Ka`u News Briefs March 4, 2012

Defunct windmills will be taken down soon, according to owners of the new Pakini Nui Wind Farm along
South Point Road. Photo by Julia Neal

THE BANK OF THE STATE OF HAWAI`I, where profits stay here and support families with mortgage challenges, investment in alternative energy and creation of more economic development – this is an idea brought to Ka`u by Rep. Bob Herkes last week when he came here with the state Vog Task Force.
      Herkes joined four other state House of Representatives members to introduce House Bill 2103 to establish the state bank. Herkes said that while the idea could seem ominous, the state bank has precedent in the Bank of North Dakota, established in 1919 largely to help farmers who did not trust private banks. Its mission is to work with other banks, not against them. Its profits help fund the North Dakota state budget and guarantee student loans.
      Herkes said he supports the idea particularly to help people who are facing foreclosure. The state bank would help families who could afford to pay mortgage at perhaps a lower interest rate and monthly payments than their original mortgages. He suggested that the state bank could buy troubled loans from Bank of America and other mortgage holders, whom Herkes claims conducted unfair mortgage practices. The Hawai`i Housing Finance & Development Corp. would set up a temporary fund and system to deal with mortgage foreclosures until the state bank could be created.

Bank of North Dakota was founded in 1919 to help farmers
who feared private banks. Photo from BND

      Capital for the bank could come from moving part of the state’s $4 billion in assets from private banks to the Hawai`i bank. Herkes and other supporters pointed out that banking originally began to help pool community money for community interests. The idea of a Hawai`i state bank runs parallel to the credit union movement, which has been growing rapidly during the recent recession after the collapse of Wall Street. Credit unions are owned by their members.
      Herkes chairs the House Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce. Rep. Marcus Oshiro, who chairs the state House Finance Committee, also supports the state bank idea, asking why state money would be any less secure deposited in a state bank rather than private banks.
      Opponents have asked about the health of good standing banks like First Hawaiian and Bank of Hawai`i should the state move money out of those institutions. Other concerns focus on the risk of more public money being invested by the state itself rather than maintaining a check and balance of keeping funds with private banks.

The fourteen new windmills produce enough power for all the homes in Ka`u. Photo by Julia Neal

OLD WINDMILLS ARE EXPECTED TO COME DOWN soon, perhaps within a couple of months, according to the owner of the 14 new windmills along South Point Road. Steven Pace, CEO of Apollo Energy Corp., which operates the new Pakini Nui Wind Farm owned by Tawhiri Power, LLC, said the new, more efficient windmills could provide enough power for all the homes in Ka`u. He said the new windmills have the potential to deliver nearly double what typical wind farms deliver. Pace said that “other than hydroelectric and geothermal generation, which are essentially limited to the island of Hawai`i, wind energy is one of the few mature electrical generating technologies capable of providing a significant percentage of renewable energy to the state of Hawai`i. Wind turbines don’t need to burn anything, and the potential for wind generation is huge in Hawai`i,” Pace said.
      The old windmills are likely to be sold off for their scrap metal value. Pace said his company is unconnected with the old windmills.

Miconia is one weed BIISC will be
looking for during its survey. Photo
from hawaiiinvasivespecies.org

WEED SURVEYS will be conducted later this month at Hawaiian Ocean View Estates and Hawaiian Ranchos to detect exotic species early to help prevent their spread. The Big Island Invasive Species Committee employees will use binoculars to find flowers, seeds, and leaf patterns to identify the invaders along public rights of way and will contact landowners with the results. Those working on the project will drive vehicles with signs stating “University of Hawai`i Botanical Survey in Progress.” For more information, call 333-0263 or see www.bigislandisc.org.

TOMORROW IS THE DEADLINE to sign up for Aloha Friday Boat Day on March 9 at 11 a.m. The nonprofit Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park present the nostalgia and aloha of Hawai`i’s old-time boat days aboard Holland America Line’s m.s. Rotterdam, docked in Hilo Harbor. The event includes a four-course lunch served with wine, music and hula. Tickets are $65 per person, and group rates are available for parties of five or more. Contact Friends at 985-7373 or www.fhvnp.org.

