Recent photos: Historic Kualoa sugar mill • September in Kaaawa

October 28, 2006 - Saturday

Doug Carlson has raised the question of why the media isn't pressing Gov. Lingle for access to meetings of her Comprehensive Communications Review committee. That's a very good question. She shouldn't get a free pass on this.

But the question was picked up yesterday by Doug White at Poinography.com, and I think he took a wrong turn in his analysis by quickly concluding that the sunshine law applies to the committee because it is "advisory" to the state.

Here's the relevant definition in the state sunshine law of "boards" covered by the open meeting requirements (Section 92-2(1) HRS):

"Board" means any agency, board, commission, authority, or committee of the State or its political subdivisions which is created by constitution, statute, rule, or executive order, to have supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power over specific matters and which is required to conduct meetings and to take official actions.

That's more complex than it initially appears. There are several tests in the short paragraph. Is it a committee of the state? Check. Created by...executive order? Well, not technically, but an executive edict is probably close enough to qualify. Check. To have advisory powers over specific matters? Check.

But then this: "...and which is required to conduct meetings and to take official actions." This is where the current communications review committee fails to meet the sunshine law test. It has no official responsibilities except to be available to advise, and there are no requirements that it take any official action. It isn't required to submit a report, advise action on a specific decision, etc. If its members got together, talked for a morning, and never reconvened, it would not violate anything except public expectations.

As I recall, this test was included in order to distinguish between committees and boards having some formal life and informal aggregations such as the governor's cabinet. The sunshine law doesn't require and wasn't intended to require cabinet meetings to be open to the public, and this is one of the dividing lines.

So there may be a strong political argument for opening the meetings of the communcations review committee to the public and the media, but there isn't much weight behind technical appeals to the sunshine law or OIP on this one, at least in my humble opinion.

Annie provided an antidote for low blood pressure with her disappearing act Thursday night and yesterday morning. But there was a happy ending to the tale. After making two separate rounds of the block and the big field below our house in search of the missing miss, Meda found her just before 9 a.m. sound asleep on the top of the cat tree in one of our spare bedrooms, the one where my desktop computer sits (as opposed to the laptop I reguarly use for this site).

Annie had apparently slipped into the house while we were out on our dawn walk, and then just went to sleep and refused to respond to any of the fuss I was making. She seemed fine, although tired out, and last night she took up her regular spot in the living room for the night. Whew.

October 27, 2006 - Friday

Those exemption requests of various kinds filed with the state procurement office yield all kinds of tidbits. One posted yesterday discloses the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources is investigating an illegal helicopter landing zone in Kauai's Kilauea/Moloaa Forest Reserve by Smoky Mountain Helicopters.

There is some urgency to the request, DLNR says, and "immediate investigation (is) required to protect resources, and prepare legal challenges for the Department and Community."

Another filing discloses that on October 10, a few days before the earthquake, an electrical transformer blew out at a building on Ala Moana where numerous state offices and approximately 500 employees are located.

"Central Services Division has temporarily restored power to the building with an emergency generator at a cost of $45,000 per month and approximately $5,000 to $10,000 per day for fuel costs which amounts to $195,000 to $345,000 per month." Luckily, Hawaiian Electric has a temporary emergency transformer available locally at a cost of about $40,000 (with installation). It is estimated that purchase and delivery of a permanent replacement will take about a year.

Not earth shaking news, but interesting tidbits nonetheless from readily available primary documents.

Now I have to deal with a reader complaint which arrived under the header, "ailurophobia?"

Ian, is my eyesight failing me, or has there not been a single mention of your cats on your blog since the earthqauke nearly two weeks ago?

If so, this is a most undesirable state of affairs, and I must demand an update!

