Dear Friends, I am happy to report that, thanks to your kokua, the Weekly has paid the Star Advertiser in full. We received more than 200 donations via PayPal, snail mail and even envelopes slid under our office door, many including uplifting notes of praise and encouragement.
It’s fitting that our cover story about the Disney Kingdom’s first Hawaii development, Aulani at the Ko Olina Resorts, hits newsstands during the week of Columbus Day–our national holiday in honor of the myth that America was discovered in 1492. In these Islands, where westernization nearly wiped out the indigenous people who remain our poorest, unhealthiest, least educated citizens after more than 200 years, the groundbreaking of a new luxury resort is usually viewed as enriching corporate interests in the name of economic benefits that never seem to reach those who need it most.
Honolulu Weekly is changing editors this week. Our editor of the past year, Lucy Jokiel, will be leaving us to pursue a variety of new adventures, including doing research for a book about her experiences in China and playing with her three wonderful grandkids (with one more on the way).
Support the Weekly……so that we can keep supporting you. Your donations ensure that Honolulu gets the best coverage of Art, Food, Movies, Entertainment, and Local Issues.
On July 27, the Weekly published, “Kukui Plaza Prostitutes—While prostitutes cruise Kukui Plaza, the neighborhood takes action.” An accompanying photo of the Kukui Plaza complex was labeled, “Beware, there be hookers here.” The headline incorrectly suggests that Kukui Plaza is responsible for Kukui Street’s prostitution problem. There have been no reports of prostitutes within the Kukui Plaza complex.
[June 1: “Dog Slaps Man”] The Weekly regrets using the headline “Dog Slaps Man” in last week’s Diary section regarding the alleged altercation between MauiTime publisher Tommy Russo and the A & E Television crew who is associated with Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman. Chapman was not involved in the altercation whatsoever–as our headline falsely suggests.
In the April 20, 2011 article “The Foreclosure Fiasco,” we erroneously stated that 1) attorney Marvin S.C. Dang, who served as vice chair of the Hawaii Mortgage Foreclosure Task Force, was a lobbyist for Bank of America but did not publicly disclose this fact when he was asked to serve on the task force and that 2) Dang sent letters to BofA execs to announce he is lobbying the House and Senate for the bank.
In the April 27 Honolulu Diary, we erroneously misquoted Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Mark Rectenwald in his first speech to the 2011 Legislature. It should have read: “There are many more people facing eviction, collections actions, foreclosures, loss of jobs or benefits and related problems such as divorce or domestic violence,” said Rectenwald, who identified a common theme facing “broadened expectations” of the judiciary: Our citizens want a justice system that works to resolves disputes in a timely and fair manner.
A person driving a Honda Odyssey in Kailua thought it OK to drive up to a Honolulu Weekly stand and take a large stack of papers–for birdcages, perhaps? A street artist who makes his living on the sidewalks of Waikiki, spray paints a 3-D shoreline and Diamond Head with current issues of the Weekly taken from Waikiki kiosks.
A few months ago, I decided to follow the path of several successful local professionals I had interviewed for an article in Island Scene magazine, published by HMSA, my former employer. These mavericks have embraced their second acts, a growing trend among “mature professionals” (like me) to choose “refirement” over retirement.
Gosh, is election season over already? After nine months inside the spin cycle, I’m sure we’re all a little bit dizzy, which makes this a great time to talk about books.
Have you seen the City Council’s fireworks-ban bill? The new restrictions would be the most severe at least since Eileen Anderson was mayor, and maybe ever.
Dan Boylan, the recently retired professor and longtime political pundit, went on the record with Columbia Journalism Review last week with a few observations about this election season and the way it’s being covered. Along with some refreshing reminders–that despite media obsession over it during this cycle, Hawaii politics are notably less negative than those in many other states–Boylan offered that “We’re talking too much about civil unions and not enough about education.
I like leaf blowers. I’m sure I’m in a tiny, tiny minority there, but there’s something about them that speaks to me.
This week, everyone’s talking about President Obama’s new national policy on oceans, which was unvieled Monday afternoon Hawaii time. Call it a hopeful guess, really–we’re putting the paper to bed at four o’clock Monday, and have no idea whether people will be talking about the new framework come Wednesday morning.
First, an apology. During Gov.
Regardless of what you’ve heard, Honolulu has not become a one-newspaper town. Despite its efforts to convince us otherwise, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser is just one of many newspapers serving this community.
Our story last week about the changes in Hawaii’s journalistic landscape–and a note here about how those changes affect readers of the Weekly–brought in a strong response from readers. We so appreciate your support, and more to the point, your patience as we continue to work out the kinks in our distribution schedule.
Readers clearly noticed last week when the Weekly arrived very late Wednesday to most of our distribution points. We received many phone calls and e-mails wondering what had happened.
It’s weird, isn’t it? Either way, Honolulu will have to adjust to life without the Honolulu Advertiser. Whatever else one thinks of it, the Advertiser was the newspaper of record in Hawaii for at least a generation, and it documented life in these Islands every day since long before David Kalakaua entered politics.
As noted here recently, we’ve had a lot of staffing changes at the Weekly over the past month, and our annual Food & Drink issue presents the perfect opportunity to announce the most recent: We’re happy that Martha Cheng has joined the Weekly as Food & Drink editor. Cheng’s writing, which has been appearing here for the better part of two years now, has generated a lot of interest from the food and “foodie” communities, and we’re excited to have her with us in a leadership role.
Your newspaper has been in a process of transition in recent weeks. At the beginning of the month, we bid aloha to Adrienne LaFrance, who had been Managing Editor since 2008.
This week we begin our two-part preview of the special election to fill the remainder of Neil Abercrombie’s term in Congress. On May 5, we’ll focus on the three best-known and most heavily-funded candidates.
Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin / Frank Fasi, whose public memorial service is this morning, was among many other things a fierce critic of the Joint Operating Agreement that from 1962–2001 governed the business operations of the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The legendary former mayor often portrayed himself as a victim of unfair reporting, but self-servingly or not, he long maintained that our dailies were two sides of the same coin, and that Honolulu needed more vigorous competition in its daily newspapers.
Our cover story this week profiles the three Hawaii residents who were selected from the many nominees to our first-ever Local Heroes celebration. Jointly sponsored by Honolulu Weekly and Kilauea Lodge in Volcano, Local Heroes was designed as a thank-you to the many islanders who work hard in relative obscurity to enrich and improve the lives of others.
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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