Last week the Haleiwa Farmers’ Market received a notice to vacate and cease using a small plot of land alongside Kamehameha Highway, land they have been leasing from the Department of Transportation (DOT) on a month-to-month basis since April 2009. About a year ago, DOT proposed the idea of a more lengthy yearly lease instead.
The Paul Berry v. State of Hawaii DCCA/RICO, Ansaldo Honolulu JV hearing in Circuit Court consumed some 50 minutes on April 13, with Judge Patrick Border presiding.
Washington Place, the final home of Queen Liliuokalani, was the site of a momentous occasion April 11. Amidst a smiling crowd of attendees, including members of the Hawaiian community and politicians, Gov.
Daniel Grabauskas, HART’s new executive director and CEO officially took office April 9, releasing a statement the very next day pledging more transparency with the public concerning Honolulu’s rail project. “Transparency and a culture of openness are among my top goals,” Grabauskas said.
A movement is under way to end federal protection of the green sea turtle–honu–in Hawaii, though the state Legislature is currently withholding its support. The House Committee on Water, Land, and Ocean Resources has deferred action on two resolutions–HCR87 and HR61–urging the federal government to establish a distinct population of green sea turtles in Hawaii and remove them from the threatened species list.
In the wake of a public outcry over Glenn Hong’s nomination to the state Water Commission (a nomination Hong first accepted and then withdrew from the day before he was to attend his first meeting), Gov. Neil Abercrombie quietly named the Young Brothers president to the state Board of Agriculture (BOA) instead.
Touted as an economic revitalization measure, SB755 is relentlessly being pushed through the Legislature. On April 3, it passed the House Committee on Finance, its last stop on the way to the House floor where, if passed, it will head back to the Senate for final approval.
Resolution 12-74, heard before the City Council on April 5, would allow temporary portable housing to be placed on agricultural lands, but who will be housed–the homeless or farm workers–remains unclear. The bill would permit the outfitting of shipping containers and other temporary, modular housing for use on farm lands of two acres or more for no longer than five years.
“I am dressed and ready to lift weight!” Mayor Peter Carlisle stated with enthusiasm as he hefted a big yellow bag of rice. As part of Hawaii Foodbank’s 23rd annual food drive City and County employees were filling a city bus with donated food.
Daniel Grabauskas–who officially becomes Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit (HART)’s CEO April 9–and Interim Executive Director Toru Hamayasu met with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Administrator Peter Rogoff on March 27 in Washington, DC to discuss the pending grant agreement, which will provide $1.55 billion in federal money for the Honolulu rail project. Hawaii’s complete congressional squad was also in attendance: Sens.
“I have contended during the course of this campaign that the city’s policy of spending without doing due diligence is leading the city to a financial disaster of epic proportions,” said mayoral candidate and former-Gov. Ben Cayetano at a press conference last week.
A $200 million debt owed to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) was settled with SB2783, which was passed on Friday, March 30: The bill transfers ownership of 10 land parcels in Kakaako makai to OHA. Another bill intimately linked to the land deal, SB682, will allow two of the above-mentioned land parcels abutting Ala Moana Boulevard to be turned into high-rise residential developments.
City Council committees on Zoning and Planning and Transportation will take public testimony on agenda items. Council Chamber, second floor, Honolulu Hale, 530 S.
“I am here because I eat local,” testified 6-year-old Kiana Corrie, one of the youngest of 50 or so supporters of HB2703, the Hawaii food self-sufficiency bill, at a March 21 hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee. “And I am here because I would rather see farmlands than buildings,” chimed in Kiana’s friend, Kalae Millikan (age 7, and–full disclosure–this writer’s child).
Kauai taro farmer Adam Asquith has filed a complaint in US District Court seeking to halt Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) from launching its “smart meter” rollout [March 21: “Big Utility is Watching”]. Asquith told The Weekly he is not opposed to smart meters and would be a voluntary participant in KIUC’s pilot project if asked.
It seems the politico-minded Gabbards have mounted a quest against plastic bags, and they’ve rallied a large portion of Oahu residents behind them. Father Mike in the state Senate and daughter Tulsi in the City Council have both introduced bills regarding single-use bags in their respective bureaucracies (Tulsi Gabbard is running for US House of Representatives against former-Mayor Mufi Hannemann.) Introduced by Sen.
Usually the one in the hot seat, former-Interim Executive Director for Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) Toru Hamayasu may be finding some relief in turning the controls over to Daniel Grabauskas, HART’s new head honcho. The March 21 meeting was business as usual when Bills 31, 32 and 33–all relating to HART budget matters for fiscal year 2012-2013–were given first reading.
