May 11, 2013 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

SA: Kakaako has long been envisioned by state planners to become a dense piece of Honolulu's urban core with tall buildings. But development in the area would become much denser and taller under a draft plan tied to the city's rail project.

Buildings up to 700 feet — almost twice the existing 400-foot maximum in many parts of Kakaako — are being proposed in draft transit-oriented development rules.

Buildings up to 550 feet also would be allowed in some areas of the roughly 450-acre Kakaako region bound by Ala Moana Boulevard and South King, Punchbowl and Piikoi streets.

The Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency guiding development in Kakaako, produced and released a summary of the draft rules Friday which could bring historic change to the area.

read ... Wow

New effort by state could cause patients more pain

SA: The state Hawaii Department of Health recently announced that it will begin to link deaths from prescription drugs to the physicians who prescribed them ("Doctors targeted amid rise in painkiller deaths," Star-Advertiser, May 5)

Legislation has just been passed, sponsored by Gov. Neil Abercrombie through his RICO team and state Sen. Josh Green, empowering the Hawaii Medical Board to suspend the licenses of outlier prescribers of narcotics in an expedited fashion, targeting the worst offenders, also known as pill mills.

The problem is that the majority of medical doctors are already extremely hesitant to prescribe pain medications for fear of legal repercussions. I had an opportunity this week to speak with Dr. Linda Rosen, chief of DOH's Emergency Medical Services and Injury Prevention Branch, who is heading up this intervention. She is now working closely with the medical examiner to obtain a list of patients in Hawaii who died of opiate overdoses and, with the help of the state narcotics division, will link up these cases with the doctors who wrote the prescriptions. Dr. Rosen and I discussed our mutual concerns that this effort could have unintended consequences. With increased surveillance and scrutiny by law enforcement, more physicians might opt out of prescribing opiate medications for pain management.

read ... New effort by state could cause patients more pain

Cost Transparency Leads to Cost controls

SA: Not all the differentials are egregious among the Hawaii hospitals, but to pull up just one example, the official charge for treating a gastrointestinal hemorrhage ran from about $13,000 to nearly $29,000, according to figures the Star-Advertiser published on Thursday.

Industry leaders protest that the charge variation reflects a true differential in the risk pool of each patient population: The ones treating people who are older and sicker have more expenses to cover through their charges.

read ... Medical costs must be known to control them

Drop in value of Japanese yen Blamed for 2.9% Drop in Japanese Tourism

SA: The U.S. dollar rose as high as 101.18 yen early today in Tokyo. It was the first time since April 2009 that the greenback has traded above 100 yen.

A weaker yen makes travel to Hawaii more expensive for the Japanese, Hawaii's No. 1 foreign tourist market.

The drop in the yen's value may have contributed to a 2.9 percent decline in Japanese visitors to Hawaii during the Golden Week string of national holidays from April 26 to May 6, according to Japan Airlines. The airline said it carried 26,573 passengers to Hawaii from Japan over the recently concluded holidays.

SA: State anticipating fewer air seats

SA: Expected tourism drop cuts economic outlook

read ... Drop in value of Japanese yen might harm tourism in Hawaii

Decade passed before a Hawaii court found DHHL breached its trust obligations to Native Hawaiians

DN: An historic and hard-fought legal action capped by a five-week trial concluded in November 2009 that the State of Hawaii and the Department of Hawaiian Homelands breached their trust obligations to Native Hawaiian beneficiaries. The damages/compensation phase of the trial, Kalima vs. Hawaii, continues before a different judge. The most recent hearing was held on March 25, 2013.

The legal action was initiated in 1999. During its long course, the hair of the two plaintiff attorneys turned grey, and class members have passed away waiting for its conclusion. The judge who issued the decision has retired. Apparently, the concept of speedy justice does not apply to Native Hawaiians in Hawaii.

read ... Lawsuit

Opposition to GMO foods has become a Salem-like witch hunt

MW: I stand with Kaneohe veterinarian and family physician Gary Johnson, who wrote in the Star-Advertiser that “I have never seen a research article showing harm from genetically modified organism (GMO) products.”

And with Monsanto Hawaii, which says, “there have been many wild accusations about us, with no basis in truth.”

The Food & Drug Administration has approved our GMO foods and even a new GMO’d flu vaccine.

That’s based on science, not the scare book Genetic Roulette by Jeffrey Smith, who has no background in genetics, no scientific degree, and says he studied business at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi International University.

The opposition to GMO foods has become a Salem-like witch hunt. No intellectual rationale.

read ... Awaiting Proof GMOs Are Unsafe

Profits: Media Will Be Biggest Winner of 2014

MW: The biggest winners? The media folks who sell political advertising. None thought they could match the oodles spent last year on an open seat in the 2nd Congressional District, an open U.S. Senate seat, a fiercely contested mayoral race, and a rematch in the 1st District between Hanabusa and Republican Charles Djou. Add Pacific Resource Partnership and other political advertisers, and politics practically printed money for Hawaii’s various media outlets throughout 2012.

