Musings: Benign, and Not

Prosecutor Justin Kollar has declined to prosecute Jim Alalem and Ray Catania on obstruction charges stemming from their Feb. 6 arrest at Wailua Beach. The two men were protecting a stone ahu that has since been dismantled by crews building the concrete Path along the beach.

“[I] don't like putting people on trial for their beliefs, as long as they're nonviolent,” Justin responded when asked why he wasn't pursuing prosecution of the petty misdemeanor charges.

In other news, the House Judiciary Committee yesterday approved a bill decriminalizing adult possession of small amounts of cannabis. Senate Bill 472 has already passed through the Senate, where the penalty for possession was raised to $1,000. The House Judiciary committee revised it down to a $100 penalty for 20 grams (an ounce is 28 grams). The measure now moves to the Finance Committee.

Though Justin has not submitted testimony in opposition to any of the cannabis bills, Police Chief Darryl Perry submitted “reefer madness” testimony against SB 472, in which he claimed cannabis was linked to schizophrenia, psychosis, depression and anxiety. He ended with this dramatic line:

The negative personal and social costs would be long-lasting, and the family nit as we know it today would be a thing of the past; memories viewed only through home-made videos.

It's so bizarre how law enforcement officials and state legislators are totally freaked out about cannabis, yet ho-hum about GMO crops and their associated poisons.

Speaking of which, the World Wildlife Fund and Mexican government have issued the results of a survey that shows a 59 percent decline in migrating butterflies. The primary cause is an "explosive increase" in the use of glyphosate (Roundup) on crops genetically engineered to withstand direct applications of the herbicide, which kills milkweed, the monarchs' essential food. As the Los Angeles Times reports:

In key U.S. states where the butterfly feeds and breeds — Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, parts of Ohio and the eastern Dakotas — farmers have planted more than 120 million acres of corn and soybeans genetically modified to resist the herbicide, [Chip Taylor, director of the research group Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas] said.

Taylor said the decrease in the monarch population is more than a philosophical or aesthetic conundrum. The loss of pollinating creatures like butterflies and bees — whose populations are also collapsing because of habitat loss — can result in a loss of plant diversity across the continent, he said.

"The fruits, nuts, seeds and foliage that everything else feeds on," he said. "If we pull the monarchs out of the system, we're really pulling the rug out from under a whole lot of other species."

Hello! Wake up, people! These crops and their associated pesticides are not benign.

On a brighter note, HB 154 yesterday passed one of its two Senate committees. The measure, which Rep. Derek Kawakami co-sponsored, authorizes a two-year pilot program to test hemp's efficacy in soil remediation, as in removing the chemicals deposited by more than a century of industrial agriculture in the islands. It will also test its viability as a biofuel feed stock.

And finally, remember to vote for the KIUC board of directors. Voting ends March 25. I cast one of my three votes for Jonathan Jay, an intelligent, creative guy who promises to be a breath of fresh air on the board. One thing I really like about Jonathan, besides his wicked sense of humor, is his emphasis on reducing demand rather than figuring out new ways to constantly increase the supply.

Because non of the so-called renewable energy sources are truly green — they all have impacts. That's also true of biomass projects, especially when the feedstock is trees that are trucked for miles and chipped, a process that requires a helluva lot of fossil fuel. 

Musings: Home Rule

Update: Deferred until March 21, so still time to submit testimony.

SB 727 is a dangerous bill that needs to be stopped. It revokes each county's power to protect the health and life of its inhabitants.

Introduced by Sen. Donovan “Mr. PLDC” Delacruz, it's an apparent bid by the biotech industry to pre-empt county controls over pesticide use.

The measure is scheduled for a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee at 2 p.m. Friday. To submit testimony go to this page and enter SB727. Or email it to JDLtestimony@capitol.hawaii.gov.

Musings: Currying Favor

As GMO opponents take to the streets, the biotech industry is snuggling up with lawmakers on the Senate floor.

Just two days after 1,000-plus Kauai residents marched in the rain to denounce GMOs and demand a hearing on a labeling bill, the state Senate honored mainland farmers who grow GMO crops and the man who invented Hawaii's GMO papaya.

