Takeover at Iolani Palace

"Hawaiian Kingdom Government," one of several sovereignty organizations in the State of Hawaii, took over Iolani Palace for nearly 8 hours today. Members of the "kingdom" blocked public access to the historic palace and adjacent buildings by locking all of the gates and placing guards at each entrance. Several state workers were either locked in the fenced complex or shut out of work for the day. The Iolani Palace grounds, managed by the State Dept. of Land & Natural Resources is home for the Friends of Iolani Palace, the non-profit organization that operates the palace as a historic museum, and the Hawaii State Archives.

For the most part the takeover of the palace was a quiet if not boring event, until the gates were re-opened by the protesters shortly after 2 pm. Media, state and county officials and the public waited for most of the day for something to happen.

Critics have wondered why harsher and swifter action was not taken by officials. Potential charges of trespassing and kidnapping could be levied by officials against Hawaiian Kingdom Government.

Additional Links:

• Still a Stand-off?
• Activists Barricade Iolani Palace
• Iolani Palace Statement
• Protesters Take Over Iolani Palace
• Native Hawaiians Occupy Palace Grounds
• Group Occupies Hawaii Palace
• Did Angry Divorcee Lead Iolani Palace Takeover?

"No Trespassing" sign at the main entry to Iolani Palace.


Hawaiian Kingdom Government protester watches at King & Richard Street entry.


State Sheriffs near the backyard mall entry next to the State Capitol.

More photos at this link.

Another Costly Recycling Mandate

I hate environmentalists. They cost consumers more money every time lawmakers fall under their spell and concoct bills to "save the environment".

Think the dreadful beverage container tax. Every time consumers buy something in a beverage container, 6 cents is slapped onto the cost of the each container as an additional tax. Consumers who want to get the recycling tax back have to wash and collect the bottles and return them to a redemption center. Problem is consumers only get 5 cents back per bottle. The State of Hawaii pockets a penny on every beverage container purchase. This tax is slapped on top of the 4.72% General Excise Tax consumers pay for the product.

It has been reported that the bottle tax has allowed the state to land a multi-million windfall. It is nothing but a money grab, not an environmental law.

Now comes the new "Electronic Devices Recycling Program" in the form of SB 2843. This new bill will create a new mandate that "requires manufacturers of electronic devices to collect and recycle electronic devices. Establishes the electronic device recycling fund. Establishes a working group that includes TV manufacturers to develop a plan to recycle TVs."

This legislation will place many burdens on electronics manufacturers and retailers, both in and out of Hawaii.

The bill also establishes a new special fund to administer "all fees, payments, and penalties...." The state will collect an annual $5000 registration fee from device manufacturers.

The costs associated with this recycling mandate is certainly to be passed on to consumers. And that is very bad when Hawaii already has the rotten reputation of being one of the highest cost of living and taxed states in the union. The madness of more government mandated cost increases has to stop!

Hawaii consumers have long had opportunities to recycle their old electronic devices through several community based, volunteer recycling campaigns. Like the bottle bill, the public certainly does not need another forced mandate on recycling.

The Hawaii Electronic Devices Recycling Program is just another money grab, just like the Beverage Container Tax.

Photo: Voluntary computer recycling day.

Thick Ugly Vog

Honolulu has been looking a lot like Los Angeles lately. Today the sky was filled with the thick volcanic haze known as "Vog" which drifted over 200 miles from the Big Island of Hawaii to blanket the entire State of Hawaii. The thick vog layer is a result of changing winds and the ongoing eruption of Kilauea volcano on the Big Island.

The Big Island's Kilauea volcano has been constantly erupting from the Pu'u'O'o vent since 1983. Millions of cubic yards of red hot lava has spewed out of the volcano and covered many miles of acreage along the southeastern areas of the Big Island. Lava reached the sea many times sending out clouds of hot sulfuric steam into the atmosphere. Some of these clouds have drifted over the islands through the years.

Last month, Kilauea's Halemaumau crater exploded into activity after a vent near a parking lot suddenly erupted sending a huge plume cloud of gas into the sky. The gas eruption started out small and eventually exploded into a larger event over the course of several days. Nearly a month later, the spewing gas has contributed more volume into the air than what Pu'u'O'o apparently delivers.

