Hawaii residents renew fight for free market in shipping
Picking the Next Greenwood: BoR Appoints Task Force to Form Committee
Dueling Petitions as HSTA Targets Principal of Kapaa Middle School
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted May 28, 2013
5,000 Candle-lit Lanterns Float Off of Magic Island
Saiki: HCDA = PLDC
KITV: He and other state and city lawmakers have been fielding calls from Kaka'ako residents fearful of what's to come.
"I think the bottom line is we don't want Kaka'ako to look like Hong Kong. The Hawaii Community Development Authority is fast tracking a lot of projects right now and that is a concern of who live in this area, who are going to be affected by these projects," said Saiki.
Saiki was shocked at the plan to build 690 Pohukaina -- a 650-foot tower -- only to find out six months later there was another plan in the works to allow three skyscrapers up to 700-feet-high.
"This is why the public is growing frustrated because plans are changing, exemptions are being granted and the public isn’t being given sufficient information" Saiki said.
"In my opinion, the HCDA is the Public Land Development Corporation," said Saiki.
He said while environmental reviews are still required for state proposed projects, he believes that's not the case for every high-rise.
"Private developments would not have to go through the environmental assessment process," said Saiki.
Those issues will be front and center as Kaka'ako residents will meet at the capitol Thursday 5 p.m. in room 309...
KL: Streets’ labels influenced by efforts to redirect growth
SA: Star-Adv: Kakaako Don't overlook small businesses
read ... High-rise residents to meet with Kaka'ako area lawmakers
Abercrombie Concerned Regents May not do His Bidding
Borreca: The UH panel is already headed to its own political decisions before it even gets in position to select a new university leader.
To handle the selection of a president, a selection committee has to be formed. Makeup of the committee will fall to the majority of committee. University and legislative observers are saying that not all regents are on the same page as that of Eric Martinson, the board of regents' chairman.
"Before developing the search process, we need to define where we are and where we want to go," said Martinson earlier this month.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie has already had at least one private meeting with the regents to discuss the process.
Although Abercrombie has appointed a majority of the board, he has remained concerned that the state law regulating how regents are selected has limited his choices. The result is a board that may have been named by Abercrombie, but not guaranteed to do his bidding....
J.N. Musto, the long-serving executive director of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, is recommending that the job be changed so that the UH president becomes chancellor of the entire UH system and be designated chief executive officer of the board. The separate college campuses now run by a chancellor would have that title elevated to president. The UH CEO-chancellor along with the regents would evaluate and pick the campus presidents, but decision-making then would be made by the campus presidents.
Also up for consideration is a plan to scrap the Manoa campus chancellor and give the UH president direct authority over Manoa.
Finally, Musto is also urging that the UH get over the current idea that in order to woo a president, the university must also give new presidents tenure. Hawaii certainly has not had an enviable track record of granting tenure to people it didn't really want around campus, once they left Bachman Hall.
So after the regents get a committee running, they must also decide on an interim president.
Some are lobbying for that selection to be the real hatchet-wielder in a UH reform effort. The interim president, the argument goes, could be the one to prune a lot of dead wood and open up some of the barricades to reform created by various deans.
read ... Picking new UH president is off to a dispiriting start..
Danner Operatives Excluded from DHHL Reform Commission
SA: With the help of Gov. Neil Abercrombie's administration, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has begun reforming its controversial revocable permit program and evaluating other aspects of its operation.
But Native Hawaiian beneficiaries Robin Danner operatives already are raising questions about the process, saying they are not being allowed to participate from the start.
The department was established to get beneficiaries — those who are at least 50 percent Native Hawaiian — onto homestead lots.
"Once again we're being cut out from the process," Blossom Feiteria, (Danner's) president of the Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands, said in a phone interview Friday with the Star-Advertiser. "Beneficiaries have a right to sit at a place at the table, but (the state) is trying to ignore us (Danner operatives) again."....
After discussing the revocable-permit program for a brief period during last week's public portion of the meeting, the commission adjourned to go into executive session after several commissioners raised questions about the governor's task force, according to Feiteria and others at the meeting. The panel didn't emerge until more than two hours later, they said. (Those are the commissioners IDed as being on team Danner)
Young noted that the agenda item regarding revocable permits was "for information" only, was discussed during the public portion of the meeting and did not result in any commission action other than to call for a special meeting in the future, which will be publicized under the sunshine law. He said the commission went into executive session to obtain legal advice from counsel.