Monday's presentation on the Senate floor was a full-on public relations ploy staged by the biotech-based Hawaii Crop Improvement Association and Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, with the assistance of Sen. Clarence Nishihara, chair of the agriculture committee.

Which explains why Nishihara hasn't scheduled a hearing on HB 174, the only GMO labeling law that is still alive, though a dozen or so good ones were introduced. It's a measly little crumb — or more accurately, a dingleberry — that the House has thrown to the vast majority of Hawaii residents who support labeling.

And even that crappy law is stalling in the Senate because Nishihara is tight with the biotech industry, which doesn't want any labeling at all.  

On Monday, Kauai Sen. Ron Kouchi, vice chair of the of ag committee, joined his colleagues as the Senate recessed to “meet and greet our honored guests.”

The "honored guests" were farmers from Illinois, Oregon, Illinois, North Dakota and Washington who had won an essay contest. As I reported in both the Honolulu Weekly and this blog last November, the biotech industry invited mainland farmers to write about how they'd benefitted from genetically modified seed. 

The prize: a free trip to Hawaii. The catch: they had to be shills for the biotech industry, sharing their stories with legislators and media.

That's what went down on the Senate floor on Monday, with Nishihara reading a speech — you can watch the video here — that expressed unqualified support for the biotech industry:

In trying to reach our state's goal of a secure, sustainable and affordable food supply, the agriculture industry will need to utilize all farming methods and technologies available, whether it's organic, conventional or biotech.

Nishihara went on to say:

There are over 5 million farmers on 1 million acres of land across the nation that grow GE crops such as corn and soybeans. Many of these crops can trace their origin back to Hawaii-produced seeds and farmers across the U.S. appreciate and acknowledge that Hawaii plays a vital role in production of seed for the entire world.

Nishihara then introduced the five winners, saying:

These outstanding farmers benefit from the use of seed crops developed and grown here in Hawaii. They successfully grow organic, conventional and biotech crops under family-owned farms and they traveled to Hawaii to share their stories about how biotechnology is helping real farmers deal with real agricultural challenges to ensure an affordable food supply.

The “story” got picked by KITV, which did a Tuesday morning segment that devoted 1.5 minutes to the anti-GMO message — photos of the Kauai march and an awkward pro-labeling comment from a Babes Against Biotech spokeswoman — and 3 minutes to the essay contest. It included an interview with a Washington farmer who grows Bt corn on his otherwise mostly organic farm, and spoke against labeling.

The capper? The farmer had brought in a plate of food that the TV hostess spun around on the table, as the cameras did a closeup. After saying that "a lot of GMO products are grown locally, too," which is not true, the hostess described the entree as  sesame-crusted grilled ahi steak topped with a salsa made from pineapple and GMO papaya.

“It looks delicious and I'm sure it tastes good, too,” she gushed. “I'll be getting to that during the break.”

Musings: Abuse Chronicles 8

When Nick Michaels added 3,090 square feet to a beachfront bungalow under the guise of “unsubstantial improvements,” he created the super-luxe Blue Lagoon vacation rental — his modern-day version of a traditional cultural site:

If privacy is desired, the property is enclosed by lava rock walls, a Hawaiian method called "hand stacking." The Lava rocks create the ultimate ambiance and privacy. This is our own “heiau [hei' (y) au’]” or special place of worship.

So states Michaels in a “word from the owner” on an Internet ad for his sleeps 10 mini-resort. Michaels goes on to reveal a little more about how he made his place posh:

We incorporated only the best materials available.  Cedar exterior, Brazilian marble counter tops, and bathrooms, interior Jacuzzi bathtubs in both oceanfront suites, Brazilian mahogany floors, spacious Ipe decks...

Pricey stuff. Yet the county building permit for the work is based on construction costs of just $50 per square-foot.

Though the work was supposed to entail minor improvements and repairs, Michaels tells us in his ad what really went down (emphasis added):

This place is the real “Blue Orchid”, a newly built home on the North Shore of Kauai, Hawaii.  This home was built in the heart of a dreamer... upon fruition, with much love and gratitude. 