The island now has two eruptions going. Pu'u'O'o with its lava flows and Halemaumau with its spewing gas cloud. Note that Halemaumau has not had an explosive eruption since 1924. The last lava eruption from Halemaumau occurred in 1968.

The combination of the two eruptions and the shifting winds have created thicker vog and a greater health hazard to many people on the Big Island of Hawaii and throughout the state.

Volcano Links

• Photos: Voggy Sky in Honolulu, 4-25-08
• HVO Volcano Update
  
• Hawaii Volcano Observatory
• Kilauea Volcano
• Pu'u'O'o Volcanic Vent
• County of Hawaii Eruption Update

Kilauea Volcano on a clear, calm day... photo taken June 2005 by Mel. The 2 photos at the top of this article show the thick vog in Downtown Honolulu as seen from the 5th floor of the Hawaii State Capitol.

Council Tied on Rail Vote; Bills at Legislature

The Hawaii Political Stew



Rail Vote Deadlocked Again

The Honolulu City Council screeched to another 4 to 4 tie vote on the subject of picking a transit alternative after a lengthy council hearing yesterday. Bill 80 is dead as a result of this action. Mayor Mufi Hannemann vows to build a "steel wheel on steel rail" elevated, ugly and noisy train system that will sprawl from Kapolei to Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu. The cost to build the train is estimated to be at least $6.4 billion.

Eight of the nine council members were present at yesterday's council meeting. Council Chair Barbara Marshall was absent again due to a family emergency on the mainland. She returned to Hawaii yesterday but did not make the council hearing.

The Council has until July to craft a new bill that will enable them to have a say in a transit technology selection. If not, the Mayor will be able to go ahead with his plan. He already plans to push on without council approval.

In the meantime, the citizen's group Stop Rail Now keeps on moving with their ballot initiative campaign. Stop the train now.

• Council Still in Deadlock Over Rail Technology Vote
• Council Divided Again on Rail Vote
  

Regulating Inter-island Airlines

The State Senate passed HB 2250 on a full floor vote by a 20 to 5 margin that will allow state regulation of the inter-island airline industry. State regulation of the airline business is subject to federal approval. HB 2250 passed out of the House earlier this year and is now on the desk of Governor Linda Lingle.

During yesterday's floor session Senator Kalani English indicated that he supported the bill so that smaller rural airports could get airline service. He claimed that airports such as Hana, Upolu Point, Kamuela and Princeville had little or no commercial airline service.

Apparently with state regulation of the airlines, it would seem that the government could force a carrier to fly into these smaller airports. The market has clearly spoken that demand for commercial flights into rural airports is almost non-existent. There already is some service from commuter airlines such as Pacific Wings and Mokulele Air into these rural destinations.

The reason for my opposition to this bill is that regulation would force routes and prices to be fixed, and possibly not allow for another cut rate carrier to come into the marketplace and offer consumers low prices (like Go).

Senators voting against the bill were Slom, Hemmings, Trimble, Whalen and Inouye.

Special Session for Turtle Bay Purchase?

The Legislature may have to come back for a special session later this year as the Lingle administration vows to pursue the state's purchase of the Turtle Bay resort. The purchase of the 850 acre resort is being considered as part of a misconstrued effort to keep development out of the area. The problem is that the state doesn't have the money to purchase this real estate. They are banking on buying the entire parcel and then reselling the hotel resort area to another private operator.

SB 2423 is still tied up in conference committee.

"Right to Dry" Bill

As if the legislature did not have more important things to do, there is a bill to force homeowner associations to allow residents to hang their laundry out to dry despite house rules disallowing the practice. This is another bad example of government intrusion into the private sector. Homeowner association rules should never be overruled by governmental interference such as this.

The Sierra Club who supports the bill as part of their environmental agenda has named this the "right to dry" bill.

Stop Rail Now!

A new ballot initiative was kicked off yesterday at Honolulu Hale, Ground Zero for the supporters of Honolulu's most expensive public works project proposal ever.... the $6.4 billion fixed rail system. Opponents converged on City Hall yesterday to kick off a new campaign to put the rail question to the ballot.

Stop Rail Now is a citizen's effort to place the following question on the November ballot as a City Charter amendment:

"Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail transit."

Sounds simple enough, an up down, black or white initiative question that allows voters to take a side on the very divisive issue and make a decision on it one way or another. This is good as a huge decision such as rail should not be left to the politicians, and especially our dictatorial Mayor, Mufi Hannemann.

Stop Rail Now will need to gather more than 40,000 voter signatures in order to get the question on the ballot. The deadline to get this done is August 1. It will be a daunting task, but with the rail issue being more on the forefront of local headlines, the initiative effort will be a worthy thing to pursue.

There will be sign-up drives at various public events to get voters on the initiative roll as well as opportunities for citizens to participate in the process. Initiative forms are available for download at the StopRailNow.com website.

Rail is a very costly and bad thing that should not be allowed to happen in Honolulu. Studies have shown and the city supporters have acknowledged that fixed rail will not solve Oahu's traffic problems. It is time to scrap the Mufi Train.

Additional Links for More Information:

• Stop Rail Now
• The Rail Scam
• HonoluluTraffic.com
• Mel's Photos: Kickoff Rally / Press Conference
  

Photo: Spokesperson Dennis Callan speaks to the media on the StopRailNow ballot initiative.

Heard it on Muxtape

I was introduced to a new streaming site called MUXTAPE.com. It is an audio site that allows users from all over the world to share music from their personal file library to everyone out there without allowing anyone to download the files for free. Listening and setting up your own Muxtape mix is free, but direct downloading is not allowed. Furthermore users are limited to posting only 12 songs or audio files to their Muxtape site.

Muxtape gives users an option to buy the music they hear through Amazon.com's music download service. People can preview music listed by other users and buy the track, should it be available.

I started my own MUXTAPE page at macpro.muxtape.com. This mix features a blend of current and recent hit songs, selected album tracks and more. Music will be updated and alternated on a weekly basis.

Selected Muxtape Sites:

• macpro 12 - current hits, album cuts and more.
• Oldie 45s - records that you may have forgotten
• Hawaii - Ryan Ozawa's Hawaiian music mix (current)
• Scrivener - currently his 12 favorite tracks of 2008.
• Cinemafia - eclectic music and audio - original work - cool!

User generated streaming audio is nothing new. I have long had multi-song channels featured at Finetune.com. At Finetune, users can set up multiple song playlists utilizing tracks from Finetune's 2 million plus music library.

Mayor Continues Push for Rail

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann continues his push to ram his "steel wheel on steel rail" train proposal down the throats of the taxpayers this week. The mayor lashed out at the City Council's 4 to 4 tie vote on Wednesday stating, "This is the most dysfunctional Council session I have witnessed in all my years.... I never saw a session where some members were deliberately trying to confuse, obstruct and delay an important decision that the City Council needed to make."

Hannemann further commented, "We are proceeding... Next week, in my mind, is a formality. I will not put this city in a position of financial disaster. If it's not steel on steel, I'll pull the plug."

Pull the plug? Could this really happen? I would love to see the mayor do that. Kill the entire rail project. Make it "pau" as he stated on TV last night.

The City Council meets on April 23 and is expected to cast a hopeful 5 to 4 vote against the steel rail proposal.

The mayor has vowed to veto such a vote and states that the council does not have the votes to override. Perhaps so. The public will deal with that when it comes up.

As an aside, it is revealed today that many of the mayor's supporters are on the rail gravy train being paid in lucrative amounts of taxpayer funds to do engineering, planning and public relations for the $6.4 billion project. More than $100 million tax dollars have been spent on these activities.

Time to pull the plug. End rail today.

Hawaii's Political Stew Pot Brewing

Various items are brewing today from Hawaii's political stew pot:

Fixed Rail

The Honolulu City Council held an 8-hour plus long hearing yesterday to decide whether or not steel wheel on steel rail will be the technology approved for construction of the $6.4 billion rail project. Many people came to testify before the full council of 8 members... 8? Council chair Barbara Marshall was absent due to a family emergency. The result in the end was that the votes for a steel wheeled train got locked in a 4 to 4 tie. Good!

Hopefully Ms. Marshall will be back for next week's April 23 meeting where she can cast a vote against steel wheels. A good move here would be to abandon the entire rail project.