Coincidentally, Toby got a bit of fan mail early today from a 32-year island resident now in New Hampshire but with family still here in Kaaawa: I just want you to know how much I love the pictures of Mr. Toby and all the other cats, but especially Toby...and I can't tell you how much it looks like my cat, Jojo who died just 4 months ago. He was the light of my life among all the cats we ever had and I miss him terribly. I have pictures of course, but the one you have of Toby in the Plumeria tree looks so much like Jojo and is so "lively" I just keep going back to look at it.

Today's picture of Toby is kind of a funny one. I was following him with camera in hand, but all he wanted to do was get close and rub around my legs. I finally had to sort of hold him at arms length to get a photo.

Silverman is downstairs after spending the night in his private room, and Ms. Harriet, the former wanderer, is safely ensconced in her favorite chair of the moment, But this morning, of course, I'm in a state of high anxiety because Ms. Annie didn't show up last night and isn't around yet today. It is not unprecedented, but that doesn't help reduce my resulting stress level, which isn't the best way to greet the weekend. Hopefully she'll show up soon.

October 26, 2006 - Thursday

Hey, I wonder where Rep. Ed Case is these days? Will he be campaigning for the Democratic ticket in the final weeks before the general election?

A Washington Post reporter caught up with Case... in Vietnam. He was visiting the museum at the prison once referred to as the Hanoi Hilton, where John McCain's flight suit is on display.

At 3 p.m. on this particular day, lingering in front of McCain's flight suit is Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii), who says he is on a family trip. Case lost last month's primary for a Senate seat, based in part on his general support for the Iraq war.

"I needed to see this," he says, "especially now, when American leaders are all thinking about the decisions made in Iraq."

"I know Senator McCain and others who became POWs," he continues. "My generation in particular still has a hard time coming to grips with that era. It sometimes seems that the Vietnamese have managed to move on better than we have. They show us no bitterness anymore.

"Will that be true in Iraq?" he asks. "It is hard to even venture a guess. You have to hope so, but it's hard to see that answer right now."

I also received a couple of quick responses to yesterday's comments...that is, the comments about couscous.

One reader says:

Not a huge consumer of starches anymore, but when I want couscous, I buy bulk couscous from a health-food store. way less expensive than the Near East brand that is in grocery stores. Also, it's just plain couscous, leaving the seasoning to me.

The other was more direct:

For shame. As a board member of Kokua I urge you to on your next stop in Honolulu partake of the fine whole-wheat bulk version of the stuff on sale in our fine establishment. It beats the hell out of a box, has very low sodium content, and even tops Amazon on price. That said, if you want your breakfast cerealy in a big, environmentally friendly bag, do shop at Amazon. You'll get about 50% off the retail price in Honolulu.

I feel a little like my nose has been whacked with a rolled up newspaper or something. But thanks for the feedback anyway!

As to Honolulu Airport's plans for standby generators, a friend added this observation:

I thought that was a really interesting item about the
emergency/standby power for the airport. It reminded me of some comments Haraga made last week after the earthquakes--probably to KITV. In an interview I recall him stating that the HECO is a very reliable electricity provider, therefore he had not thought that the airport needed more capacity for emergency power generation. He firmly brushed aside the suggestion that the airport needed more generation capacity. He stated very smugly that he did think that it would be feasible for the airport to generate *all* the power that it normally consumes. He did not seem even to consider the possiblity of conbining some additional capacity to produce electricity with some other emergency work-arounds, like having a sufficient number of the basic stairway ramps that could be pushed up to the planes. I wonder if Haraga is responsible for Lingle's lack of information (or do her people talk to his people?). And could it be that the airport people are trying to proceed quietly right now to avoid embarrassing Hiraga?

Here's an excerpt from a story today at ConsumerAffairs.com:

Because Honolulu International Airport suffered a day-long blackout on the day of the quake, Gov. Linda Lingle has given a newly-created task force 60 days to make recommendations regarding preparedness and response for future disasters.

One idea is to build generators that would provide power if regular electric sources failed.

I presume that reporting would be much different if the writer knew a contract for final design and permitting of a system to provide substantial backup power at the airport is already pending.

