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Entries for 'Keli'i Akina PhD'
Thursday, January 19, 2023 |
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Let the sun shine in
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:33 AM :: 1324 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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... The only question is whether they have the political will ....
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Sunday, January 15, 2023 |
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How to avert the looming property tax crisis
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 10:10 PM :: 1793 Views :: Hawaii Statistics, Taxes, Cost of Living
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... Hawaii’s population has been declining for six straight years, and if policymakers don’t do something quickly to avert the looming increase in county property taxes, that is likely to continue ....
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Wednesday, January 4, 2023 |
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Please Cut Taxes in 2023
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 7:18 PM :: 1510 Views :: Taxes
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... Gov. Josh Green made eliminating the general excise tax for food and medicine one of his major talking points. And on the county level, faced with concerns about skyrocketing real estate assessments, Mayor Rick Blangiardi promised to “aggressively” pursue ways to reduce that tax burden. ....
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Sunday, January 1, 2023 |
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“Deep Moral Crisis” in Hawai‘i Government
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 6:33 PM :: 2151 Views :: Ethics
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... bold proposals for legislative reform ....
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Tuesday, December 20, 2022 |
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Artificial Shortage: 74% of Oahu Land is Vacant
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 7:08 PM :: 2119 Views :: Development, Hawaii Statistics, Land Use
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... Since the state Land Use Commission was created in 1976, “there’s just been a massive falloff on development,” Akina said. Indeed, only 2% of Hawaii island’s land is committed to urban housing and development. Statewide, that percentage is 4% for Kauai and Maui and 26% for Oahu. ...
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Monday, December 19, 2022 |
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Counties should not profit from Hawaii's housing crisis
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 12:00 AM :: 1982 Views :: Honolulu County, Taxes, Cost of Living
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... assessments of all real property on Oahu went up by 12.4% compared with the previous year. And that’s just the average ....
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Saturday, December 10, 2022 |
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Knowledge is key to Jones Act reform
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 9:52 PM :: 1640 Views :: Jones Act
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... American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands are both exempt from the Jones Act — and they like it that way ....
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Saturday, December 3, 2022 |
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Licensing laws a license to hold back workers
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 6:12 PM :: 1804 Views :: Labor, Small Business
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... “License to Work” study looks at state regulations nationwide ....
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Thursday, December 1, 2022 |
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Evidence of Fraud, Waste, and Abuse at OHA from 2012-2016
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 8:27 PM :: 1647 Views
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... 22 financial transactions, worth over $7 million, made by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs ....
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Sunday, November 27, 2022 |
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Let's restore reason to city planning
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:59 AM :: 1917 Views :: Development, Land Use
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... Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It ....
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Sunday, November 20, 2022 |
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It's a perfect time to cut taxes
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:13 AM :: 1666 Views :: Taxes, Cost of Living
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... many Hawaii families are taking a hard look at their finances and calculating how inflation and recession will affect their holiday plans, if not their entire economic futures ....
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Friday, November 18, 2022 |
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It’s our kuleana to ensure campaign promises are kept
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 5:13 PM :: 1460 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Politicians
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... If we don’t demand action, followup on our demands and show the consequences at the ballot box, then we have failed in our civic duty ....
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Saturday, November 12, 2022 |
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Red Flags 2: Fraud, Waste, and Abuse at OHA
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:00 PM :: 3801 Views :: Akaka Bill, Ethics, OHA
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... The PM report found 22 of the 38 questionable transactions with evidence of fraud, waste and abuse ... OHA noted matters requiring criminal prosecution will be turned over to the relevant authorities for appropriate action ....
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Sunday, November 6, 2022 |
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How to win the housing permitting game
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 1:28 AM :: 1736 Views :: Honolulu County, Development
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... delays, missing emails and bureaucratic difficulties ....
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Tuesday, November 1, 2022 |
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Protecting OHA from Corruption
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 9:25 PM :: 2332 Views :: Ethics, OHA
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“...Powerful members of our community engaged in wrongdoing…various official watchdogs engage in willful blindness....”