Commissioner Renwick "Uncle Joe" Tassill, among those pushing for reforms, said the department must adopt clearer policies for the revocable-permit program and others to achieve lasting and meaningful gains.
"That's the key," Tassill said. "Without that we ain't going no place. Without that it's business as usual."
read ... Are You Really Surprised by This?
Big Wind Already Costing Ratepayers $4.4M
SA: Hawaiian Electric Co. residential customers on Oahu will pay an average of 13 cents more a month over the next three years to cover the cost of preliminary studies HECO completed as part of its plan to generate wind energy on the neighbor islands and transmit it to Oahu via an undersea cable.
The Public Utilities Commission last week gave HECO final approval to collect $4.4 million from ratepayers to cover the costs for "Big Wind" implementation studies done in 2009 and 2010. The cost worked out to 0.021 cents a kilowatt-hour, or 13 cents a month for a typical residential HECO customer using 600 kilowatt-hours a month, according to HECO's filing with the PUC.
read ... Just the Beginning
Tenants: FACE in Bed with City on Privatization Plan
SA: The Chinatown Gateway Plaza Tenant Association, in a letter to lawmakers who represent the district, contends the city has rushed through the deal and caused "incredible anxiety" among residents, leading to mistrust of the administration and Faith Action for Community Equity, or FACE, a group that has promised to ensure residents' concerns are heard.
Steve Lohse, chairman of the tenant group, who wrote the letter, said the association wants to deal directly with the new ownership group, something it has not yet had the opportunity to do.
He said he wants state lawmakers to observe the process. Lohse said FACE appears to be too closely aligned with the city and the administration of Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who hired former FACE Oahu organizer Jun Yang as the city housing director.
"From this day forward we need to start developing a working relationship with these new owners," Lohse said. "We want to hear from the new owners. … We really don't want to hear any more from the city administration."
Among the tenant association's primary concern is the potential loss of units for gap group or workforce families, who earn between 80 percent and 120 percent of median income. A losing bidder for the sale has warned that the deal would result in the loss of 700 such units, but both the company and city officials say there is language requiring all affordable units to stay within federally established affordable rates based on household income, which allows rents of up to 30 percent of a renter's income.
Lohse said the association hopes to hear from the buyers directly regarding those concerns, with no "interference" from the city or FACE.
"In several of these buildings, most of the residents are in fact gap income workforce," he said. "This has created incredible anxiety. … We're displacing our workforce residents even as we're planning to house lower-income residents."
CB: Unaffordable City Proposal to Sell Affordable Housing
read ... In your FACE
Kakaako: Abercrombie Works to Coopt Mufi's Caldwell
CB: Midway through his State of the State address in late January, Neil Abercrombie looked up from his speech and gave a shout-out to Kirk Caldwell, one of the dignitaries in the House chamber that day.
The moment came just as the governor said he would propose a bill requiring the Hawaii Community Development Authority to draw up guidelines for the "complete streets" concept in Kakaako. The plan calls for integrating modes of transportation, including walking and biking, for commercial and residential use.
"Mayor Caldwell is smiling," said the governor, himself smiling. The audience laughed.
Abercrombie often singles out people in the crowd. In the case of Caldwell, it also served as a recognition of a shared city-state interest.
At Caldwell's State of the City address in early April, the mayor gave props to the governor for his leadership related to rail....
Politically, it won't hurt Abercrombie to be on good terms with the mayor for his own re-election. Same goes for Caldwell, should he run for re-election in 2016 or decide to run for governor after Abercrombie leaves office....
Asked if there were other areas of agreement where he and the mayor could find common ground, the governor said, "I think you will see in the wake of the PLDC that there will be cooperation and coordination by the City and County and the state with regard to 21st century schools, or possibly combining forces with regards to safe, complete streets — possibly even law enforcement in parks in other areas, combining HPD and sheriffs. We are looking into those things."
read ... Hawaii Bromance: Caldwell and Abercrombie
Should Hawaii Be Exempted From The Jones Act? Lawsuit Says Yes
CB: Lawyer and former U.S. Senate candidate John Carroll thinks he knows what’s behind Hawaii’s social and economic ills, and he’s going to keep suing the federal government until he gets rid of it.
