Development

... Federal authorities, March 30, 2021, unsealed indictments charging six DPP employees in a bribery scheme going back as far as 2012.  Challacombe had been Deputy Director of the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting from 2013-2016, and then Acting Director in 2016-17 ....

... The selected individual or firm is expected to have an initial focus on select parcels located at Kakaʻako Makai and an eventual focus on parcels at OHA’s Nā Lama Kukui Lifestyle & Design Center in Iwilei ....

... We want a Hawaii where everyone who wants to buy a home can buy one in their price range ....

... why housing prices have soared statewide and why affordability mandates won’t have the desired results ....

"... In theory, Bill 10 would require more affordable housing to be built, but in reality, history has shown that such additional restrictions have the opposite effect ....”

... In a special Stadium Authority Board Meeting this morning (Thursday, May 6), the Board confirmed and voted for an early demolition of the existing stadium location ....

... locals are pushing back, saying that forests and farmlands should not be sacrificed in the fight against climate change ....

... Maui County Councilmember Yuki Lei Sugimura discusses with Grassroot Institute president Keli’i Akina the detrimental impact such a well-intentioned but wrong-headed policy might have on affordable housing ....

... How to make housing affordable and help stop the exodus .... 

... OHA shall promote the idea that every property in Hawai'i is sacred and pursue initiatives that help achieve a broad acceptance of this truth ....

... This would give Maui the second most restrictive affordable-housing law in the country ....

... Federal corruption probe targets DPP staffers and one local architect ....

... Hawaii's Legislature is about halfway through its 2021 session, and if we're lucky, the good will outweigh the bad when it's over ....

" ... Senator Moriwaki and I will attempt to work with OHA to explore alternatives to developing Kakaʻako Makai ...." 

... Establishes the ALOHA homes program to develop low-cost homes on state-owned and county-owned land in urban redevelopment sites to be sold in leasehold by the Hawaii housing finance and development corporation ....

... A Maui bill to increase affordability requirements is the backdrop for a discussion on how current housing policy can be improved ....

... virtually no development has taken place on this valuable property since OHA acquired it ....

... the ALOHA homes program as currently envisioned in SB1 likely would result in an expensive, non-sustainable government project that would fail ....

"... If there is no such thing as a regulatory taking, we should say so ...."

... increasing Hawaii's tax burden at a time when its economy is in its worst depression ever ....

... lift zoning restrictions that hamper creative solutions to the lack of affordable housing ....

... the Authority reported total revenues of $6.9 million and total expenses of $13.5 million, resulting in a net loss of $6.6 million ....

... It is naturally hard to say no to an ex-tweeker who, at Bishop Estate, achieved the kind of things most Honolulu politicians can only dream of ....

... The district court's judgment is reversed, case remanded for the merits ....

... All that was required of Trump was to show up at the Imperial Hotel ballroom in Tokyo to gladhand a bunch of Japanese buyers and have his photo taken with them under the US and Japanese flags....

... The public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED) project concludes on Feb. 8 ....

... This is all about OHA’s plan to develop Kakaako Makai ....

... The “PUC DP All Policies Summary” is a complete collection of the draft goals and policies that will make up the final PUC DP .... 

...The DEIS has been posted online and public comments are encouraged....

... the State hired a DC SCOTUS player to argue that this case isn't worth the Court's time ....

... one less argument for anti-development activists ....

...Akina’s opponent, Jason Keoni Souza, is a Realtor who supports selling the Ceded Lands “to corporations.”  Souza tells Ka Wai Ola he wants OHA to “collaborate with the Building Trades.”....

...well-connected people often found their way to the tops of housing waiting lists while the names of people who really needed affordable housing disappeared....

...When your state lacks sufficient housing, the last thing you should do is make building a difficult, risky and lengthy process. But that’s exactly what Hawaii has done....

...a bus-only lane on King St thru downtown just 1 block from the existing Hotel Street Busway....

...This purchase adds ZERO new affordable units because these units were already affordable in the private sector....

...Bill 48 elevates the exemption threshold of home repairs from $1,000 to $5,000....

...the Rasputin of urban planning....

...he unwittingly bought into a scheme that is now the subject of an FBI investigation....

...two OHA operatives are in the Council runoff elections this November with one goal in mind--help OHA upzone Kakaako Makai so it can build hotels and condos up to the sky....

... Can we afford to take the risk of building a new stadium with an entertainment center that may become a financial white elephant like our convention center? ....

..."Without the intervention of the Hawaii Supreme Court, this case would have continued in the darkness of closed proceedings. We look forward to a formal announcement on how the public may observe the conduct of these proceedings." said attorney Lance D. Collins....

... The Maui Planning Commission appears to have violated both the Sunshine Law and its own rules by failing to give the public required notice of a hearing item ....

...Honolulu Mayoral Candidate Keith Amemiya knows a lot about the ‘affordable’ housing system and how to ‘work’ it....

... Pandemic no excuse for government hostility to sunshine laws ....

... On May 30, Mayor Victorino issued a directive indicating certain shoreline development approval requests will be reviewed within fifteen days or be automatically approved ....

...while you are locked down with COVID, this is what some politicians are doing....

...Ige’s Health Emergency Declaration waves many of the state laws ensuring public participation, transparency, and accountability.    

The implicit understanding is that elected officials will utilize these extraordinary powers only to combat the Corona Virus pandemic in Hawaii.

It only took two days to find out....

...The EB-5 program offers alien investors a family-sized set of green cards if they invest....

...Carbon Tax to become $15B Slush Fund for Developers....