Lowering our cost of living is worth cheering
Those Nickels Add Up!
Oahu Man Sentenced to Over 16 Years in Federal Prison for Drug Trafficking and Illegal Gambling Charges
Kapolei Woman Indicted for COVID Fraud
Hawaii taxpayers could benefit from new IRS Direct File system
Squeeze on Honolulu rail -- GE Tax Surcharge Diverted
Shapiro: … Rail has already run up its original $5.2 billion budget to $10 billion, even while shortening the commuter line to stop at South Street, two stations from the planned Ala Moana Center terminus.
The contract for the final leg of construction from Middle to South streets came in at $1.66 billion, $300 million over budget, and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation had to make further cuts such as eliminating a major parking center at Pearl Highlands to serve commuters from Central Oahu.
And now Hitachi Rail Honolulu JV, which has the contract to supply the rail cars and operate and maintain the system, has sued the city and HART for $324.1 million, claiming breach of contract over years of delays and costly errors.
HART has no funds for a payout of that magnitude. The same is true if costly miscalculations that have bedeviled earlier construction occur on the difficult final leg down Dillingham Boulevard and through downtown Honolulu. The contractor, Tutor Perini Corp., is reputed to be a tough negotiator on change orders.
On the operational side, ridership is disappointing for the first leg to open between Kapolei and Aloha Stadium. City transit officials have fingers tightly crossed it’ll improve when the segment to Middle Street opens, scheduled for later this year. Subpar fare box collections could balloon operating subsidies — more money the city doesn’t have.
The nasty tone of the Hitachi lawsuit and its harsh accusations against city rail stewardship point to a contentious relationship between the city and its contractor on operating costs.
There’s little chance the federal government will contribute significantly more to Honolulu rail than the $1.7 billion already committed.
The Hawaii Legislature has twice bailed out HART from its cost overruns, mainly by extending the 0.5% rail excise tax surcharge — the project’s major funding source — 10 years beyond its original planned expiration.
But key lawmakers have put the city on notice that there will be no further extension of the rail tax after it expires in five years, and this time it’ll be difficult to change their minds by rolling out the politically powerful rail lobby led by the Carpenters Union.
That’s because the state needs to keep those excise tax collections for itself to make up the lost revenues from the record income tax cut passed by the Legislature in 2024….
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read … David Shapiro: Squeeze on Honolulu rail could be tightening anew
ALICE families in dire straits in Hawaii
SA: … while Hawaii made some post-pandemic progress in reducing the percentage of households below the poverty line — 12% in 2024, down from 14% in 2022 — the proportion of ALICE households remained unchanged at 29%.
Further, more than 33% of households surveyed in 2024 reported that someone in their household considered moving out of state. The overall cost of living and housing costs are primary factors.
“If that 1 in 3 doesn’t sound too terrifying, that means 180,000 people right now are considering leaving the state of Hawaii — from our workforce, from our younger families, our Hawaiian families,” said AUW Chief Operating Officer Suzanne Skjold.
In Hawaii, the cost of paying for basic needs rose even faster than the national rate of inflation, according to ALICE studies — and that hurts families that are struggling financially the most. A 2023 ALICE survey gives some indication of the stress these households experience: 16% of those with incomes below the ALICE threshold reported “feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge nearly every day.” That’s down from 20% in 2020, but almost twice as high as the stress reported by households earning more than the ALICE threshold….
Hawaii’s Housing Affordability Index shows that the cost of a single-family home or condo unit has about doubled since 2000. …
Borreca: Column: Hawaii’s high cost of living underscores perennial problem of housing for governor | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … ALICE families in dire straits in Hawaii | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Accusations of misconduct, theft, exclusions -- Hawaiʻi County nonprofit funding
BIN: … The Hawaiʻi County Council last week postponed voting on the appropriation of $10.5 million for nonprofits addressing housing and homelessness until this Friday, after hearing testimony that accused a former county division manager and an intended funding recipient of theft, misuse of power and cronyism….
