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Wednesday, September 23, 2015
September 23, 2015 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 4:18 PM :: 3591 Views

Hawaii Supreme Court: Political Cronies Who are also Lawyers will be Iced Out of Marijuana Goldrush

Will Jones Act Lobby Sink Puerto Rico to Save Itself?

VIDEO: How Surfing the Nations Transformed Downtown Wahiawa

UH: Telescope legal costs over $2.2M

HNN: The UH has already spent $2.2 million in attorney fees defending the construction of the telescopes.

But now, the UH is being forced to cut funding for some of its overhead costs on the Manoa campus to pay for future legal bills, according to a UH memo obtained by Hawaii News Now.

"We're taking it away from the kids and we should not be doing something like that," said state Rep. Isaac Choy, Chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education.

"I would prefer the $2 million be spent on students' education, repairs and maintenance, fixing toilets, athletics ... the cancer center."

Added Robert Cooney, Chairman of the UH Manoa Faculty Senate:

"Paying lawyers instead of the academic mission of the university always hurts." ...

"It is concerning within the university that the new normal is that in order to do any kind of research activity up on the mountain, it's costing the university millions of dollars," he said.

"If the university is legally challenged we need to defend ourselves."

read ... Telescope legal costs fallout

No Ho'oponopono for Telescope Protesters

HTH: It’s back to court for 10 Thirty Meter Telescope opponents arrested on Mauna Kea after state officials declined to participate in a Hawaiian mediation process known as ho‘oponopono.

Josh Wisch, spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office, said the offer was declined since the conflict over telescope construction and stewardship of the mountain, which the protesters consider sacred, has only become more complicated.

“There are now cases related to Mauna Kea pending in multiple courts in multiple jurisdictions, enforcement actions have been taken and challenged, and additional individuals and groups with no connection to the defendants who first requested ho‘oponopono have asked to engage in a dialogue regarding stewardship of the mountain,” he said in an email.

“In light of these continuing changes, proceeding with ho‘oponopono for these individuals no longer seemed like a constructive option.” ...

TMT opponent Joseph Camara said the offer was still on the table. “If we don’t find a resolution then we will be back in court Dec. 3,” he said. “We’re hoping to find another venue to talk things out instead of in the middle of the road.”

Regarding Stewardship: Telescope: For OHA, it’s all About the Rent Money

read ... No Hooponopono

PUC Dysfunctional: Henry Curtis Debunks Civil Beat

IM: The Civil Beat Editorial noted that State Audits from 1975 to 2004 “have repeatedly criticized the PUC for everything from lack of strategic planning to poor personnel management inadequate information systems.”

Life of the Land believes that the historical dysfunction is caused by four fundamentally different issues.

For many decades, Commissioners were placed on the Commission as political rewards. State employee retirement pensions are based on the three highest paid years and the Commission paid well. Any political dysfunction was caused by the power and control of the Chair of the Commission  who oversaw a highly secretive regulatory process.

Another type of dysfunction can be caused by conflicting values and views of Commissioners. Carl Caliboso served as Chair during the Lingle Administration. He permitted difference of views among Commissioners and staff.

Governor Abercrombie appointed Mina Morita as Chair. For perhaps the first time in the history of the PUC, all of the Commissioners were highly knowledgeable on energy and utilities, with decades of experience. There was enormous and legendary behind-the-scene conflicts and tensions between Morita and the other two Commissioners.

The third type of dysfunction deals with a lack of certainty over the direction forward. Hawai`i, California and New York are on the leading edge of a disruptive wave of energy technology that threatens the status quo. The Commission needs time to evaluate alternatives. This can often been seen from the outside as dysfunction.

The fourth type of dysfunction is caused by the ability of the incumbent utilities to monitor the Commission from the inside and to offer lucrative job positions to staff attorneys and accountants at critical junctures such as right before a planned regulatory decision.

CB: Sycophantic Civil Beat Editorial Equates Randy Iwase, Harry Truman (LOL!)

read ... Civil Beat Wrong

Judge Rejects ACLU Effort to Keep the Homeless out of Shelters

HNN: "The issue about homeless in Kakaako is about poverty (don't forget drugs and mental illness). People who are living there are in extreme poverty and they're doing everything they can there to survive on a daily basis (except accept shelter). They are putting together meager belongings and things like tarps and wood pallets (and stealing copper) just so they have something to shelter them from the elements to shield them and shield their children (and buy meth)," said ACLU attorney Daniel Gluck.

Honolulu Corporation Counsel Donna Leong issued the following statement today:

"We are pleased with today’s decision and the Department of the Corporation Counsel will continue to defend the city. Honolulu’s Stored Property and Sidewalk Nuisance ordinances have withstood challenges in federal court before and we believe they will survive the current challenge. In the meantime, the city will continue to enforce the Stored Property and Sidewalk Nuisance ordinances in accordance with their provisions. The ordinances support the safety, health, and welfare of all residents of the City and County of Honolulu."

SA: ACLU Continues to Claim Homeless Shelters do not Exist

DN: ACLU motion for TRO fails to stop Kakaako sweep

read ... Will be Appealed, Natch

City Finds More than 100 Needles While Removing Trash from Kakaako Homeless Camp

KHON: Phase I: Sept. 8 (Ohe Street, Cooke Street, Ilalo Street, Ala Moana Blvd.)

  • 3 Summary Removal Notices (SNO);
  • 3 bins of stored property (one bin per notice);
  • 1.56 tons of trash;
  • 8.6 cubic yards of metals;
  • No shopping carts.

Phase II: Sept. 17 (Forrest Avenue, Keawe Street, Ilalo Street, Ala Moana Blvd.)

  • No items stored;
  • 3.17 tons of trash;
  • 2.5 cubic yards of metals;
  • 3 shopping carts.

