IT MUST BE BURIED HERE SOMEWHERE: It’s “read um and weep time” as the legislature finished it’s dirty work Friday.
The list of bills that passed is kind of like the most disgusting Sundae in the world with a bunch of turds on the bottom where the ice cream should be, topped with a layer of fluff instead of whipped cream and, if we’re lucky by some miracle of oversight, an eatable cherry or two on top.
The sauce? No butterscotch, no chocolate no nothing where it should. Those are the missing (due to) inaction bills- the ones that showed promise, almost made it but were killed by paid-to-play conference committees with the hope you won’t notice because there’s no list of them anywhere except in the hearts of those who wanted to see them passed.
The bigger debacles have gotten plenty of press but one we haven’t heard much of that awaits the governor’s signature is the bill that would have banned research on generically modified Hawaiian taro.
Yup- it’s dead. For a lot of the newbie activists that got involved in the anti-GM movement it’s sooo cute to see the expression on their faces the first time they open the empty box and see up-close how corruptly idiotic our Hawai`i legislative system is.
To watch them, as the session went along, go from supporting an outright ban on GM products, to a ban on all research, to a ban on taro research, to a ban on only research on the Hawaiian varieties of taro, was priceless for us grizzled vets.
But then seeing them get all excited that the watered down bill passed both houses only to see their hopes dashed at the last minute is outright hilarious.
We only wish that is had passed only to be vetoed and then left for dead with no override vote permitted by the house and/or senate leadership.
For that kind of mirth we have to wait for action on the list of some of the bills that actually sit on the governor’s desk.
We’ll go over a few today that either effect Kaua`i or that we’ve followed during the session or are otherwise particularly worthy of note
We’ll start with an absurd little ditty- HB267 HD2 SD1, Relating To The Motor Vehicle Rental Industry. This is the bill introduced to allow rental cars on the Superferry. Even though the ferry sunk, the bill still floated... all aboard for the SS Futility. Guess they were busy doing this and things like determining which is the official state butterfly that they “ran out of time” on the civil unions bill.
HB640 HD1 SD2 CD1 “Relating To Environmental Impact Statements” may be the worst bill passed this year. It takes away the protections that trigger an environmental assessment when developments abut or empty onto things like state and federally funded roads and other public facilities- such as when a hotel that empties onto a busy highway. And forget about taking into account where the cars will go once they hit that road. that’s doubly prohibited.
While developers love this one, smart growth and environmental protection activists are crushed by the law that “(e)xempts from the purview of chapter 343, HRS, the environmental review law, primary actions that require a ministerial permit, that involve secondary actions limited to infrastructure development within public right-of-ways.”
Though the greedy bosses and other union-busters at Wal-Mart and Home Depot may not think so, one of the few good bills that passed is the one known as the “card check law”. It enables unions to organize when a majority of the workers sign up rather than require elections that are subject to management manipulation intimidation tactics. HB952 HD1 SD2 CD1 is a statewide version of the law that is currently being considered by the US Congress but until then at least Hawai`i has a card check system.
The county lifeguard liability shield law for which the counties fought for many years was about to expire but is extended, although just for another four years, under HB1040 HD1 SD2 CD1. It seems absurd that we’ll have to fight for this- and pay a lobbyist- again in four years but we’re probably lucky to have gotten it renewed.
We hear nothing but bad things about the guy that slips that white “el cheapo dentistry” ad sheet in the local paper every other weekend so it’s good to hear about SB113 HD1 CD1 Relating To Dentists which “(a)uthorizes the board of dental examiners to sanction licensees for false or misleading advertising”.
And finally for today, although a slew of great bills in the cannabis/hemp package were swept into the gutter- including the one transferring control of medical cannabis from the Department of Public Safety to the Department of Health where it belongs and is in every other state- we did get a SB1058 SD2 HD2 CD1 Relating To Controlled Substances.
At least it “(e)stablishes a task force to examine issues relating to medical cannabis patients and current medical cannabis laws (and) (e)stablishes a task force to examine the effects of salvia divinorum”.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
(PNN) PFLUEGER ’01 GRUBBING AND GRADING VIOLATION APPARENTLY COVERS OVER WATER PIPES FED BY ILLEGAL DITCH.
It’s Chinatown, Jake...
(PNN) PFLUEGER ’01 GRUBBING AND GRADING VIOLATION APPARENTLY COVERS OVER WATER PIPES FED BY ILLEGAL DITCH
The grubbing and grading violations above Ka Loko Dam for which Jimmy Pflueger was cited and fined years before the dam break, apparently covered over an extensive system of water pipes fed by an illegal water diversion that steals water from Moloa`a stream.
As PNN reported Wednesday a county funded report designed to study the reestablishment of irrigation for Kilauea farmers after the tragic dam break in 2006, describes how within the past 10 years “someone” completely rebuilt the long abandoned Moloa`a Ditch to feed the Pflueger and the Mary Lucas Trusts’ lands and Ka Loko reservoir which sits on both.
The report also notes that the ditch connects to an 8” intake pipe on Pflueger’s property that undergrounds at that point just above the work for which Pflueger was cited which is above the reservoir. The intake pipe contains at least two branches, one for Pflueger’s land and one for the Trust’s land.
Apparently in addition to providing a higher water level in the reservoir for the Pflueger’s planned water sports development one of the purposes of the ditch was to provide residential use water for Pflueger’s planned resort community on the property because county water is not available in the area, according to Kallai
Since no one knew of the re-construction of the Moloa`a Ditch at the time of the inspections that led to the violation, apparently no one suspected that the grubbing and grading actually covered over a system of water pipes.
The pipes also provide water to others who own the Mary Lucas trust land including relatives of Pflueger who Kallai says, sued him over water rights in the 1990’s.
Although the particulars of that case are sketchy at present, the suit was apparently dropped and Pflueger was removed as the Trust’s head around the time the ditch was re-established.
At the time Pflueger, a Lucas heir, was the head of the Trust and was denying water to his relatives, in part for a mango farm on the Lucas Trust land according to Kallai who is familiar with the suit.
At a meeting to discuss the water situation Wed. night in Kilauea, according to Kallai one 80+-year-old-man who said he used to head up maintenance for whole the Ka Loko Reservoir and Ditch System said the Moloa`a Ditch was abandoned decades ago- perhaps as early as the 1920’s- because it was not needed for Kilauea sugar cane operations which ceased in the early 1970’s.
It had fallen into total disrepair but it remains to be determined how much of the “new” ditch was part of the old one and how much was constructed from scratch, including the three tunnels through mountains and the “ad hoc dam” at the point of diversion.
Kallai, a Moloa`a farmer, says that the estimates in the county report of how many gallons a day are being taken from the Moloa`a Stream is a severe underestimate, based on a quick glance done from a distance from the ditch and diversion rather than any real measurement.
Kallai estimates the value of the water at the county’s agricultural rate could be well into the billions of dollars.
Water rights in Hawai`i belong to the state and allotment by diversion is severely regulated based on the famous Hanapepe Water Rights case which has, in recent times led to cases like the Wai`oli Ditch decision that returned water to windward O`ahu streams and is currently being used to determine controversial water rights on Maui.
Kallai said that although we reported that she said that 200 farmers had already left Moloa`a she was rather referring to the number whose farming activities have been either curtailed or eliminated since the water in Moloa`a stream dried up 10 years ago and will have to leave if water is not restored to the stream.
She also alerted us to an April 13 2006 article by Malia Zimmerman of The Hawaii Reporter that tells the whole story we referred to Wed. regarding Kallai’s warnings that the dam was about to break just weeks before it actually did.
According to that article:
Pflueger was fined $12,500 by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Commission on Water Resource Management on July 28, 2001, for altering the stream channel and diverting the stream without proper permitting for his properties at Hanalei and Kilauea, Kauai.
His water diversion activities also included those on his Pila`a property where another deluge took out the home and Kuleana of Amy and Rick Marvin due to grading of a new road done personally by Pflueger without permits.
Pflueger had constructed “lakes” on the property as part of activities that killed the Pila`a reef and resulted in his conviction on 10 felony counts and a 7.5 million EPA fine in 2006.
Kallai says those lakes were finally removed just last month as part of the remediation plan.
The article also notes:
James Pflueger, who owns the property from which the wave of water could have come, claims he never altered the waterway, the dam’s spillway or the dam height. "If you find anyone who knows I diverted streams, let me know and I'll come running," Pflueger told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Pflueger has so far refused to return calls to Hawaii Reporter.
But, despite Zimmerman’s requests for information an investigation the state’s extensive Godby report completed in the aftermath of the dam break has nothing about the diversion and no further investigation of it has occurred on the part of the state.
The diversion was not “discovered” until the description appeared in the county report that was released last Friday, although it is dated April 12.
The report posted on line is a draft and was presented with minor revisions at the Wed. Kilauea meeting according to Kallai upon whose descriptions of the meeting we have relied for this article.
(PNN) PFLUEGER ’01 GRUBBING AND GRADING VIOLATION APPARENTLY COVERS OVER WATER PIPES FED BY ILLEGAL DITCH
The grubbing and grading violations above Ka Loko Dam for which Jimmy Pflueger was cited and fined years before the dam break, apparently covered over an extensive system of water pipes fed by an illegal water diversion that steals water from Moloa`a stream.
As PNN reported Wednesday a county funded report designed to study the reestablishment of irrigation for Kilauea farmers after the tragic dam break in 2006, describes how within the past 10 years “someone” completely rebuilt the long abandoned Moloa`a Ditch to feed the Pflueger and the Mary Lucas Trusts’ lands and Ka Loko reservoir which sits on both.
The report also notes that the ditch connects to an 8” intake pipe on Pflueger’s property that undergrounds at that point just above the work for which Pflueger was cited which is above the reservoir. The intake pipe contains at least two branches, one for Pflueger’s land and one for the Trust’s land.
Apparently in addition to providing a higher water level in the reservoir for the Pflueger’s planned water sports development one of the purposes of the ditch was to provide residential use water for Pflueger’s planned resort community on the property because county water is not available in the area, according to Kallai
Since no one knew of the re-construction of the Moloa`a Ditch at the time of the inspections that led to the violation, apparently no one suspected that the grubbing and grading actually covered over a system of water pipes.
The pipes also provide water to others who own the Mary Lucas trust land including relatives of Pflueger who Kallai says, sued him over water rights in the 1990’s.
Although the particulars of that case are sketchy at present, the suit was apparently dropped and Pflueger was removed as the Trust’s head around the time the ditch was re-established.
At the time Pflueger, a Lucas heir, was the head of the Trust and was denying water to his relatives, in part for a mango farm on the Lucas Trust land according to Kallai who is familiar with the suit.
At a meeting to discuss the water situation Wed. night in Kilauea, according to Kallai one 80+-year-old-man who said he used to head up maintenance for whole the Ka Loko Reservoir and Ditch System said the Moloa`a Ditch was abandoned decades ago- perhaps as early as the 1920’s- because it was not needed for Kilauea sugar cane operations which ceased in the early 1970’s.
It had fallen into total disrepair but it remains to be determined how much of the “new” ditch was part of the old one and how much was constructed from scratch, including the three tunnels through mountains and the “ad hoc dam” at the point of diversion.
Kallai, a Moloa`a farmer, says that the estimates in the county report of how many gallons a day are being taken from the Moloa`a Stream is a severe underestimate, based on a quick glance done from a distance from the ditch and diversion rather than any real measurement.
Kallai estimates the value of the water at the county’s agricultural rate could be well into the billions of dollars.
Water rights in Hawai`i belong to the state and allotment by diversion is severely regulated based on the famous Hanapepe Water Rights case which has, in recent times led to cases like the Wai`oli Ditch decision that returned water to windward O`ahu streams and is currently being used to determine controversial water rights on Maui.
Kallai said that although we reported that she said that 200 farmers had already left Moloa`a she was rather referring to the number whose farming activities have been either curtailed or eliminated since the water in Moloa`a stream dried up 10 years ago and will have to leave if water is not restored to the stream.
She also alerted us to an April 13 2006 article by Malia Zimmerman of The Hawaii Reporter that tells the whole story we referred to Wed. regarding Kallai’s warnings that the dam was about to break just weeks before it actually did.
According to that article:
Pflueger was fined $12,500 by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Commission on Water Resource Management on July 28, 2001, for altering the stream channel and diverting the stream without proper permitting for his properties at Hanalei and Kilauea, Kauai.
His water diversion activities also included those on his Pila`a property where another deluge took out the home and Kuleana of Amy and Rick Marvin due to grading of a new road done personally by Pflueger without permits.
Pflueger had constructed “lakes” on the property as part of activities that killed the Pila`a reef and resulted in his conviction on 10 felony counts and a 7.5 million EPA fine in 2006.
Kallai says those lakes were finally removed just last month as part of the remediation plan.
The article also notes:
James Pflueger, who owns the property from which the wave of water could have come, claims he never altered the waterway, the dam’s spillway or the dam height. "If you find anyone who knows I diverted streams, let me know and I'll come running," Pflueger told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Pflueger has so far refused to return calls to Hawaii Reporter.
But, despite Zimmerman’s requests for information an investigation the state’s extensive Godby report completed in the aftermath of the dam break has nothing about the diversion and no further investigation of it has occurred on the part of the state.
The diversion was not “discovered” until the description appeared in the county report that was released last Friday, although it is dated April 12.
The report posted on line is a draft and was presented with minor revisions at the Wed. Kilauea meeting according to Kallai upon whose descriptions of the meeting we have relied for this article.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
NOT EVEN A BONE
NOT EVEN A BONE: It’s never easy to fight city hall but in Hawai`i it’s usually downright impossible.
Trying to accomplish anything in the public interest is an exercise in frustration as officials simply stonewall and deny, deny, deny, often in defiance of the law, telling citizens “if you don’t like it, sue us”.
But even if you had the money for a lawsuit just try to finding a lawyer willing to buck the system, take on the deep pockets of government and developers and risk never getting a hand into those pockets with one of those well-paying “special counsel” or corporate gigs in a state where revenge is the top coin of the realm.
So your average Joe Activist ends up depending on a dwindling handful of attorneys and organizations to defend our rights by going though the often interminable process that leads to the little victories that uphold the law in what should be no-brainer cases.
The problem is that when we put ourselves at the mercy of those who filed the suit, when they get paid off or when their self-interest wins out over principle not only are we left on the losing side with little or no recourse but a precedent is set that makes re-filing the case all but impossible.
Once again the people have been sold down the river with an unfathomable “settlement” by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) and a string of litigants, after they were hoodwinked into signing away all rights to pursue the stolen lands case that was recently returned to the state courts by the US Supreme Court.
After reading the settlement agreement it’s apparent that we got exactly nothing and in addition the plaintiffs are forbidden from ever again pursuing any legal action the case.
OHA’s press release makes a big deal out of what they supposedly did get- the settlement is dependant on the about-to-become law requiring a 2/3 vote of the legislature to dispose of any of the so-called “ceded lands”- an Orwellian construction that wrongly presumes anyone ever did any ceding.
And that and $10 billion will get you onto the Honolulu elevated subway because what the legislature giveth, the legislature taketh away.
The agreement says that
Senate Bill 1677 Conference Draft 1 is condition precedent to this Settlement Agreement, and if it does not become law, this Settlement Agreement shall be of no force and effect.
But sly Attorney General Mark Bennett, in the ignominious American tradition of genocide by pen, got them to sign without any “out” if the law is repealed or even “amended” by a future legislature- something that would only take a majority vote.
We all remember how effective HRS 343 was in stopping Act 2 when the state’s environmental protection act was “amended” to give it absolutely no effect on the Hawai`i Superferry’s illegal exemption from completing an environmental assessment as a “condition precedent” to operation.
It was only a constitutional provision having nothing to do with environmental law that saved us here on Kaua`i from the invasion of thousands of cars and tens of thousands of campers descending on our fragile environment and underfunded and inadequate infrastructure.
The law- which will apparently become law with or without the settlement after passing through conference committee- is not just subject to repeal but subject to the same kind of “act”, “amending” it to allow Hawaiian land to be sold by the state.
But one thing that OHA did get is a paragraph saying that
Nothing in this Settlement Agreement shall prohibit OHA plaintiffs from seeking payments as set forth in Act 318 (SLH 1992) should the Hawai`i State Legislature hereafter approve the sale of Act 318 lands to third parties.
Act 318 of course is designed to comply with the one condition of the transfer of the stolen lands from the USA to the State that list five purposes the lands can be used for, one of which is to benefit the kanaka maoli or “native Hawaiians”.
Although one plaintiff, UH Professor Jonathan Kamakawiwo`ole Oshiro, refused to sign- perhaps seeing that it was nothing but another con job from shyster Attorney General Mark Bennett, the agreement actually asks the court to dismiss his case too... and even if they don’t Oshiro certainly doesn’t have the resources to pursue a case that the attorneys involved don’t want to pursue any more.
In her post today Joan Conrow relates the story of a young kanaka who was harassed away from his traditional fishing hole in a river his family has fished for generations by a rich, illegal-vacation-rental owner who treated him as an “outlaw”, threatening to have him arrested despite his constitutionally protected right to fish there as a kanaka maoli.
When it comes to American genocide some things never change.
As Woody Guthrie wrote in the 1939 Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd
Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen.
And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
Trying to accomplish anything in the public interest is an exercise in frustration as officials simply stonewall and deny, deny, deny, often in defiance of the law, telling citizens “if you don’t like it, sue us”.
But even if you had the money for a lawsuit just try to finding a lawyer willing to buck the system, take on the deep pockets of government and developers and risk never getting a hand into those pockets with one of those well-paying “special counsel” or corporate gigs in a state where revenge is the top coin of the realm.
So your average Joe Activist ends up depending on a dwindling handful of attorneys and organizations to defend our rights by going though the often interminable process that leads to the little victories that uphold the law in what should be no-brainer cases.
The problem is that when we put ourselves at the mercy of those who filed the suit, when they get paid off or when their self-interest wins out over principle not only are we left on the losing side with little or no recourse but a precedent is set that makes re-filing the case all but impossible.
Once again the people have been sold down the river with an unfathomable “settlement” by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) and a string of litigants, after they were hoodwinked into signing away all rights to pursue the stolen lands case that was recently returned to the state courts by the US Supreme Court.
After reading the settlement agreement it’s apparent that we got exactly nothing and in addition the plaintiffs are forbidden from ever again pursuing any legal action the case.
OHA’s press release makes a big deal out of what they supposedly did get- the settlement is dependant on the about-to-become law requiring a 2/3 vote of the legislature to dispose of any of the so-called “ceded lands”- an Orwellian construction that wrongly presumes anyone ever did any ceding.
And that and $10 billion will get you onto the Honolulu elevated subway because what the legislature giveth, the legislature taketh away.
The agreement says that
Senate Bill 1677 Conference Draft 1 is condition precedent to this Settlement Agreement, and if it does not become law, this Settlement Agreement shall be of no force and effect.
But sly Attorney General Mark Bennett, in the ignominious American tradition of genocide by pen, got them to sign without any “out” if the law is repealed or even “amended” by a future legislature- something that would only take a majority vote.
We all remember how effective HRS 343 was in stopping Act 2 when the state’s environmental protection act was “amended” to give it absolutely no effect on the Hawai`i Superferry’s illegal exemption from completing an environmental assessment as a “condition precedent” to operation.
It was only a constitutional provision having nothing to do with environmental law that saved us here on Kaua`i from the invasion of thousands of cars and tens of thousands of campers descending on our fragile environment and underfunded and inadequate infrastructure.
The law- which will apparently become law with or without the settlement after passing through conference committee- is not just subject to repeal but subject to the same kind of “act”, “amending” it to allow Hawaiian land to be sold by the state.
But one thing that OHA did get is a paragraph saying that
Nothing in this Settlement Agreement shall prohibit OHA plaintiffs from seeking payments as set forth in Act 318 (SLH 1992) should the Hawai`i State Legislature hereafter approve the sale of Act 318 lands to third parties.
Act 318 of course is designed to comply with the one condition of the transfer of the stolen lands from the USA to the State that list five purposes the lands can be used for, one of which is to benefit the kanaka maoli or “native Hawaiians”.
Although one plaintiff, UH Professor Jonathan Kamakawiwo`ole Oshiro, refused to sign- perhaps seeing that it was nothing but another con job from shyster Attorney General Mark Bennett, the agreement actually asks the court to dismiss his case too... and even if they don’t Oshiro certainly doesn’t have the resources to pursue a case that the attorneys involved don’t want to pursue any more.
In her post today Joan Conrow relates the story of a young kanaka who was harassed away from his traditional fishing hole in a river his family has fished for generations by a rich, illegal-vacation-rental owner who treated him as an “outlaw”, threatening to have him arrested despite his constitutionally protected right to fish there as a kanaka maoli.
When it comes to American genocide some things never change.
As Woody Guthrie wrote in the 1939 Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd
Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen.
And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
(PNN) 10 YEAR OLD ILLEGAL DITCH FED KA LOKO BEFORE DISASTER- PFLUEGER IMPLICATED
10 YEAR OLD ILLEGAL DITCH FED KA LOKO BEFORE DISASTER- PFLUEGER IMPLICATED;
COUNTY REPORT EXPLAINS COMPLAINTS OF LOW WATER FLOW IN MOLOA`A STREAM
(PNN) The tragic Ka Loko Dam break that killed seven people may have been caused in part by a recently discovered water ditch that was either illegally constructed or reconstructed within the last 10 years and fed the reservoir
The existance of the ditch was revealed in a recently released 154 page Kaua`i County study entitled “Kilauea Irrigation Water Engineering Design and Monitoring Study”.
It describes the Moloa`a Ditch and concludes it was apparently reconstructed without permits after years of disuse during the period when owner Jimmy Pflueger- who is about to go on trial for murder- was cited for illegal grubbing and grading above the reservoir and, according to witnesses, filled in the “spillway” overflow outlet of the dam
The report does not conclude exactly who did the work to establish the flow in the ditch- a portion of the Ka Loko Resevior system- during the period when Pflueger restricted entry onto the property and, as PNN has previously and exclusively reported, allegedly attempted to increase the water level of what he called his “lakes” in order to accommodate water and jet-skiing for a planned but never built resort community development.
According to Tim and Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a this explains changes and the sudden drop in water flowing to the Moloa`a stream beginning 10 years ago that has inhibited agriculture in the valley and forced over 200 people to move. Due to stream flow reduction the aquifer is almost dry and wells no longer have sufficient water, for even residential purposes.
They say their complaints to the county were ignored and squelched by then-Mayor Maryanne Kusaka. Press reports have indicated that Kusaka attempted to help Pflueger cover up his illegal activities by directing the county engineer and others in the Pubic Works Department to ignore all complaints and bring them to her personally.
In addition the Kallais report that they warned the county of impending disaster less than a month before the dam break when a flooding event took out an old “government road bridge” below Ka Loko.
The county report describes the ditch system and the unpermitted new construction.
The historic Moloa`a Ditch is considered as part of the Ka Loko Reservoir system. Moloa`a Ditch, also on the Moloa`a Forest Reserve land, transports water diverted from Kalua`a Stream to Ka Loko Reservoir (see Section 5.2). The ditch is depicted on historic maps created by Kilauea Sugar Company and is identified in various documents as part of the Ka Loko system. No revocable permit for this ditch was found during our search of State records. It is likely that no revocable permit had ever been requested by KICO (Kilauea Irrigation company) for use of this ditch since at the time KICO was formed Moloa`a Ditch was in a serious state of disrepair, and would have required extensive repairs to regain function. The additional water from Moloa`a Ditch was probably not necessary to meet demand during the post sugar cane period....
A review of several historic documents revealed this ditch had fallen into a serious state of disrepair following the closure of Kilauea Sugar Company and we surmise that the water from this ditch was not necessary to meet the demands placed on the system by diversified farming. In addition, no permits were found authorizing the diversion of Kalua`a Stream and use of the Moloa`a Ditch (see Section 4.1). It is our understanding that sometime during the last 10 years a third party restored this ditched, allowing water to again be diverted from the stream and delivered to Ka Loko Reservoir. There were indicators that this ditch was maintained and that it had been cleaned out during the past several years.
According to the report’s executive summery
Councilman Jay Furfaro worked with County of Kaua`i (County) officials to initiate the project, which led to the County Office of Economic Development funding this study. The County’s intent was to provide funding for this study which would provide private stake holders with information necessary to select an alternative solution and pursue funding opportunities to implement the selected alternative.
The Kallais put the findings in perspective with a description of their efforts and observations of Moloa`a residents over the past 10 years. They write:
During the Kilauea Sugar plantation era, the Moloa`a ditch system delivered an “inconsequential amount of water” and fell into disrepair from non-use. Mysteriously, a new ditch system appeared – about the same time as the spillway at Ka Loko disappeared and the raising of the elevation of the dam face. Kalua`a is a perennial stream tributary that starts from a soggy seep on state forest land, flows into Moloa`a stream and is the main water source for Moloa`a stream.
Mysteriously, someone poured a new cement ditch system diverting Kalua`a water from Moloa`a stream into Ka Loko Reservoir and into a pipe system servicing Mary Lucas Trust lands and Pila`a. This extra water inflow allowed the impoundment of hundreds of millions of gallons of extra water in the increased-capacity Ka Loko reservoir (altered by removal of spillway and elevation of dam) beyond the intended storage capacity of the reservoir. At least until March 14, 2006.
Our ahupua`a based group of neighbors, Malama Moloa`a, formed about a decade ago around a common cause – the de-watering of the streams from Anahola to Kilauea. About the same time, late 1990’s, Moloa`a stream began changing. There were no flushing flows – high precipitation events didn’t cause the stream to rise as it used to. Sometimes, Moloa`a stream rose when there was no precipitation. A few times the stream ran really dirty – brown water and grey water (looking like cleaning up after a cement pour). Early 2000’s Moloa`a stream had a sand berm at the mouth that didn’t clear for 3 years, blocking the migration of o`opu.
When they tried to alert the county, Mayor Kusaka refused to acknowledge the evidence they had that something was wrong up stream. They continue:
Malama Moloa`a wrote many letters with maps and photos where we thought the diversion was, but Mayor Kusaka wouldn’t honor anonymous photos submitted to our group from the public. DLNR’s Commission of Water Resources Management (CWRM) sent a representative to investigate but they were escorted by a representative of a land owner who did not show them the new diversion from Kalua`a into the re-aligned historic Moloa`a ditch and into Ka Loko reservoir or the Mary Lucas/Pila`a pipeline.
Alterations to state land in the Moloa`a Forest Reserve by James Pflueger were revealed in the EPA Consent decree settlement, in very close proximity to the newly-created ditch system, and the unpermitted grading and grubbing remediated. Yet no agency present noticed the disappearance of the spillway or the increased flow into Ka Loko from a new, unpermitted stream diversion from Kalua`a/Moloa`a.
Then they reveal a previously unreported flooding event weeks before the final deluge that should have alerted county officials that the dam was about to break.
On Feb. 21, 2006, Moloa`a Stream experienced a destructive flood that took out the Old Government Road bridge in lower Moloa`a. Due to the volume of water and how long the flood lasted, we thought that Ka Loko had blown. We were told by county representatives “Ka Loko’s not full; it’s still holding. Don’t worry, if it blows, it will take out Kilauea side.” Three weeks later it did – killing 8 people. We believe what actually happened was the diversion experienced a log jam and Moloa`a regained it’s stolen water.
The Kallais’ letter is reproduced in full at Juan Wilson’s Island Breath web site.
The report includes this detailed description of the ditch- which flows through three tunnels in the mountain after being diverted by an “ad hoc dam constructed of rocks”- and describes the recent construction that increased the flow into Ka Loko by taking the water from a “perennial stream” which is prohibited under federal laws without necessary permits.
COUNTY REPORT EXPLAINS COMPLAINTS OF LOW WATER FLOW IN MOLOA`A STREAM
(PNN) The tragic Ka Loko Dam break that killed seven people may have been caused in part by a recently discovered water ditch that was either illegally constructed or reconstructed within the last 10 years and fed the reservoir
The existance of the ditch was revealed in a recently released 154 page Kaua`i County study entitled “Kilauea Irrigation Water Engineering Design and Monitoring Study”.
It describes the Moloa`a Ditch and concludes it was apparently reconstructed without permits after years of disuse during the period when owner Jimmy Pflueger- who is about to go on trial for murder- was cited for illegal grubbing and grading above the reservoir and, according to witnesses, filled in the “spillway” overflow outlet of the dam
The report does not conclude exactly who did the work to establish the flow in the ditch- a portion of the Ka Loko Resevior system- during the period when Pflueger restricted entry onto the property and, as PNN has previously and exclusively reported, allegedly attempted to increase the water level of what he called his “lakes” in order to accommodate water and jet-skiing for a planned but never built resort community development.
According to Tim and Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a this explains changes and the sudden drop in water flowing to the Moloa`a stream beginning 10 years ago that has inhibited agriculture in the valley and forced over 200 people to move. Due to stream flow reduction the aquifer is almost dry and wells no longer have sufficient water, for even residential purposes.
They say their complaints to the county were ignored and squelched by then-Mayor Maryanne Kusaka. Press reports have indicated that Kusaka attempted to help Pflueger cover up his illegal activities by directing the county engineer and others in the Pubic Works Department to ignore all complaints and bring them to her personally.
In addition the Kallais report that they warned the county of impending disaster less than a month before the dam break when a flooding event took out an old “government road bridge” below Ka Loko.
The county report describes the ditch system and the unpermitted new construction.
The historic Moloa`a Ditch is considered as part of the Ka Loko Reservoir system. Moloa`a Ditch, also on the Moloa`a Forest Reserve land, transports water diverted from Kalua`a Stream to Ka Loko Reservoir (see Section 5.2). The ditch is depicted on historic maps created by Kilauea Sugar Company and is identified in various documents as part of the Ka Loko system. No revocable permit for this ditch was found during our search of State records. It is likely that no revocable permit had ever been requested by KICO (Kilauea Irrigation company) for use of this ditch since at the time KICO was formed Moloa`a Ditch was in a serious state of disrepair, and would have required extensive repairs to regain function. The additional water from Moloa`a Ditch was probably not necessary to meet demand during the post sugar cane period....
A review of several historic documents revealed this ditch had fallen into a serious state of disrepair following the closure of Kilauea Sugar Company and we surmise that the water from this ditch was not necessary to meet the demands placed on the system by diversified farming. In addition, no permits were found authorizing the diversion of Kalua`a Stream and use of the Moloa`a Ditch (see Section 4.1). It is our understanding that sometime during the last 10 years a third party restored this ditched, allowing water to again be diverted from the stream and delivered to Ka Loko Reservoir. There were indicators that this ditch was maintained and that it had been cleaned out during the past several years.
According to the report’s executive summery
Councilman Jay Furfaro worked with County of Kaua`i (County) officials to initiate the project, which led to the County Office of Economic Development funding this study. The County’s intent was to provide funding for this study which would provide private stake holders with information necessary to select an alternative solution and pursue funding opportunities to implement the selected alternative.
The Kallais put the findings in perspective with a description of their efforts and observations of Moloa`a residents over the past 10 years. They write:
During the Kilauea Sugar plantation era, the Moloa`a ditch system delivered an “inconsequential amount of water” and fell into disrepair from non-use. Mysteriously, a new ditch system appeared – about the same time as the spillway at Ka Loko disappeared and the raising of the elevation of the dam face. Kalua`a is a perennial stream tributary that starts from a soggy seep on state forest land, flows into Moloa`a stream and is the main water source for Moloa`a stream.
Mysteriously, someone poured a new cement ditch system diverting Kalua`a water from Moloa`a stream into Ka Loko Reservoir and into a pipe system servicing Mary Lucas Trust lands and Pila`a. This extra water inflow allowed the impoundment of hundreds of millions of gallons of extra water in the increased-capacity Ka Loko reservoir (altered by removal of spillway and elevation of dam) beyond the intended storage capacity of the reservoir. At least until March 14, 2006.
Our ahupua`a based group of neighbors, Malama Moloa`a, formed about a decade ago around a common cause – the de-watering of the streams from Anahola to Kilauea. About the same time, late 1990’s, Moloa`a stream began changing. There were no flushing flows – high precipitation events didn’t cause the stream to rise as it used to. Sometimes, Moloa`a stream rose when there was no precipitation. A few times the stream ran really dirty – brown water and grey water (looking like cleaning up after a cement pour). Early 2000’s Moloa`a stream had a sand berm at the mouth that didn’t clear for 3 years, blocking the migration of o`opu.
When they tried to alert the county, Mayor Kusaka refused to acknowledge the evidence they had that something was wrong up stream. They continue:
Malama Moloa`a wrote many letters with maps and photos where we thought the diversion was, but Mayor Kusaka wouldn’t honor anonymous photos submitted to our group from the public. DLNR’s Commission of Water Resources Management (CWRM) sent a representative to investigate but they were escorted by a representative of a land owner who did not show them the new diversion from Kalua`a into the re-aligned historic Moloa`a ditch and into Ka Loko reservoir or the Mary Lucas/Pila`a pipeline.
Alterations to state land in the Moloa`a Forest Reserve by James Pflueger were revealed in the EPA Consent decree settlement, in very close proximity to the newly-created ditch system, and the unpermitted grading and grubbing remediated. Yet no agency present noticed the disappearance of the spillway or the increased flow into Ka Loko from a new, unpermitted stream diversion from Kalua`a/Moloa`a.
Then they reveal a previously unreported flooding event weeks before the final deluge that should have alerted county officials that the dam was about to break.
On Feb. 21, 2006, Moloa`a Stream experienced a destructive flood that took out the Old Government Road bridge in lower Moloa`a. Due to the volume of water and how long the flood lasted, we thought that Ka Loko had blown. We were told by county representatives “Ka Loko’s not full; it’s still holding. Don’t worry, if it blows, it will take out Kilauea side.” Three weeks later it did – killing 8 people. We believe what actually happened was the diversion experienced a log jam and Moloa`a regained it’s stolen water.
The Kallais’ letter is reproduced in full at Juan Wilson’s Island Breath web site.
The report includes this detailed description of the ditch- which flows through three tunnels in the mountain after being diverted by an “ad hoc dam constructed of rocks”- and describes the recent construction that increased the flow into Ka Loko by taking the water from a “perennial stream” which is prohibited under federal laws without necessary permits.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
(PNN) KAWAHARA REQUEST TO POST ALL COUNCIL PUBLIC DOCUMENTS STYMIED
(PNN) KAWAHARA REQUEST TO POST ALL COUNCIL PUBLIC DOCUMENTS STYMIED
When Kapa`a Librarian Lani Kawahara decided to run for county council she wanted to catch up on some of the nuts and bolts of the Kaua`i county council machine.
And so, as an professional information specialist she went on line to look for public documents like meeting minutes and the bills, resolutions and “communications” that are on the council’s agenda every fortnight.
“I was disappointed to see nothing but agendas” she told PNN.
After being elected, Kawahara decided that the first thing she would do would be to make sure she kept her campaign promise to “(i)ncreas(e) openness in County Government decision making” to make sure these items were posted at the council’s web site.
“It sounded simple enough” she said, “but I had no idea of the kind of resistance I’d get.”
Kawahara says she has spent the past five months making requests of both Council Chair Kaipo Asing but moreover with County Clerk Peter Nakamura, all to no avail.
“I never thought they actually didn’t want them posted, but now it’s apparent they don’t” she said.
At first they denied her verbal request actually telling her that no one was interested in them and it would take too much staff time. But when she said all they would have to do is to provide her with the electronic versions and she would post them herself, she was told that the paper copies that all councilmember receive is all that are available.
“All the bills, resolutions and minutes and most of the communications handed out to the public in paper form are created electronically and it’s really easy to post them that way.” she says.
Citing the fact that the administration is now posting minutes and documents from board and commission meetings she asked that the council’s be transmitted to county IT Director Eric Knutzen who had agreed to post them for the council too.
When she talked to Knutzen she found out that he had set up the system for each department to easily post their own documents themselves- a system which council services was welcome to use.
She informed Nakamura of the system but he told her council records are not the kuleana of the administration and he didn’t want to use the administration’s system.
Finally in March she made a written request for the public records in electronic form- a request that has been so far ignored.
PNN has been pressing Kawahara about when we could expect those records on line, along with the live video streaming of the council meeting- something Knutzen is planning for the police and planning commission meetings, along with an index for clips, sorted by subject.
When she told us of her request we told her “you’ll never get them” to which she replied “why does everyone keep saying that?”.
The records issue is not the only place councilmembers have been stymied by Asing and Nakamura.
Generally all members of legislative bodies may introduce legislation. But since the chair has discretion over the agenda, on Kaua`i councilmembers who have bills and resolutions they’d like to introduce- which should be their right as council members- have been denied if the chair doesn’t want it introduced.
Kawahara says she has had no success in even getting her measures drafted by the legal analysts that traditionally assist councilmembers with legislation to insure it stands up to legal scrutiny.
Apparently all the analysts’ time is taken up by Chair Asing and Clerk Nakamura and she has been unable to get any staff time for her projects because, the analysts tell her, she has to clear that through Asing and Nakamura.
“It doesn’t seem like a very fair system,” she says. ‘I have various measures I’d like to put on the table but it’s been a frustrating experience.
“I don’t relish saying this publicly but that is the only way I have at this juncture to put some pressure on them to treat my records-posting request with respect.”
The fact that Kaua`i is the only island where councilmembers do not have any staff of their own has been a gripe of councilmembers for many years. Other islands not only provide each member with at least one individual staff person but some provide them with their own legal analyst.
But “first things first”, Kawahara thinks the system of access to public documents is ripe for change.
“I don’t think it’s anything malicious- they have just done it this way for so long that they have become resistant to doing it any other way.” she says.
“I don’t want to rock the boat. I just want to be the agent of change people elected me to be”.
When Kapa`a Librarian Lani Kawahara decided to run for county council she wanted to catch up on some of the nuts and bolts of the Kaua`i county council machine.
And so, as an professional information specialist she went on line to look for public documents like meeting minutes and the bills, resolutions and “communications” that are on the council’s agenda every fortnight.
“I was disappointed to see nothing but agendas” she told PNN.
After being elected, Kawahara decided that the first thing she would do would be to make sure she kept her campaign promise to “(i)ncreas(e) openness in County Government decision making” to make sure these items were posted at the council’s web site.
“It sounded simple enough” she said, “but I had no idea of the kind of resistance I’d get.”
Kawahara says she has spent the past five months making requests of both Council Chair Kaipo Asing but moreover with County Clerk Peter Nakamura, all to no avail.
“I never thought they actually didn’t want them posted, but now it’s apparent they don’t” she said.
At first they denied her verbal request actually telling her that no one was interested in them and it would take too much staff time. But when she said all they would have to do is to provide her with the electronic versions and she would post them herself, she was told that the paper copies that all councilmember receive is all that are available.
“All the bills, resolutions and minutes and most of the communications handed out to the public in paper form are created electronically and it’s really easy to post them that way.” she says.
Citing the fact that the administration is now posting minutes and documents from board and commission meetings she asked that the council’s be transmitted to county IT Director Eric Knutzen who had agreed to post them for the council too.
When she talked to Knutzen she found out that he had set up the system for each department to easily post their own documents themselves- a system which council services was welcome to use.
She informed Nakamura of the system but he told her council records are not the kuleana of the administration and he didn’t want to use the administration’s system.
Finally in March she made a written request for the public records in electronic form- a request that has been so far ignored.
PNN has been pressing Kawahara about when we could expect those records on line, along with the live video streaming of the council meeting- something Knutzen is planning for the police and planning commission meetings, along with an index for clips, sorted by subject.
When she told us of her request we told her “you’ll never get them” to which she replied “why does everyone keep saying that?”.
The records issue is not the only place councilmembers have been stymied by Asing and Nakamura.
Generally all members of legislative bodies may introduce legislation. But since the chair has discretion over the agenda, on Kaua`i councilmembers who have bills and resolutions they’d like to introduce- which should be their right as council members- have been denied if the chair doesn’t want it introduced.
Kawahara says she has had no success in even getting her measures drafted by the legal analysts that traditionally assist councilmembers with legislation to insure it stands up to legal scrutiny.
Apparently all the analysts’ time is taken up by Chair Asing and Clerk Nakamura and she has been unable to get any staff time for her projects because, the analysts tell her, she has to clear that through Asing and Nakamura.
“It doesn’t seem like a very fair system,” she says. ‘I have various measures I’d like to put on the table but it’s been a frustrating experience.
“I don’t relish saying this publicly but that is the only way I have at this juncture to put some pressure on them to treat my records-posting request with respect.”
The fact that Kaua`i is the only island where councilmembers do not have any staff of their own has been a gripe of councilmembers for many years. Other islands not only provide each member with at least one individual staff person but some provide them with their own legal analyst.
But “first things first”, Kawahara thinks the system of access to public documents is ripe for change.
“I don’t think it’s anything malicious- they have just done it this way for so long that they have become resistant to doing it any other way.” she says.
“I don’t want to rock the boat. I just want to be the agent of change people elected me to be”.
Monday, May 4, 2009
ISN’T THAT CUTE?... AND SHE TALKS TOO
ISN’T THAT CUTE?... AND SHE TALKS TOO: Basing criticism of a bill based on newspaper reports- as we did last Friday for the half million dollar “economic stimulus plan” for the Kaua`i tourism industry- can often spur a limited view of what really happened.
After seeing it, it was actually worse than we could have imagined, especially the condescending paternalism displayed by the other councilmembers when Councilperson Lani Kawahara had the nerve to intimate many of obvious problems with not just accountability but the general concept of the using taxpayer money to support private enterprise.
We finally found the cablecast of the meeting despite Ho`ike TV’s new “never twice at the same time” scheduling where the last two time digits are never :00 or :30 and were horrified by the council’s total lack of interest in having any measurable results of the cash fling.
Paternalistic condescension was the order of the day as the six no-brains tried to justify what they called a "no brainier" decision because, as Chair Kaipo Asing said “it was either do something or do nothing” ignoring the choice of doing something only if it’s going to be measurably effective.
Only under Kawahara’s questioning of Kaua`i Visitor Bureau (KVB) E.D. Sue Kanoho did we get the answer as to how the quarter million dump into the laps of the “travel wholesalers” would translate into more “heads in beds”.
They actually they have no freakin’ idea because that information is “confidential”.
We weren’t really surprised that there wasn’t a way to tell if the money actually translated into more tourists coming to Kaua`i. Kanoho told Kawahara that she “will check”- seemingly as an afterthought- to see what the “wholesalers can tell us” regarding “bang for the buck”.
Although we apparently missed Darryl Kaneshiro’s remark calling Kawahara “sweetie”- as reported in a letter to the editor by former mayoral candidate Rolf Bieber who was present at the meeting- the room reeked with testosterone-generated belittlement and misrepresentations of what Kawahara actually said.
Even though it was solely made up of numbers telling the council what everyone knows- tourism is in the toilet- Kanoho and county Economic Development Director George Costa’s “power point” presentation finally reveled their “plan” for flushing money into that self-same crapper.
It seems the idea is to “get the word out that there are good deals” in coming here by putting Kaua`i in the rotating banner ads at the typically ignored top of web sites like Travelocity and Ovitz in order to “divert” people from other destinations- who presumably also pay to be similarly “perched and rotated”.
When clicked it goes to pictures of beaches and coconut trees and the like along with the latest bafflingly ambiguous and apt to be ridiculed Hawai`i slogan- “you’d be happy to be here too”.
We presume that the number of “click-throughs” we get is also “proprietary” making a pig in a poke sound like a good deal.
Oh and guess what- there’s going to be “coupon book” with all sorts of those “buy one- get one free” restaurant scams and “get a free gift with purchase”- usually a two bit trinket- good at various tourist traps.
Does anyone actually click on banner ads? Does anyone actually come somewhere because of those notoriously useless coupon books? Is there anyone who’s not hip to their lack of any value whatsoever by now?
Ah- meet the Kaua`i County Council where a bill of goods are as good as gold.
It was expected that these things would typify the brainiac ideas of round-up-the-usual-suspects Kanoho and politically-appointed Costa. But if anyone thought the pompously vacuous council would be skeptical well, they’re obviously not paying attention.
Which is why it was so refreshing to see Kawahara suggest that it might be more than appropriate to use at least half the money to go to the root of the problem- our sole dependence on the tourism industry which soars and busts dependant on circumstances beyond our control- and use it to support diversification of our economy.
An obviously irritated Kanoho responded “now is not the time for that- you do that when you’re healthy”, a statement repeated by many on the council.
But Kawahara responded that “now IS the time” adding “I don’t see us putting this kind of money into other ‘industries’
“There’s no doubt that tourism is crucial” she told the rest of councilmembers “but there’s no doubt the council should develop alternative sustainable (economic) practices (and) provide people with options.
“We have not funded diversifying our economy. Now is the time we should look at diversifying”.
Then the bombshell that punctured the carefully over-inflated chest of the old boys at the table- Kawahara questioned whether appropriating county money to support private enterprise was an “appropriate use” of “taxpayer money”.
Kawahara said she could support half the amount- which is to be matched with half a million in next year’s budget- saying that any further expenditure should be for developing other “industries” and perhaps, if government money is to be spent, things like retraining.
Well all that was red meat for the rest of the council.
First Kaneshiro demanded a specific written amendment for what to throw the other half of the money at noting that the half million was from the “unappropriated surplus” (as if it was “extra money”) seemingly oblivious to the option of just not spending it at all for now
Next in the march of the unaccountable panic of “do something... anything!” was junior patriarch Derek Kawakami who chided Kawahara by insisting we have already been doing enough economic diversification by reading from something called the Kaua`i Economic Development Plan... which is just that- a plan that has sat there for years.
“It isn’t going to happen overnight” said Kawakami, ignoring the fact that it hasn’t happened in decades.
Kawakami then showed his grasp of issues by citing the $400,000 the county is spending on the so called “important ag lands study” as indication the county is funding diversification.
In actuality, as anyone who has followed it will tell you, the important ag lands study was mandated by the legislature and is designed as a way to identify UNIMPORTANT ag lands so they can be grabbed by developers to- yes, expand the tourism plantation.
That was followed by long tirades from former hotel honcho, Mr. Pomposity, Councilperson Jay Furfaro followed by his dazed and confused visitor-industry-promoting cohort Dickie Chang.
They each defended the tourism industry intimating that Kawahara had said to shut it down instead of suggesting that our dependence on such a volatile form of commerce makes diversification more crucial than ever.
Even though when sugar was disappearing in the 70’s the buzz word was economic diversification Kaua`i has never been more dependant on tourism. But when tourism is in a “boom phase” the attitude on the council has been “why do we need to diversify now?”. And when it’s in a bust well it’s “now is not the time because we have to fix our number one money maker first”.
Leaving Kawahara to ask if not now, when?
After Kawakami read from the portion of the 10 year old General Plan that calls for support of the tourism industry Kawahara read the rest of it that also details areas ripe for economic diversification- something, we have to add, that was in the GP before that and the one before that with no movement toward anything but our number two and three industries- militarism Frankenfood seeds.
But with Kawahara making too much sense the boys finally said they couldn’t vote for her amendment to cut all but the money for the wholesaler and to promote the 50th anniversary celebration of the movie South Pacific next fall- probably the only money being spent that could not just get people to come specifically to Kaua`i put is measurable... although it too should really be supported by the industry, not the county the way we see it.
Eventually, with nothing else left, Asing and Kaneshiro went back to gorging on red herrings with Kaneshiro leading the charge saying he couldn’t support her amendment unless she had a specific plan to use the “other $225,000” as if the money was burning a hole in his pocket.
Worse was Asing’s final straw-grasping attempt to humiliate Kawahara by claiming that in calling it an “inappropriate use of taxpayer money” she was calling it illegal. He said he was ready to ask the county attorney up to correct her in an absurd attempt to intimidate her and intentionally misunderstand the obvious meaning of “appropriate”.
As we said Friday, Kawahara seems to be slowly emerging as the voice of reason on the council. Watch this space later this week for more on that.
After seeing it, it was actually worse than we could have imagined, especially the condescending paternalism displayed by the other councilmembers when Councilperson Lani Kawahara had the nerve to intimate many of obvious problems with not just accountability but the general concept of the using taxpayer money to support private enterprise.
We finally found the cablecast of the meeting despite Ho`ike TV’s new “never twice at the same time” scheduling where the last two time digits are never :00 or :30 and were horrified by the council’s total lack of interest in having any measurable results of the cash fling.
Paternalistic condescension was the order of the day as the six no-brains tried to justify what they called a "no brainier" decision because, as Chair Kaipo Asing said “it was either do something or do nothing” ignoring the choice of doing something only if it’s going to be measurably effective.
Only under Kawahara’s questioning of Kaua`i Visitor Bureau (KVB) E.D. Sue Kanoho did we get the answer as to how the quarter million dump into the laps of the “travel wholesalers” would translate into more “heads in beds”.
They actually they have no freakin’ idea because that information is “confidential”.
We weren’t really surprised that there wasn’t a way to tell if the money actually translated into more tourists coming to Kaua`i. Kanoho told Kawahara that she “will check”- seemingly as an afterthought- to see what the “wholesalers can tell us” regarding “bang for the buck”.
Although we apparently missed Darryl Kaneshiro’s remark calling Kawahara “sweetie”- as reported in a letter to the editor by former mayoral candidate Rolf Bieber who was present at the meeting- the room reeked with testosterone-generated belittlement and misrepresentations of what Kawahara actually said.
Even though it was solely made up of numbers telling the council what everyone knows- tourism is in the toilet- Kanoho and county Economic Development Director George Costa’s “power point” presentation finally reveled their “plan” for flushing money into that self-same crapper.
It seems the idea is to “get the word out that there are good deals” in coming here by putting Kaua`i in the rotating banner ads at the typically ignored top of web sites like Travelocity and Ovitz in order to “divert” people from other destinations- who presumably also pay to be similarly “perched and rotated”.
When clicked it goes to pictures of beaches and coconut trees and the like along with the latest bafflingly ambiguous and apt to be ridiculed Hawai`i slogan- “you’d be happy to be here too”.
We presume that the number of “click-throughs” we get is also “proprietary” making a pig in a poke sound like a good deal.
Oh and guess what- there’s going to be “coupon book” with all sorts of those “buy one- get one free” restaurant scams and “get a free gift with purchase”- usually a two bit trinket- good at various tourist traps.
Does anyone actually click on banner ads? Does anyone actually come somewhere because of those notoriously useless coupon books? Is there anyone who’s not hip to their lack of any value whatsoever by now?
Ah- meet the Kaua`i County Council where a bill of goods are as good as gold.
It was expected that these things would typify the brainiac ideas of round-up-the-usual-suspects Kanoho and politically-appointed Costa. But if anyone thought the pompously vacuous council would be skeptical well, they’re obviously not paying attention.
Which is why it was so refreshing to see Kawahara suggest that it might be more than appropriate to use at least half the money to go to the root of the problem- our sole dependence on the tourism industry which soars and busts dependant on circumstances beyond our control- and use it to support diversification of our economy.
An obviously irritated Kanoho responded “now is not the time for that- you do that when you’re healthy”, a statement repeated by many on the council.
But Kawahara responded that “now IS the time” adding “I don’t see us putting this kind of money into other ‘industries’
“There’s no doubt that tourism is crucial” she told the rest of councilmembers “but there’s no doubt the council should develop alternative sustainable (economic) practices (and) provide people with options.
“We have not funded diversifying our economy. Now is the time we should look at diversifying”.
Then the bombshell that punctured the carefully over-inflated chest of the old boys at the table- Kawahara questioned whether appropriating county money to support private enterprise was an “appropriate use” of “taxpayer money”.
Kawahara said she could support half the amount- which is to be matched with half a million in next year’s budget- saying that any further expenditure should be for developing other “industries” and perhaps, if government money is to be spent, things like retraining.
Well all that was red meat for the rest of the council.
First Kaneshiro demanded a specific written amendment for what to throw the other half of the money at noting that the half million was from the “unappropriated surplus” (as if it was “extra money”) seemingly oblivious to the option of just not spending it at all for now
Next in the march of the unaccountable panic of “do something... anything!” was junior patriarch Derek Kawakami who chided Kawahara by insisting we have already been doing enough economic diversification by reading from something called the Kaua`i Economic Development Plan... which is just that- a plan that has sat there for years.
“It isn’t going to happen overnight” said Kawakami, ignoring the fact that it hasn’t happened in decades.
Kawakami then showed his grasp of issues by citing the $400,000 the county is spending on the so called “important ag lands study” as indication the county is funding diversification.
In actuality, as anyone who has followed it will tell you, the important ag lands study was mandated by the legislature and is designed as a way to identify UNIMPORTANT ag lands so they can be grabbed by developers to- yes, expand the tourism plantation.
That was followed by long tirades from former hotel honcho, Mr. Pomposity, Councilperson Jay Furfaro followed by his dazed and confused visitor-industry-promoting cohort Dickie Chang.
They each defended the tourism industry intimating that Kawahara had said to shut it down instead of suggesting that our dependence on such a volatile form of commerce makes diversification more crucial than ever.
Even though when sugar was disappearing in the 70’s the buzz word was economic diversification Kaua`i has never been more dependant on tourism. But when tourism is in a “boom phase” the attitude on the council has been “why do we need to diversify now?”. And when it’s in a bust well it’s “now is not the time because we have to fix our number one money maker first”.
Leaving Kawahara to ask if not now, when?
After Kawakami read from the portion of the 10 year old General Plan that calls for support of the tourism industry Kawahara read the rest of it that also details areas ripe for economic diversification- something, we have to add, that was in the GP before that and the one before that with no movement toward anything but our number two and three industries- militarism Frankenfood seeds.
But with Kawahara making too much sense the boys finally said they couldn’t vote for her amendment to cut all but the money for the wholesaler and to promote the 50th anniversary celebration of the movie South Pacific next fall- probably the only money being spent that could not just get people to come specifically to Kaua`i put is measurable... although it too should really be supported by the industry, not the county the way we see it.
Eventually, with nothing else left, Asing and Kaneshiro went back to gorging on red herrings with Kaneshiro leading the charge saying he couldn’t support her amendment unless she had a specific plan to use the “other $225,000” as if the money was burning a hole in his pocket.
Worse was Asing’s final straw-grasping attempt to humiliate Kawahara by claiming that in calling it an “inappropriate use of taxpayer money” she was calling it illegal. He said he was ready to ask the county attorney up to correct her in an absurd attempt to intimidate her and intentionally misunderstand the obvious meaning of “appropriate”.
As we said Friday, Kawahara seems to be slowly emerging as the voice of reason on the council. Watch this space later this week for more on that.
Friday, May 1, 2009
BEG, CATCH, SHAKE... NOW ROLL OVER AND PLAY DEAD
BEG, CATCH, SHAKE... NOW ROLL OVER AND PLAY DEAD: The half-million-dollar flush down the tourism rat-hole bill that’s been igniting our unruly hair for the last month or so is apparently headed for passage at next Wednesday’s council meeting despite the lack of anything but sketchy details of exactly how the money spent is supposed to increase what was called “heads in beds” by Sue Kanoho, head of the Kaua`i Visitor’s Bureau (KVB) which will reportedly receive $10,000 to forward the checks.
We say “reportedly” and “apparently” because the always incompetent- and probably complicit in keeping the public in the dark- Ho`ike TV has been running black screens where the council meeting is scheduled since the meeting.
But judging by reporter Michael Levine’s story in the local paper, despite attempts by Councilperson Lani Kawahara- who voted “no” on the bill- to bring some sanity to the table, the appropriation, to be matched in next year’s budget for a cool million total, remains wildly popular with the six admittedly brainless councilmembers, one of whom, Finance Committee Chair Darryl Kaneshiro, defended the dearth of pia mater around the table, aptly describing the consideration given the measure by calling it a "no-brainer", according to Levine.
Though presumably, from the two useless (and unreadable) past-visitor-arrivals graphs accompanying the article, something was available to the public, nothing was forthcoming this past Monday at council services when we asked for the details promised the week before.
Levine reports that there is some kind of breakdown, if not any real explanation, of how throwing money will miraculously spur more vacationers to come to Kaua`i.
He reports that
the biggest chunk — $250,000 — would be split among five wholesalers and online travel agent partners in an effort to create additional visitors to the island. Examples of wholesalers include Pleasant Holidays and Blue Sky Tours. Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz are among the online travel agents, according to a list provided by the Kaua`i Visitors Bureau to the council.
And talk about the soft prejudice of lower expectations it’s hard to “see” what this means- other than in a “blind leading the blind” sense of the word.
Kanoho told the council that the promotional efforts would likely not result in any increases, but would instead help stop the bleeding.
“Flat is the new up,” Kanoho joked.
Yeah, and dumb is the new smart.
That’s not the only joke- which unfortunately is on the taxpayer. Because, speaking of bad jokes, those whose needed government services will certainly be left in the cold with the proposed cuts in next year’s proposed budget.
Meanwhile the homeless have nowhere to go except the beaches, public transportation remains a joke for shift workers and dogs have more rights than workers.
Here’s some more nonsensical “projections” apparently pulled out of someone’s ass
(County Economic Development Director George) Costa projected a “conservative” 20 percent differential in room nights produced by five wholesalers or online travel agents — from nearly 17,000 per month during the first quarter of 2009 to a projected amount of more than 20,000 per month.Each room night, on average, features 2.3 visitors, and each visitor, on average, spends $157.40 per day, according to state data.
A differential of more than 3,000 room nights per month would translate to $7.2 million over the six-month duration of the plan, Costa said. That figure does not factor in the multiplier effect of some of that money filtering back through the local economy.
Oooo- he can read a state data chart. He’s a keeper.
Just don’t ask him how the data even remotely relates to the specifics of how this cash fling will, if it does anything at all, just drive visitors from privately and locally-owned bed and breakfasts and vacation rentals to prominently-sponsored, more expensive mainland owned resorts like the Hyatt, Sheridan ,and Regency so they can pay poor, brown people crap wages to tongue-clean rich, white tourists' toilets.
Where were we?
There has been absolutely no explanation at all of how throwing money at these “wholesalers” makes for more tourists and therefore money spent on the island - despite paternalistic unsupported assurances that it will from ex-tourism honcho Vice-Chair Jay Furfaro, Costa and Kanoho.
What exactly do these wholesalers propose to do? Do they place “Kaua`i?” in a physically higher position on their web page? Yeah, that’ll do it. Or maybe if you click on “Mexico” or “Jamaica” it gives you a “did you mean Kaua`i?” redirection- maybe once you buy your Florida package they give you tickets to Lihu`e.
Do they place a special “ad” in their site- yeah, we all know how well on-web-site advertising is... just ask the newspaper industry... or anyone but Google.
Even assuming that they have some sort of scam where when you ask about any vacation elsewhere Kaua`i pops up, what happens when the Bermuda Tourism Authority pays them a million and ONE dollars to make theirs the “choice” destination.
We and others have suggested that if they were going to spend a million dollars. we give out 10,000, hundred dollar vouchers redeemable for cash at Lihu`e airport- or maybe 5000, $200 ones or 3700 for $300.
Of course then they would need competent in-house marketers who can figure out the perfect amount that will successfully entice cash conscious travelers...something they obviously lack considering the harebrained nature of their current scheme.
Knowing the county they’d probably go out and to hire a private hundred-thousand-dollar consultant to find out what the right amount is.
Maybe they should set up some kind of competent and skilled central agency- maybe devoted just to bringing in tourists, .. a sort of bureau- yeah, that’s it- just for visitors, to Kaua`i.
Well it’s just a thought.
So half the cash goes down one single rat-hole. The other half? Levine reports there’s
-$25,000 for a 50th anniversary celebration of iconic film South Pacific,
-$170,000 for a kama`aina campaign encouraging Hawai`i residents and military to travel to Kaua`i from other islands,
-$20,000 for a remote radio show hosted on Kaua`i,
-$25,000 for a “Pacific Northwest Blitz,” as well as the
-$10,000 for a Kaua`i Visitors Bureau Administration fee.
The $170,000 for kama`aina and military are apparently for more proven-to-do-nothing advertising- a stupid side flush where a free interisland air ticket might actually get them here.
And if we’re going to flush 25 grand down the already corporately sponsored “South Pacific” celebration let’s be out front with it with a real appropriation and not hide it by slipping it in with a released-on-the-day-of-committee-approval list that apparently became public only after Kawahara tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to remove it.
We can only hope the six-to-one vote is a sign of things to come.... no, seriously- that’s progress.
Is the “South Pacific” party and a “radio show” (don’t get us started on that one- we’re sure wondering what that will look like... maybe Dickie Chang will host it) the best way to spend tax dollars when we’re lucky we got national stimulus money for “meals on wheels” or the kupuna served might starve when county money runs out because they spent it on this nonsense.
Few who don’t stand to directly financially benefit would disagree that these two items should be the first kind of frivolous expenditure to be cut during lean tax collection times.
But that might run afoul of the state’s “Incumbency Preservation Act” so of course it’s a “no- brainer” for the council to line up at the trough.
What’s disappointing is that no one seems to care. Though as we said we haven’t seen the meeting, we’ll bet dollars to Krispy Kreems that, as happened during the public hearing, no one but the council regulars objected to the expenditure perhaps hoping against hope that it will trickle down – or “domino-down” as one tourism honcho called it at the hearing- to them.
Bones and piss- not even bread and water, just bones and piss... and we have to delude ourselves to think we’ll get that.
The “do something-anything!” hysteria isn’t just local- the hapless pols in congress are even worse, throwing hundreds of billions at the banking and Wall Street crooks who already robbed so that they can keep on doing so. But if we can’t do much to stop it happening 5000 miles away there’s no excuse for this kind of ostrich behavior here at home.
We say “reportedly” and “apparently” because the always incompetent- and probably complicit in keeping the public in the dark- Ho`ike TV has been running black screens where the council meeting is scheduled since the meeting.
But judging by reporter Michael Levine’s story in the local paper, despite attempts by Councilperson Lani Kawahara- who voted “no” on the bill- to bring some sanity to the table, the appropriation, to be matched in next year’s budget for a cool million total, remains wildly popular with the six admittedly brainless councilmembers, one of whom, Finance Committee Chair Darryl Kaneshiro, defended the dearth of pia mater around the table, aptly describing the consideration given the measure by calling it a "no-brainer", according to Levine.
Though presumably, from the two useless (and unreadable) past-visitor-arrivals graphs accompanying the article, something was available to the public, nothing was forthcoming this past Monday at council services when we asked for the details promised the week before.
Levine reports that there is some kind of breakdown, if not any real explanation, of how throwing money will miraculously spur more vacationers to come to Kaua`i.
He reports that
the biggest chunk — $250,000 — would be split among five wholesalers and online travel agent partners in an effort to create additional visitors to the island. Examples of wholesalers include Pleasant Holidays and Blue Sky Tours. Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz are among the online travel agents, according to a list provided by the Kaua`i Visitors Bureau to the council.
And talk about the soft prejudice of lower expectations it’s hard to “see” what this means- other than in a “blind leading the blind” sense of the word.
Kanoho told the council that the promotional efforts would likely not result in any increases, but would instead help stop the bleeding.
“Flat is the new up,” Kanoho joked.
Yeah, and dumb is the new smart.
That’s not the only joke- which unfortunately is on the taxpayer. Because, speaking of bad jokes, those whose needed government services will certainly be left in the cold with the proposed cuts in next year’s proposed budget.
Meanwhile the homeless have nowhere to go except the beaches, public transportation remains a joke for shift workers and dogs have more rights than workers.
Here’s some more nonsensical “projections” apparently pulled out of someone’s ass
(County Economic Development Director George) Costa projected a “conservative” 20 percent differential in room nights produced by five wholesalers or online travel agents — from nearly 17,000 per month during the first quarter of 2009 to a projected amount of more than 20,000 per month.Each room night, on average, features 2.3 visitors, and each visitor, on average, spends $157.40 per day, according to state data.
A differential of more than 3,000 room nights per month would translate to $7.2 million over the six-month duration of the plan, Costa said. That figure does not factor in the multiplier effect of some of that money filtering back through the local economy.
Oooo- he can read a state data chart. He’s a keeper.
Just don’t ask him how the data even remotely relates to the specifics of how this cash fling will, if it does anything at all, just drive visitors from privately and locally-owned bed and breakfasts and vacation rentals to prominently-sponsored, more expensive mainland owned resorts like the Hyatt, Sheridan ,and Regency so they can pay poor, brown people crap wages to tongue-clean rich, white tourists' toilets.
Where were we?
There has been absolutely no explanation at all of how throwing money at these “wholesalers” makes for more tourists and therefore money spent on the island - despite paternalistic unsupported assurances that it will from ex-tourism honcho Vice-Chair Jay Furfaro, Costa and Kanoho.
What exactly do these wholesalers propose to do? Do they place “Kaua`i?” in a physically higher position on their web page? Yeah, that’ll do it. Or maybe if you click on “Mexico” or “Jamaica” it gives you a “did you mean Kaua`i?” redirection- maybe once you buy your Florida package they give you tickets to Lihu`e.
Do they place a special “ad” in their site- yeah, we all know how well on-web-site advertising is... just ask the newspaper industry... or anyone but Google.
Even assuming that they have some sort of scam where when you ask about any vacation elsewhere Kaua`i pops up, what happens when the Bermuda Tourism Authority pays them a million and ONE dollars to make theirs the “choice” destination.
We and others have suggested that if they were going to spend a million dollars. we give out 10,000, hundred dollar vouchers redeemable for cash at Lihu`e airport- or maybe 5000, $200 ones or 3700 for $300.
Of course then they would need competent in-house marketers who can figure out the perfect amount that will successfully entice cash conscious travelers...something they obviously lack considering the harebrained nature of their current scheme.
Knowing the county they’d probably go out and to hire a private hundred-thousand-dollar consultant to find out what the right amount is.
Maybe they should set up some kind of competent and skilled central agency- maybe devoted just to bringing in tourists, .. a sort of bureau- yeah, that’s it- just for visitors, to Kaua`i.
Well it’s just a thought.
So half the cash goes down one single rat-hole. The other half? Levine reports there’s
-$25,000 for a 50th anniversary celebration of iconic film South Pacific,
-$170,000 for a kama`aina campaign encouraging Hawai`i residents and military to travel to Kaua`i from other islands,
-$20,000 for a remote radio show hosted on Kaua`i,
-$25,000 for a “Pacific Northwest Blitz,” as well as the
-$10,000 for a Kaua`i Visitors Bureau Administration fee.
The $170,000 for kama`aina and military are apparently for more proven-to-do-nothing advertising- a stupid side flush where a free interisland air ticket might actually get them here.
And if we’re going to flush 25 grand down the already corporately sponsored “South Pacific” celebration let’s be out front with it with a real appropriation and not hide it by slipping it in with a released-on-the-day-of-committee-approval list that apparently became public only after Kawahara tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to remove it.
We can only hope the six-to-one vote is a sign of things to come.... no, seriously- that’s progress.
Is the “South Pacific” party and a “radio show” (don’t get us started on that one- we’re sure wondering what that will look like... maybe Dickie Chang will host it) the best way to spend tax dollars when we’re lucky we got national stimulus money for “meals on wheels” or the kupuna served might starve when county money runs out because they spent it on this nonsense.
Few who don’t stand to directly financially benefit would disagree that these two items should be the first kind of frivolous expenditure to be cut during lean tax collection times.
But that might run afoul of the state’s “Incumbency Preservation Act” so of course it’s a “no- brainer” for the council to line up at the trough.
What’s disappointing is that no one seems to care. Though as we said we haven’t seen the meeting, we’ll bet dollars to Krispy Kreems that, as happened during the public hearing, no one but the council regulars objected to the expenditure perhaps hoping against hope that it will trickle down – or “domino-down” as one tourism honcho called it at the hearing- to them.
Bones and piss- not even bread and water, just bones and piss... and we have to delude ourselves to think we’ll get that.
The “do something-anything!” hysteria isn’t just local- the hapless pols in congress are even worse, throwing hundreds of billions at the banking and Wall Street crooks who already robbed so that they can keep on doing so. But if we can’t do much to stop it happening 5000 miles away there’s no excuse for this kind of ostrich behavior here at home.
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