Maui County Deputy Director of communications Lois Whitney said that, according to the county and partnering agencies, Front Street is still not safe….
2024: Court ruling could halt boat operations at Kāʻanapali Beach in 2025 | KHON2
2017: Lawsuit calls for study of tour boat operations off Kaanapali - West Maui Preservation Association
read … Lahaina Harbor needs to be rebuilt quickly, vessel owners say | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
Still Blaming COVID: DoE Failures on Legislative Agenda
CB: … House Education Committee Chair Justin Woodson said boosting student attendance will be a priority this session, pointing to the roughly 25% of students who were chronically absent last year. Before the pandemic, the state’s chronic absenteeism rate was less than half that — 12%.
Lawmakers are looking at a variety of strategies to boost attendance, Woodson said. One solution may be staffing schools with community liaisons, who would keep in touch with families and help parents overcome the barriers keeping their children from attending class.
State leaders are also considering limiting students’ access to cellphones, Woodson said. Currently, DOE allows schools to develop their own policies around cellphone use, but some teachers and parents say students’ constant access to electronics takes away from their focus in class.
So far, eight states have adopted policies limiting or banning phones in schools completely. …
The state has tried to provide more housing options for teachers in recent years but has faced some setbacks as the governor reduced funding for construction projects and some community members opposed an on-campus teacher housing project at Mililani High School. As of last year, DOE operated roughly 50 units of affordable housing across the state and hopes to open another housing project at Lahainaluna High School on Maui next summer….
read … Legislators Look To Support Student Recovery From The Pandemic - Honolulu Civil Beat
Nurses at Queen’s Medical Center vote on potential strike amid contract dispute
HNN: … Nearly 2,000 nurses at Queen’s Medical Center in Punchbowl and West Oahu are voting on whether to authorize a strike after months of stalled contract negotiations….
SA: Queen’s unionized nurses holding strike authorization vote | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Nurses at Queen’s Medical Center vote on potential strike amid contract dispute
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