Phase III: Sept. 21 (Keawe Street, Coral Street, Ilalo Street, Ala Moana Blvd.)

  • 1 Summary Removal Notice (SNO);
  • 1 bin of stored property;
  • 7.26 tons of trash;
  • 13 cubic yards of metals;
  • 8 shopping carts;
  • 126 needles

read ... A Bunch of Drug Addicts

Campaign spending filing targets PRP

SA: Maui County Councilwoman Elle Cochran filed a state Campaign Spending Commission complaint Tuesday against the political action group Pacific Resource Partnership/Forward Progress, allegingthat it plotted illegally with a political opponent to unseat her.

Also named in the complaint is Butch Ka‘ala Buenconsejo, whom Cochran beat by 3,332 votes in the 2014 general election to retain her seat. Buenconsejo is now Maui County parks director under Mayor Alan Arakawa.

Cochran’s complaint argues that there is “substantial evidence” of coordination between PRP/Forward Progress and Buenconsejo. Federal election laws allow a noncandidate committee to spend an unlimited amount of money to support or oppose the campaign of a political candidate, but only if there is no coordination between the two.

Cochran, in a statement, said “super PACs” such as PRP/Forward Progress need to be shown “that if they refuse to play by the rules, they will be held to the highest standard of the laws that they refuse to follow.”

Karen Chun: Elle Cochran files complaint against Forward Progress, PRP & Buenconsejo

read ... Campaign spending filing targets PRP

Rail Plan to Eliminate More Lanes: "Streets are not for cars"

CB: “Back in the ’60s and ’70s we imported an idea from the mainland that doesn’t make sense for here, the idea that we should build our streets for cars, not people.” — Harrison Rue, city official who manages development around rail stations

CB: If we eliminate more lanes Honolulu will be filled with Sidewalk cafes, like Paris

read ... 'No Brainer'

Hawaii's charter schools face new contract renewal criteria

HNN: For the first time, Hawaii's public charter schools must make the grade or risk not having their contract renewed. Preliminary numbers based on the first year of data shows that some campuses could face closure if changes aren't made. Members of the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission briefed the joint Senate and House Committees on Education on Tuesday about proposed charter school renewal criteria.

"There are a handful of schools in that very top bracket. There's a sizable number of schools in the middle two brackets, and there's about eight schools in that bottom bracket," explained Tom Hutton, executive director of the commission.

26 of the state's 34 charter schools will need to renew their contract in June of 2017. The commission is scheduled to adopt criteria in October regarding eligibility and the length of the new contract. The proposal calls for contracts ranging from five years for top schools to a one-year probationary period for any schools that fall in the bottom bracket.

SA: Review process to hold state sites accountable approaches completion

read ... Charters

Anti-GMO Activists Harass UH Professors

ILind: I received an interesting question/comment from a friend at UH regarding Freedom of Information Act requests.  My friend wrote:

UH is starting to see a number of really broad-based FOIA requests (“send us all emails and invoices regarding x”, where x is a broad subject. This seems to be evolving into a weapon rather than a real search for information. Similar things happened to Bill Cronon at Wisconsin, to climate change scientists, and apparently it is getting common in the GMO wars. For a principal investigator on grants, this means spending hours going through emails to sort out the relevant ones and then redacting (after first learning what must be redacted), while still doing one’s day job.

A report published earlier this year laid out the same set of issues in some detail (“Freedom to Bully How Laws Intended to Free Information Are Used to Harass Researchers“).

read ... Suggestions sought on handling of broad freedom information requests

Developer Stiffs DLNR, Keeps Getting Extensions

PBN: DOBOR said it has twice recommended the lease with Japan-based developer Honey Bee USA be terminated, but the action was deferred in both instances, according to a staff report. The most recent deferral was supposed to be until the end of August, and that multiple funding deadlines provided by Honey Bee USA have elapsed.

The report said that because of the delays and broken promises, Honey Bee USA currently owes the state agency $425,889 in delinquent lease rent and service charges, plus accrued interest.

A total of $220,376 of the outstanding amount is more than 60 days past due, and any further delays will increase the amount owed to DOBOR, which it believes it would unlikely be able to collect.

read ... Stiff

Meth Dealer Admits She was Lying About Prosecutor 

KHON: The judge found that Arciero’s accusations of criminal misconduct against the lead federal criminal investigator in the case during the criminal litigation constituted obstruction of justice and were attempts to manipulate the judicial proceedings toward a disposition favorable to her. On the eve of this sentencing, Arciero filed a sworn declaration that the prior assertions she made about the agent’s misconduct in the criminal litigation were unsubstantiated and without any basis. She also filed a dismissal of a state civil lawsuit against the agent containing similar allegations.

Hawaii Reporter, 2014: Exclusive: Portlock madam releases black book

read ... Lying Tweeker

More than 100 vacancies in Honolulu parks department

HNN: "It's always dirty in the mornings. I know the people here try to clean it. But even when they do that, I don't think they have enough time or people to take care of it because it's always pretty filthy," Dan Stein, another beachgoer, said.

The Department of Parks and Recreation Director Michele Nekota said they are 105 vacant positions in the department, about one-third of those positions are for parks’ groundskeepers.

Why aren't those positions filled?

Nekota said these entry-level positions have high turnover rates.

"Because those people who are in grounds keeping, they might be promoted or transferred to another location, another district, and then after that, that entry-level position becomes vacant," Nekota said.

But Nekota said things are getting better. Around this time in 2012, the Department counted 179 vacancies, in 2013, there were 164 vacant positions, and in 2014, it had 120 vacancies.  (All of which are funded, thus creating a slush fund to pay for overtime.)

read ... Caldwell

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