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Monday, March 26, 2018
March 26, 2018 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 8:27 PM :: 3184 Views

Prince Kuhio’s Fight to Americanize Hawaii

Hanabusa Campaign Plan: Send swarms of homeless into streets as absentee ballots drop

Prince Kuhio’s Fight to Americanize Hawaii

Department Of Precrime: HAWSCT Considers Cultural "Property" on Mauna Kea

Gun Control? Brian Schatz Proudly Ignorant

Omnibus Funding Bill: $123M for Palau COFA Agreement

House Race: Kim beating Chin 32-29 – Ing at 2%

SA: ….The poll of 242 likely voters residing in Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District found slightly more voters in favor of Kim, at 32 percent, to Chin’s 29 percent. Thirty- one percent of poll participants said they were undecided….

Hono­lulu City Council Chairman Ernie Martin, whose district includes Central and North Oahu, attracted 6 percent of likely primary voters, while (co-founder of the smug millennial caucus,) state Rep. Kaniela Ing (D, South Maui), got 2 percent of voters in the poll…. 

(Please take a moment to laugh.) 

PDF: The Hawaii Poll – March 2018: Congress

read … Kim and Chin tie in race for U.S. House

Key questions unanswered in crash of licensing system

SA: …Kokua Line readers had something to do with the city’s revelation — belated as it was — that the highly sensitive personal records of more than 100,000 Hawaii residents were corrupted in a computer failure in September.

At a news conference Thursday, the city and its vendor, Marquis ID Systems, flatly asserted that there was no security breach and portrayed the problem as an inconvenience, particularly for a subset of people who will have to resubmit documents the next time they apply for a Hawaii driver’s license or state ID. They glossed over questions about why the server failed — a server containing scanned copies of people’s birth certificates, Social Security cards, fingerprints and other information prized by identity thieves — and didn’t say how they knew no hack occurred. The city and its vendor must provide those details and more. Before we get to that, some background:

The REAL ID Act is a federal law that imposes strict requirements on states’ issuance of driver’s licenses and IDs if those credentials are to be accepted for certain federal purposes, such as boarding commercial aircraft. The post-9/11 law aims to deter terrorists from getting fake IDs and has been controversial since before its 2005 passage.

Critics decry it as a privacy-invading national ID program that burdens states lacking the money and technical expertise to safeguard the sensitive data people must submit. Full enforcement has been delayed for years and is now set for October 2020.

Hawaii is among about 30 states already in compliance. However, unlike all but one of the others, Hawaii did not initially include a “gold star” on its compliant credential. That changed in January, and is when the Kokua Line readers come in.

Once the “gold star” ID became available, the city said that people who had already met all REAL ID requirements and wanted to exchange their current license or state ID for one with a gold star could do so without bringing in all their documents again or being fingerprinted or photographed anew. It was a streamlined process akin to getting a duplicate, and it worked that way for many people — but not for all.

Kokua Line heard from folks who waited in long lines at the driver’s licensing office, only to be told that their files couldn’t be retrieved, that they’d have to submit new fingerprints, take a new photograph, bring back their birth certificate. Individual experiences varied, but all these readers wanted to know what was going on.

We sent detailed questions to the city Feb. 8 and received a promise the same day that answers would be forthcoming. They never arrived. We followed up March 2, again by email, and received no response.

Then came Thursday’s news conference, at which the city and its vendor disclosed that a Hawaii-based Marquis ID Systems server containing multiple hard disks had crashed Sept. 15; that the Indiana-based backup system was so flawed that it did not save scanned files; that the city was informed of the failure at the time but didn’t comprehend its magnitude; and that the city’s Department of Customer Services, which oversees driver’s licensing and state IDs, found out from Marquis on Feb. 12 that tens of thousands of corrupted files could not be recovered. (DCS had sought that information because Kokua Line and others were asking, a city spokesman confirmed.)….

SA: Renewing your driver’s license? Be prepared

read … Key questions unanswered in crash of licensing system

Most see homeless problem getting worse as Sweeps Stir up Druggies

SA: …Registered island voters, in general, do not believe Hawaii’s homeless problem has improved over the last year, and 62 percent support the idea of so-called “safe zones” for homeless people to live without fear of getting swept.

Neighbor island respondents to the Hawaii Poll were slightly more optimistic than their Oahu counterparts. Some 13 percent of neighbor island respondents said the homeless problem has gotten better over the last 12 months, compared with only 10 percent of Oahu respondents.

But neighbor island and Oahu respondents had the identical 42 percent reaction in telling the Hawaii Poll that the homeless problem has gotten worse over the last 12 month…

“I think it’s gotten worse,” said Jessica Baang, 66, of Waianae. “There’s an awful lot of homeless coming out here after getting cleared from the airport area and Kakaako, while the situation at the Waianae Boat Harbor can’t seem to get resolved.”…

only 27 percent of Democrats believe homelessness has gotten worse, compared with 59 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of independent voters….

House leaders have wiped out Gov. David Ige’s budget proposal to spend more than $8 million on existing homeless programs and instead want to pour $30 million into so-called safe zones, which have now morphed into the concept of government-sanctioned “ohana zones” despite the warnings of federal officials who say they don’t work and distract communities by arguing over where to place them….

read … Homeless

Arakawa: The only ‘cure’ for homelessness is getting the homeless into real homes, with four walls, a roof and a door that locks.