Resolution 12-25, which proposes to transfer the powers, duties and functions of the Board of Water Supply (BWS) to a department of water supply housed under the city’s executive branch, passed second reading at March’s City Council meeting. According to recently appointed BWS Chairman Ernest Lau, the resolution, “has really got the attention of the board and the department, and we know there are improvements to be made.
Whenever a new food truck sets Honolulu lunch-seekers a Twitter, it generally does so from a parking space (or two) on a public street. More permanent spaces, on private land, are scarce and cost money.
“Today’s legislation is really a lesson in civics for you young folks that are here right now,” said Gov. Neil Abercrombie to a Pearl City Elementary class as he was getting ready to sign into law his sixth measure of this legislative session.
The Federal Transit Authority still claims to be supportive of Honolulu’s rail project, even after mayoral candidate Ben Cayetano released emails from 2006 and 2009 from the rail project’s administrative record written by US federal transit officials expressing concerns. Cayetano–who has vowed to halt the rail project if elected mayor–has sounded a call that’s been heard in Washington DC.
On Tuesday, March 13, US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan awarded nearly $201 million to support new homeless programs all across the country, including the City and County of Honolulu, which received $541,772. These funds come on the tail of $8.9 million awarded to Honolulu in late 2011 to continue already in place homeless programs.
Retiring Sen. Daniel Akaka’s soon-to-be-opening seat in the US Senate will be the first open Hawaii senate seat in 36 years.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs board of trustees takes public testimony on OHA legislative positions and a Native Hawaiian Roll Commission Report Presentation. OHA Boardroom, 711 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 500, Thu., 3/22, 10am DLNR: Regular biweekly Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting Board Room 132, Kalanimoku Building, 1151 Punchbowl St., Fri., 3/23, 9am Hawaii Energy: Financial literacy and energy efficiency workshop to learn how to save electricity and apply for rebates with the purchase of energy-saving appliances.
City Councilman Tom Berg has filed a Resolution 12-59, which proposes that the following question be added to the 2012 general election ballot: “Shall the Revised City Charter be amended to repeal the public transit authority known as the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation?” The resolution will have its first reading on Wednesday, March 21 at 10am at the Council’s meeting in Honolulu Hale. “By repealing HART, it would not kill the rail project,” said Berg in a statement.
Given the city’s crumbling infrastructure and rail controversy, it’s hard to believe anyone would want to be the next mayor of Honolulu. But a few do want the job, including the incumbent, Mayor Peter Carlisle, the former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney who won a 2010 special election to fill the remainder of Mufi Hannemann’s term.
I’d never been to a Honolulu City Council meeting until a few weeks ago. Features, not politics, was my beat.
Victoria Holt Takamine is a kumu hula, a cultural activist and a teacher and has an impeccable pedigree to back up all these titles. Born of an alii family whose kuleana was in Moanalua, she graduated as a hula teacher under the legendary Auntie Maiki Aiu Lake and taught hundreds of students in her own halau (Pua Alii ‘Ilima) and at the University of Hawaii.
On April 25, a state judge dismissed trespassing charges against a Kauai man after finding that he had been exercising traditional native Hawaiian rights hunting wild pigs on private land. Kui Palama, 28, was arrested on Jan.
The city plans to dish out $3.5 million from its Affordable Housing Fund and either purchase or renovate a structure to provide transitional housing for Honolulu’s special needs homeless population. “Our community has invested considerable effort and resources in addressing homelessness,” Mayor Peter Carlisle said in a statement, “but there remains a population whose disabilities or chronic conditions make it difficult for them to participate in traditional shelter programs.” Carlisle is referring to those homeless with mental illnesses, addictions and physical disabilities.
Makaweli Poi faces an uncertain future after its owner, a corporate subsidiary of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) ordered the West Kauai mill to suspend operations May 23. Mona Bernardino, chief operating officer of the corporation, Hiipoi LLC, says the move to shut down Makaweli Poi was prompted mainly by financial concerns.
A resolution adopted by the City Council will solidify an agreement between the City and County of Honolulu and the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center (UH-WRRC) to conduct an analysis of impacts from ocean sewer outfalls on the marine environments off of Oahu. The city will pay UH-WRRC as much as $2.5 million for biological and sediment studies in portions between now and June 30, 2017 .
Along with the deep, verdant growth of spring sprouts an unyielding desire to spend more time in the open air. That’s why it should come as no surprise that National Bike Month falls in the sun-drenched time of May.
Of the many letters you publish against rail, how many offer an alternative that won’t send us into further economic demise? Billions of gallons of oil are imported for us from every oil-producing nation on this planet so that we can buy billions of gallons of gasoline.
TheBus is taking a back seat to rail. At the May 3 Downtown Neighborhood Board meeting, an audience member asked city Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka when we could expect the bus route cancellations and changes to be reversed.
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