A FREE HOUSE CONCERT with Bolo, the composer and musician who sings and plays the `uketar, `ukulele and slack key guitar, takes place Wednesday at Pahala Plantation House from 6:30 p.m. until pau. Bolo offers original songs, including Bull Kailiawa Coffee Farmer, a tune about the original Ka`u Coffee farmer back in the 1800s and a composition he co-wrote about the mountain Kaiholena. Musician and dancer Sammi Fo will join him. 

HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND sponsors a Ka`u Beach Cleanup this Saturday. Volunteers meet at Wai`ohinu Park to carpool to the site. Register with Megan Lamson at 769-7629 or kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs March 3, 2012

Seasonal streams ran this morning in Ka`u, flattening vegetation. Photo by Julia Neal

APPROVING FINAL LINES for state House and Senate districts was delayed again yesterday as the state Reapportionment Commission referred maps to its technical staff for possible adjustment. One challenge for election officials is timely notification of 600,000 voters around state about their voting districts and polling places. Another is that candidates can’t file papers to run until the district lines are settled. The primary election is early this year – Aug. 11.
      The Reapportionment Commission meets again on Tuesday, when a final vote could be taken. If there are changes, the vote could be next Friday. While gerrymandering accusations were an issue at the reapportionment meeting this week, commissioners said they could find no evidence that they were rigging the districts pro or con for any likely candidate.
      Any final changes are more likely on O`ahu than the Big Island, but Ka`u has already become particularly affected. The proposed House district that now includes all of Ka`u will be split with the boundary between Punalu`u and Honu`apo. The new House district from Punalu`u into Kea`au is lacking candidates. The district from Honu`apo into Kona would become part of incumbent Denny Coffman’s territory. Current Ka`u House of Representatives incumbent Bob Herkes says he will run for a new Senate seat that would run from Punalu`u to Kea`au and include all of Puna. Sen. Gil Kahele’s District would move from Ka`u into Hilo. The other Senate seat will run from Honu`apo into Kona, where incumbent Josh Green lives.

Sen. Josh Green

SEN. JOSH GREEN made it official this week, asking voters from Na`alehu, through Ocean View, Miloli`i and up to Kona Airport to support him for re-election to District 3. Green now lives in Kona but started off his medical career after his residency in Pittsburgh here at Ka`u Hospital and lived in a house at Punalu`u beach. He was elected first to the state House of Representatives eight years ago, and then to the Senate, where he has been a leader in health legislation. 

      “Together we have suffered natural disasters, then united to rebuild our community after earthquakes and tsunamis,” said Green.
“Today our hospitals and clinics are stronger, our roads are wider and safer, and our schools receive the resources they need to teach a new generation of students,” stated the senator.

A NATIVE HAWAIIAN LANDS SETTLEMENT passed the Senate Ways and Means Committee yesterday, and Ka`u’s Senator Gil Kahele voted for it. The bill gives 30 acres in urban Kaka`ako makai on O`ahu to Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The land settlement concerns native Hawaiian lands that the state has been holding and using. The bill now crosses over to the House, however, where it may face some opposition.

THE KA`U DISTRICT GYM & SHELTER Draft Environmental Assessment says that “a final determination has not been made as to the number of paved parking spaces and those that could be accommodated on grass areas. It may be feasible to limit the number of paved spaces and ‘land bank’ an area for future expansion of the paved area if needed.”

Parking spaces would be built on the east and south
sides of the Ka`u shelter and gym.

      As part of incorporating Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design concepts, with the goal of achieving an equivalent to LEED Silver Certification, the EA calls for minimizing parking lot size. “Consider sharing parking facilities with adjacent buildings and grass parking,” it states. There are 46 parking spaces immediately adjacent to the site and approximately 26 more spaces on the school grounds adjacent to Puahala Street. “
      A new parking lot would be constructed along the east and south sides of the gymnasium complex that includes a total of 159 spaces. A parking variance would address the acceptability of the proposed number of spaces that reflects shared parking with the school and grass (unpaved) overflow parking.
      Peak parking demand under typical late afternoon and early evening conditions is estimated to be 194 spaces, assuming activities in all parts of the gym complex. If a basketball game is scheduled, the peak demand is expected to be slightly higher, at 214 spaces. A major event where every available seat in the gym is occupied would generate a theoretical demand of 577 parking spaces. However, this scenario is expected to occur rarely and would require other arrangements for transporting people to the site, the EA states. This would likely include remote and off-site parking and frequent shuttle service, or the use of high-capacity passenger buses.
      The Draft Environment Assessment is available at Pahala and Na`alehu Public Libraries and at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html.
      Comments, due March 23, can be sent to Tammy Kapali, Planner, PBR Hawai`i & Associates, Inc., 1001 Bishop Street, Suite 650 Honolulu, HI 96813 or faxed to 808-523-1402. Comments can also be sent to County of Hawai`i Department of Public Works, Attn: David Yamamoto, Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 7, Hilo, HI 96720 or faxed to 808-961-8630.