As a sideline it was revealed yesterday that the City & County of Honolulu is squandering millions of your tax dollars to pay P-R flacks and consultants to build a favorable image of rail to present to the public. They pay at least $2400 a month to Clear Channel radio to have them run a series of pro-rail commercials and programs on their stations. Democrat party hack Elisa Yadao's P-R firm is being paid $504,000 to be a rail cheerleader. Former Secretary of Transportation Norman Minetta is being paid $120,000 to do the same as well as a firm called Lychee Productions to the tune of $889,000.

These payoffs represent just the tip of the iceberg of the hundreds of millions being spent just to build a favorable image for rail with nothing actually built. A total waste of money!

Inter-island Airline Regulation



HB 2250 surfaced this past week in the Senate days after the official crossover deadline passed. Majority Democrat leadership fronted by House Speaker Calvin Say and Senate President Colleen Hanabusa waived their crossover deadline rule to allow HB 2250 to crossover from the House to the Senate.

The bill will allow the state to regulate the inter-island airline industry should federal enabling legislation pass in Congress some time in the near future.

Establishes a statutory scheme for the regulation of Hawaii inter-island air carriers; provided that federal legislation is enacted to permit implementation.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a statutory scheme for state regulation of interisland air carriers, to the extent permissible under the Constitution and laws of the United State s.

What the state is trying to ultimately do is decide who the players in the inter-island airline market will be and fix prices to a certain level. The bill will also create another commission or something to overlook the whole thing at more cost to the taxpayer.

The strange thing is that this bill passed out of 2 House committees with no testimony with no one voting against it. It is scheduled for a hearing tomorrow (April 18) at 2:00 p.m. in conference room 224, State Capitol.

I wonder if Hawaiian Airlines will be testifying in favor of this bill. I am sure the state's biggest incumbent airline would like to see nothing like another Go! airlines come in to the market to compete with them. I wonder where Mesa is on this issue.

I am not in favor of regulating inter-island air travel. While prices are creeping up in wake of Aloha Airlines' departure from the inter-island passenger market, any regulation of the market will prevent another competitor to enter the market and set its own price. If Joe Blow Airlines wants to be here and offer me $9 tickets again over what Hawaiian and Go! are now charging, so be it. Legislation like this will prevent this from happening.

Republican Party Platform Woes

HawaiiReporter and the Honolulu Advertiser have run more articles about this past weekend's pre-emption of the Hawaii GOP Platform committee. Eric Ryan notes on the Advertiser blog that the loyal Lingle minions are notifying party district chairs to sign up more delegates that are blindly loyal to the administration and its Democrat-lite views for the upcoming party convention in mid-May.

The wagon circling continues. Lingle’s ‘party of one’ is calling district chairman across the state and asking them to fill vacant delegate positions with “administration-friendly” people, so that the state convention next month can continue to rubber-stamp Lingle’s RINO (repubican in name only) direction for the party. The convention, dubbed RINO-Fest 2008 by some, will be a celebration of the complete control of both parties by local Democrats. No wonder voters complain about the lack of choice on ballots. The party that should be providing choice in Hawaii has been sucker-punched into helping one person’s political career at the expense of spreading a reform message which could resonate with voters.

Hawaii Superferry

Lastly, a State Auditor report to be released today states that the State of Hawaii Dept. of Transportation caved into a deadline forced upon them by Hawaii Superferry, Inc. I am sure this will add to the chorus of naysayers who want to shut down the Superferry. Whatever.

And so the political stew pot in Hawaii brews....


Photo: Hawaiian Air, Mesa Go! and Island Air are the players in Hawaii's inter-island airline market. Photo by Mel.

Opposing Steel Wheel on Steel Rail

The Honolulu City Council is set to pick a technology for the $6.4 billion fixed rail project. Readers of this blog already know that I am a longtime opponent of fixed rail and mass transit in general. I also oppose the General Excise Tax increase passed by the State Legislature and Governor Linda Lingle in 2005.

Today the City Council is having a hearing on Bill 80 which is drafted to support the selection of "steel wheel on steel rail" technology for the expensive "Mufi Train". Alternate versions of the bill also exist which support magnetic levitation technology and rubber tire on concrete.

