July 13, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Monday, July 13, 2026

July 13, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 4:13 AM :: 296 Views

Honolulu Charter Commission considering vague ‘empty homes’ tax ballot measure

Maui: Getting Away with Hammer Attack?

Miske Pal Ozawa Not Getting Many Campaign Contributions

CB: … Honolulu Council Chair Tommy Waters is sitting on a $320,000 war chest and has so far spent $130,000 in his bid for reelection to Honolulu Council District 4, the latest state campaign finance reports show.

Waters’ current cash assets far exceed the combined campaign funds of his three challengers by a factor of 12:1 with (Miske pal) Trevor Ozawa, Tara Malia Gregory and Jason Liang together sitting on $27,000 cash-in-hand. Most of that is Ozawa’s, with a little over $23,000 in his account after spending $2,000, mainly on printing and mailing. …

Read … Waters’ War Chest Dwarfs Opponents In Competitive Honolulu Council Primary - Honolulu Civil Beat

Bill 18 to Extend Bill 7 affordable housing?

SA: … Introduced in February by Council Vice Chair Andria Tupola, Bill 18 proposes amendments to the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu governing the city’s affordable rental housing program.

Known as Chapter 32, the city law allows relaxed development standards and financial incentives for affordable rental projects, provided at least 80% of the dwelling units are rented for a minimum of 15 years to households earning no more than 100% of Honolulu’s area median income, city officials say….

Projects developed under Chapter 32 — referred to as Bill 7 projects after the 2019 ordinance that created the program — proceed directly to the building permit process, city officials say.

On June 1, 2023, Mayor Rick Blangiardi formally extended Bill 7, which had been scheduled to expire May 21, 2024, for another seven years through May 21, 2031.

As currently drafted, Bill 18 would expand where Chapter 32 affordable rental housing projects are allowed by permitting them in apartment, apartment mixed-use, business and business mixed-use zoning districts, as well as in the apartment precinct of Waikiki.

The measure also would increase the maximum eligible lot size from 20,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet, eliminate maximum apartment size limits and remove the existing 80% building coverage limit, provided underlying yard setback requirements are maintained.

And the bill would allow affordable rental housing projects to be built up to 60 feet tall, or the maximum height permitted by the underlying zoning district, whichever is greater…

Ted Kefalas, with the Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i, offered support for Bill 18.

“Bill 7 has been one of the city’s tools for producing affordable housing units,” he said. “And it offers builders relaxed zoning, tax breaks, fee waivers, in exchange for keeping 80% of the units affordable.”

But Kefalas later asked the Council to strengthen the measure with a few amendments, including restoring language related to transit-oriented development so more building projects can be built near bus and mass transit services.

He noted DPP’s prior recommendation to allow buildings up to 75 feet tall, or the underlying zoning limit, whichever is greater, should be considered instead of the proposed 60-foot standard.

Kefalas also called for extending Bill 7 beyond its 2031 sunset date….

Tupola said efforts to revamp Bill 7 projects have moved slowly, as has construction of the affordable rental units themselves, according to the city Department of Planning and Permitting.

“As we heard in the (Council’s) March Zoning Committee, six are done — six — that have certificates of occupancy,” she said. “However, 189 units have been delivered, and since then 16 projects are under construction with building permits in hand.”

Tupola noted that 35 Bill 7 projects are currently under city review, but “28 of the 35 are actually sitting with the applicant, not with us, so not delays on our part.”

The Bill 7 program, according to DPP documents, has the 'potential' to create a total of 1,563 housing units.

Read … Honolulu City Council advances bill aimed at expanding affordable housing | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

UH Manoa begins Hale Noelani demolition

HNN: … Hale Noelani, (a perfectly good building) built in 1977, once housed about 530 students. The demolition permanently removes 174 beds.....

University officials said they are still evaluating whether to renovate or demolish the remaining three Hale Noelani buildings as part of a broader student housing strategy….

(DO THE MATH: 189 Bill 7 units - 174 demolished Hale Noelani units = 15. See how this works?)

Read … UH Manoa begins Hale Noelani demolition | Hawaii New Now

Kauai Finds New Way to Increase Cost of Construction

CB: … Construction costs on the island are roughly $390 to $500 per square foot, according to the Planning Department. The standards are expected to add an extra $6.75 per square foot if using unionized labor; the material costs alone are $1.97. The most expensive requirement is the 5 feet of gravel, brick or concrete surrounding the home, Hull said…

Read … Kauaʻi Wants New Homes To Resist Fire. It's Cheaper Than You Might Think - Honolulu Civil Beat

Punatics Waste $3M on ‘Reusable’ Stainless Steel Bowls

CB: … Last fall Bill 83, which banned single-use plastic serviceware in the county, unanimously passed through the Hawaiʻi County Council. As a result, beginning in December, people who order their food and drinks to-go will be offered compostable products instead. Although the county doesn’t have an industrial-scale composting facility, the hope was that such a bill would be just the push the county needed to create one.

In the 50,000-person city of Hilo, however, a public-private coalition isn’t waiting to find out. Instead, it’s preparing to roll out the nation’s first comprehensive system of washable, reusable to-go containers later this year. …

Hilo became one of four U.S. pilot cities where Perpetual is working to launch reuse programs, alongside Galveston, Texas; Savannah, Georgia; and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

(They’re going to drive around with dirty dishes.)

In partnership with Hawaiʻi County and University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant, the project has received over $2.2 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, $1.4 million from private foundations and $45,000 from the county for a total of $3.7 million in seed funding. With that funding the coalition members have been able to purchase an initial round of serviceware (with another on the way later this year), an industrial scale dishwasher, two vans and 100 return bins, among other resources.

(IQ Test: How hard are you laughing?)

The county released a request for proposals in 2025 and rewarded the contract to Vytal, a German company that has created the QR codes and online system intended to make it easy for customers to check out the containers with a single tap of their phones when they order take-out. The company has created similar reuse systems in Germany, as well as in Belgium, France and a growing number of European nations. For the duration of its initial three-year contract, Vytal will rent out the dishwashing hub and charge restaurant owners a membership fee associated with the number of containers they use every month. …

For participating businesses, the Ho’i containers will end up costing more than the soon-to-be-banned plastic but less than compostables, Letoto said.

Kanahele also said the washhouse will be available for Hilo residents to have large loads of dishes washed after gatherings and events at a small cost — an unusual feature that she hopes helps the community embrace the program….

Kubat has reservations about the Ho’‘i program, based on the fact that Perpetual has often framed reusable plastic as a transitional approach.

“There have been times when they’ve been promoting their reuse program, and they were just fine with plastic. It was the community that pushed back,” Kubat told Civil Beat. She also pointed to a clause in the Vytal contract that says the company can replace lost stainless steel containers with plastic ones.

Moss responded to that claim. “While it doesn’t explicitly say ‘no plastic,’ a choice to allow plastic would have to be approved by the County, ZWHI, and Perpetual, and we are the organizations who have been so committed to not using plastic in the first place,” she said. …

(REAL SOLUTION: H-Power. Link: Smaller version in Spokane, WA.)

Read … Takeout Boxes Are Filling Landfills. This Town Has A Plan To Phase Them Out - Honolulu Civil Beat

Election Commission Clown Show Continues

CB: … Integrity, public trust, and public confidence are indispensable core values and concepts of government entities that I expanded upon during my recent interview by the Hawaiʻi State Elections Commission at a hearing held on June 10 to consider applicants for the position of a new commission chair from eight applicants….

At the hearing I objected to the proceeding continuing unless and until the commission disqualified two of the eight applicants who did not comply with the vacancy announcement requirement that candidates submit a timely resume as well as a letter of interest….

When Commissioner Ralph Cushnie, one of the two applicants who did not timely comply with the vacancy announcement requirements, refused to recuse himself from fully participating in the questioning, review and evaluation of the other applicants, he tainted this hearing. During my interview I requested Cushnie’s recusal and informed the commission, Mr. Cushnie and the virtual attending public of the appearance of impropriety by his actions….

By his refusal to recuse himself and to then fully participate in the interviews of other applicants, Mr. Cushnie was able to pose as an official and at the same time compete as a rival with other applicants….

Read … Process Of Choosing Hawaiʻi Elections Commissioners Leaves Much To Be Desired - Honolulu Civil Beat

Waianae homeless community shrinks as permanent homes arrive

SA: … The Pu‘uhonoua o Wai‘anae homeless community at the Wai‘anae Small Boat Harbor has shrunk from a peak of 250 people to just 30 who are waiting for new, permanent homes to arrive so they can join their friends and family who already have moved to a new 20-acre site on the mauka side of Farrington Highway.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources on Thursday posted 48-hour trespassing notices to other homeless people living next to Pu‘uhonoua o Wai‘anae who have no intention of relocating….

Pakele now leads Pu‘uhonoua o Wai‘anae’s nonprofit organization, Dynamic Community Solutions, which has raised $12 million to build permanent homes for a community of up to 250 permanent residents.

Some 140 already have moved out of the boat harbor and will be joined by the 30 others waiting for their new homes to arrive from China for the mauka version of Pu‘uhonoua o Wai‘anae….

Each unit is built as a studio apartment but there are several designs.

The cheapest cost $10,000 while some of the original models were as high as $75,000. Some of the newer studio units are engineered to be placed together so walls can be removed to accommodate larger families under the same roof….

Kaulana “Kala” Paishon, 42, continues to help clean up the boat harbor site that includes heavy equipment operators removing tons of debris.

Pu‘uhonoua o Wai‘anae represents the only home that Paishon’s 13-year-old twins and 10-year-old daughter have known.

At one point, Paishon said Borge — his mother’s younger sister — had taken responsibility for “32 knucklehead kids” ….

Read … Waianae homeless community shrinks as permanent homes arrive | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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