Carroll, a five-term legislator, four-term representative, Big Island rancher and attorney has sued the United States of America for the second time in hopes of exempting Hawaii from the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. Better known as the Jones Act, the statute requires all ships traveling between U.S. states to be manned, built, owned, and flagged by Americans. Critics say the regulations inflate the cost of shipping, which makes everything from eggs to electricity more expensive.
“We have joblessness, homelessness, and a very sick economy — all related directly to the fact that we don’t have free trade,” Carroll said.
Related: Hawaii residents renew fight for free market in shipping
read ... Should Hawaii Be Exempted From The Jones Act?
Honolulu City Council: $10M for the Influential
CB: ...one of the most controversial items has been the insertion of approximately $10 million in grants-in-aid funding, which is in addition to the required .5 percent funding mandated under the recent charter amendment. Some of this funding is directed at certain districts represented by the councilmembers who recommended the funding. The most troubling aspect of the line-item grants-in-aid, however, is the inclusion of specific nonprofits that have not gone through a vetting process. In some cases, directors of these organizations reads like a who’s who list of influential people on Oahu. At least one organization is not in compliance with the DCCA. One has spent most of its funding on costs other than programs.
In addition, provisos, i.e., restrictions, have been placed on these line items. If the funds are not spent exactly as indicated, they cannot be spent at all. This creates its own set of problems, as it not only reduces flexibility for the administration, but it also ties up funds that might otherwise be circulating in the economy.
On top of these concerns, the city is still waiting for HUD’s response regarding the ORI Anuenue Hale noncompliance issue and whether it will have to return approximately $7.8 million to the federal government. This in itself should be enough to cause councilmembers to pause and gain an understanding of how the administration is handling compliance and monitoring programs run by nonprofits. (Due to the many questions raised about the monitoring and lack of timely payment to nonprofits, this should be a public discussion.) Instead, however, council is moving staffing from one department to another and taking more power into their hands.
Nonprofit organizations are complex entities with many regulations they are required to follow. The entire grant-funding issue should be reviewed and reorganized. The administration should consider using educated and experienced staff in one department to pre-qualify all nonprofits that are applying for city grants. This would create efficiencies within the administration and ensure that the process for all nonprofits is consistent. It will also relieve specific departments who have had limited experience with grants from trying to figure out how to handle grant requests.
The final budget will be voted on June 5, but these items deserve much more discussion. Until these discussions are held, I urge councilmembers to support one of the two reported floor drafts to remove the $10 million in grants-in-aid funding.
read ... Honolulu City Council's Approach To Budget Is Shortsighted
Retaliation: Kauai Council OKs $10K more for Iseri-Carvalho
KGI: The Kauai County Council approved Wednesday an additional $10,000 for legal fees associated with a civil rights complaint filed by councilman Tim Bynum against former County Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, county planner Sheila Miyake and the county of Kauai.
“My attorneys have informed me that in the first week of June they will be filing motions to dismiss this case,” Iseri-Carvalho said after the council emerged from an executive session on the matter. “Should these motions be granted, I hope this council will be proactive in seeking a reprimand against council member Bynum.”
The newly appropriated funds adds to at least $175,000 the council had previously approved for special counsel associated with the case. Bynum filed the civil rights complaint in U.S. District Court on Sept. 19, after a zoning violation against him went nowhere....
Complaints against Iseri-Carvalho or the OPA resulted in at least $228,000 in settlements in 2012. Thounsands more were spent to secure special counsel.
Bynum published a statement on his website in September, saying that through his civil action, he looked forward to demonstrating how baseless and without merit the actions against him were.
But more importantly, he wrote, he hoped that holding “these individuals” responsible will help prevent mistreatment of others and ensure that this kind of “deliberate abuse and political vindictiveness” does not continue.
On Thursday, Bynum released a short statement, but declined to comment until depositions are finished “and the full extent of the abuse is disclosed.”
“In the meantime the civil rights complaint filed on my behalf by Margery Bronster, Andrew Pepper and Dan Hempey speaks for itself, as does both the long and short statements from myself that are available for anyone to review at www.timbynum.com.”
read ... Retaliation
Hawaii to share in $160 million clean-up fund
SA: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $160 million contract for environmental remediation services in Hawaii, tribal nations and U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean, as well as in other states.
The contract was awarded to Texas-based CB&I, which has “long supported U.S. government programs and initiatives to clean and restore our nation's most contaminated sites," said Chip Ray, president of CB&I's Government Solutions operating group, in a statement.
read ... Make Work Contracts
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