I sent in testimony proposing alternative options as follows:

Dear Honorable City Council Members,

I am sending in this testimony in OPPOSITION to BILL 80, which calls for the selection of a technology for the Honolulu's rail transit project.

I am writing in OPPOSITION to the Steel Wheel on Steel Rail proposal for the following reasons:

1. The technology is old fashioned.
2. Steel wheel on steel rail is very noisy.
3. The rail project overall is too expensive. Do we need it? Can we afford it? Can we maintain it? NO to all 3 questions.
4. If you have to choose a technology, amend the bill to include HOTLANES that can be built for less.
5. Amend the bill to include a DROP DEAD clause if no federal funds are received by the city and CANCEL the rail project.
6. Sunset the city's portion of the General Excise Tax increase if the above condition occurs.

Thank you for reading my testimony.

Yes, I know my proposals are probably unrealistic at this point. The Mufi Train is being rammed down our throats faster than the city can bring in the funds to pay for the rail. The insanity of mass transit has to stop and the whole thing re-thinked with options targeted for what people use the most - their own vehicles!

• Additional info on Honolulu' s transit mess and options
• Transit Timetable Pushed Back
• Cachola Must Vote Against Steel Rail Technology
• The Rail Scam website

Hawaii GOP Platform Changes Scuttled

A grassroots effort to revise and update the Hawaii Republican Party's 2008 platform was scuttled by local GOP leaders at an emotionally charged meeting this past Saturday morning April 12.

This is what happened. Over the course of the past 3 weeks, district appointed delegates to the platform committee vigorously worked on drafting new proposals to the platform that moved the document toward a fiscal and social conservative view. Current Hawaii GOP leadership who are loyal followers and appointees of Governor Linda Lingle apparently did not like the direction that the platform was taking. They summoned their loyal minions and stacked the Saturday meeting by first proposing to do away with rules of procedure and then proposing to adopt the 2006 platform as the new document going into the May 2008 State Convention. After an hour of debate, a vote was taken and the outcome was a 26 to 19 in favor of keeping the "status quo".

Needless to say many Hawaii GOP members are now upset over the choreographed effort made by leadership to shut the process down. Leadership was apparently upset over the changes to the "Hawaiian Plank" where proposals to not support the controversial Akaka Bill mandate, revising the Hawaiian Homes mission and allowing native Hawaiians to become more self reliant were floated.

Hawaiian plank co-chair and longtime Republican member Eric Ryan published this article at HawaiiReporter.com that it is "all about the Akaka Bill".

"It's all about the Akaka Bill, that's why they're shutting down our committee," were the words on the lips of delegates and alternates to the platform committee. "Lingle doesn't want us to express the will of Republican voters statewide."

Read Mr. Ryan's article. It is eye opening and outline's the day's proceedings in detail.

An audio file of the meeting is also circulating and can be found and downloaded from this link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?mlfg4ylntmy

Go to the above link quickly before the file goes away. If so I will try to provide another link if there is one to be posted later.

I'll disclose this. I am a member of the Hawaii GOP and am on the Platform Committee from my district. I am disappointed that the work of the platform committee was scuttled by the top-down leadership and the Lingle loyalists who want to continue perpetuating a "Democrat Lite" platform (new taxes, Akaka Bill support, etc).

Several party members loyal to the process of crafting a more conservative platform vow to push ahead with the work and present a new document at the May convention.



Governor Lingle is hugely responsible for the increase to the Hawaii general excise tax to fund Honolulu's $6.4 billion rail project. In the photo above, she was surrounded by Democrat supporters of the rail project and more taxes at this press conference held on July 11, 2005 in which she announced that the GE tax increase bill would pass without her signature. It is this kind of action that conservative Republicans are against and why changes to the platform need to be made. The Governor has been a disappointment to conservatives ever since. Photo by Mel.

Full Speed Ahead for the Superferry

Hawaii Superferry restarted their Oahu to Maui interisland service on April 7 after nearly 2 months in drydock for rudder and other repairs. It's been smooth sailing for the 435 ft. long ship since with consistent service and no announced cancellations due to weather or protests.

Hawaii Superferry currently has the lowest interisland commuter fare of $39 per person each way. The price is at around $55 per standard vehicle, for those individuals choosing to bring them along. The lowest advertised interisland air fare continues to be the $49 rate offered by Mesa Airlines' Go. Hawaiian Airlines also offers some $49 flights.