But as of last week, things are looking up for the bottom line. Election year 2014 offers an open 1st District seat, a gubernatorial contest and the aforementioned knockdown, drag-out between Schatz and Hanabusa. Money, that ever nutritious mother’s milk of American politics, will flow freely.

Abercrombie may well face a difficult general election, most likely a rematch against former Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona, but his numbers are rising, his peace with public worker unions has been bought, and his re-election chances look decidedly better than a year ago.

Still, give a “W” to the Republicans. A HanabusaSchatz U.S. Senate brawl in the August primary could weaken Democrats for the general. That weakness might well help Republicans in the 1st District, the only district Republicans have ever held, by Pat Saiki from 1987 to 1991, and by Djou for several months in 2010.

In appointing his lieutenant governor to the Senate last December, Abercrombie acknowledged Democratic vulnerability in the 1st District as one of his reasons for not choosing Hanabusa....

Add a potential loser in the Republicans’ small-but-promising youth movement. There will be pressure on some of its most promising to run for higher office.

Lambs should not be sacrificed.

read ... The Winners And Losers Of 2013

UH works to fix millions worth of broken, dilapidated facilities

HNN: The State Legislature has appropriated $37.5 million for the University of Hawaii Manoa to attack its backlog of repair and maintenance projects, but that will still cover only about 10 percent of the projects needing improvement, UH officials said.

Lawmakers also provided UH's flagship campus with $21 million for more urgent projects needed to protect health and safety, such as electrical, stairway and elevator upgrades....

The sinks and lab equipment are very worn down and old. Desk drawers are broken, the floor has some large stains and garbage bags cover some of the windows.

UH will spend about $30 million to upgrade the labs next school year. ...

The grass has been growing longer on the Manoa campus and small problems like broken doors have taken months or even a year to fix because there are 80 vacancies on UH's maintenance staff.

Budget cuts meant maintenance openings weren't replaced for the last few years, during the recession.

"We're bringing them back to campus and bringing more people in to be able to handle facilities and maintenance, so we have more boots on the ground," said UH Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple.

Apple said about 25 percent of the vacant maintenance jobs will now be filled.

read ... UH works to fix millions worth of broken, dilapidated facilities

Public input sought on Kenoi’s Second Tax Hike

HTH: The public will get its first chance Monday to weigh in on Mayor Billy Kenoi’s proposed 2013-14 budget and on Tuesday will be able to comment on across-the-board property tax hikes of just over 10 percent.

Kenoi submitted a revised $394.3 million budget last week that’s $27 million, or 7.4 percent, higher than this year’s budget. The new budget year begins July 1.

The budget is based on property tax hikes of 10.2 to 10.8 percent, depending on the property classification. It’s the first tax hike since 2010, and Kenoi’s second since taking office.

In addition to property tax increases, hikes in bus fares, park fees and vehicle registration and weight taxes are also factored into the new budget.

Council Chairman J Yoshimoto of Hilo said Thursday he hasn’t decided whether he’ll support tax hikes or not. He, like other council members, is meeting with constituents and the administration to clarify areas of concern.

“The biggest concern seems to be what would the money be going toward,” he said.

Yoshimoto is hoping for a lot of public testimony at the meetings.

The County Council meets at 8 a.m. Monday for a line-by-line review and amendment of the budget. At 5 p.m. Tuesday, the council will hold a public hearing on the proposed increases in property taxes. Both meetings will be held in Hilo council chambers, with videoconferencing at the West Hawaii Civic Center, Hawaiian Ocean View Estates Community Center and the Pahoa and Waimea council offices.

Council members have already begun submitting amendments to the budget. The six amendments posted by Friday, however, don’t increase or decrease the size of the budget, but dip into the fund balance, the money left over from prior years to fund pet projects.

read … Public input sought on proposed budget

$57/month Rental Has Leaky Roof

KHON: Her late husband Macario worked on the sugar plantation.

“You know, plantation before was only $2.02 per working.”

The Tapoans moved into this three bedroom, one bath house on Manakuke Street in 1982.

It’s part of the now City-owned Varona Village in Ewa.

Lucena has quite a deal.

When asked how much she pays for rent every month, she replied: “$57.”

But it has its share of problems, especially when it rains.

“The water come inside. That’s why I got plenty buckets,” said Tapoan.

read … City Owned Housing

Occupy Litigation Status Conference

DN: As a result of a status conference held this morning in Judge J. Michael Seabright’s chambers, an agreement has been reached in which the attorneys for (de)Occupy Honolulu and for the City and County of Honolulu will work together on the wording of a stipulated preliminary injunction based upon plaintiff’s challenge to the city’s ordinance. An evidentiary hearing will not be necessary.

More details will be available at the May 17 hearing in federal court. This report is based on the court’s posted summary of the outcome of the status conference.

It is possible that the stipulation will apply only to what has been described as illegal destruction of property, or it could be wider. The clerk’s report referred to an injunction “addressing Plaintiffs' as-applied challenge to the ordinance,” rather than to the ordinance as a whole.

The judge also asked to be optionally briefed by both parties on whether the ordinance’s fee requirements violate due process.

SA: Crowds expected to give input on Thomas Square

read ... Occupy

QUICK HITS: