City Suggests Fee Waivers After Effort To Increase Rentals Produces Just 7 Units
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell wants to make it cheaper for homeowners to build a second unit on their property after a law that was expected to create thousands of rental units island-wide produced just...
View ArticleSupporters Of Uber And Taxis Battle At Honolulu Hale And The Capitol
The next four weeks are shaping up to be critical for ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft as state and city lawmakers grapple with how to regulate the growing industry in which customers order up...
View ArticleNeighborhood Concerns Face Off Against Honolulu’s Need For Affordable Housing
Honolulu’s dramatic shortage of affordable housing hasn’t changed a political reality: When constituents complain about proposed new developments in their neighborhoods, City Council members listen....
View ArticleWhy Was Ethics Director Suspended? Report Offers Few Details
Honolulu Ethics Commission Executive Director Chuck Totto was back at work Monday after a month-long suspension over allegations of improper management and possible violations of the Hawaii...
View ArticleCops, Coffee And A PR Push For Harmony
Can a cup of coffee help the Honolulu Police Department repair its relationship with an an increasingly mistrustful community? Police Chief Louis Kealoha is banking on it. The HPD announced this week...
View ArticleHonolulu Won’t Fund Travel To N.C., Miss.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell has banned city officials from taking “non-essential publicly-funded” trips to North Carolina and Mississippi in protest of the states’ recent laws that condone...
View ArticleChad Blair: Ernie Martin Tests Honolulu’s Mayoral Waters
Would Ernie Martin make a good mayor of Honolulu? Ernie Martin thinks so. The Honolulu City Council chair shared that view with me last week, when I asked him the big question directly. “I think so, I...
View ArticleHow Can One City Tackle Climate Change?
Rising sea levels could flood Waikiki and Ala Moana. Hotter temperatures and fewer trade winds could transform the city’s idyllic weather, stressing native flora and fauna and triggering drought....
View Article‘A Bum Job:’ Trust In Honolulu’s Police Commission Crumbles
Former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann appointed Helen Hamada to the city’s police commission in 2008 because, he told her, she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. In the years since, Hamada has reviewed...
View ArticleHART Board Chairman Resigns Amid Questions About Rail Cost Overruns
Don Horner, former CEO for First Hawaiian Bank, is the first political casualty in Honolulu’s struggle to rein in cost increases on its $6.6 billion commuter rail project. Until Monday, Horner was...
View ArticleGrant To Help Court Address Backlog
The Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office has received a $200,000 federal grant to implement a community court that is intended to help resolve a backlog of over 11,000 low-level, non-violent cases. They...
View ArticleCops, Coffee and Conversation: HPD Reaches Out To Citizens
Dozens of Honolulu police officers have spent the last two days guzzling coffee with citizens and talking about their concerns as part of a new program that aims to rebuild community trust. The...
View ArticleGrabauskas: Honolulu Rail Audit ‘A Mess’
Dan Grabauskas, who heads the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, made a preemptive strike Thursday by criticizing a yet-to-be-released city audit expected to be highly critical of him and his...
View ArticleHART Continues Its Assault On Audit That Criticizes Rail Project
Stung by criticism his agency is mismanaged, HART’s executive director continued a vigorous defense in a written response accompanying the final version of an audit released Friday. In an 85-page...
View ArticleCouncilman Proposes Shopping Cart Controls
Honolulu City Councilman Trevor Ozawa wants to get a handle on all the shopping carts that are scattered around Honolulu. Shopping carts are popular with the city’s growing homeless population but have...
View ArticleCity Denies Grant To Program Helping Mentally Ill Homeless People
The City and County of Honolulu has denied a $180,000 grant to Mental Health Kokua Activity Center, a non-profit organization that serves severely mentally ill people in downtown Honolulu and...
View ArticleHonolulu Rail Project Expected To Cost The DOE Millions For New Schools
The state could be saddled with some big school construction costs in coming decades if current housing and population growth predictions hold true for a 4-mile swath of urban Honolulu, according to a...
View ArticleHPD Officer Arrested On Suspicion Of Attempted Bribery, Prostitution
A Honolulu police officer was arrested Tuesday night in Waikiki on suspicion of attempted bribery, prostitution and the unauthorized use of a computer, according to statements from Hawaii law...
View ArticleCaldwell Taps Insurance Exec For HART
Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced Wednesday that he will appoint insurance executive Colbert Matsumoto to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Board of Directors to finish out the five-year term...
View ArticleAnother Bill Would Regulate Uber
Honolulu City Councilman Brandon Elefante has introduced a bill that proposes a new regulatory framework for Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing companies that rely on smartphone applications to connect...
View Article