Yes, Michaels is a dreamer. More specifically, he's the one who dreamed up the scam of turning tiny old homes into palatial vacation rentals by characterizing the work as an “unsubstantial improvement.” In that way, he avoids the expense of elevating the house to comply with federal flood laws. And no doubt he's grateful that the county went along — and gave him a vacation rental permit to boot.

But let's dial back to 2003, with a look at the original house — a 1,080-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath structure that was built in 1957 and had an assessed value of $54,500.

This is what he bought and turned into the Blue Lagoon: a four-bedroom, four-bath, 4,171-square-foot structure with an assessed value of $1.594 million.

.

All with a building permit valued at just $122,300.

Here's how he pulled it off:

First, Michaels hired an appraiser who pegged the value of the original structure at $252,000, based on a replacement cost of $250 per-square-foot for the house, and $50 per-square-foot for the decks. Then Michaels submitted a building permit for upgrades based on construction costs of just $50 per-square-foot for everything.

Using this lopsided formula, the proposed work was determined to be less than 50 percent of the structure's value. The county building department, under Doug Haigh, issued a permit for “unsubstantial improvements.” That's when Callahan Construction began building, a process that would last nearly two years, quadrupling the square-footage and adding another level to the house.

Since the house is close to the ocean, Michaels began cultivating a vegetative seawall. Naupaka was planted on the public beach, fertilized and regularly watered.  

That's Nick, with the hose, back when he first began armoring the shoreline.

It wasn't long before his vegetation had sprawled well onto the public beach, where it continues to flourish.

In times of high surf, the public is in fact precluded from actually traversing the shoreline because of his extensive plantings. 

This helps Michaels achieve his advertising promise:

If you're wondering, "is there going to be a crowd?”  The beach directly in front of the property is mostly a private beach. People have to know how to find the beach and beach access is limited. 

Yes, it's limited by such ploys as blocking the public beach access parking with planted vegetation and TVR trash cans.

In 2008, Michaels applied for a non-conforming use certificate to operate a TVR. In his application, he claimed that he began its TVR use on Jan. 1, 2001 — 20 months before he actually purchased the property.

Michaels also failed to provide a reservation log, or proof he'd paid general excise and tranist accommodation taxes, which were required by county ordinance. But the planning department issued him the certificate, anyway, on March 27, 2009. There is no record of its required annual renewal, yet it continues to operate. 

When county tax assessors recently did their first on-site inspection since the renovation, they found the house had expanded 3,090 square feet from the original — nearly double the 1,626-square-feet allowed under his building permit. Even using the super lowball $50-per- square-foot figure, Michaels made changes valued at $159,500, which is more than 50 percent of the inflated $252,000 appraised value of the house. Quite simply, this "newly built home" — to use Michaels' own words — is a substantial improvement that should be in compliance with flood laws. 

Instead we have a vacation rental with bedrooms on the ground floor, in the flood zone, where unsuspecting guests are invited to "Wake up in the morning to the sounds of the ocean lapping on the shore." And it's a very exclusive, gated vacation rental, with its own miniature golf course and spa — just like the mini-resort that it is — on a spectacular white sand beach. 

As Michaels acknowledges in his “word from the owner:”

Locals know this place as a very special place.

Some might even say the most special and beautiful place on the island. But that was before dreamers schemers like Nick Michaels usurped it, and it changed it into something else —what he describes as:

THE LIFESTYLE 
This is how the rich and famous live, this is how people with big dreams live and this can be a place where you can create memories that will last a life time.

Musings: Voices

The anti-GMO movement is definitely picking up momentum on Kauai, given the substantial turnout at yesterday's Poipu march, which I didn't attend. Whether you take the low count of several hundred or the high of 2,000, the crowd certainly stands in stark contrast to the handful of people who turned up about 10 years ago at the island's first “no GMOs” meeting, which I did attend.