HEAVY RAIN, LIGHTENING AND THUNDER swept across Ka`u last night into this morning as seasonal streams and waterfalls began flowing. A winter weather notice was issued for the summits of the volcano, and heavy snow and icy roads burdened workers on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for Pahala, Punalu`u, Kawa Flats and Na`alehu. Vegetable growers Ellis and Sokha Hester said that hard rains always wash away some of their seedlings on their hillside farm above Pahala.

CONCERNING FARMING, a Michigan company with the idea to grow biofuel to manufacture ethanol outbid all ranchers and food farmers for all of the county agricultural park leases north of Hilo. The land was acquired by the county in lieu of property tax payments from a defunct sugar company. The county expected to lease the parcels to local farmers, but the biofuel startup submitted higher bids for all 16 parcels. The company, called All Cool Fuel,  registered to do business in Hawai`i last August, according to a Nancy Cook Lauer story in the Hawai`i Tribune Herald. 

GEOGRAPHIC ISOLATION is important in deciding which U.S. post offices should be closed, said U.S. House Rep. Mazie Hirono. She recently championed preservation of the post office at the remote Kalaupapa settlement on Moloka`i, where victims of Hansen’s disease live. No post offices in Ka`u are on the chopping block yet, but remote Hana on Maui may lose its post office. 

KA`U HOSPITAL CHARITABLE FOUNDATION raised thousands of dollars last night in a silent auction and sale. A rummage sale continues today until noon at Na`alehu Community Center to raise more money for the hospital.

Displays of dolls celebrate Hinamatsuri today.

HINAMATSURI is today. This means Girls Day, and it is celebrated in Hawai`i by the Japanese community with displays of dolls in homes and public places. Hinamatsuri traces its origins to an ancient Japanese custom called hina-nagashi, doll floating. Straw hina dolls are placed in a boat that floats down river to the ocean, taking troubles and bad spirits with them. 

MONDAY IS THE DEADLINE to sign up for Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park’s Aloha Friday Boat Day Fundraiser on Friday, March 9 at 11 a.m. The nonprofit Friends present the nostalgia and aloha of Hawai`i’s old-time boat days aboard Holland America Line’s m.s. Rotterdam, docked in Hilo Harbor. The event includes a four-course lunch served with wine, music by the Kuahiwis and hula by Halau Hula Kalehuaki`eki`eika`iu. Tickets are $65 per person, and group rates are available for parties of five or more. Due to TSA security regulations, tickets are not transferable, and photo ID is required. Contact the Friends at 985-7373 or www.fhvnp.org.

BOLO, the composer and musician who sings and plays the `uketar, `ukulele and slack key guitar, will perform at a free house concert this coming Wednesday, March 7 at Pahala Plantation House from 6:30 p.m. until pau. Bolo offers original songs, including Bull Kailiawa Coffee Farmer, a tune about the original Ka`u Coffee farm back in the 1800s and a composition he co-wrote about the mountain Kaiholena. Musician and dancer Sammi Fo will join him.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATION COTTAGES. COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs March 2, 2012

Graph compares Hawai`i County's operating budgets for the last few years.

THE MAYOR’S PROPOSED COUNTY BUDGET IS $365.3 MILLION. Mayor Billy Kenoi released the draft yesterday, promising to refrain from raising property taxes though land values have tanked over the last four years. The county expects to take in $8.8 million less in property taxes in the coming fiscal year. Property tax income pays for more than half the county budget. Another chunk comes from the hotel room tax, collected by the state and distributed to the counties. Kenoi vowed to lobby at the Legislature this year to make sure it isn’t taken away from the counties.

