Where Will Rail's Funds Come From

Not too long ago, City Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz grilled City Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka on where funding for the $6.4 billion rail project will come from. After dodging the question several times, the director finally says the funding source will be from your property taxes.

Folks, Honolulu cannot pay for rail through higher property taxes. This is what will happen if rail is allowed to be built. Your property taxes will all increase to pay for rail. Some people have speculated that property taxes could be increased to an amount as high as 40% over what is paid today. This will make it very expensive for not only home owners, but also businesses, industry and even renters.

Watch the video. The time to stop the train is now.

Transit Tour of Our Town

Cliff Slater of HonoluluTraffic.com and Stop Rail Now and Honolulu mayoral candidate Dr. Panos Prevedouros led two busloads of people on a tour through urban Honolulu this past weekend along the proposed $6.4 billion rail transit system route.

I was on the bus with Slater. The second bus was narrated by Dr. Prevedouros. The tour started at Ala Moana Center and traveled through Nimitz Highway to a point near the airport, and back through Kalihi on Dillingham onward to Kakaako through Halekawila and Queen Streets. We then went back to Ala Moana Center and down on Kapiolani Blvd. up to the University of Hawaii where the 2nd phase of the rail is supposed to end.

Along the way, Slater pointed out where various properties that would be impacted by the 20 to 80 foot high elevated rail and transit stations. It was a tour where you had to imagine what open areas of our major thoroughfares would look like from ground level as dark passageways with concrete and steel elevated structures blocking the views of the blue Hawaiian sky. The rail line will split neighborhoods and be a visual blight upon our fair city, taking away any semblance of a "Hawaii sense of place".

Often mentioned and pointed out during the tour were private properties along the rail line where the city would have to come in and acquire them through eminent domain. This will be true for many areas in Iwilei, Kalihi along Dillingham, Halekawila and Queen Streets in Kakaako and along Kapiolani Boulevard headed up to the University of Hawaii. Residential and commercial properties will be impacted by rail and eminent domain.

The city has not unveiled exactly what properties these are because the in-town portion of the proposed rail line has not been finalized. Speculation runs rampant and so far no property owner has been notified about possible city acquisition in the urban core. I think the city is waiting for the Environmental Impact Statement to be completed. Once that happens, the fireworks will be set.

Slater also pointed out where his Hot Lane proposal would end, which is essentially at Iwilei just Ewa of the Hilo Hattie factory store. This is also where the state's proposed Nimitz flyover will also end. The Hot Lane plan as I understand it will cover most of the Leeward route and will cost less to build than the elevated train.

One final thing. The city also proposes a rail spur from Kapiolani down through Kalakaua and somewhere through Waikiki, Hawaii's very important tourist resort area. Will tourists escaping from their urban areas built up with similar elevated trains want to see our elevated train in Waikiki? Remember this train and its structure will block out the Hawaii sky and divide the neighborhood. Just like Chicago. Just like Tokyo. Possibly filled with grafitti and the type of urban nomads people don't want to see. Not the picture of paradise we want to project. Expensive. Ugly!



Photos by Mel, top photo: The stretch of Queen Street between Ward and Kamakee will be adversely impacted by rail and General Growth Properties development. Bottom photo: Cliff Slater narrates our urban core transit tour. More photos at this link.

Additional Links

• HonoluluTraffic.com
• Stop Rail Now

The People Will Decide

Mayor Mufi Hannemann indicated yesterday that he will not veto a bill passed by the Honolulu City Council that will allow a vote on the controversial $6.4 billion rail issue. The City Council passed a measure that will allow their own ballot question on the rail issue to appear this November. Stop Rail Now's ballot initiative petitions were accepted by the City Clerk last week after a Circuit Court Judge forced the clerk to accept them.

The Stop Rail Now petitions are currently being certified by the City Clerk's office, though issues still remain on whether the number of valid signatures should be based on 10% of the total votes cast in the last Mayoral election (2004) or the total amount of voters registered that year. That issue may have to go to the Supreme Court.

