Rep. Mazie Hirono finally replied to my follow-up e-mails regarding the resurfacing of Saddle Road between m.m 49-54.
“Dear Mr. Stene,
I am responding both to your email of 8/15/2010 and to your 9/7/2010 entry in The Kona Blog. In your blog, you claim that I’ve refused to respond to your emails, despite the fact that your 8/15/2010 email acknowledges my previous response. Your public statement that I have refused to respond to your question is not accurate.
I requested funding of $2,400,000 from the House Transportation-HUD Appropriation Subcommittee for Saddle Road resurfacing. The Subcommittee only allocated $750,000. Earmarks are very difficult to secure, and most requests receive zero funding. Senator Inouye was able to get $2,000,000 in earmarked funds approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which he chairs. The full Senate has not, however, passed the bill. I am hopeful that the final amount appropriated will be closer to the $2,000,000 that Senator Inouye was able to get included in the Senate bill. The bill providing this funding will likely pass by the end of the year.
Bids for many of the road projects this year have come in well under budget. I hope that if the $2,000,000 is appropriated that the County will be able to move forward with the project. If not, we will have to try for additional funding next year or the County may choose to repair a portion of the highway. Like you, I want to see this important roadway fixed.
Sincerely,
Mazie K. Hirono
Member of Congress”
The FONSI public notice for the Makalei Fire Station NEPA EA will be published in WHT on September 22 and the HTH on September 23. This paves the way for this project to be be put out to bid.
From the project engineer:
“I’ve been working with both newspapers and it looks that the notices will be printed this week, 9/22 for West Hawaii Today and 9/23 for Hawaii Tribune Herald. After publication there will be no waiting period for when we can go out to bid. We are currently working with our Department of Public Works to establish when the project will be ready to bid.”
The NTIA has posted fact sheets here and here regarding the recent federal broadband stimulus awards to the University of Hawaii.
The State Land Use Commission July 1st, 2010 meeting minutes contained a lot of interesting information about the troubled Villages at Aina Le’a project.
1. DW Aina Le’a Development LLC currently owns only 60 of the 1,000 acres in this area. The rest is still owned by Bridge Aina Le’a LLC
2. There is 333 investors who own a share of the 60 acres.
3. DW Aina Le’a LLC has apparently secured an additional 98 million dollars from the Exim Corporation besides the financing obtained from Capital Asia Group Pte Ltd.
4. Goodfellow Brothers has lent DW Aina Le’a Development LLC 5.5 million dollars.
Aina Le’a's problems don’t end there. DW Aina Le’a Development LLC‘s parent company, Relco Corporation is not in good standing with the State of Hawaii Business Registration Division. Relco’s 2010 business registration application was rejected by the State of Hawaii on August 23rd, 2010 (Relco has resubmitted their application). In addition, Aina Le’a LLC is also not in good standing with the State of Hawaii. Aina Le’a LLC is :
From True North Asia’s development brochure:
“a dedicated limited liability company incorporated for the purpose of holding the title to the land and estate of the Villages of Aina Le’a. The entire – all 1,092 acres of are approved as urban land and with has partners ready to develop and manage it. In keeping with its objective of working with Asian Investors, Aina Le’a Singapore Pte Ltd has been incorporated. Focusing and aligning along with its development partners and builders, Aina Le’a LLC presents the corporate forefront of the business and realty activities of The Villages of Aina Le’a.”
(Related items:
The Villages At Aina Le’a Project May Turn Into The Next Hokuli’a
DW Aina Le’a Development’s Entitlements Shouldn’t Be Changed By The State Land Use Commission
True North Asia-Hawaii Real Estate Participation )
I’m absolutely thrilled that council members Brenda Ford, Pete Hoffmann, Dominic Yagong, and Angel Pilago were re-elected to the Hawaii County Council.
I believe special interests would’ve gained a stronger foothold if Enock Freire were elected. In addition, Councilman Greenwell’s re-election defeat will likely spare the county council and the citizens of Hawaii County further embarrassment. So, I hope these changes will eliminate the pervasive acrimony plaguing the current council.
The Washington Times published an article regarding Sandwich Isles Communications egregious use of taxpayer money to provide statewide service to DHHL homesteads.
There were several issues with this article which I’ll point out below:
“When the Agriculture Department program suspended funding a few years later, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) quietly ruled in May 2005 that Sandwich Isles was eligible to receive up to $400 million in federal USF support.”
This statement is incorrect. The FCC ruled in favor of GTE Hawaiian Tel’s petition in late 2004. GTE claimed in 1998 that SIC shouldn’t receive subsidies because DHHL homestead areas were not undersevered. However, the FCC reversed this decision in May 2005.
Nevertheless, the USDA RUS suspended funding for SIC’s inter island fiber-optic network. This decision forced SIC to seek private investors to finance the construction of this network.
“The cable connecting the Hawaiian Islands would be the state’s fourth and is largely unnecessary, given the capacity of the other three.”
This is also an incorrect statement. There is only three inter island submarine fiber-optic networks which service all or nearly all the Hawaiian Islands.
1. Southern Cross Cable Network has a fiber-optic cable between Oahu and Spencer Beach Park on the Big Island.
2. Wavecom Solutions and TW Telecom co-own a submarine fiber-optic network which provides statewide service.
3. Hawaiian Telcom’s submarine fiber-optic network services Kauai, Oahu, Maui and the Big Island (Molokai and Lani are serviced through microwave links).
4. Paniolo Cable Company LLC has a statewide submarine fiber-optic network.
The lack of supporting evidence of an imminient bankruptcy by Paniolo and Sandwich Isles also bothered me. I predicted a SIC/Paniolo bankruptcy filing by February 20, 2010. Paniolo had a debt service payment on their 185 million dollar loan due on that date. However, SIC or Paniolo still haven’t filed for bankruptcy protection yet.
Lastly, I’m still waiting for Hawaiian Telcom’s apologists to explain how they can supposedly offer 1Gbps service, but also tried to qualify for USF funding. Hawaiian Telcom claimed they didn’t have the financial wherewithal to upgrade their aging last mile copper loop facilities in that FCC petition. This plainly shows that their existing last mile infrastructure is incapable of offering 1Gbps speeds.