During that same decade, however, the seed companies nearly quintupled their production in Hawaii, growing into a $243 million annual industry — the most valuable crop in the state. Compare that to the 2011-12 values of flowers/nursery products ($69.6 million), aquaculture ($40 million), coffee ($34.6 million), veggies ($28.8 million) and taro ($2.3 million). According to the 2009 report “Hawaii’s Seed Crop Industry: Current and Potential Economic and Fiscal Contributions” by Radford University:

Seed crop value shipments increased 133% from 2004-05 to 2007-08, an average annual increase of 33%. The authors are unaware of any other industry or economic subsector in Hawaii exhibiting such exponential growth. Hawaii’s seed crop industry average annual value growth since 1968 (14.2%) greatly exceeds Hawaii’s general economic growth as measured by GSP (7%). This growth rate difference is even more dramatic since 1998.

So while I appreciate the post-march passion of a Facebooker who enthused, “We made history today. Now our leaders have to listen to us,” it's not, unfortunately, quite that easy. The seed/chem industry still has a much louder voice, especially at the Lege.  That's why it doesn't seem an effective strategy to channel all this new enthusiasm into simply calling for the passage of HB174. Because that bill, which labels imported GMO produce and does nothing to address the seed industry here or anywhere else, isn't going to quiet that corporate voice.

Meanwhile, a hostile crowd raised its voice in unanimous opposition Friday night to Green Energy Team's proposal to lease 2,137 acres of homestead land in Anahola. The company, headed by Eric Knutzen, wants to harvest albezia to burn in its south side biofuel plant and reforest the acreage with eucalyptus. The proposal would tie up homestead land for 30 years and is touted as a way to generate income for homestead development. Still, the exact benefit — aside from a "community picnic area" — is unclear, unless you can decipher this:

Homestead Participation Revenue — 2% of gross equivalent value of thermal power harvested from the lands and such funds will be used for funding the items identified in the benefits agreement including employment training and outreach by HCDC for homestead residents.

Huh? The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands will hold public hearings at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at King Kaumualii school in Hanamaulu, and 9 a.m. Friday at the Aston Aloha Beach Hotel in Kapaa, if you want to voice your opinion on this plan.

And jurors, in returning a guilty verdict against Vicente Hilario, voiced their certainty that he is the man who gunned down Aureo Moore. Their verdict serves to validate the election of Prosecutor Justin Kollar, whose opponents — including Assistant Police Chief Roy Asher — claimed it was important to the case that former Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho's administration carry on. More importantly, the verdict vindicates Deputy Prosecutor Melinda Mendes, the heavy-hitter in this trial who was nearly fired a year ago when Shay emailed her during the misery of the Brady-Butler horse abuse case that “this might not be the right office for you.”

Good thing Melinda didn't heed that bullying voice.

Musings: Things Change

Out in the darkness of 5 a.m., hugging myself to ward off a 58-degree brrrr, fog creeping over the road, the moon a golden boomerang flying low in the southeast sky. Back out an hour later, arms still hugging, fog still creeping, moon a silver crescent, the horizon smeared with a streak of pink-orange.

Things change, like the global temperature, which is warming at an unprecedented rate. So says a new study, published in Science, that tracked temperatures back 11,300 years, to the last Ice Age. As NPR reports:

So it's taken just 100 years for the average temperature to change by 1.3 degrees, when it took 5,000 years to do that before.

Climate scientists predict that the current warming will continue, given the amount of greenhouse gases going up into the atmosphere.

"The climate changes to come are going to be larger than anything that human civilization and agriculture has seen in its entire existence," says Gavin Schmidt, a climate researcher at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. "And that is quite a sobering thought."

Things change, like the head of the CIA, with the Senate voting to confirm Obama's “assassination czar,” John Brennan. The vote came after Attorney General Eric Holder, responding to Sen. Rand Paul's filibuster, clarified that “no,” the President does not “have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil.” The President made sure, however, that he does have the authority to lock that person up indefinitely under the National Defense Authorization Act — though he claims his Administration will never use it, even as his Justice Department has fought in court to retain the power.

Things change, like public attitudes toward cannabis, even though law enforcement remains mired in the Dark Ages on the topic. Check out my cover story in Honolulu Weekly, where I outline what's happening with cannabis legislation this year, and give a history of eradication in Hawaii, including the role of herbicides and former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney:

In 1985, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) joined the war against pakalolo, much of which was being grown on public land, especially on the Big Island. Within a year, DLNR had developed a new weapon–a spray rig that could be operated from a helicopter to apply a dose of herbicide to specific plants. “This method proved to be more efficient than manual eradication efforts resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of plants eradicated,” reports the agency’s website.

Within two years Hawaii was engaged in year-round eradication with its intensive Operation Sweep.

But even all that manpower, money and herbicide wasn’t enough.

“Hawaii’s marijuana industry, driven by an insatiable demand, is the root of Hawaii’s drug problem,” former state Attorney General Warren Price wrote in his 1989 report, “A Survey of Hawaii’s War on Drugs.” Price complained that “the eradication effort in Hawaii is . . . costing over $1 million per year and it is not apparently reducing, much less eliminating, the marijuana industry in Hawaii, nor is there any evidence to suggest it is reducing local consumption.” The report called for slowing the tide of substance abuse by wiping out the Islands’ marijuana crop, which that year was worth an estimated $1 billion to $10 billion, surpassing the value of sugar, pineapple and even tourism. 

So instead of cannabis, we now have GMO seeds, nearly 8 million tourists a year and an ice epidemic. Go figger....

Things change, like public awareness about GMOs, resulting in a clamor for labels to inform us of what we're eating. In response, the state House took the teeny, tiny baby step of approving HB174, which requires labeling any imported genetically engineered produce. Despite the hoopla, it's essentially meaningless, for two reasons. First, there is virtually no GE produce imported into the state. Second, there already is a means for identifying GE produce, via those little stickers on fruit. If the number starts with an 8, it's been genetically modified. If it starts with a 9, it's organic. And if it's just four digits, it's conventionally grown.

Though anti-GMO guru Jeffrey Smith argues that no one uses the 8, that could be due partly to the fact that there are just three types of GE veggies: some varieties of zucchini, yellow squash and corn on the cob. And then there's the GE papaya, which is grown only in Hawaii, and will remain unidentified to buyers here, thanks to a timid Lege.

Things change, like overriding Republican resistance to an expanded Violence Against Women Act that finally includes protections for Native American women and LGBT persons. Unfortunately, far too many women are still being raped, beaten, mutilated, controlled, manipulated, dominated — in short, diminished and destroyed – by a violent patriarchal system.

To quote Vandana Shiva on this International Women's Day:

"The multiple wars against the earth — through the economy, through greed, through capitalist patriarchal domination — must end, and we have to recognize we are part of the earth. The liberation of earth, the liberation of women, the liberation of all of humanity is the next step of freedom we need to work for, and it’s the next step of peace that we need to create."

Things change.

Musings: Abuse Chronicles 7

[Owner update at end of post.] Though the phrase Kauai-grown usually refers to plants, it could as easily apply to the process that grows humble little beach cottages into luxury vacation rentals. All it takes is a load of manure, and the signature of county building division chief Doug Haigh.

To illustrate, let's look at Hale Haena, which began life in 1967 as a 720-square-foot, one-story, three-room home — the last house on the makai side of the road before Hanalei Colony Resort. Locals might recall it as the Nishimoto house.

In 1972, the downstairs was partially enclosed to create a little carport, with a washing machine and toilet. And so it remained until March 2004, when it was sold for $550,000, primarily because of its large, oceanfront lot. The house, according to county tax records, was valued at just $64,500 that year.

Within a month, the owner applied for a building permit to perform construction work estimated at $106,000. Under FEMA flood regulations, any project that exceeds 50 percent of the building's value is considered "substantial improvements,” which means the structure must be brought into compliance with flood standards. As the flood hazard certificate states:

“All new construction and substantial improvements will have the space below the lowest floor free of obstructions. Such space will not be used for human habitation.”

The trick, some folks have learned, is to put a high value on the building, and a low value on the construction, so as to fall below the 50 percent threshold. In this instance, Tom Hegerty submitted an “opinion of value,” in which he claimed the house's value was actually four times its assessed value, or $252,975. He based that number on the replacement cost of the house, which he figured using construction costs of $225 per square foot. To justify those square-footage costs, Hegerty wrote:

“The cost of construction in the Wainiha/ Haena area greatly increases because the five single lane bridges on Kuhio Highway have weight restrictions causing the cost of concrete and lumber to increase. I trust this satisfies your concerns.”

But in figuring the cost of adding 465 sq. feet to the house, construction costs of just $50 per sq. ft. were used. This resulted in a total of $89,563, which thus rendered the alterations “unsubstantial.” Doug Haigh signed off on this scenario (scroll to the end of the PDF) and the “unsubstantial” work began. 

 You can see the original ground floor utility room in this picture.

By the time the “unsubstantial improvements” were completed, the house had grown by 672 square feet, and the downstairs had been enclosed, within the flood zone. The carport and laundry room had been converted into two bedrooms and two and a quarter baths.

Upstairs, a new roof was added, along with a new bath. The former kitchenette was remodeled into a “fully-equipped gourmet kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances, custom cabinetry and granite countertops.” The floors were refinished with “beautifully aged zebrawood floors and natural slate, “ while “oversized sliding doors” were installed leading to the new to “ipe wood lanai.” 

At the end of the day, it looked like this. All for under $89,563. 

County flood inspector Don Lutao signed the certificate of occupancy, despite a provision in the county zoning ordinance that states:

Any non-conforming structure [i.e., a house built before the flood law]... may be repaired, maintained or altered in any manner which does not increase non-conformity.

Wouldn't it seem that enclosing the downstairs to make bedrooms would be increasing its non-conformance with the flood law, which is intended to minimize property damage and keep people out of harm's way?

On March 12, 2009, the owners applied for a non-conforming use certificate to operate the Hale Haena transient vacation rental (TVR). Thirteen days later, the planning department granted the certificate, even though the application lacked the documentation of prior use required by law, including a reservation log and proof that transient occupancy and general excise taxes had been paid.

The house was placed on the market in 2009, with a listing that described it thusly (emphasis added):

Hale Haena is a newly remodeled 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath tropical retreat steps from a golden sand beach in the heart of Haena. Private Remarks: County of Kauai (TV-1057-NCU) approved vacation rental. 2008 gross revenues approximately $100K+/-.

The house was sold for $1.1 million cash on Dec. 24, 2009. In just five years, the owners had doubled their money, thanks to $89,563 worth of construction and the vacation rental certificate.

The new owner renewed the certificate on April 29, 2010. Though no subsequent renewal applications were included in the file, the county's on-line TVR log showed it as renewed for 2011 and 2012. The log, as you may recall, was created as a way for citizens to monitor TVR activity and report possible violations. But if it doesn't jive with the planning department file, is it a valid tool? [Update: The owner of Hale Haena has advised me that she is current with all her county TVR renewals and is also up-to-date on payment of her state general excise and transient accommodation taxes. She also uses an on-island property management company. She further contends that she had no knowledge of the property's history until she read it here.]

Musings: Rock Bottom

Former state Rep. Roland Sagum III is due to be arraigned Tuesday on second degree felony theft charges for allegedly stealing rocks from a preserve on A&B's Kukuiula property last year.

Sagum, a former deputy planner for Kauai County turned developer, represented the 16^th District from 2007-2011, when he lost to Dee Morikawa by a nearly two-to-one margin in the Democratic primary. Sagum's contributions in the Legislature included opposing civil unions and introducing a resolution expounding on the cultural virtues of cock fighting. Ironically, he just finished a five-year stint on Juvenile Justice State Advisory Council.

Lealiki Koli, a rock wall builder, is also charged with second degree theft and criminal property damage.

It seems Prosecutor Justin Kollar has been sending an OPA representative to neighborhood meetings, where Koloa residents offered information about the alleged theft, which led to the arrests.

Speaking of rocks, and the prosecutor's office, I was fascinated to read Councilman Ross Kagawa's comments regarding the transfer of money previously allocated for Keiki POHAKU to the Teen Court instead. As The Garden Island reports:

What [Kagawa] has heard from the teens is that the consequences of Teen Court were quite easy, he said, and if the consequences are not severe enough, they look at it as joke and are not worried about going through the program again.

And that made me think of how Ross was let off so easy, as in full on free ride, back when he was managing the Convention Hall and caught doing something he shouldn't. So was this his way of saying he took it all as a joke, because he really didn't have to suffer any consequences? Or is he saying the youth should be held more accountable than he?

Or is he just pandering to a certain constituency, like when he talks stink about the endangered Newell's shearwater, blaming the birds for turning off the lights on the night games, when it was really due to the county's stumbling and bumbling? Yup, Ross made it clear in a recent ocean users meeting that he's a “buck the firds” kinda guy.

Which would be a little easier to swallow if he weren't a lawmaker, sworn to uphold the laws. Not to mention a teacher, who really should be setting a better example about respecting and protecting imperiled species that are endemic to Hawaii — as in found no where else on Earth.

Musings: Bleed It

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, then two, when I read Casey Quel Fitchett's "A Letter from the publisher,"  extolling the virtues of new ownership for The Garden Island.

First, she feeds us this crock: “Local ownership with local sensibilities is a positive step for us, keeping money circulating in Hawai‘i and not going out of state.”

Uhhh, last I looked Oahu Publishing Inc. (OPI) is owned by David Black, of Black Press Ltd., a Canadian-based newspaper company.

Then she writes: “Another reporter will also be added initially, and we expect more growth.” But they just laid off business reporter Laurie Cicotello, assistant editor Tom Finnegan and another editorial staffer. So even if they hire one more reporter, they're still down two.

I know it's a sensitive point, because the OPI bigwigs actually stopped the presses 45 minutes into the press run — something you do only if the president has been shot or find a racial slur in a headline — to revise the “Kauai loses last press” story written by  Léo Azambuja. It seems they feared people would think the quality of the paper was declining if they read the truth: that three editorial staffers had been axed. So they just conveniently edited that part out.

That's why it's just a little bit hard to believe Casey when she writes, (emphasis added):

“OPI is committed to assuring The Garden Island remains a functioning, independent daily newspaper.”

Then she gives us this: Another positive for the entire community is OPI’s commitment to community philanthropy.

Mmmm, yeah, that's great, except what about the 25 people in our community who lost their jobs, jobs that some had held for over a decade, because OPI essentially outsourced their work to Honolulu?

Oh, and just to show you what kind of people they are, they didn't call in the folks who were being terminated and tell them they didn't have a job. No, they let them sit there all day as the people who were retained were told they did have jobs. Come 5 p.m., when the management went home, it became clear to those left sitting that they were no longer employed.

Classy.

We would all love to see TGI become a better paper. But it ain't gonna happen, Casey, by stuffing it with Kmart inserts, filler from Honolulu, a weekly business feature from the Wall Street Journal (wtf?) and crisp photos from OPI's "modern marvel" of a press — the one they're using to systematically stifle independent presses around the state.

No, Casey, it will require investing in quality reporting staff, and keeping your mitts off them — yes, we know you're a daily presence in the newsroom, where publishers should not be — so they can do their job.

Though I am a perennial optimist, I don't see that happening.

Because David Black didn't buy TGI to beef it up, but to bleed it.

Musings: Abuse Chronicles 6

Crank up the B-52s, because “we're looking for the Love Shack, the love getaway....” How do you get away with running a vacation rental, one that is advertised in at least a dozen places on the Web, and booked into December, even though you haven't renewed your Kauai County TVR permit since it was issued in 2009? Or even get the TVR permit at all, without supplying the necessary documents?

The same way you get away with transforming a plain Jane studio into the Love Shack — a “sleeps four” luxury vacation rental — through the use of “unsubstantial improvement” building permits, thus skirting flood and septic requirements. 

And the same way you turn the Love Shack's tar paper-roofed shack — built without a permit — into a single-family residence. All in the flood zone, sandwiched between the narrow road in Haena and the sea. “Just steps to the ocean,” the ads extoll, though they don't mention those big north swells.

That's when, as the B-52s would wail, “The whole shack shimmies! The whole shack shimmies...”