If Stop Rail Now's ballot initiative is approved, the voters will go with the Stop Rail Now ballot question. If their initiative is not approved, then the version passed out by the City Council will appear on the November ballot.

Whatever the outcome, the voters will get the final say on whether or not a rail system will be built for Honolulu. And that is a good thing. Time to Stop Rail Now in November!



Stop Rail Now will have to refocus their anti-rail campaign to a public awareness and advertising drive in order to educate and persuade the voters to stop the rail project through the upcoming charter amendment vote. Photo by Mel, Copyright 2008, All rights reserved.

RIAA Closes Muxtape.com

One of my favorite music sharing websites, Muxtape.com is apparently closed this week and perhaps for good. It seems the Recording Industry Association of America, (RIAA) finally caught up with the site and shut them down for copyright violation.

The site allowed users to upload music mixes containing 12 songs each and share those mixes with other members and the public through Muxtape's streaming capability. At no time could anyone download a song from Muxtape for free. For every song that was uploaded, Muxtape provided a link to a music sales site, such as Amazon.com, where listeners could buy a legitimate copy of the song. There were some songs that are not available at Amazon or any other online music store because of it being out of print. However these were on Muxtape, made available for people to listen to.

Apparently the RIAA has been in contact with Muxtape over the legal issue: "For the past several months, we have communicated our legal concerns with the site and repeatedly tried to work with them to have illegal content taken down. Muxtape was hosting copies of copyrighted sound recordings without authorization from the copyright owners. Making these recordings available for streaming playback also requires authorization from the copyright owners. Muxtape has not obtained authorization from our member companies to host or stream copies of their sound recordings."

Attorneys have opined that Muxtape should fight this case: ""According to Fred Von Lohmann, Electronic Frontier Foundation’s senior intellectual property attorney, the site is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which provides for a so-called “safe harbor” for hosting material on behalf users, and the same defense used by user content sites like YouTube.... I think they have a strong legal defense,” Von Lohmann told RollingStone.com. “The problem is if they might not have that money to go to court and take on the RIAA.”"

Muxtape is not the first popular site to be closed by the RIAA. Earlier this week, Cliff Bolling's 78 RPM Records website was also shut down. The site made songs from his large 78 RPM record collection available as free MP3 downloads. Most of the songs have been long out of print. It is a good bet that the RIAA had this popular site closed too.

The RIAA not only wants to shut down music sharing websites (as has long been their practice), but are also going after many streaming websites and online radio stations to get them to pay higher per-song royalty fees. The higher fees are being applied only to online music content and not to traditional broadcasting stations.

If the RIAA gets thir way, the prospect for listening to music online will be greatly diminished. For music fans, this will be a sad time if streaming music of all types go away.

Last Days for "SPOTS"

"Spots" a popular eatery along Dillingham Ave.in Honolulu will be serving their last plate lunches this weekend and next week. The restaurant will be closing its doors for good on August 23 after being in business for 13 years.

Yesterday my friend and I went to Spots for what may be our last lunch at the eatery. The place was crowded and our order was slower to process than it ever has been. Everyone is going there for a last plate lunch or two if they can bear the wait. The food is good. I had garlic chicken with rice and a small green salad.

Eating places are one of the most mortal types of small business. Their success is probably determined a lot through word of mouth by their regular customers. Spots, like so many other small businesses through the years, have been negatively impacted by Hawaii's poor business climate, increasing lease rents, higher fuel costs, minimum wage laws, increased state regulation and higher taxes. It gets to the point where owners just give up and throw in the towel.

How long do we have to wait before another Spots closes because of these mitigating factors? Time to reduce taxes and regulations.



Photos by Mel, all copyright 2008. Unflawful to reproduce photos and content without permission from the publisher.

A Significant Victory for Stop Rail Now

It was a victory for Stop Rail Now and supporters who want to put the train question on the ballot. Yesterday (August 14) State Circuit Court Judge Karl Sakamoto ruled in favor of Stop Rail Now's court challenge to put the question regarding rail on the upcoming November 4 election ballot.