MN: …Although “safe zones” have been initialized in several municipalities across U.S., these efforts have oftentimes resulted in creating more problems than solving them. For example, just last month city officials on Oahu reported that the homeless living in a “safe zone” on the west side were dumping human feces into nearby Pokai Bay, causing some officials to say it should be shut down. The only “cure” for homelessness is getting the homeless into real homes, with four walls, a roof and a door that locks. The Maui County Homeless Program is working diligently with its partner service provider agencies to get unsheltered families and individuals into housing and provide the necessary wraparound services to keep them from re-entering life in our streets and parks. Unfortunately, there is also a very visible population of homeless that, for a multitude of reasons, are not currently seeking any type of assistance. Some are backpacking travelers, some choose to be squatters and stay on the streets. Others have mental health and/or substance abuse issues and refuse any type of services. In a nutshell, the homeless situation is complex and not everyone wants to be housed….

read … Alan Arakawa is a Genius

Harry Kim Plan: Massive Festering Homeless Tent City at Hilo Airport

HTH: …The county is looking to establish a Hilo counterpart to the proposed Village 9 homeless site in Kailua-Kona, though plans are still “very preliminary.”

Roy Takemoto, an executive assistant to Mayor Harry Kim, told the Tribune-Herald last week that the county is in the initial stages of acquiring access to two adjoining land parcels at the old airport in Hilo (right next to the new airport) — located about 850 feet from Access Road — where it is looking to possibly erect tents and domes….

East Hawaii business owners said this week they’d welcome a place to refer homeless, who often can be seen sleeping and loitering outside downtown storefronts…. (Yeah great.  Move them to the airport.  Swell plan guys.)

Takemoto said once more homeless facilities are in place enforcement could become stricter: Outreach workers would “go out and be persuasive in getting them to shelter and if (they don’t want it), not give them much choice.”… (Of course they could do this with igloos too.  But that would actually solve something and we can’t have that can we.)

Meanwhile: Hilo Farmers Market ordered to remove tents and tarps due to Fire Concerns

read … Harry Kim is an Idiot

The homeless ‘problem’ is a symptom of mentally ill population being treated as invisible

HC: …Since she was 19 years old, Abingdon, Virginia, native Angel Hayden has worked to ensure her mother receives adequate mental health care. Five years ago, she moved to Hawaii. Her aunt, who declined to be interviewed for this story, took over as her mother’s legal guardian.

Still, Hayden remains an active advocate. Without her army of advocates, Hayden believes her mother would be homeless. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, approximately a third of the homeless population includes individuals with serious, untreated mental illness. In Hayden’s words:

“Living in Honolulu, I often see what could have happened to my mother. Some people may not know Honolulu has one of the largest homeless ‘problems’ in the United States. But I can look out of my window here, or simply walk down the street, and it is readily apparent that a huge portion of the homeless population here is mentally ill. The lady in dirty rags on the street corner yelling at no one could be my mother if she had no support system, no advocates, no one to call, write, show up before a panel of strangers to practically beg for help. I see this every single day living in Hawaii and, given my own experience with my mother’s illness, I will never be convinced that most of the homeless ‘problem’ is in fact not a symptom of the mentally ill population all over America being treated as invisible people. They cannot be invisible to me. My eyes were forced open.” ….

“If my mother had diabetes, for instance, I and my family would never have had to go to such lengths to ensure her care,” Hayden said.

She also believes her mother has found stability elusive of late, in part because she has been discharged prematurely from treatment facilities. Her mother needs longer-term care, she said, but the system is stretched to its limits.

“This has been and is a battle when it should not be, endless and thankless, full of fear and dread,” Hayden wrote….

read … Getting mental health treatment is increasingly difficult

Homeless Dude Rescued from Between Walls is Lifelong Drug Addict from Mainland

SA: …Firefighters responded after others heard Maggiacomo calling for help, stuck in a horizontal position. They freed Maggiacomo by using saws to cut a hole about 4 feet high and 2 feet wide into a wall of concrete and rebar….

He grew up in Massachusetts and did a stint in the Army in Korea before coming to Hawaii in the mid-’80s.

…, he’s struggled with drugs most of his life. In the late ’80s he said he went to Guam, where his son Christopher was born, and played for the Pepsi Giants, a baseball team in the Guam Major League, but he was sent to prison after being caught using someone else’s name.

In 1994 he said he made the cut for the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s baseball team, but drug problems kept him benched….

read … Man rescued after being stuck between walls is ex-baseball player

54% Say Legalize Marijuana

SA: 54 percent support marijuana legalization, while 40 percent oppose it and 6 percent are undecided

Neighbor island residents are the strongest advocates at 60 percent, compared with 51 percent on Oahu. The most support comes from those under age 50, at 71 percent. Only 40 percent of those 50 and older approve recreational use.

Caucasians are largely against legalization at 60 percent in opposition, while roughly 60 percent of Japanese, Hawaiian, Filipino and those of mixed ancestry support recreational pot….

PDF: The Hawaii Poll – March 2018: Marijuana

read … Doped up

Maui police officer under investigation after alleged Uber assault

KITV: …Kihei resident Kimberly Curtis tells Island News she suffered a concussion on the job after a passenger kicked and punched her on February 16.

That passenger turns out to be a Maui Police officer who was off duty.

Curtis claims the officer and another female passenger grew frustrated when she wouldn't drive faster. 

"He just hit me on the side of the head...and it felt like a brick. I know it wasn't a brick but that's how hard it felt. I just flung forward and I said, 'Get out of my car now"' Curtis explained.

She immediately called 9-1-1 but says despite describing the suspect, who remained on scene, police didn't take him into custody….

read … Maui police officer under investigation after alleged Uber assault

Maui Wind Turbines Being Dismantled

MN: …Q. Why are windmills in Kahikinui being dismantled and shipped off island?

A. If you’re talking about the Auwahi Wind farm located on Ulapalakua Ranch, there has been no word to my office that they are taking down windmills and shipping them off island. However, I’ve been told that one of the units had a mechanical failure that could not be repaired and so they had to remove the broken part and are waiting for the replacement part to arrive….

read … Alan Arakawa

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