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Editor's Notes

Editor’s note 6-23-2010

by Ragnar Carlson | Jun 23, 2010

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.

One of the things we’ve done to help ease the transition to a late-Wednesday distribution time is to make a shift we’d been weighing since long before our printing situation changed. Beginning this week, our news, entertainment and calendar coverage will run, as we put it, “eight days a week.” This means we’ll feature events and other items of interest from Wednesday through Wednesday, in this week’s case from June 23 through June 30.

It was always a bit troublesome to us that, for example, a lecture held on Wednesday at noon would not appear in the Weekly until the morning of the event, too close to allow readers to plan. The changes can actually be clearly seen already this week, as we feature comedian Pauly Shore’s local appearance (p.14) and that of the electro hip-hop act LMFAO (p.9), both of which take place on June 30. The same same principle guides our Calendar section. We believe this change will serve readers much better than the previous format, regardless of what time the paper hits the streets on Wednesday.

Speaking of papers hitting the streets: Readers weren’t the only ones who wrote and called in droves last week. We’ve heard from several employees of both the old daily newspapers and the new one, all of them complaining about heavy-handed labor tactics from the new management at the Star-Advertiser. The concerns are coming in from both former press operators at the MidWeek press and current and former delivery people, all of them reporting reduced wages and increased workloads. We’ll look into it in the weeks to come, but it’s unlikely anything we learn will be much of a surprise.

COMMENTS

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This week

Derelict Downtown

For as long as we can remember, Chinatown has been notorious for drugs, homelessness and filthy streets. Some claim nothing has changed–and that it never will.

Sweet Ride

Bicyclists have long been overlooked by four-wheel riders on Honolulu’s congested streets. In the gleaming, armored pecking order of the road, cyclists are too often dismissed as lane hogs, hand-signaling nuisances and unfortunates who can’t afford cars.

Hoopili miss

The fate of some 1,525 acres of land at Hoopili in ‘Ewa may have been decided last Wednesday in Hawaii’s First Circuit Court. The decision might have gone differently, but the appellant attorneys’ strategy seemed to collapse as Judge Rhonda Nishimura picked it apart based on technical errors.

Housing First $

Last Thursday, May 9, the Caldwell administration revealed its action plan for solving Honolulu’s homeless problem. But at the City Council’s budget meeting the same day, Budget chair Ann Kobayashi wanted to know where the money for “Housing First” (see Cover Story, pg.

Do it Wright

The Mayor Wright Housing project has been slated for major redevelopment by the Hawaii State Housing Authority (HSHA); requests for qualifications will be going out to developers in three to six months. Nonprofit group Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE) wants to make sure the project’s tenants have a say in the redevelopment process, which could include major renovations or a total rebuild.

Street Disconnect

The Honolulu City Council held a special Committee on Transportation meeting on Tuesday, May 7, to go over its Complete Streets initiative with input from the department directors of Design and Construction (DDC), Planning and Permitting (DPP) and Transportation Services (DTS). At prior meetings, including the Moiliili workshop, community members pressed the idea of combining Complete Streets with Caldwell’s repaving projects, which Dan Burden of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute and some councilmembers have said makes sense.

Stopping Growth

Not much to agree with my friend Doc Berry (“Limits of Growth,” April 17). None of the scenarios he posits will ever materialize.

Get it together

In your Diary of May 8 (“End of the 27th)” you reported on SB 1214, passed by the Legislature. In their nimble way, the Legislature tacked the wheel boot prohibition on a bill that was intended to abolish the Commission on Transportation.

Look both ways

On Friday, May 3, at 3:45 p.m., I was driving town bound through the Wilson tunnel on the Likelike. I was parallel to another car, and there were several other cars following closely behind me.

Thank you!

Congratulations Honolulu Weekly on the recent Pai award for investigative reporting (“Boss GMO,” Jan. 4, 2012).

Truth be told

When the biofuel guys say that costs are “confidential” (“Big-foot Biofuel,” May 8), I reply that since I am the one who is going to end up paying the cost, I have a right to know. Frankly, when everybody tries to hide the costs, I smell rat …

Nature’s beauty

The Foster Botanical Garden never ceases to inspire for an urban setting it is like a step back in time (“See the Flora,” May 8). If Koko Crater Botanical Garden contains the world’s largest plumeria collection as suggested, it may be thanks in part to the Prussian born Dr.