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Monday, October 31, 2022 |
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Short-term rental ban deserves short life
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 6:57 PM :: 1735 Views :: Honolulu County, Small Business, Tourism
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... Formerly known as Bill 41, the new law was supposed to go into effect this week, but a federal judge temporarily blocked it until its provisions can be hashed out in court ....
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Tuesday, October 25, 2022 |
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Hawaii’s biggest barrier to more housing is politics
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 5:27 PM :: 2142 Views :: Development, Land Use, Cost of Living
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... The result is exactly what we have in Hawaii: a lot of talk about lowering the cost of housing, but very little effective reform ....
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Tuesday, October 18, 2022 |
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Sunday, October 16, 2022 |
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Housing Crisis: Data Beats Anecdotes
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 9:51 PM :: 1803 Views :: Development, Land Use, Cost of Living
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“...Are out-of-state buyers, especially foreigners, really driving Hawaii’s high home prices?....”
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Saturday, October 8, 2022 |
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Putting a human face on Hawaii's doctor shortage
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 10:31 PM :: 3213 Views :: Health Care, Taxes, Cost of Living
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... they told me, ‘Send this person to Costco’ ....
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Tuesday, October 4, 2022 |
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Will Hawaii have to beg for a Jones Act waiver too?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 3:52 AM :: 1673 Views :: Jones Act
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... It’s hard not to look at the delay, political gamesmanship and dueling press statements and wonder how long it will be until Hawaii is in a similar situation ....
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Saturday, October 1, 2022 |
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A New Source of Wealth for the Hawaiian People
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:50 PM :: 2048 Views :: Development, OHA
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... I have been a strong advocate of protecting OHA’s funds from fraud, waste and abuse. I am as passionate about growing those funds to meet the needs of Hawaiians ....
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Friday, September 30, 2022 |
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Is the World Running out of Resources?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 12:04 AM :: 1368 Views :: Environment
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... Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet ....
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Wednesday, September 14, 2022 |
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Corruption in Paradise -- Government Watchdogs Look the Other Way
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:19 AM :: 3708 Views :: Ethics
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... many government watchdog entities appear to have been willfully ignoring, or even tacitly approving, some of Hawaii’s most egregious corruption scandals, according to Randy Roth ....
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Sunday, September 11, 2022 |
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Top-down energy plans not going down easy
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 1:41 AM :: 1730 Views :: Energy, Environment, Cost of Living
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... how we got to this point ....
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Saturday, September 3, 2022 |
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Will more bureaucracy solve permit delays?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 5:00 PM :: 1941 Views :: Development, Land Use, Cost of Living
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... the average delay for permits or approvals in Hawaii is more than three times as high as the national mean ....
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Friday, September 2, 2022 |
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Good Medicine for OHA’s “Red Flags”
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:36 PM :: 2248 Views :: Ethics, OHA
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... Here are some examples of “Red Flag” disbursements by OHA and the concerns raised by CLA ....
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Thursday, September 1, 2022 |
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Should sacrifices go just one way?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:15 PM :: 1413 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... Does the state have a responsibility to “go without,” if that would be better for the people? ....
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Wednesday, August 31, 2022 |
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How the Jones Act affects Puerto Rico; ‘the uncanny parallels’ with Hawaii
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:01 AM :: 2332 Views :: Jones Act
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... the Jones Act is harmful to the territory of Puerto Rico, and people throughout the U.S. should be skeptical of it, says Luis Ponce, co-founder and action director of the Boricuas Unidos en la Diaspora ....
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Wednesday, August 24, 2022 |
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New report removes divisive distraction
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 1:25 PM :: 1655 Views :: Development, Land Use, Cost of Living
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... It is tempting to look for scapegoats when we talk about Hawaii’s housing crisis ....
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Wednesday, August 17, 2022 |
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How to reduce permit delays for Hawaii homebuilding
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 3:55 AM :: 2951 Views :: Hawaii County , Development, Small Business
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... in Hawaii County, residential permits take about 143 days to issue. In Honolulu, it’s 108 days for residential projects and 432 days for commercial projects over $1 million ....