Recent media reports indicate that Hawaii Superferry may be able to carve out a larger share of the commercial freight pie if their service can prove to be reliable for businesses that need to transport goods and equipment from one island to another. With Aloha Airlines cargo operations still on shaky ground, the growth in commercial freight offers a good opportunity for Hawaii Superferry to build its business to profitability.

Photo: Hawaii Superferry cruises in to Honolulu Harbor.

Jelly's Open in Kaka'ako

One of my favorite local music stores has recently reopened in the Honolulu metro area. Jelly's Books & Records opened their newest location in the Kaka'ako light industrial and commercial area. The store is located at 420 Coral Street in a warehouse like building in the back of Fisher Hawaii.

The new store continues Jelly's long running tradition of selling books, records, tapes, videos, compact discs, comics and games. Jelly's has had a presence on Oahu since the early 1980s and has been located at various locations throughout the island. The Kaka'ako store represents Jelly's return to the Honolulu metro area after being absent for several years. The firm's Aiea store located behind the Cutter Ford dealership is still in operation.

Norm Winter is one of the owners and main force behind Jelly's. He started running the used book and record store back in 1980s. He is also known for founding and operating the "Radio Free Hawaii" alternative rock radio station from 1991 to 1997. He nearly lost the Jelly's name and stores when the firm was sold in the mid 1990s to another firm which eventually went broke.

In the changing world of the music business, Jelly's may be the last of its kind in Hawaii. A record and book store that not only sells new merchandise but also a lot of used, out of print titles in both print, on CD, tape, vinyl and video. The store now operates in a market where there are nearly no other specialty music stores typically represented by long gone firms such as Tower Records, House of Music and DJ's Sound City.

Today's music retailer is in competition with the local big box that sell music at discounted prices, bookstore chains such as Border's and Barnes & Noble, and most importantly, internet retailers like Amazon.com and Apple's iTunes store. The music market has changed to a point where the number one retailer is Apple and their store is as close as anyone's home or office computer. Amazon.com is not very far behind, and WalMart is still a force to reckon with.

It is my hope that a music retailer such as Jelly's can still carve out a niche in the crowded music market and be profitable for years to come.

• Discussion Topic: Jelly's - Honolulu
• Photos: Jelly's Kaka'ako

Photo: Jelly's Kaka'ako aisles are lined with CDs, videos, records and books.

Traveling Interisland in the Wake of Aloha Airlines' Closure

More than a week since Aloha Airlines shut down their passenger service, interisland air fares are beginning to spike up in the wake of the closure. So far, the lowest advertised airfare is Go! airlines $49 one-way interisland fare, which is still available on many of their flights. Hawaiian Airlines has raised the price on many flights but if you make a reservation and are not too picky about travel days and times, there may be a few $49 seats available on that airline.

Experts in the travel industry continue to forecast higher interisland airfares. And while I don't like any of those forecasts, I believe that they are correct. In time by the end of the summer for sure if not even before, I predict interisland air fare will be at $79 or $89 each way on the low end, though more common will be airfares of $100 or more. Deja Vu, it will be 2004 again.

Travelers coming to Hawaii and residents going to the mainland have suddenly found a shortage of seats to several destinations. While Aloha Airlines had a small percentage of mainland flights, the closure last week of ATA Airlines, only a few days after the Aloha shutdown, have many travelers scrambling to find new flights and change their reservations, often having to buy more expensive tickets. Some of the airlines have quickly filled the void, most notably, Hawaiian. Prices to and from the mainland have spiked more dramatically in the past week than interisland for now.

Industry forecaster predict that mainland to Hawaii travel prices will settle down after this week's adjustments.

For people traveling to and from Maui between now and June, the Hawaii Superferry is offering $39 trips each way, per passenger. The cost is $55 for a standard sized vehicle. The superferry resumed service today after having their vessel tied up in dry dock for several repairs over the last 2 months. I hope Superferry's technical problems are behind them and hope that they can provide reliable service in the coming months.

Finally a group known as "Friends for Aloha Airlines" recently put together a 30-second video tribute to the fallen carrier which have been airing on a number of local TV stations from last week. The video is shown below: