PARADISE PAVED

I think that I shall never see,
A project lovely as a tree…

– with apologies to Joyce Kilmer

Sightings from The Catbird Seat

~ o ~

July 3, 2006

Hawaii Kai project draws ire

Developers want to build 180 cabins on a
parcel surrounded by conservation land

By Diana Leone, Star Bulletin

Veterans of past battles to block development on Oahu’s Ka Iwi Coast are “reactivating” to join other Hawaii Kai residents in fighting 180 proposed vacation cabins on mauka preservation land.

Dave Matthews and Phil Estermann, key players in the Save Sandy Beach Coalition in the 1980s, are joining with the nonprofit Liveable Hawaii Kai Hui and other East Honolulu residents against the project.

The two were among more than 200 people last week at a Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board meeting, objecting to developer QRM’s plans for clusters of 800-square-foot cabins with “unobstructed ocean and mountain views.”

QRM development director Aaron Eberhardt said in a news release about the project that it would meet the “demand for increased recreational opportunities for a growing portion of East Honolulu” by offering hiking, mountain biking, rock-climbing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, golf, horseback-riding, fishing, snorkeling and scuba diving to visitors.

Queen’s Rise Recreation Center would be built on a 98-acre parcel of land surrounded by conservation land, while the Mauuwai Recreational Center would be on 83 acres mauka of the Hawaii Kai Golf Course, the release said.

But Eberhardt didn’t have answers for most of the questions residents asked him at Tuesday’s meeting, neighborhood board member Dolores Elms-Beattie said.

“His presentation was pretty lame,” she said. “He didn’t have a traffic study or an environmental impact study and he was quoting from a cultural study 10 years old.”…

Estermann said the developers are “trying to turn the land use ordinance upside down” by seeking one cabin per acre of land under the city’s preservation zoning. “These guys have proposed a kind of resort with vacation cabins.”

One reason people are concerned about the project is that the city Department Planning and Permitting could approve the cabins without a public hearing, said Elizabeth Reilly, a neighborhood board member and spokeswoman for Liveable Hawaii Kai Hui.

“This isn’t about stopping development,” Reilly said. “It’s about protecting the scenic value of that coastline.”

Another concern is that, if approved, the development could set a precedent for preservation land development, said Gary Weller, a Kamilonui Valley entrepreneur and farmer. The allowance for one cabin per acre was “originally designed for something like Boy and Girl Scout camps,” he said. “It was never intended to be what they’re trying to turn it into.”…

“I would have thought we would have stopped it,” he said, referring to the Save Sandy Beach’s 14-year struggle to halt planned development on the makai land between Sandy Beach and Makapuu….

Read the complete story at…

http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/03/news/story02.html

<<< FLASHBACK <<<

February 21, 2002

Sandy Beach dispute settled

Everybody’s happy with a land swap that preserves
open space and precludes a trial

By Debra Barayuga, Star Bulletin

The city has agreed to turn over the proceeds from the sale of 46 acres in Manana in exchange for 32 acres of privately owned ocean-view property near Sandy Beach for use as a public park.

The land swap, which includes the sale of 20 acres in Manana to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., was at the heart of a settlement the city reached early yesterday with Kamehameha Schools, the state’s largest private landowner, and lessee Maunalua Associates.

Romy Cachola, chairman of the Council’s policy committee, helped broker the deal, which was approved by the nine-member Council late yesterday.

The settlement package — estimated at $60 million to $70 million — ends nearly 15 years of litigation and controversy over two parcels of land known as Golf Course 5 & 6.

Developer Maunalua Associates had obtained a special management permit to build 171 residential units there in 1988, sparking a referendum to preserve the land.

The settlement also warded off a trial, scheduled to begin next week, that could have cost the city more than $120 million in damages and attorney’s fees, Cachola said.

“This global settlement will save the city and taxpayers a substantial amount of money,” Cachola said. He had previously said the city may have to raise property taxes to pay for damages.

Mayor Jeremy Harris noted that “the settlement will protect 30 acres of the Ka Iwi coast from development by designating the area for park use in perpetuity.”

Hamilton McCubbin, Kamehameha Schools chief executive officer, praised the settlement, saying it reflects an acknowledgment that the actions the City Council took in 1989 were unconstitutional.

It also provides “fair value to Kamehameha Schools in compensation for the taking,” McCubbin said….

The coalition sparked the initiative in which 160,000 people voted against developing the property.

Although the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that the 1988 initiative was illegal, and even after developers had obtained a special management permit, the city enacted a moratorium on issuing permits for the property, then passed an ordinance downzoning the parcels to preservation.

Developers Maunalua Associates and KRDC Inc., successors to Kaiser Hawaii Kai Development Co., sued the city in 1989. The trial would have settled how much the city owed developers for their losses….

Under the settlement, the city will pay $5 million to the plaintiffs within 30 days after notifying the court that the parties have agreed to the settlement. The city included the $5 million in its 2001 budget.

Closure of the Wal-Mart deal — four parcels with a net worth of $17.5 million — will end the lawsuit forever, Cachola said….

Ken Kupchak, attorney for Maunalua, said the agreement has the prospect of a “win-win situation” but the parties must work hard to achieve the best and highest price for the parcels….

http://starbulletin.com/2002/02/21/news/story2.html

The Wise Ol’ Owl asks: And just who-o-o is Maunalua Associates???

According to an organizational chart for the Zurich Group, Maunalua Associates is a member of a ‘Holding Company System’ whose members include The Maryland Casualty Insurance Company, and The Kemper Group. The ultimate parent of the Company is Zurich Financial Services, Zurich, Switzerland.

(…so is THAT where Hawaii tax-payer’s money went … to Switzerland? ? ?)

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March 9, 2006

Proposed development at Turtle Bay
bothers residents

Some are concerned about renewed plans to build 3,500 units

By Allison Schaefers, Star-Bulletin

On a big wave day at the North Shore, it takes Peter Cole an hour and a half to get from Haleiwa to his country home at Sunset Beach….

The popularity of the North Shore has inflated property values, stretched community services and created traffic jams — and resurrected a two-decade-old master plan at Turtle Bay Resort that would bring 3,500 new hotel and condominium units to an otherwise rural area stretching from Kawela Bay to Kahuku Point.

“That would just be immense,” said Cole, who first opposed the plan when it was presented in mid-1980s because of potential negative impacts on the region’s environment, traffic conditions and quality of life.

Turtle Bay Resort’s master plan, which included five lodging structures, was expected to be completed by 1996 but never came to fruition due to its then-struggling financial position. Oaktree Capital, which acquired Turtle Bay in 1999 and has spent $60 million upgrading the once-dilapidated hotel, is now moving forward on the original development master plan that was approved years ago, said Doug Carlson, a spokesman for Kuilima Resort Co., the developer of Turtle Bay….

While hotel workers union Local 5 supported the development in the 1980s, the union is now opposed to the project.

“We don’t think it’s going to create the quality jobs that our workers need,” said Eric Gill, financial secretary-treasurer for Local 5. “Turtle Bay Resort pays workers less money and offers substantially less benefits than our other Oahu hotels.”

The union, which has been involved in a consumer boycott of Turtle Bay Resort since 2003, has filed an injunction to stop the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting from giving Kuilima Resort Co. the necessary permits to move forward on the project, Gill said.

Local 5 joined North Shore community groups to rally in front of the resort in January to protest further development of the area, and the region’s neighborhood board members have been flooded with calls, said Creighton Mattoon, chairman of the land and planning committee for the Koolauloa Neighborhood Board….

“I think community sentiments on development vary from total support to total opposition to many positions in between,” Mattoon said. He gets two to three calls a week about the proposed project.

While some have told Mattoon that the project would be good for economic development and would create jobs, others are concerned that its environmental impact statement is too old and needs to be re-examined….

Others are worried that the region’s two-lane main transportation artery cannot support the development, he said.

Population and visitor growth has created “a mathematical problem that didn’t exist 20 years ago,” said Carol Philips, president of the North Shore Neighborhood Board….

“People like the country: That’s the sole reason that we live in the North Shore,” she said. “The atmosphere of the North Shore will change as a result of this development. I think it’s just starting to sink in for the community that this could be an impending reality.”

Read the complete story at…

http://starbulletin.com/2006/03/09/business/story01.html

~ ~ ~

For more, GO TO > > > The Pirates of Punaluu

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Dec. 3, 2005

Case sued over purchase
of Grove Farm

Shareholders claim Steve Case had insider information
that helped him buy the company

By Stewart Yerton, Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Steve Case, the Honolulu native who created and once ran the world’s largest media conglomerate, has been sued by former shareholders of a Kauai company that Case acquired in 2000.

The former shareholders of Grove Farm Co. Inc. allege that Case engaged in insider trading while negotiating the acquisition of privately held Grove Farm for $26 million, or $152 a share. The suit alleges that Case acted on information provided to him by his father, Dan, whose law firm, Case Bigelow & Lombardi, served as counsel to Grove Farm at the time of the acquisition….

Although the suit alleges misdeeds by several people, including Dan Case and former Grove Farm executives, the only defendant named is Steve Case, who according to Forbes magazine is one of the richest men in the United States….

Continued at ... Grove Farm

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October 28, 2005

Rural area was site of FBI search

Noshir Gowadia and his wife are relative newcomers
to the low-key, high-priced locale

By Gary T. Kubota, Star-Bulletin

HAIKU, Maui » In rural Huelo, many of the unpaved rutted roads lead to multimillion-dollar homes with manicured lawns and breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean.