But let's back up for a bit, to 1980, when a 1,088-square-foot studio — the future Love Shack — was built. The Department of Health found the cesspool was 50 feet from the water, and so allowed it, though with a dye test to determine it wouldn't pollute the ocean. 

In 1983, a slab was poured and a tiny structure placed atop it — the future Love Shack's shack.

“Funky little shack! Funky little shack!”

Now the building department had identified it as an illegal structure — “existing storage” — as early as 1994, and issued a citation, in part because it wasn't elevated 21 feet, as the flood zone required. But years went by, with no change.

Nick Michaels bought the property in 2002. In 2004 he submitted an application for some building improvements in which he identified the illegal shack cum existing storage as a “one-bedroom, one-bath cottage,” built in 1983, when the flood standards were in existence. The county told him to get a certified shoreline, so he pulled back, and the next year put in another application to do some work on the future Love Shack. In these plans, the “cottage” is now being called a “carport.”

In 2007, Michaels submitted yet another application, this time to re-roof the future Love Shack and enclose the 200-square-foot “carport.” The county again said it was an illegal structure, and engineering commented: “Note toilet, etc., this is not just garage and storage.”

Meanwhile, the county engineering department ruled the storage, though built after the flood law, was “grandfathered” from its regulations, and so could remain on the ground. Next followed some wrangling over whether the work Michaels proposed was substantial, meaning he would have to meet flood laws, or unsubstantial, in which he got a pass.

Michaels hired appraiser Dennis Nakahara to weigh in. Nakahara described the carport-storage as an “existing cottage,” one that had somehow grown to 320 square feet, though retaining its T&G walls and tarpapered plywood roof. Nakahara used new construction replacement costs, rather than the structure's appraised value, to make the work fit into the “unsubstantial” category.

Permits in hand, Michaels went to town, first gutting the Love Shack's still-unpermitted funky little shack, and then doing the remodel literally under cover. And of course he had to cut the trees to open up the view even more.

Just about the time he gets finished, the county passes an ordinance regulating vacation rentals in existence prior to 2008. Michaels lines up, like so many others, and submits his application for a two-bedroom, two-bath TVR, as in the Love Shack and its still unpermitted, but much enhanced shack. On his application, Michaels claimed he had used it as a TVR since Feb. 4, 2003 – except he didn't buy it until Sept. 9, 2003. He didn't provide any of the required documentation showing prior rental, either.

Planning records show it was inspected on March 18, 2009, though there's no report, and no inspector is named.   Inspector Bambi Emayo recommends approval, and the county agrees. Meanwhile, the illegal shack, still with no building permit, has somehow become "SFR-2" — as in single family residence #2 — with an approval date of July 9, 2003. Or at least, that's what Michaels claimed in his affidavit, and apparently no one checked, because he got his TVR permit on March 25, 2009.

Michaels never renewed his permit for 2010, 2011, 2012 or 2013. But the Love Shack was rented anyway, to happily oblivious tourists. Well, aside from those who left disgruntled comments on TVR ad sites: 

Comment: Great house but...

Guest: Anonymous (Carlsbad, NM)Date of Stay: 06/12/11 Review Submitted: 10/21/11

…My final issue with the Love Shack is that we stayed there in the middle of June and I am still waiting on my security deposit to be returned, near the end of October. This is not a huge issue but more of an annoyance.

Guest: David & Leigh1 (Phoenix AZ)
Date of Stay: 08/19/10 Review Submitted: 12/12/10

…The Love Shack is as described in the listing. It was the perfect location for us & we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there in August. Would have rated it an Excellent, but it is now December & we still have not received our deposit back even though we've been assured that we would.

We'll let the B-52s weigh in here: "Sign says, Woo, stay away fools, 'cause love money rules at the Love Shack!”

Oh, one last thing: Back in 2004, Michaels applied for a permit to install a 6' 3” high fence along the entire makai side of the property, effectively cutting off public beach access. Citizens fought it, and when the county required him to do a certified shoreline first, he dropped it. But recently, a fence was put up — with no permit.

“Love baby, that's where it's at....

Huggin' and a kissin', dancin' and a lovin' at the love shack....”