By yesterday afternoon volunteers and supporters of Stop Rail Now converged once again at City Hall to submit 9 boxes of more than 11,000 petition sheets with more than 49,000 signatures to City Clerk Denise De Costa. Ms. De Costa was forced to accept them on court order and was courteous (before the media cameras) about accepting them. She insisted that the petitions be notarized which city officials and members of Stop Rail Now did shortly after the petitions were received.

The verdict is still out on whether or not Stop Rail Now has enough valid signatures to get the rail question on the ballot. At issue is still the number of required signatures needed. The City Clerk says Stop Rail Now needs more than 44,000 which is 10% of the number of people registered to vote in the last mayoral election (2004). Stop Rail Now maintains a figure of about 30,000 signatures are needed, which reflects 10% of the amount of people who actually voted in the 2004 mayoral election. The issue may have to be settled in court.

Additional Links

• Anti-rail effort wins in court, StarBulletin.com
• Judge Sakamoto's Harsh Words, HawaiiReporter.com
• Stop Rail Now website
• Court Puts Anti-Rail Petition Back on Track..., Honolulu Advertiser
• More Stop Rail Now Photos, by the publisher

City Clerk Denise De Costa (in black) and Deputy Clerk Bernice Mau seated next to her start to process of petition notarization with Stop Rail Now's Cliff Slater and Dennis Callan.

All photos copyright 2008 by Melvin Ah Ching.

Will They Stay Longs Forever?

As many in Hawaii know by now, the Longs Drugs chain of stores have been sold to CVS Caremark Corp. for the tidy sum of $2.9 billion. Longs operates 521 stores in California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii. CVS indicated that it purchased Longs to increase its presence on the West Coast of the United States. All of the stores except the ones in Hawaii will be converted from Longs to CVS Pharmacy brand. Hawaii stores will retain the Longs Drugs name.

I think it is a good thing that CVS will retain Longs' identity in Hawaii. The drugstore chain has become a well established brand in Hawaii representing value and low prices, long before the big boxes of Costco and WalMart arrived. My question is how long will Longs' retain its identity before CVS somewhere down the line in 5 or 10 years decides to consolidate its brand.

Longs often has lower prices over some of its competitors like Walgreens. This week for example, Walgreens are selling Hershey's candy bars, 2 for $1. Longs selling the same bars 2 for 79¢. I've been shopping at Longs for many years and continue to do so. I hope their service and low product pricing continue.

Additional Links:

• CVS Caremark Buys Longs Drugs, Associated Press
• Longs to Keep Identity Despite Despite $2.9B Purchase, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
• Longs Drugs website
• CVS Pharmacy website
• Discussion Topic at HawaiiThreads.com

Photo: Downtown Honolulu store entrance of Longs Drug, Copyright 2008 Melvin Ah Ching

Do We Have Too Many Busses?

First in a series of videos from Panos Prevedouros, candidate for Honolulu Mayor. Today he talks about the number of busses on Honolulu streets and the number of passengers using it. The video lasts about 2:40. Copyright 2008 PanosForProgress.com

Find more videos like this on Panos for Progress Campaign HQ - Join Team Panos!

News from Around the Dial

As originally posted to Hawaii Radio & Television Guide*

The economic downturn has hit KGMB TV. Erika Engle at StarBulletin.com reports that 9 employees at the TV station were laid off. None of the on-air talent were laid off. Advertising revenue at media outlets are down this year. Details at this link.

KSSK radio's morning duo of Michael W. Perry and Larry Price celebrated their 25th year on-air this past Saturday (August 9) during a live radio broadcast aired from the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral ballroom. More than a thousand people showed up for the breakfast broadcast. The duo was on air for 3 1/2 hours and were honored by dignitaries including Governor Linda Lingle, Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Congressman Neil Abercrombie.

More on Perry & Price's 25th anniversary:

• 2 for 25 Years, StarBulletin.com
• 25 Years Together, MidWeek.com

The Big Island's KIPA radio station has returned to the airwaves with new call letters and a new format. The station now goes by the call sign KHNU. AM 620 was silent for about a year and is now airing a news and talk format. The station is owned by Mahalo Broadcasting LLC in Arizona. The KIPA call sign was immediately acquired by Buddy Gordon at Parrot Broadcasting for use on a new FM under construction in Kona, also on the Big Island of Hawaii. More details at this link.

