Ka`u News Briefs Dec. 2, 2010

An artist rendering of the Thirty Meter Telescope planned for Mauna Kea.

THE OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP met last night and approved a proposal for the Air National Guard to send an Innovative Readiness Training team to help with capital improvement projects in Ka`u. The Air Guard would provide labor and equipment, and local government and other funders would come up with the materials for such projects as drilling multiple wells in Ocean View, a new community shelter and gym and to retrofit the current community center to also serve as a shelter. Improving the county Kahuku Park and the Ocean View road system, as well as building a school, are also on the wish list. The readiness team could work in Ocean View for as long as three years. Among those Ocean View residents championing the cause are Paula Donovan and Loren Heck. Incoming Council member Brittany Smart attended and said she is very supportive and excited about the opportunity. She credited outgoing Council member Guy Enriques for helping to move the project forward.

VOTER OWNED ELECTIONS, a group out of O‘ahu who worked with the legislature, is meeting with Brittany Smart today to go over publicly funded elections which provided some $38,000 for her campaign that swept her to victory Nov. 2 over incumbent Guy Enriques. The organization will also give a presentation at the University of Hawai`i-Hilo. Smart said she thought the publicly funded election favored incumbents more than intended, with the stiff requirements to sign up for the funding. She said there were a few hardships along the way, but these could be eased with refining the procedures. She said that the public funding would be more equitable if it provided the same amount of public funding for candidates in each district. Currently, it is based on what the last successful candidate spent.

EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT benefits for a number of people in Ka`u, some 4,000 people in Hawai`i and nearly two million people across the country, began running out yesterday. Benefits that had been extended up to 99 weeks will end this month.

A PUBLIC HEARING ON the proposed 30-meter telescope for the top of Mauna Kea will be held today at 6 p.m. at the Hawai`i County Council meeting room in Hilo and again on Friday at the Natural Energy Laboratory in Kailua-Kona. Scientists and supporters have come to Ka`u to present the plan at public meetings in recent years, saying it will be the strongest telescope ever built by man and will give new insight into the history and the future of the universe, as well as provide employment and funding for education here. Opponents say that Mauna Kea is sacred and already has too many telescopes on top of the mountain. Testimony is being gathered by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, who will decide whether or not to issue a Conservation District Use Permit. For more information, visit hawaii.gov/dlnr.

THE PUBLIC IS INVITED to the inauguration of the Hawai`i County Council members this coming Monday at noon at the Hilo Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. The nine-member council will be comprised of Fred Blas, Brenda Ford, Pete Hoffmann, Donald Ikeda, Dennis Onishi, K. Angel Pilago, Brittany Smart, Dominic Yagong and J Yoshimoto. Third Circuit Court Judge Ronald Ibarra will administer the oaths. Keynote speaker is executive vice-president of KTA Superstores, Derek Kurisu, who champions local food production and has been the keynote speaker at graduation ceremonies at Ka`u High.

Brittany Smart will take the oath to represent
Ka`u on the County Council next Monday.

KA`U’S NEW COUNCIL MEMBER Brittany Smart is slated to become the chair of the Environmental Committee and co-chair of the Government Relations Committee. The chair of the Council will be Dominic Yagong. This morning, Smart said that the county needs to wait on floating a $56 million bond until estimates of future tax revenues are completed in February. She also said that specific projects should be tied to the bond and not just suggested. One of the projects is an 8.8 million dollar recycling and transfer station in Wai`ohinu. 

GOVERNOR NEIL ABERCROMBIE will be sworn in next Monday in Honolulu. He will tour the state later in the week and will come to the Big Island on Sunday, December 12. His only two stops will be Pahala and Waimea. He will meet everyone who wants to attend at Pahala Plantation House from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. before the Pahala Christmas Parade. He will head off for Waimea for an evening gathering on the north side of the island. 

THE INCOMING GOVERNOR has announced three additional positions: Josh Levinson, communications director; Laurie Au, deputy communications director; and Donalyn Dela Cruz, press secretary. Abercrombie is in Washington, D.C. right now at the Democratic Governors Association Annual Meeting and for a White House meeting for elected governors.

Ka`u News Briefs Dec. 1, 2010

State Sen. Dwight Takamine will leave his position representing
the Big Island to join Gov. Neil Abercrombie's cabinet.

THE PROPOSAL TO FLOAT A 56 MILLION DOLLAR BOND for capital improvements on the Big Island will go to the new county council for consideration. Outgoing Ka`u councilman Guy Enriques voted yesterday to block sending it to the new council so it could be passed this week. However, the vote was five to four, with J Yoshimoto, Emily Naole, Brenda Ford, Pete Hoffmann and Dominic Yagong saying the new council should be the one to decide whether the county should shoulder the additional debt. The bond would fund an $8.8 million dollar project at Wai`ohinu Transfer Station. 

DWIGHT TAKAMINE, who comes from a family tradition of union organizing with his ILWU leader father, Yoshito Takamine, has been nominated to become the new director of the state Department of Budget and Finance. Takamine has been selected by incoming Governor Neil Abercrombie and is currently the state Senator for Hamakua through South Hilo. He is 57 years of age and a graduate of Honoka`a High and the University of Hawai`i. He said he is interested in workforce development to fight unemployment. 

     To replace Takamine in the state Senate, the Democratic Party will present three nominees to Governor Abercrombie, and he will appoint a new Senator to serve for two years until the next election. The Democratic Party is also considering a possible replacement for state Senator Russell Kokubun, who is also being considered for a position in the Abercrombie administration.

Sen. Russell Kokubun would leave his
position representing Ka`u if named to
the Abercrombie cabinet. The governor
would name a replacement to serve for
the next two years.

GOVERNOR-ELECT NEIL ABERCROMBIE has also nominated the following new cabinet members: Kalbert Young as Finance Director; William J. Aila, Jr. to chair the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Richard Lim as director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism; Jodie Maesaka-Hirata as the director of the Department of Public Safety; and Alapaki Nahale -- as Director -- and Bobby Hall -- as Deputy -- of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands. 

     “We are forming a team of strong leaders who are the right people to help move Hawai`i out of these difficult times,” Abercrombie said. “These are talented, creative individuals who have pledged to work together to fulfill our vision of A New Day in Hawai`i.”
     All of these nominees require approval by the state Senate.

GOVERNOR-ELECT NEIL ABERCROMBIE is in Washington, D.C. to attend the Democratic Governors Association Annual Meeting and a White House meeting for elected governors. He will be sworn in next week and plans to come to Ka`u on Dec. 12, when everyone is invited to meet him at Pahala Plantation House from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by the annual Pahala Christmas Parade. 

A FREE ALL DAY WORKHOP invites Ka`u residents to learn how to address poverty, build wealth and expand opportunities. It will be held December 9 and 10 at Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort and is called Springboard to Prosperity. The county is sponsoring the free program, stating that on the Big Island 25 percent of households live in asset poverty, 25 percent receive food stamps, 54 percent have subprime credit scores and 49 percent of homeowners pay more than 30 percent of income toward keeping their homes. Hawai`i has one of the lowest wages and highest cost of living in the U.S. 

THE HAWAI`I POLICE DEPARMENT launched a community satisfaction survey this morning on the Internet. The public is invited to participate anonymously by logging onto www.hawaiipolice.com. The survey will be available through the end of the year and is limited to one per computer. Police Chief Harry Kubojiri said, “This survey is one of the ways we can make progress in our partnership with the public by incorporating their feedback into our daily operations.”

Robyn and David Baglow helped retrieve junk cars in Ocean View
by providing a staging area for pickup. A workshop on community
policing of illegal dumping will be held Dec. 15.

THE TAX FOUNDATION of Hawai`i has warned the incoming governor Neil Abercrombie and the legislature to refrain from raising taxes. Tax Foundation President Lowell Kalapa said that lawmakers must recognize that all taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet and that Hawai'i taxpapers are already some of the most heavily burdened in the nation. Kalapa said that citizens can demand less spending from government to balance the state budget. Higher taxes will drive families out of the state and companies out of business, said Kalapa.

COUNTY PROSECUTOR MItch Roth will spend a day in Ka`u teaching community members how to organize community policing and problem solving. The workshop on crime and livability will focus on Illegal Dumping. Participants will learn how to identify and solve problems through policing concepts and action. Organizer Mike Dubois said that illegal dumps are sources of pollution, possibly containing hazardous waste. Rodents, mosquitoes and flies breed in these smelly eyesores and may carry infectious diseases. These open dump disposal sites attract more dumping and criminal activity to the community, said workshop organizer Dubois. He called for representatives from Pahala, Na`alehu and Ocean View regions to take the training and act as a network to put an end to illegal dumping. Representatives from the Solid Waste Division and Community Policing will attend. Snacks and lunch will be served. The workshop is free on Wednesday, December 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Contact Mike DuBois at 640-1118 for more information.

THE COUNTY'S TEMPORARY transfer station at the county park at Kahuku will be discussed at the monthly meeting of the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce on Monday, December 6 at 7 p.m. The county bulldozed a site, poured a concrete pad and set a 30-yard container in place to collect bagged garbage every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Some residents are upset, stating that the county pushed the project without community input or involvement. County Public Information officer Hunter Bishop will explain. The time for the meeting has been changed from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center.

NEW BLEACHERS and an ADA approved walkway at Pahala Ballpark will be installed. The old bleachers, some aluminum and some wooden and metal that were built by Ka`u plantation workers years ago have been taken down to make room for new ones.

THE OUTGOING COUNTY COUNCIL plans to vote today on whether to issue a $56 million bond for capital improvements. Mayor Billy Kenoi proposed the bond issue, stating that the county’s high bond rating makes good sense to finance capital improvement projects for the Big Island. Included would be an $8.8 million dollar recycling and rubbish transfer station in Wai`ohinu. Incoming County Council Chair Dominic Yagong and incoming Ka`u council member Brittany Smart said they are not so sure the county should take on additional debt. Smart said that county tax revenues are expected to decrease. Should the issue come up before the council after she takes office, she would ask for a plan for interest payments that would fit within a balanced budget, she said.