Monthly Archives: June 2009

June 30, 2009

Hawaii’s Residents & Visitors Will Be Hit With Higher Taxes Starting Tomorrow Thanks To The Democratic Party Controlled Legislature

By Aaron Stene

Hawaii’s residents and visitors will be hit with higher taxes starting tomorrow thanks to the Democratic Party controlled legislature.The most immediate impact will be higher gasoline prices.I’m utterly pissed off about this. It is already very hard to make ends meet here due to high costs of living.The latter will be even more harder to accomplish after these tax increases kick in.

Hat tip to Tiffany Edwards Hunt for interviewing council chairman J Yoshimoto.I’m utterly blown away about Mr. Yoshimoto’s blase view of the recent Hawaii County Council coup.It seems he is totally oblivious of the fallout from this selfish power grab by the East Hawaii council members.

Lastly, I feel that WHT editor Reed Flickinger is off the mark with this scathing commentary here about Palamanui seeking changes to the zoning conditions imposed their project.It doesn’t seem to me that the developer is trying to skirt their obligations. The conditions will be complied with albeit over a longer period of time.The latter is perfectly fair especially taking into account the poor worldwide economic climate.

1 comment | posted in Hawaii Development, Hawaii Economy, Hawaii Planning, Hawaii Politics

June 28, 2009

Hat Tip To Big Island Video News For Recent News Coverage

By Aaron Stene

Hat tip to Big Island Video News for videotaping the entire recent Hawaii County Council coup meeting.It was very interesting to see how dysfunctional the council has turned out to be once again. However it is also very frustrating as these public servants should be working to better Hawaii County and not trying to do these selfish power grabs.

Big Island Video News also videotaped the recent Ane Keohokalole highway public hearing.Hopefully this road can be successfully fast tracked. However I still have concerns that the burials in or near the right of way may scuttle this project and the Hawaiian Island Burial Council will be yet again pegged as the fall guy just like what happened with Ali’i Parkway.

This is yet another example why we need to reduce our dependence on construction as one of the primary drivers for our island’s economy. Construction is too dependent how the overall global economy is doing. Thus as result it is too cyclical to be long term sustainable industry for Hawaii County.

This commentary by Lowell Kalapa is right on. His assertion that raising taxes in light of declining revenues won’t do much to reduce the budget deficit because the economy is still declining. Thus that doesn’t leave Governor Lingle with much options besides furloughing public workers. Which is a much better option than a mass layoff.

1 comment | posted in Hawaii Development, Hawaii Economy, Hawaii Planning, Hawaii Politics, Hawaii Technology, Hawaii Transportation

June 27, 2009

E-Mail I Sent To The Five East Hawaii Council Members Who Orchestrated The Recent Coup

By Aaron Stene

I just sent this e-mail to the five East Hawaii council members who orchestrated the recent Hawaii County Council coup :

Aloha,

I would like to know why you supported removing the West Hawaii council members from their chair positions.It seems that the official reason was to unify the council.However its done quite the opposite. Which will have damaging effects to the unity of this island due to this power grab.

When the West Hawaii council members had positions of power it quelled any talk of splitting Hawaii County. But since this half baked coup orchestrated by East Hawaii it has raised the possibility of splitting Hawaii County from the dead again.

The latter is not going to be good for the future of the Big Island. Hawaii County doesn’t have the population or the tax base to support two counties. However these power grabs by East Hawaii need to stop. Thus I urge you to reconsider demoting council members Ford,Hoffmann,and Yagong.

Sincerely,
Aaron Stene

2 comments | posted in Hawaii Politics

June 27, 2009

Current Environment Impact Assessment Process Criticized, When Will The Coupes Latest Appeal Be Heard

By Aaron Stene

These kind of articles (here, and here) really frustrate me. . The current environmental impact assessment process is not perfect. However at least people are allowed to voice their concerns about each of these proposals. In other words, no one is denying their right to express their opinions either way.

In a nutshell, these articles really add fuel to the fire to all the obstructionist activists who live here. For example, I couldn’t find any evidence that the TMT accepted any federal money for their project here.If the latter is true, it would trigger a more stringent NEPA analysis of their proposal to build a telescope on Mauna Kea.

I cannot believe Kama’aina Pumping’s contract to clean drywells will likely have their contract extending while investigation into the bid award is conducted.Kama’aina should be disqualified to bid to provide this service since it is owned by DPW department head. The latter would remove any question of favoritism from this bid award.

Lastly, I wonder when the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals will hear Charles & Joan Coupe’s latest appeal ? Hopefully  Hawaii County does file a motion to expedite a hearing regarding this latest appeal.However I’ve been assured that the county will file a motion to transfer this case to the Hawaii Supreme Court.

Leave a comment | posted in Hawaii Development, Hawaii Economy, Hawaii Planning, Hawaii Transportation

June 26, 2009

Grace Church, Palani Road/Kealaka’a Street Intersection,Hokulia Bypass Updates

By Aaron Stene

I received this update regarding the Palani Road re-alignment fronting Grace Church today.

Hi Aaron,

Our civil engineer has just finished the changes needed to obtain final approval of the Turn Lane construction plans. Ki Emler, however, is now on vacation until early July. We await his return in order to obtain the permit to work in the right-of-way. We are still committed to completing substantially all work before school starts, although the calendar will soon begin to work against us.

Thank you for your continuing interest in our project. We are eager to get started.

Mahalo,
Gary Summers

I finally got an update regarding the Palani Road/Kealaka’a Street intersection re-alignment.Hopefully in about a month traffic will be re-routed back on to the existing roadway. At that time the temporary bypass will be torn up. The overall project should be completed within two months if no further issues crop up and HELCO installs their new reinforced concrete poles in a timely manner. Both the contractor and the county want to get this done before school starts up again.

Lastly, Hawaii County has filed an ex parte motion with the court (on June 26, 2009) requesting that Judge Ibarra order that they are granted possession of Charles & Joan Coupe’s land to complete the Hokulia bypass. It should be interesting to see if Judge Ibarra grants this motion especially since the Coupes have filed yet another appeal.

Leave a comment | posted in Hawaii Transportation

June 26, 2009

Sandwich Isles Communications Completed Their Interisland Fiber-Optic Network,Hands-Free Cellular Phone Legislation Signed By Mayor Kenoi

By Aaron Stene

Mayor Kenoi signed the recently passed hands-free cell phone legislation. This will bar the use of a cellular phone while driving starting January 1st, 2010. There is a number of folks excluded from this law namely amateur radio operators.

Sandwich Isles Communications recently finished their inter island submarine fiber-optic network, according to this PBN article.This fiber-optic network was owned by Paniolo Cable Company LLC. Paniolo was majority owned by a Denver Colorado venture capitalist who subleased it to Sandwich Isles. However I just noticed he sold his majority interest to Blue Ivory Hawaii Corporation in 2008. Blue Ivory is headed by Janeen-Ann A. Olds. It appears she is currently a attorney with Waimana Enterprises (who is the parent company of  Sandwich Isles Communications).She previously worked for the Kobayashi, Sugita & Goda law firm.

The FCC vacated most of their previous issued orders that imposed fines on Oceanic Time Warner for their SDV rollout on Oahu and Kauai.

Hawaii’s largest industry is still government, according to this PBN article.This is another example that we need to diversify our economy. But that won’t happen until we streamline the size of our bloated government. If we are able to do the latter it will probably help improve our image of poor place to do business.

Lastly, the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort and Spa will likely be the first of many Hawaii hotels that will be foreclosed upon by their lenders during the next years.

1 comment | posted in Hawaii Development, Hawaii Economy, Hawaii Planning, Hawaii Politics, Hawaii Technology

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