Charis Higginson, founder of the West Hawaiʻi nonprofit Humanity Hale, testified that she was invited to a March meeting by Sharon Hirota, the former division manager with the Office of Housing and Community Development, which makes funding recommendations to the council.
During that meeting, which also was attended by Paul Norman, Executive Director of Neighborhood Place of Puna, Higginson said she turned over her 43-page plan for a transitional youth housing program for those aging out of the foster system.
Higginson said she was later told by Hirota, who worked under the Roth Administration, that there was no funding available for her type of program.
A little over a week ago, she received an email that included an official list of proposed programs and recipients on the council agenda. She was surprised that one award of nearly $400,000 was to the Neighborhood Place of Puna for its new Anchor Point Youth Program — which Higginson claims was created from her plans.
“[Norman] took my entire plan to implement as his own, something he is known for in this community,” she told the council. “This was a betrayal of trust and a theft of my intellectual property. That meeting was nothing more than a strategic setup—a calculated move to take my ideas, hand them to Sharon’s cohort, and shut me out of the grant process entirely.” …
read … Accusations of misconduct, theft, exclusions postpone Hawaiʻi County funding to nonprofits : Big Island Now
BLNR Makes Another Oceanfront Hotel Worthless
HTH: … The state is once again on the hook for a decrepit building on Banyan Drive after the previous lessee of the former Country Club Condominium Hotel surrendered its permit for the property.
(CLUE: The homeless will now take over just like Uncle Billy’s.)
The Board of Land and Natural Resources in 2022 approved a revocable permit for Banyan Drive Management LLC to temporarily manage the property, located at 121 Banyan Drive, until such time as the BLNR could approve a developer for a much-needed renovation of the aging and rundown property.
(QUESTION: How can an oceanfront hotel in Hawaii become worthless? Answer: ‘BLNR’.)
While BDM had submitted a proposal for a long-term development agreement for the property — which would include a roughly $20 million renovation of the site and would convert 80% of the building’s 152 units into long-term rental units, and the remainder into extended-stay hotel units — the BLNR postponed any discussion on the matter for several months late last year, pending the results of potential legislation in the 2025 session of the Legislature that could impact the future of the Waiakea Peninsula.
According to a report by the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Land Division, that delay seems to have been the last straw for BDM. The company submitted a letter to the Land Division on Jan. 9 stating that it intended to surrender its revocable permit for the property.
“It’s been two years since Banyan Drive Management officially operated 121 Banyan Drive building, and even with significant monetary loss every month, BDM managed the entire building on goodwill,” the letter stated. “However … we’re surrendering our revocable permit as DLNR now doesn’t even have a timeline when our submittal item will be put up for a vote.”
The letter stated BDM will vacate the premises on Feb. 2 and has issued a formal notice to vacate to all occupants of the building. Candace Martin, acting district land manager for the Big Island, told the BLNR on Friday that there are five legal tenants in the building, but 16 rooms currently are occupied.
(CLUE: Leasehold ownership doesn’t work. We need fee-simple ownership.)
read … State stuck with another dilapidated Banyan Drive property
Billionaire Boat Stops at Molokai Without Paying off Walter Ritte—guess what happens next
SFG: … Hawaii residents (Ritte’s grifters) confronted a $250 million megayacht after it moored off the island of Molokai earlier this month. As the yacht’s passengers took a dinghy to Kaunakakai Wharf, a handful of Molokai residents were waiting for them, blocking access to shore (demanding money)….
The 387-foot yacht, known as “Liva O,” is owned by German American billionaire Stephen Orenstein, a commercial real estate businessman. The vessel made stops off Maui and Hawaii Island before it arrived at Molokai, heightening residents’ concerns.
They gathered at the wharf to find out what the passengers’ intentions were on Molokai (they could get).
“We told them that we’re very concerned about (eager to be paid off by) who’s coming to Molokai, especially when they come on a $250 million boat,” Walter Ritte, a longtime Native Hawaiian activist and Molokai resident, (a grifter whose only real support comes from Upcountry Maui haoles) told SFGATE. He was part of the group “Kahoolawe Nine,” which in 1976 landed on Kahoolawe to protest the military bombing of the island (and has been milking it ever since).
A crew member told Ritte that the passengers were there for a one-day excursion. Aware that the megayacht was making stops at different ports around Hawaii, Ritte talked with the captain through a walkie-talkie, asking if they were creating a tour or if this was a one-time deal.…
(TRANSLATION: You pay me more if it is a one-time deal, less if you are on the monthly installment plan.)
read … Native Hawaiians confront billionaire's megayacht in Hawaii
SB1618: Donna Kim Dreams of State Controlled Media
CB: … Eight senators think journalists in Hawaiʻi need to clean up their act. And who better to help them do it than the state government?
Hot off the presses when it was filed on Thursday, Senate Bill 1618 quickly made it to the inboxes of the local media where hands immediately began to wring. The bill boldly proposes the formation of a Journalistic Ethics Commission within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs….
Their proposed state-run Journalistic Ethics Commission would investigate complaints against journalists — perhaps even from legislators — and would have the power to punish news outlets or individual journalists if the commission found they had violated its code of ethics.
The offending journalists could face unspecified fines and “suspension or revocation of state media privileges, including press credentials for government-sponsored events.”
Huh? Surely the chief introducer of SB 1618, Sen. Donna Kim, knows such state regulation of the news media this would never pass legal muster, right?
On the other hand, it was just last session that Kim proposed legally requiring news organizations to acquiesce to requests for public records it has obtained in the same way that government agencies do — another blatant violation of the First Amendment….
Ilind: Bill would allow state to punish reporters or their news organizations
2024: The Secret History of the Mercado Kim Crime Family
read … Just Say No To Giving The State Power Over The Press
House ‘Social Media Policy’ designed to Censor Legislators
CB: … Ever since a dustup last March between Reps. Jeanné Kapela, a Democrat, and Elijah Pierick, a Republican, it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, the House would regulate the social media postings of its members.
The crackdown took the form of a whole new chapter in the Democrat-controlled House rules, entitled “Social Media Policy,” and applies to any House member’s account in which they identify themselves as a legislator. Here’s the key passage:
Content may not be used to disparage other members, other individuals, or political parties. This includes featuring other members, individuals, or political parties in a way that invites disparaging or threatening comments or reactions, even if the content is presented in a neutral manner.
The overriding message is that they might be best off not referring to their colleagues at all, since almost anything posted on social media has the potential to generate criticism from commenters.
(TRANSLATION: 100% censorship.)
Pierick was the only representative to question the policy when the new rules were discussed and ultimately approved on the House floor last week. He noted that “disparaging” is a pretty general term, and speculated that he could theoretically violate the new policy by merely noting his colleagues had voted to raise taxes.
Still, there was nothing vague about what Pierick posted on an Instagram account last year along with a video of Kapela delivering a House invocation. The progressive Democrat used material from a poem to muse about diversity at the highest levels of government. An excerpt: “I want a lesbian for president. I want a person with AIDS for president, and I want a gay man for vice president.”
(CLUE: This kind of Democrat thinking is why Trump got elected.)
“What are your thoughts?” Pierick, a conservative Republican, asked his Instagram followers. Some of their answers were not pretty, and Kapela accused her House colleague of fomenting hate.
(NOTE: Pierick just quoted Kapela and asked: ‘What are your thoughts?’ This is now to be forbidden?)
By the way, those new House rules, including the social media policy, have not yet been posted on the Legislatureʻs website.
read … The Sunshine Blog: Just Say No To Giving The State Power Over The Press
Republican Caucus: The Hawaiʻi First Agenda
CB: … Our values resonate with a growing number of Hawaiʻi residents, as evidenced by the increasing support for conservative candidates ….
read … The Hawaiʻi First Agenda: Delivering Real Solutions Not Empty Promises - Honolulu Civil Beat
Major Reform Bills Are Still On The Table (again)
CB: … Lawmakers have proposed hundreds of government and political reform bills this year, building on the (non-)‘momentum’ from federal bribery convictions in 2023 ….
read … Major Reform Bills Are Still On The Table. Will This Be The Year They Pass?
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