October 25, 2006 - Wednesday

The Sierra Club yesterday endorsed Senator Dan Akaka over his Republican rival, Cynthia Thielen. Now, I need to preface this by saying that I've known Cynthia since she was an attorney working on the Kahoolawe lawsuit decades ago and have always like her. That said, her comment in a KHON interview following the announcement, floored me:

"I think it was totally political,” Thielen said after the endorsement was announced.

Duh. Of course it was totally political. It was a political endorsement in a political campaign. And that Republican banner Thielen is running under is also totally political.

There are, of course, some decisions that aspire to be non-political or at least nonpartisan. But a political endorsement is not one of them. That's not bad, that's politics. It's political. That's what it's all about.

Seriously, though, this is a good example of the distortion of public perceptions through the twisting of language. "Politics" has been painted as a dirty word, typically by other politicians or aspiring politicians hoping to turn the public away from the party or clique in power. But the unintended result is to turn people away from public life and public decision making because, after all, it involves "politics" which we've been assured is a dirty word. Then the same people bemoan the lack of public participation in the political process but never stop to think about their own contribution to the alienation of the average nonvoter. Of course, the media repeats or even piles on with it's own negative characterization of politics and amplifies or accelerates the process.

Enough said on that.

Here's a food tip. After reading a Nutrition Action newsletter article this month about pasta and rice mixes, I decided to see what couscous is available. I found a good selection of Near East brand couscous at Times Supermarket in Kaneohe in an array of types featuring different spices . I was surprised, though, at the large amount of sodium (a.k.a. salt) in almost all of them, ranging from 400 to almost 800 mg per serving. Not good for blood pressure and other things, or so they say. Then I found a box of Near East "Original Plain" couscous with an almost negligible 5 mg per serving. Add your own spices (I used garlic and hot pepper, a bit of broth, and five minutes later you can serve healthy and delicious couscous.

I note that this item is carried by the Amazon grocery store (see ad to the right) and is eligible for their free shipping with orders of $25 or more, even to Hawaii. But be sure it's the "original plain" variety. It's not as cheap as rice, but great for a change of pace.

By the say, I've found the same wide range of sodium content in canned diced or crushed tomatoes that I use to make pasta sauce. Most mainline brands are full of salt, in the range of 280 mg per small serving. But there's at least one brand available locally, Cento, with just 20 per serving.

Okay, the shopping/cooking lesson is now officially over.

October 24, 2006 - Tuesday

The Advertiser yesterday featured a front page headline story on the University of Hawaii's problems with repair and maintenance of its campus buildings and grounds, based on a highly critical facilities audit by a national professional organization. Of course, if you're a regular here at iLind.net, you read my extended comments and excerpts from the report and had a link to the full document back on September 5.

I thought Advertiser reporter Michael Tsai did a very good job with his Sunday story reviewing how Hawaii's media managed to report on last week's earthquake and resulting power outage under difficult circumstances.

In case you missed this story in the Los Angeles Times, go back immediately and read how the Bush family is profiting from the No Child Left Behind law. The story features a company started by presidential brother Neil Bush of savings and loan fame. Quite a read.

UH is not alone in having problems quelling unruly behavior at the stadium. A Columbus Dispatch story on Sunday analyzed police reports and other data to assess the behavior of Big Ten football fans. It's an eye-opener.

Not much reaction to my entry yesterday on the airport's power plans, and I'm not sure what that means....

October 23, 2006 - Monday

A request quietly submitted to the State Procurement Office by state airport officials late last week raises a lot of questions, considering the circumstances .

On Sunday, October 15, a series of large earthquakes near the Big Island knocked out power on Oahu, incapacitating most of the island including Honolulu International Airport, where thousands of visitors were stranded without facilities for food, water, and sanitation, not to mention departing flights, all while making headlines on CNN viewed around the world. A temporary black eye, perhaps a more permanent blemish, on the state's reputation and, to make things worse, it occurred in the final weeks of the governor's reelection campaign.

