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Moszkowicz Out as Hawaii County Chief?
BIN: … The fate of Hawaiʻi County Police Chief Ben Moszkowicz remains up in the air after the Hawaiʻi County Police Commission was unable to make a decision at its Friday meeting about whether to accept Moszkowiczʻ retraction of his resignation letter.
On June 4, Moszkowicz submitted his resignation to become interim chief of the Honolulu Police Department — at the recommendation of Honolulu City and County Mayor Rick Blangiardi. But only hours later, he rescinded his resignation after he learned it was the Honolulu Police Commission and not Blangiardi who had the authority to fill the position.
(REALLY OBVIOUS QUESTION: Moszkowicz has been through the Honolulu Chief selection process. How could he possibly not know that the decision is up to the Honolulu Police Commission, not the Mayor???)
Out of concerns about Moszkowiczʻ commitment to the Big Island, the Hawaiʻi County Police Commission voted 4-3 not to accept Moszkowiczʻ rescinded resignation. But the motion failed because a 5-2 majority was needed.
After the vote, Vice Chair John Bertsch made a motion that the Police Commission hold a special hearing that would be open to the public before July 15 — the effective date of Moszkowiczʻ resignation — to give Moszkowicz a chance to address the commission and its concerns….
HTH: Close call for police chief: Commission sets meeting to let Moszkowicz answer ‘tough questions’ - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Read … Fate of Hawaiʻi County’s Chief Moszkowicz remains in limbo as Police Commission decides what to do : Big Island Now
$324.1M Lawsuit: HART dysfunction caused cost increases to go off the tracks
SA: … HART Project Director Vance Tsuda on Friday told the board of directors’ Project Oversight Committee that the agency was close to settling the high-dollar claim filed in December by Hitachi Rail Honolulu JV, related to work on the over-$10 billion rail project.
The train manufacturer’s suit 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 company says it was forced to solely absorb…..
During the POC meeting, rail staff indicated HART is completing negotiations with Hitachi to settle the claim for alleged project delays incurred on rail segments 1 and 2 — the latter running past the airport, and which is expected to open for public ridership Oct. 1.
“The claim is in excess of $120 million,” a HART report on the issue further asserts. “HART has reached an agreement in principle with (Hitachi)” and “details of the settlement are being finalized with both parties’ legal counsel.”
“Part of the agreement includes the opportunity for (Hitachi) to show justification for an additional cost that could increase the settlement by up to approximately $30 million,” the document states.
It also notes “after initially not reaching a settlement with HART through the contractually defined process (formal mediation), HART leadership continued to work with (Hitachi) leadership to achieve a settlement.”
Tsuda said staffers plan to provide a formal update on Hitachi’s ongoing claim in July. “And agendize it for the full board,” he added….
Read … HART discusses $324M Hitachi lawsuit costs | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Lawmakers slash Hawaii school construction request
HNN: … The board requested a construction and renovation project that would take two years and cost over $1.9 billion. Lawmakers included about $489 million, rejecting $1.4 billion dollars of requests.
Among the rejected projects, a $70 million replacement for the destroyed King Kamehameha III Elementary and $130 million for a new school in East Kapolei.
Urasaki said they won’t give up.
“We are still committed to advocating for these essential projects, and we are going to be including them in the supplemental budget,” she said.
Lawmakers agree the schools are needed, but in Lahaina, there’s a dispute over where the new school should be, at the Pulelehua location where FEMA built a temporary campus, or on undeveloped land at Kuia, which DOE says the community prefers.
Dela Cruz said the FEMA location makes more sense because it is already hooked up to utilities and roads….
“The new location has no infrastructure,” he said. “And so that means the cost would escalate automatically because there’s no sewer, there’s no water, there’s no electricity, it’s in the middle of a community that is not even built yet.”
Dela Cruz said there was even less hurry to fund a school in east Kapolei because he said it’s unclear whether the DOE public works team or the newly formed School Facilities Authority would be in charge.
“The problem is, both organizations have not proven to be able to build in a timely manner,” he said.
If DOE could find a way to speed up school construction and deferred maintenance, Dela Cruz said, they would get more of what they ask for. But he wants to see the progress first….
Read … Lawmakers slash Hawaii school construction request
Trial postponed for alleged driver in fatal McKinley hit-and-run
SA: … Trial for the man charged with negligent homicide in the Feb. 15, 2023, hit-and-run that killed 16-year-old Sara Yara and injured her schoolmate, has been postponed for another 10 weeks.
Circuit Judge Trish Morikawa granted the motion Thursday and ordered the trial week for Mitchel Miyashiro to be continued to Sept. 8 from July 7.
The case of Miyashiro, who had 164 prior traffic citations, had incensed the public because he had never been jailed for any of his previous driving offenses….
Read … Trial postponed for alleged driver in fatal McKinley hit-and-run | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Crime: Drones and License Plate Readers in Waikiki
KHON: … DLE is creating a Real Time Operations Center to fight crime, turning to cutting-edge tools to track suspects faster.
“Our license plate readers, as well as being able to tap into existing cameras in the area, to really give us a real time sense of what’s going on,” Lambert said.
They are also using next-gen drones as first responders to fill gaps.
“This allows us to be very efficient being that everybody in law enforcement is short,” he added. “We can know that this is moving in this direction, and we can be much more efficient in how we use our resources.”
Lambert said they currently have 10 drones, and plan to keep several in locations around Waikiki.
DLE is working with the Honolulu Police Department, businesses and organizations to ensure the safety via technology program can increase security presence, share data and improve response times.
He said Waikiki is the perfect testing ground….
Read … Waikiki goes high-tech in crime fight | KHON2
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