HTA Whistleblower Isaac Choy Illegally Fired by Governor’s Chief of Staff
DHS Nightmare: Child Molester Given 60 Boys
CB: … It wasn’t just any foster home. By the foster dad’s own reckoning, almost 60 boys lived with him at one time or another. He filled a desperate need for the state: a place to put boys, many of them troubled teenagers, no one else would take.
For years, the state held up this foster dad as a model, and discounted or failed to act on troubling reports when they surfaced. The 2019 lawsuit began to peel away the secrecy. Only then did the state denounce the man it had once celebrated. …
Matsumiya himself disclosed that supposedly off-limits information in his written closing argument defending the state in 2024. By my count, he named six former foster children and another person who served as a foster parent.
And it’s not just their names. He details the accusations the plaintiff made against them, including vivid descriptions of sexual abuse. Two of the people he named said in depositions in the case that they were victims of older boys, who also are named.
That document has been available for viewing by any member of the public since July 5, 2024….
The judge’s decision, for instance, includes the names of nine former foster children and at least three foster parents, accompanied by details about their lives and incidents they allegedly were involved in. In the expert witness’s report, which contains 23 pages of analysis of the confidential case files, two names of foster children were blacked out in some spots but not all. …
Others were found by the judge to have preyed on younger boys but none of them have been charged with a crime….
A hearing is set for Oct. 16 on whether the exhibits should be released….
read … State Tries To Seal Foster Care Files To Protect Info It Already Revealed - Honolulu Civil Beat
Convention Center Roof Repairs to Cost $550M – venue to be Shut Down for Two Years, 18 events cancelled
SA: … The modified closure of the Hawai‘i Convention Center over at least the next two years will cost the visitor industry hundreds of millions in lost revenue, and a lack of confidence in the state-run project’s timeline is putting future bookings at risk.
Teri Orton, general manager of the convention center, said the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority is expected to issue a contract next month to fix the center’s rooftop terrace, which has been leaking since 1999. Orton said the start of the major rooftop work planned for early next year allows the center to address some $162.9 million in deferred maintenance projects and upgrades, including the rooftop repair, which is estimated to cost $64 million….
(Actually it costs a lot more than $64M. Keep reading.)
The two-year construction timetable put the convention center at risk of losing 18 events scheduled for 2026 and 2027. Collectively, those events represented an estimated 61,000 attendees, 115,000 room nights and $387 million in economic impacts for Hawaii.
(DO THE MATH: $387M + $163M = $550M)
“These projects include multiple leak repairs throughout our building, rooftop terrace repairs, upgrades to food and beverage outlets, as well as modernization of our escalators and digital signage,” she said….
Meet Hawai‘i, a collaboration of the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau and the convention center, is working to identify opportunities where they can move displaced groups to future years or accommodate them within hotel properties….
read … Keeping Hawai‘i Convention Center repairs on track is vital to stemming tourism losses, officials say
Commission to hold evidentiary hearing on Young Brothers’ rate increase
HNN: … The Public Utilities Commission will hold an evidentiary hearing on Young Brothers’ rate increase request.
The evidentiary hearing comes after a series of public hearings about the rate increase were conducted statewide in April and May.
The hearing will take place this week, starting Monday, Sept. 29, through Friday, Oct. 3, beginning at 9 a.m. It will be broadcast live on ʻŌlelo Community Media and PUC’s YouTube channel….
Officials said that no public testimony will be accepted during the evidentiary hearing.
However, the commission said it continues to welcome written public comments on Young Brother’s request.
Comments should reference Docket No. 2024-2025 and may be submitted online on their website, by email, or by mail …
read … Commission to hold evidentiary hearing on Young Brothers’ rate increase
Hawaii consumers hit by higher prices brace for more
SA: … “Wages are not going up as fast as expenses,” he said, after buying two donuts for $10 ….
read … Hawaii consumers hit by higher prices brace for more | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
$300M: 780 students’ Health care student loans to be paid by year-end
SA: … The fourth and final student loan payments for the first 780 Hawaii health care workers has been delayed but are now expected by the end of October, or at least the end of the year, according to the doctor in charge of overseeing the two-year program designed to keep and recruit workers.
Gov. Josh Green this year included two additional years of student loan payments worth another $300 million that should see the subsequent group of health care workers receiving their first of four student loan payments in March, according to Dr. Kelley Withy, who runs Hawaii’s 2-year-old Healthcare Education Loan Repayment Program, or HELP, through the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.
The delay in the final loan payments for the original group was caused by a pending contract that went to the state Attorney General’s office, which executed it on Friday.
The proposed contract will allow a new contractor to help vet applicants to ensure they comply with the HELP requirements, such as confirming their medical licenses and that they have health care jobs in Hawaii that will require them to treat island patients for at least the following two years in order for them to have $50,000 in student loans paid off for each of two years that they work in Hawaii, Withy said….
read … Health care student loans to be paid by year-end | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
$1.6B Lahaina Block Grant Moved Very Slowly
CB: … John is the administrator of our Office of Recovery, which we have stood up, obviously, since this happened, and it is being funded by a $1.6 billion grant which we received sometime in July of this year. We had applied for it about 20 months earlier, and in most places, those grants are received within six to 12 months of the disaster, and unfortunately, ours took much longer than that….
(REALLY OBVIOUS QUESTION: What did Maui Co do wrong that caused the grant not to be disbursed by the Biden Administration?)
…we’ve had to spell out the different areas that we intend to use those funds for, and we’re being monitored very closely and scrutinized by HUD to make sure that that’s happening. So we’ve had to stand up Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery staff, and then an Office of Recovery staff — so two basically new offices for the county….
I believe it was $12 billion that was allocated by Congress, and I believe it went out to about 42 or 43 communities. And so we were one of those. We had submitted our application. We had thought we were going to get it much sooner. So we had been waiting, really, since the eight-month mark when we thought it was going to come in. And then, of course, the one year went by and then more time went by. But I just want to stress that we had been in communication with them that entire time. It was beyond their control. It was in Congress’s control, and of course, they voted on it in December of 2024, and the allocations were made and then actually received, like I said, in about July for us….
read … The Sunshine Interview: Maui Mayor Richard Bissen And Recovery Chief John Smith - Honolulu Civil Beat
State Agribusiness Dev Corp or Maui County to buy ML&P water system?
SA: … At least a few members of Hawaii’s Legislature are considering whether the state should help acquire the system after the water constraints led to the closure of two Kapalua golf courses recently and cancellation of a PGA Tour golf tournament in January worth an estimated $50 million to Maui’s economy.
Yet those same lawmakers don’t see ADC as a good candidate for taking over the system.
Sen. Angus McKelvey, who represents West Maui, said ADC could possibly play a supporting role, but in his view Maui County is best positioned to acquire the system because agriculture is only one part of the customer base for the water.
“It has to be a partnership with the county as the tip of the spear,” he said.
MLP wants to sell its water system assets, which also include groundwater wells, and has had preliminary discussions with county officials.
MLP CEO Race Randle said in a statement, “Delivering water our local families and farmers need is a fundamental factor in the resilience of our island communities in the future. We fully support the State and Maui County’s continued efforts to invest in land, water distribution, and production facilities to reduce barriers to local food production.”
Sen. Lorraine Inouye, chair of the Senate Water and Land Committee, has had discussions with county leaders and also believes the state could help the county take over the MLP system. But Inouye envisions a better partner in the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Dane Wicker, deputy director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, which oversees ADC, said ADC has been monitoring the MLP water situation but isn’t engaged in any active acquisition effort….
read … State mulls rescue help for parched Maui water system | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Big Island Housing Scandal Stalls Plans For Apartments
CB: … When Rudo and his West View partners sold the 7 acres mauka of the Honua’ula site to a new owner for cash in 2021, they agreed to a request from buyer PMJ Kona LLC to record a restrictive covenant imposing a height limit on the 6-acre Honua’ula property, according to court records.
That height limit of 835 feet above sea level preserves the views from the mauka property owned by PMJ Kona, but makes it impossible for Honua’ula to develop four-story apartment buildings on the land it leases makai of the PMJ property, according to court records.
Honua’ula filed a lawsuit in Big Island Circuit Court last year in an effort to have the height restriction struck down, describing it as “a scheme to strip Honua‘ula of its right to develop a critical affordable housing project in the County of Hawai‘i.”…
PMJ filed a reply to the Honua’ula’ lawsuit arguing that since Honua‘ula hired Rudo as consultant and project manager, “Honua‘ula must suffer the burdens, and consequences and benefits of his wrongful and proper actions, not PMJ Kona. Thus the Restrictive Covenant is valid and enforceable.” …
read … Big Island Housing Scandal Stalls Plans For Apartments - Honolulu Civil Beat
Residents reeling after being told to vacate Honolulu apartment building within days
HNN: … the notice was taped on the walls of the Union Plaza apartment building in Downtown….
The letter from the building owner was posted on Saturday night, Baio said, and informed residents they would have to leave by Tuesday at 5 p.m., and that they will not be allowed back in after that.
According to the announcement, the evictions are happening because of needed repairs for a broken front door, pest infestations, electrical hazards, air condition failures, elevator malfunctions, and water leaks.
The owner also mentioned tenant violations, such as illicit drug sales, assault, theft, smoking, and property damage, and that 12 rule-breakers are being evicted….
CB: They Signed Up For Co-Living In Honolulu And Got A ‘Hell Hole’ - Honolulu Civil Beat
read … Residents reeling after being told to vacate Honolulu apartment building within days
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