The airport situation and the lack of standby power caught a lot of attention and prompted a lot of questions to Gov.Lingle over the next several days. Why wasn't the airport prepared?

At a Monday press conference, according to the Star-Bulletin: "Gov. Linda Lingle said...that she is reviewing the need for more emergency power for Hawaii's transportation link to the world." The lesson, the governor reportedly said, has been learned.

Under the circumstances, wouldn't you think that someone from the Department of Transportation, the airport, Hawaiian Electric or the governor's office might have mentioned a $15.5 million project to add nine megawatts of emergency/standby power that had been under serious review at least since an agreement reached last December?

And what if on Tuesday, just two days after the quake and while questions were still flying, airport officials signed off on a request to proceed without competitive bidding on a $985,000 contract for designing and obtaining permits for the system, a request then filed with the State Procurement Office before the end of last week? Wouldn't someone have been expected to mention it?

And might the governor or DOT or someone have mentioned that the request was supported by a letter from a Hawaiian Electric official describing the general terms of the project, a letter surprisingly dated Friday, October 13, two days before the earthquake? If accurately dated, the letter would appear to offer proof that airport officials--and by extension, the Lingle administration--were already moving to address the problem when the earthquake occurred, demonstrating they were on the job and proactive.

As far as I can tell from reviewing post-earthquake news coverage of the airport issue, nothing about this airport power project became news during specific questioning about the airport situation. The sequence of events finally became public when the DOT request, filed with the State Procurement Office at 2:17 p.m. on Thursday, October 19, was posted on the SPO web site a day later. According to the submittal, the request was approved by the DOT airports division administrator on Tuesday, submitted to the procurement office on Thursday, and made public on Friday.

Why the letter, the associated system design and proposed contract were not being trumpeted by all parties is hard to understand.

According to Hawaiian Electric, the system would be able to provide 64 percent of the airport's current peak load. Costs to the state are currently estimated at $12.8 million. But the system could also be designed to be triggered by Hawaiian Electric when needed to balance the island's larger electrical load, and for this reason HECO would put up $2.7 million for additional construction-related costs, reimburse the state for fuel and maintenance, and also pay a monthly "incentive" when the system was up and running.

What was actually going on here? With lots of work obviously being done in recent months to move the emergency generation system forward, why wasn't it on the tip of the governor's tongue? Was it something she had previously rejected? What sort of politics forced this request to go forward quietly and without fanfare, even under last week's unusual circumstances? Does it signal bureaucratic infighting, a breakdown of communication, or something totally different? The answers should be interesting.

October 22, 2006 - Sunday

Weather was mixed in Kaaawa around sunrise this week, a little sun, a little rain, lots of clouds. Earlier in the week the ocean was relatively calm, but big surf has been rolling in for the past couple of days. This photo was taken mid-week.

click for larger photo

Over lunch last week, I somehow got to describing the "mystery house" of Ahuimanu, the subject of one of my favorite stories written during my years at the Star-Bulletin. It's Sunday, and an appropriate time for a rerun, especially a fun read like this one. The link takes you to my original story of the house mysteriously abandoned by a local family along with its contents, including a little MG sports car, a baby grand piano, the clothes in the closets and food in the kitchen. A follow-up the next year was written when the city bulldozed the remaining structure after declaring it a public hazard.

Despite being left to fall into disrepair and eventually become a target for vandals, someone continued to pay the property taxes on the house and land for the past twenty years. This year, the 1-acre lot is appraised at $548,400 and taxes will amount to $1,968.76.

I could never find an explanation for why the home was vacated and then allowed to deteriorate and eventually be demolished, or why someone has faithfully paid the property taxes for twenty years while maintaining a "hands off" attitude towards the increasingly valuable real estate.

Rereading the story a dozen years later still gets my curiousity going. It remains a nagging mystery waiting for an answer.