"Honolulu Skylark" Jacqueline Leilani Rossetti has joined Kimo Kahoano as a new co-host for the Hawaiian Talk Radio Show produced by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) called Nā 'Ōiwi 'Ōlino. The morning show airs Monday through Friday on Cox Radio's KKNE AM 940 and statewide to various stations on the Big Island, Maui and Kauai. "Skylark" is a longtime radio personality who has been on various stations since the 1970s. More details at this link.

Local computer and internet enthusiasts get their own radio show via Burt Lum's and Ryan Ozawa's newly launched Bytemarks Cafe radio talk show airing on KIPO 89.3 FM (HPR). It is a weekly "one-hour radio magazine that showcases the innovation and creativity in Hawaii's tech community." More details at the Hawaii Public Radio website and Bytemarks Cafe blog page.

* I am the publisher of the Hawaii Radio & Television Guide.

8-8-08 in Hawaii

It's August 8, 2008 or 8-8-08 or 8-8-8 in Hawaii and elsewhere in the world. Probably a compelling reason why I should add something to this blog.

In this entry, I'll summarize and update readers on a few current items.



Stop Rail Now: As noted previously, the Stop Rail Now petition was not accepted by the City Clerk's office on August 4. Two days ago the organization filed suit against the city to get the ballot question on the ballot for November 4. Stop Rail Now's attorney Earle Partington filed the lawsuit at Circuit Court. It is scheduled to be heard by Judge Sakamoto on August 14.

Honolulu City Council meanwhile is considering a bill that will allow the rail issue on the ballot. However one of their proposals may also add to the ballot the creation of a Mass Transit Authority that will have the power among other things, to condemn property and raise taxes without any accountability to the public. The proposed transit authority will be appointed and not elected by the people. This is what the current mayor and rail supporters want. The transit authority is a very bad idea. More taxes and seizure of private property to put up a rail line is very, very bad.



Kamehameha Schools Challenged: Once again the Kamehameha Schools trust, will and admission policy that gives preference to students of Hawaiian ancestry is under fire. A new lawsuit against the school's admission policy was filed this week on behalf of 4 non-Hawaiian students who tried to gain entry to the private school. Meanwhile the school itself filed a suit against another student which whom they settled out of court after an attorney not representing that student revealed that the settlement between the parties was at more than $7 million. This violated an apparent confidentiality agreement which was part of the settlement.

The courts will definitely be busy with these lawsuits in the coming months. Should Kamehameha Schools lose their right to follow the covenants of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop's will, it is quite possible that everyone else's private will and trust will be jeopardy to forced changes set upon by the courts.

The big news today will be the arrival of Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama to Honolulu. He will be in Hawaii for several days on vacation and has already announced 2 public appearances in the state. A last minute rally and speech will be held later this afternoon at Keehi Lagoon Beach Park located near Honolulu International Airport shortly after he arrives. Next week the presidential candidate will be attending a $2,300 a-head fundraiser at the Kahala Hotel and Resort. Local media coverage of this visit will be extensive. I'm not excited. I only want to avoid the traffic mess that this visit (and possible ones in the future) will create.

Finally the 2008 Summer Olympics opens today in Beijing, China. TV coverage should be extensive on NBC owned and affiliated TV networks and channels. President George W. Bush is in China to attend the opening ceremonies today and a basketball game later this weekend. Hopefully the Chinese government can host this event without too much problems over the next few weeks. We'll see what happens.

All photos in this entry are taken by Mel and copyrighted. Unlawful to reproduce without author's permission.

Stop Rail Now Petitions Refused

The people want to vote on the rail issue. Stop Rail Now tried to turn in their petitions with more than 48,000 names to the City Clerk's office yesterday and were promptly refused by City Clerk Denise DeCosta. The action will now prompt Stop Rail Now to take this case to court and hopefully get it resolved and have the question appear on the ballot for the November 4 general election. Recent polls have indicated that more than 70% of the people want to vote on the rail issue.