      Kenoi pointed to the new budget as 9.4 percent lower than when he took office more than three years ago. Kenoi said he and his staff “realize that people, businesses, individuals cannot sustain a property tax increase, when people have been experiencing so many challenges.” He praised Bill Takaba, the county’s managing director, for creating a budget without tax hikes. The budget cancels or delays vehicle replacements, consulting contracts and overtime, reported Big Island Video News, which was on the scene.
      Over the next two months the mayor and department heads will take input from the public and the County Council, tweak the draft, and present a final budget to the Council on May 5. The Council will likely amend and approve it before it goes into effect July 1.
      The mayor said he is helping to cover next year’s expenses by using $18 million left over from the current fiscal year, refraining from filling 200 county jobs that have no workers, and cutting solid waste funding by $2.3 million without reducing services. Kenoi proposes to preserve $1.5 million in grants for nonprofits and for senior citizen and children’s programs. He eliminated a West Hawai`i golf subsidy and may end the county’s lava viewing program in lower Puna.

Bob and Julie Jacobson

NEITHER BOB NOR JULIE JACOBSON will seek the open state House of Representatives seat that will likely run from Punalu`u along the corridor to Kea`au, once the new reapportionment maps are finished. The State House of Representative district lines have been redrawn, along with the state Senate lines. Rep. Bob Herkes has declared that he will run for a new state Senate seat, leaving the district open from Punalu`u to Kea`au. The other newly drawn district for the state House will likely start west of Punalu`u and run into Kona and will likely be sought by incumbent Kona House member Denny Coffman. 

      The reapportionment commission, however, delayed finalizing maps this week, following testimony claiming gerrymandering. It will meet in Honolulu again next week before finalizing maps.

      Jacobson told The Ka`u Calendar that he and Julie, who spent a decade serving as County Council members representing South Kona, Ka`u and part of Puna, are very happy living in the rainforest and growing tea. Their company, Hawai`i Rainforest Tea, will be represented in the Philadelphia International Flower Show March 4 - 11. Jacobson said that the county and University of Hawai`i have been very helpful in helping the couple start up their tea business. The Jacobsons, longtime Green Party members, said that growing tea under the shade of native forests is a way to help preserve them.

A meeting about Ka`u Forest Reserve
management take place today.

KA`U COFFEE is another locally grown agricultural product heading east this week. County Council member Brittany Smart will deliver 50 bags of Ka`u Coffee grown by local farmers and milled at the new Ka`u Coffee Mill to legislators and other federal officials in Washington, D.C. She is attending the 77th annual National Association of Counties Legislative Conference on behalf of the County of Hawai`i, March 3 – 7, but will take time to meet Ka`u’s elected federal officials.

KA`U FOREST RESERVE management is the topic of a community meeting today at 5 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center, sponsored by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce. An Environmental Assessment has been published on plans to manage hunting, preservation of endangered species, the re-introduction of the `Alala, endangered Hawaiian crow, and opportunities for hiking and camping in this pristine forest. 

A RUMMAGE SALE to benefit the Ka`u Hospital Foundation Scholarship Fund is set for tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. The fund helps Ka`u students enrolled in any medical training program.

A THRIFT, PLANT & BAKE SALE takes place tomorrow at the Methodist Church building in Pahala on Huapala Street from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Bolo performs at Pahala Plantation
House Wednesday, March 7.

PROCEEDS FROM A RUMMAGE SALE tomorrow and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Volcano Garden Arts in Volcano Village benefit Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences. To donate or volunteer, call 985-9800.

A HUI HOU TO BOLO at a free house concert, next Wednesday, March 7 at Pahala Plantation House from 6:30 p.m. until pau. Bolo, who plays guitar, `ukulele and uketar, will perform slack key and other string traditions along with original songs, including a song about Ka`u Coffee farmer Bull Kailiawa, a song about the original Ka`u Coffee farmer back in the 1800s and a composition he co-wrote with Daniel Ho and other local musicians about the Ka`u mountain Kaiholena, which was recorded on a Grammy-winning album by Tia Correa and Daniel Ho. Among those joining Bolo will be hula dancer Sammi Fo.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.