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Monday, August 1, 2022 |
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Empowering Native Hawaiians to Own Homes
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 5:09 PM :: 2059 Views :: DHHL, OHA
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"...We’ve been renters all our lives...."
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Saturday, July 30, 2022 |
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Emergency orders our newest emergency
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 7:23 PM :: 1567 Views :: COVID-19
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... The right way requires the involvement of the Legislature. It might be slower, but it is constitutional, democratic and results in real, lasting change ....
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Sunday, July 24, 2022 |
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How to take politics out of housing
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 8:39 PM :: 1760 Views :: Maui County, Development, Cost of Living
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... The most recent example of this comes from Maui, where just this week the County Council killed a housing project that would have created 28 affordable units in Kihei ....
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Tuesday, July 19, 2022 |
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Maui Council on verge of worsening housing crisis
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:58 AM :: 2026 Views :: Maui County, Development, Land Use, Cost of Living
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... The assumption is that they would simply have to take that additional loss ....
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Wednesday, July 13, 2022 |
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Hawaii’s love-hate relationship with tourism
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 3:56 AM :: 1399 Views :: Tourism
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... It’s not just Hawaii residents who are being priced out of paradise. Slowly but surely, tourists are also wondering whether they can still afford to visit here ....
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Sunday, July 3, 2022 |
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Support emergency powers reform in spirit of July 4th
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 10:55 PM :: 1404 Views :: Hawaii State Government, COVID-19
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... Earlier this week, Gov. David Ige announced his “intent to veto” SB3089, a bill that aims to reform the state’s emergency powers law ....
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Sunday, July 3, 2022 |
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A Quick Guide to the OHA Elections
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 12:59 AM :: 3542 Views :: Office of Elections, OHA
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... there are 18 candidates for six OHA trustee positions ....
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Tuesday, June 28, 2022 |
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Time to get real about rail
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 6:33 PM :: 2153 Views :: Rail
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... It was sold to the public on the promise that it would only cost about $4 billion, that it would be completed by 2019 and that the general excise tax surcharge associated with it would end by 2022 ....
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Tuesday, June 21, 2022 |
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Why Panos Prevedouros Left Hawaii
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:47 AM :: 3398 Views :: Higher Education, Rail, Cost of Living
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... The former chairman of the University of Hawaii’s civil engineering department says aloha ....
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Sunday, June 19, 2022 |
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We can do something about inflation
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 5:17 AM :: 1453 Views :: Economy
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... From a rate of 1.9% in 2018, inflation jumped to 7.1% in 2021 and was 8.2% as of April 2022 ....
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Tuesday, June 14, 2022 |
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Good news/bad news about cryptocurrency in Hawaii
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:15 PM :: 1784 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Small Business
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... Hawaii’s policymakers haven’t given up the dream of regulating it into oblivion ....
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Monday, May 30, 2022 |
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Auē! All four counties are planning spending sprees
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:30 PM :: 2313 Views :: Hawaii County , Honolulu County, Kauai County, Maui County, Taxes
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... Hawaii’s gross domestic product is down by 4.43% since 2019, yet even as the economy suffers, all four counties seem determined to spend like crazy ....
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Sunday, May 22, 2022 |
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Civic involvement is key to saving Hawaii
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:18 PM :: 1629 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... efforts to reform the state’s emergency powers law; reduce barriers to housing; bring taxes, debt and state spending under control ....
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Friday, May 20, 2022 |
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Questions persist about viability of Honolulu rail
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 7:05 PM :: 1807 Views :: Rail
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... the one thing we can rely on concerning the Honolulu rail project is the long list of unanswered questions ....
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Thursday, May 12, 2022 |
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'Good Questions' still bedevil Honolulu rail
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 5:08 PM :: 1710 Views :: Rail
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... Iwasa has valuable insights into the operations of the rail project because she also is a non-voting member of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation ....
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