And it was in one of these homes, federal authorities allege, that Noshir S. Gowadia kept government secrets about one of America’s most formidable weapons, a B-2 stealth bomber.

It is an impressive dwelling, Mediterranean style with blue tile roof, white stucco-looking walls and a view overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Many of the homes in this area have recently been sold for about $2 million each. Gowadia and his wife bought the 2-acre lot for $330,000 in 1999.

During an Oct. 13 search, FBI agents seized classified documents from the house.

Agents said the documents dated back from Gowadia’s employment with Northrop — between 1968 and 1986 or to the early 11990s — when he was a contract engineer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Gowadia, a design engineer for the project, called himself the father of the B-2’s infrared suppressing propulsion system. And now, authorities say, he allegedly sold B-2 secrets to about eight foreign governments, violating federal espionage laws.

An FBI agent said Gowadia reported receiving nearly $750,000 from 1999 to 2003, but the income could be greater because he has several bank accounts, some of which are foreign and unreported.

The home that was searched by the FBI sits on the edge of rural Maui, an area favored by residents who want to get away from urban Kahului.

Past the expensive homes, further up on the hillside, there are pineapple fields and farms along nearby Hana Highway, where unattended vendor stands let customers bag their own fruit and put the money in a locked cash box.

A few residents along Holokai Place and adjacent North Holokai Road said they do not know what to think about the alleged charges because they do not know the Gowadias, who are newcomers….

John Papazian, principal broker and owner of Haiku Properties, said many homes in the area have sold for more than $2 million….

The Gowadias have been active in the real estate market on Maui, buying a home in Kihei in 1999 for $75,000 and selling it in 2001 for $121,000.

The couple also bought a house at Keonekai Estates in Kihei for $390,000 in 2001 and sold it for $575,000 in 2003, according to Maui County tax records.

http://starbulletin.com/2005/10/28/news/story03.html

For more about Noshir Gowadia, GO TO > > > The Spy Who Came to Maui

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April 26, 2005

U.S. court ruling allows Army’s Stryker
plans in isles to proceed

By Greg K. Kanesako, Honolulu Star-Bulletin

The Army can now seriously begin talks to buy 23,000 acres of Big Island Parker Ranch land to support the training of its 19-ton Stryker combat vehicles, following yesterday’s decision by a federal court judge.

Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled in the Army’s favor, removing a major obstacle to the formation of a 3,350-member Stryker combat brigade at Schofield Barracks.

In a 24-page decision, Ezra rejected claims from Earthjustice, which represents Hioulaokalani Coalition, Na Imi Pono and Kipuka, and said the Army followed all requirements of existing federal environmental laws.

On Aug. 17, Earthjustice sued the Army, claiming that it violated environmental laws by refusing to consider locations outside Hawaii. David Henkin, attorney for Earthjustice, said his clients were reviewing Ezra’s ruling. Henkin said there are several options available, including asking the federal court to reconsider Ezra’s decision or appealing it to the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ron Borne, head of the Army’s transformation plans, said the negotiations with the Smart Estate were placed on hold because of the legal challenges involving the Army’s environmental impact statement.

The Parker Ranch land would be used for maneuvers only and not any type of live-fire operations.

Army Stryker-related plans also call for the acquisition of 1,400 acres adjacent to the 27,000 acres Schofield now occupies in Wahiawa.

The Army plans to spend $693 million on Oahu and the Big Island on 28 Stryker-related military construction projects….

In a written statement the Army said it is “pleased with Judge Ezra’s ruling and appreciates the court’s thoughtful consideration of this very important matter.”

Hawaii Chamber of Commerce President Jim Tollefson said Ezra’s decision means that “transformation will go forward in Hawaii.”

“It’s good for the Army, and it’s good for the security of the country,” Tollefson added.

The first two dozen eight-wheeled vehicles should arrive at Schofield Barracks in May 2006. Eventually, the 25^th Division will have 300 Stryker vehicles.

Each Stryker costs about $1.5 million.

< < < FLASHBACK < < <

December, 2003

The Army vs. The Hawaiians

By Alan D. McNarie, Hawaii Island Journal

“I’m against the military on our lands. It’s because they still didn’t deal with the problem. And the problem is…us,” Braddah Abel Simeona Liu told the grim-faced military panel at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel.

“Us” referred to Native Hawaiians.

Simeona Liu, a well-known kupuna from Ka-u, had joined scores of other Hawaiians in the crow of around 200 people who had gathered at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel to present public feedback on the proposed basing of a rapid deployment “Stryker” armored infantry brigade to Hawai’i. More than 70 people signed up to testify at the meeting, which started at 7 a.m. and didn’t adjourn until around 1 a.m.

Some had to go home before they could testify, but of the dozens who did speak over that six-hour-period, only four or five favored the proposal. The rest seemed intent on conveying an emphatic message: that before the Army considered expanding its activities on the island, it needed to address unfinished business, including dozens of sites around the island where unexploded ordinance had been found, and the problem of the Hawaiians, an underground nation who still see the U.S. Army as an enemy occupying force.…

Big Braddah or Big Bully?

For many of the descendants of the occupied Kingdom of Hawaii and their later-arriving allies, the Stryker’s mission seemed less about deterring aggression than about projecting American power.

“The Stryker is definitely an offensive weapon …” said Bunny Smith. “It’s going to be flattening villages – people like us.”

Another Hawaiian, who had served in Vietnam, noted the Stryker’s characteristics suited it more for urban occupation than for slugging it out on a traditional battlefield. … He concluded, “This is not about protecting you. This is about going around, protecting the world.”

“Big Bruddah or Big Bully,” asked another kupana. “You guys got reputations all over the world for ‘Big Bully.’ Time to change that.”

The next speaker, also native Hawaii, took the same theme a step further. “If I got a letter from the moon, and they ask me, ‘You know how those guy’s are?’ I would say, “Kill them right away. They spread like flies…”

While he told the military panel, “I hold you in high regard as soldiers. You well-trained machines…,” he concluded, “It’s the money you protect, not the inalienable rights of people.”…

www.hawaiiislandjournal.com/stories/12a03a.html

See also: Seibu Group of Japan

For more, GO TO > > > frontline: the fixers: Interview with Donna Wong | PBS; Yakuza Doodle Dandies

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March 25, 2005

Goldman Sachs offers to buy
Seibu Railway group for $8.5 billion

Yahoo biz

US investment bank Goldman Sachs has offered to buy the scandal-hit Seibu Railway group for about 900 billion yen ($8.5 billion dollars), a newspaper said.

Goldman Sachs has proposed purchasing Seibu Railway shares held by the group’s core company Kokudo and taking over Kokudo’s debt obligations, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said, citing anonymous Seibu officials….

The group has been hit by a financial scandal.

Former Seibu railroad and hotel empire chief Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, once dubbed the world’s richest man, has been charged with falsifying financial statements to conceal his family control over the listed Seibu Railway.

He has also been indicted for insider trading after orchestrating the sale of shares in the now delisted railway firm before the concealment came to light.

The group’s reform panel was set to compile the final version of its reform plan centering around Kokudo’s absorption into Seibu Railway and a 200-billion-yen capital increase, the economic daily said.

The offer by Goldman Sachs would serve as an alternative to this plan, it said….

For more on Goldman Sachs, GO TO > > > Apollo Advisors; The Blackstone Group; Dirty Gold in Goldman Sachs; Dirty Money, Dirty Politics & Bishop Estate; Investigating Investcorp; Yakuza Doodle Dandies

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March 8, 2005

Princeville Resort Sold for $161M

By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin

The Princeville Resort on Kauai is being sold for more than $161 million, according to a published report.

The Nikkei English News said the sale of the 9,000-acre resort to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds and a partnership headed by developer Jeff Stone will likely close this month.

Stone told the Star-Bulletin in July, when the deal was first announced, that the buyers plan to make substantial improvements to the resort….

Stone said in July that the buyers expect to retain the resort’s 600 employees as part of the sales agreement….

The sellers include Japan’s fourth-largest brewer, Suntory Ltd., which owns a 51 percent stake in the property; Mitsui & Co., which owns 24.5 percent; and Japanese developer Nippon Shinpan Co., which also owns 24.5 percent.

Suntory, which will receive about $80.8 million from the deal, plans to sell some of its noncore businesses and invest about $1.9 billion over the next three years to buy other beverage companies, Nikkei reported.

Mitusi and Nippon Shinpan acquired the resort in 1990 from developer Chris Skase’s Quintex Australia Ltd.

Suntory later purchased a 51 percent stake in the resort from Nippon Shinpan….

~ ~ ~

For more on Princeville Resort’s insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan, GO TO > > > The Marsh Birds

And, for more on these flocking financial vultures, GO TO > > > Apollo Advisors; The Blackstone Group; Buzzards Of Paradise; Claims By Harmon; Dirty Money, Dirty Politics & Bishop Estate; Predators in Paradise; The Grand (and dirty) Ko Olina; RICO in Paradise; The Weinberg Foundation; Yakuza Doodle Dandies

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December 30, 2004

Maui L&P CEO gets $4 million in shares.

By Sean Hao, Honolulu Advertiser

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. issued 100,000 shares in the name of president and CEO David Cole this week, and Cole said he has no intention of selling the stock.

Under terms of Cole’s contract most of those shares are restricted and cannot be sold, Cole said yesterday. However, Maui Land & Pine was required to register the securities – worth nearly $4 million – with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“That’s just a requirement under my employment contract,” said Cole, who became CEO of Maui Land & Pine on Oct. 15, 2003.

“I have no plan to sell any of those shares at the present time. I just got here.”…

… Continued at Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

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December 10, 2004

$700,000 Disbursed To Settle Church Case

By Edwin Tanji, Maui News

WAILUKU – Faced with paying Maui County as much as $700,000 for the legal costs of a lawsuit filed by the Hale O Kaula Church, the county’s insurance company has paid the church that much to settle the suit, county officials said Thursday.

“It was paid to the church at 3 p.m. today,” said Deputy Corporation Counsel Madelyn D’Enbeau, who said the settlement was based on an agreement that had the dispute going back to the Maui Planning Commission for resolution.

The commission last month voted to approve a five-year special permit to allow the church to build a sanctuary for worship services on its 5.8-acre agricultural-zoned property in Pukalani.

As part of the settlement, the church agreed to drop its demands for its legal fees, estimated to be in excess of $1 million involving three law firms, D’Enbeau said….

The dispute dates back more than 10 years, to when the church members first purchased the farm lot at the end of a private road in a subdivision developed in a former pasture in Pukalani….

An initial request to build a church on the property was denied in 1995 when other landowners along the private road protested that it would create congestion and noise in an agricultural district.

A new request for a special permit for a church was filed in 1999, and, after a lengthy and disputed contested case process, was again denied. After the second denial in 2002, the church filed a suit in federal court, accusing the county of discrimination in rejecting its permit request.

The church was supported in its suit by a national organization, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, that sought to make the issue a test case for a new federal law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000….

Because of the issues raised by RLUIPA, the case also received attention from the federal government, with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice also filing a suit against the county for an alleged civil rights violation in its handling of the land-use issue….

Although the county’s insurance carrier, Royal & SunAlliance, negotiated the settlement, the county was prepared to carry the case to the U.S. Supreme Court for resolution to protect the local government’s rights over its land-use procedures.

In the case, the church had gone through a contested case hearing but declined to present evidence to the hearings officer assigned to the case [Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Esq.], claiming that she had displayed a bias against the church. When the hearings officer’s recommendation went to the Maul Planning Commission, there was no evidence to support the church’s application and the commission denied the permit.

“Our position was always that you have to go to the planning commission. You have to present evidence. It’s not as though you should be able to decide whether you like the hearings officer or not. You have to use the process just like everyone else does,” D’Enbeau said….

In dealing with the legal complaints, D’Enbeau noted that the county’s policy with Royal & SunAlliance had the insurance carrier paying the county for the legal work of defending itself.

The company already owes the county $200,000 in attorney’s fees, mostly for work performed by D’Enbeau.

“They pay $200 an hour. That’s more than I get paid,” she said.

Edwin Tanji can be reached at editor@mauinews.com

~ o ~

For more regarding Judith Neustadter Fuqua, and the Maui Planning Commission, GO TO > > > Claims By Harmon;

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July 3, 2004

LILIUOKALANI TRUST WEIGHS KONA DEVELOPMENT

By Karin Stanton, Associated Press

Honolulu Star-Bulletin

KAILUA-KONA – Preserving local culture and open space and providing affordable housing should be priorities for Queen Liliuokalani Trust land, residents say.

The trust, which underwent a management change last year, is exploring ways to capitalize on 3,500 acres in Kona.

The Keahuolu ahupuaa, or ancient land division, is the only source for future income for the trust that provides services for orphaned and destitute Hawaiian children, said Robert Ozaki, president and chief operating officer.

After a series of meetings in West Hawaii, board of trustees Chairman Thomas Kaulukukui Jr. and trustees David Peters and Patrick Yim now will develop general land use directions.

A preliminary plan likely will be complete by fall, Ozaki said….

He and the trustees met Thursday in Kailua-Kona with 60 residents, seeking input and hearing concerns….

At every meeting, residents stressed any development should allow them the live, work, plan, learn and shop within the community, Ozaki said.

Trustees are devoted to caring for and respecting the land, collaborating with stakeholders and creating an income stream….

Residents have indicated they favor health care facilities, a performing arts and cultural center, and elderly and affordable housing

They would like to see land at the higher elevations remain agricultural, the shoreline preserved and parks created.

Residents voiced concerns about existing traffic congestion, but opposed building roads across trust land.

Native Hawaiians urged that burials, trails and stone walls be preserved in place on the queen’s land.

Constructing condominiums and high-end homes on the land is “useless to us,” Jimmy Medeiros said. “They are just more congestion and troubles for us.”

Others called for improving or repositioning the industrial area, and said that building heights should be restricted and utility lines should be underground….

Josephine Keliipio, however, said that’s not good enough.

“It already looks like Southern California,” she said. “Be Kona, not southern California.”…

For more, GO TO > > > The Queen Liliuokalani Trust

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May 11, 2004

Schuler buys land for 290 Maui homes

By Andrew Gomes, Honolulu Advertiser

Schuler Homes has bought a 20-acre piece of undeveloped land at the master-planned residential community Maui Lani, doubling its development plans at the Kahului project.

The Honolulu company, a unit of Texas-based D.R. Horton Co., bought the parcel for an undisclosed price from Maui Lani Partners LLC, a company headed by local developer Bill Mills.

Schuler plans to build about 290 single-family homes on the site. The company anticipates sales to begin early next year, with the first homes delivered around September 2005. Prices are expected to start in the $300,000s and $400,000s for two product types split between the 290 homes….

Continued at Schuler Homes.

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April 23, 2004

Hawaii tops nation in
extinctions, report says

A federal agency is accused of failing to protect species

By Ron Staton, Associated Press

Nearly half of the 114 species that have become extinct in the first 20 years of the federal Endangered Species Act were in Hawaii, according to a new report by an advocacy group.

The report by the Center for Biological Diversity says the federal government’s failure to protect species “has been spectacular,” and accuses the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of knowingly delaying listings “to avoid political controversy even when it knew the likely result would be the extinction of the species.”

A statement from the Fish and Wildlife Service said the agency “denies the inflammatory claim” and challenged the accuracy of the report….

The service said funding has been limited because of litigation over critical habitat, and noted that fish and wildlife habitat has been declining for decades because of urbanization.

The report released Wednesday said “the number (of extinct species) is shocking and indicates a grave failure in federal management of the nation’s most powerful environmental law.”

A co-author of the report said that with so many unique species, Hawaii faces the worst problem in the country.

The 52 species lost from the islands include the large Kauai thrush, which once was the most common bird on the island; the Molokai thrush, which was endemic to Molokai; and 11 species of Oahu tree snails.

Only 19 percent of the extinctions involved species on the endangered list, showing that the 1973 law is working – at least for species that make the list, said Kieran Suckling, the center’s executive director and a co-author of the report.

“But species known to be endangered were stuck in bureaucratic delay and went extinct before they had a chance to be listed,” Suckling said.

“That should never have happened.”

Nearly all the species could have been saved if the Endanger Species Act had been properly managed, fully funded and “shielded from political pressure,” he said.

Hawaii is unique not only for the number of species on the list, but because state law requires that every species placed on the list is automatically added to a state list, said Michael Buck, administrator of the Foresty and Wildlife Division of the state Department of Land & Natural Resources, which works with the Fish and Wildlife Service.

He acknowledged, however, that “just getting something on the list does not save endangered species.” The No. 1 issue for Hawaii, Buck said, is “coming up with resources and public support.”

California was the next-highest state in the report with 11 extinctions. Guam had eight, while Alabama and Texas each had seven….

“The extinction crisis in Hawaii is worse than anywhere else,” Suckling said.

“We believe the Fish and Wildlife Service should have no higher job than preventing species from going extinct.”

Buck said extinctions have been occurring since Western sailors first discovered the islands in 1778.

The extinction rate probably has increased in the past 10 years, Suckling said.

“There is no reason to believe it went down,” he said.

http://starbulletin.com/2004/04/23/news/story2.html

– The Center for Biological Diversity’s report can be found at:

www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/Programs/policy/esa/eesa.html

~ ~ ~

<<< FLASHBACK <<<

From Earth Island Institute … Earth Island Journal – Winter 1996-97:

Corruption, Cover-up in Hawaii

by Carroll Cox

In 1990, I began work as a special agent for the law enforcement division of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in Hawaii and the Pacific Basin – home to nearly 40 percent of endangered species in the US.

I was encouraged by President Clinton’s request that employees report waste, fraud and abuse in government. As part of my daily work, I identified activities that could have negatively affected wildlife, as well as numerous agency misdeeds.

Because I blew the whistle on dubious operations and filed EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) complaints against the FWS, I was subjected to harassment and retaliation by FWS administrators and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit. Finally, on March 25, 1995, I was fired.

In the course of my work for the FWS, I reported misuse of funds by agency personnel. The FWS often rewarded wrongful behavior by promotion or, at the worst, simple transferral to another regional office.

The FWS settled a sexual harassment case that had been brought against my supervisor out of court and ignored his use of a government-issued vehicle for personal business. The FWS transferred him to another facility and placed him on the agency’s prestigious special operations team.

In 1992, I reported that agency personnel possibly were attempting to acquire contaminated land on Maui for use as a wildlife refuge – to cast a favorable light on President Bush for his then-upcoming re-election bid.

I reported that individuals in the FWS who curried political favor were able to interfere and prevent necessary law enforcement activities concerning Bishop Estate land on the island of Hawaii, where clearcut logging of koa trees was destroying several endangered species’ habitat.

When I uncovered the unlawful take, import, export and commercialization of endangered species by members of the Palauan government (then a trust territory in the Pacific Islands, administered by the US), I was punished. My investigations revealed that officials in Palau not only were smuggling endangered species from the Philippines, but also, contrary to US law, were shipping sea turtles to Japan.

Supervisors ordered be to modify reports so that they would not reflect the actual number of endangered birds killed or otherwise affected by a Chevron oil company operation near Campbell Industrial Road on Oahu. The damaged site, a series of ponds, was coated with oil – as were the birds that had settled in the ponds.

Information I obtained revealed that the longline fishing industry was damaging whales, turtles, monk seals, dolphins, sea turtles and thousands of seabirds. When I presented evidence and documentation to the Western Pacific Fisheries Counsel (WPFC) and made recommendations on how to prevent this wanton slaughter, I was told that the WPFC would take action. Instead, the National Marine Fisheries Service sent me a letter directing me not to interview their observers, who, on many occasions, were aboard fishing vessels when the killings occurred.

When all administrative remedies failed, I appealed directly to the public through the media and achieved an enforcement victory. The longline industry was shut down for 90 days.

As a result of my work, I was harassed, subjected to racial discrimination and eventually fired….

Other employees in my office also have been harassed. Michael Hart, one co-worker acting as a witness in both my case and another employee’s case, was found dead in the agency’s office with a gunshot wound to the chest.

Though FBI agents responded to the initial report of a possible assault to t federal officer, they did not investigate further once police had ruled his death a suicide. The day before his death, Hart complained that he had been threatened by his supervisors and was afraid of losing his job.

After I was fired, the US Attorney’s office in Honolulu subpoenaed me as a credible witness on a then-pending case involving drugs, firearms and endangered species, which I had initiated as a special agent – even though that office was and still is representing the government against me on charges of “accepting a bribe.”…

The Office of Special Counsel investigating my case conducted its “formal” investigation during a beer-drinking session with the now deceased co-worker. My letters of appeal to President Clinton, Hawaii’s Congressman Neil Abercrombie and Congresswoman Patsy Mink, Georgia Congressman John Lewis and to other officials have gone unanswered.

It seems the FWS is willing to tolerate questionable acts of ethical and moral behavior but has little compassion for a person who dedicated his heart and soul to protect the public’s interest and ownership of precious resources….

Read the complete article at www.earthisland.org

~ ~ ~

And, visit crusader Carroll Cox’s current website at www.envirowatch.org/

~ ~ ~

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May, 2002

In lush Hawaii, some see ‘train-wreck scenario’ as early warning of growing world water crisis

U.S. Water News Online

HANA, Hawaii – On the paradise island of Maui, where some of the world’s heaviest rains pelt lush peaks, scientists say big users squander water so badly that main wells may soon be contaminated by salt.

“They’ll be lucky if they have another five years at this rate,” said William Meyer, who recently retired as the U.S. Geological Survey’s regional director.

“This is a train-wreck scenario.”

Maui, water experts say, is an alarming example of what happens in an isolated microcosm – an island, in this case – as conflicting interests must fight over runoff from rains and dwindling underground reserves.

Although by itself only a dot in the Pacific, Maui is viewed as a revealing laboratory not only for the rest of Hawaii but also the wider world beyond.

“Places like this have no Colorado River to fight over,” Meyer said. “When they realize they’re out of water, it is all of a sudden, and it is too late.”

Already, native Hawaiians who plant their staple taro see streams to dry at a quickening rate because agriculture barons and land developers use their historical rights to divert water. That may be only the beginning.

On volcanic islands, rain that does not run out to sea settles in porous groundwater aquifers, forming what geologists call a lens of fresh water above encroaching salt water.

But, hydrologists say, for each foot of fresh water taken from these subsurface aquifers, forming what geologists call a lens of fresh water above encroaching salt water.

But, hydrologists say, for each foot of fresh water taken from these subsurface aquifers, heavier salt water pushes up 40 feet. As a result, uncontrolled pumping can mean calamity in a hurry.

Hastened by four years of drought, levels have plummeted in Maui’s Lao aquifer, from 18 feet above sea level in 1990 to 10 feet in 2001. That left only 400 feet in the freshwater lens.

Planners say Maui’s population of 150,000 could reach 1 million by 2050 as tourism expands, making hard choices inevitable. A hotel complex or golf course needs a million gallons a day, enough for 10,000 people.

Even now, few people talk about the crisis.

“This is our dirty little secret,” said Lucinne de Naie, a Maui conservationist who tracks supply and demand.

“Everyone needs water so everyone is afraid to criticize the people who control it.”

She said Maui leaders lacked even the political will to determine how much water they had. “With a precious resource, when you are in doubt about something, you don’t do it,” she said.

Experts warn of other impending crises on the islands of Oahu, Kauai and Molokai, where they say aquifers also are emptying faster than rain can recharge them.

The bulk of Maui’s water is collected or pumped by Alexander & Baldwin Inc., a company founded in 1870 by two sons of missionaries. Its elaborate ditch system carries water from wet areas to dry ones.

The company takes 60 billion gallons a year from streams that cross public land, drought or not, paying the state of Hawaii only $160,000 annually, officials say…

… Continued at Alexander & Baldwin.

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April 22, 2004

State land swap called a bad deal

A Maui firm wants to trade
industrial lots in Waipahu for
state agricultural land

By Nelson Daranciang, Star-Bulletin

Some lawmakers say the state is making a bad deal in giving up 226 acres of agricultural land in Kapalua for 1.4 acres of industrial property in Waipahu.

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. wants to include the state land in an expansion of its luxury Kapalua Resort development. The state land is a narrow strip in the middle of the company’s property.

In exchange the state would get three vacant lots, totaling 1.4 acres, in the Mill Town Center industrial park in Waipahu that Maui Land & Pine will purchase from Alexander & Baldwin for the exchange.

Rep. Alex Sonson (D., Pearl City-Waipahu) said he thinks Maui Land & Pine is getting the better end of the deal.

“Much better, a lot better,” he said….

– Continued at Maui Land & Pineapple.

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April 15, 2004

Maui council approves Makena
rezoning request

by Timothy Hurley, Honolulu Advertiser, Maui County Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui – Makena Resort’s rezoning request won approval from a Maui County Council committee last night, the initial step in what could lead to construction of Maui’s first major resort development in more than 15 years.

Approval by the council’s Planning and Land Use Committee came on a 7-2 vote in the sixth week of deliberations, as extended period that generated 41 conditions designed to temper the impact of construction and address concerns regarding affordable housing, drinking water, beach access, roadways and parks.

Council Members Wayne Nishiki and Jo Anne Johnson voted against the application, saying they still have concerns about the effect on the Makena region….

Nishiki, committee chairman and an outspoken critic of the proposal, said he would reserve his comments for first reading before the council, though he did say he objected to conditions regarding affordable housing and water.

But Johnson offered an impassioned plea, saying a yes vote would indicate that the council was putting the needs of the rich, off-island home buyers above Maui residents.

Johnson said Maui, and Makena in particular, cannot support another resort of this size. She said she can see the island being overdeveloped in a way that occurred in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a place she used to live.

“Ultimately, this is another nail in the coffin in our No. 1 status as a tourist destination,” she said.

“Trust me, people have no idea what’s coming.”…

… Continued at Seibu Group

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March 19, 2004

Seibu Railway Group having legal troubles in Japan

From Maui Tomorrow

Testimony from Sean Lester on
Seibu Corp for Makena Rezoning request

We have all heard by now of the shakeup at Seibu Headquarters. Roy Figueiroa was quoted in the Maui News on Sunday stating that he knew nothing more than what was on the internet, and that it had no bearing whatsoever on the Seibu/Makena project.

I can understand why Roy would say this. You have been dealing with Roy for years, and as you know, all decisions come from the Japanese Corporate headquarters, not from here in Hawaii.

11 people, including 3 Seibu board members have been arrested so far. And it’s still early in the investigation. Arrested, not just accused. For Japanese police to go to the headquarters of one of Japan’s largest corporations and arrest its board members is no small thing.

And who was arrested?

Seiichi Ikura, Senior Managing Director, Seibu Board of Directors

Norhiro Kanno, Head of Public Relations, Board Member

Masaru Kojimo, Head of the Real Estate Division, Board Member

Sadanori Kimura, a senior official of the Real Estate Division

These are not small time employees. They are executives of a corporation whose net assets are estimated at $250 Billion US dollars….

… Continued at Seibu Group

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March 27, 2004

Wahiawa camp fights eviction

By Will Hoover, Honolulu Advertiser

State legislators, city officials and union representatives came together yesterday to pledge their support for a living piece of Hawaii’s plantation history – the 300 residents of Poamoho Camp, who are being evicted from the only home many of them have known.

“I’m 80,” said Teodoro Agduyang, who raised a family and grew old in nearly six decades at the camp.

“I was 22 when I came here. Where would I go if they bulldozed my house? I’ve got no place to go. Under a bridge, maybe.”

About 300 former and current Del Monte pineapple workers who live in 63 homes at the camp near Wahiawa have been ordered to leave by June 30, because the company is not renewing its lease on 2,200 acres owned by the Gailbraith Estate, including the 34 acres on which the homes sit….

The union has met with Del Monte officials and representatives for Galbraith and Bank of Hawaii, the trustee of the estate. Michael Magaoay, D-46th (Kahuku, North Shore, Schofield), said Galbraith Estate and the Bank of Hawaii expressed interest in working with camp residents to reach a solution. But for Del Monte, eviction seems to be a simple business decision, he said.

“They should have more aloha,” he said.

In 1984, Del Monte’s plantation lands in and around Poamoho were placed on the national Superfund list because of contamination concerns. The lands were taken off the list in December, Takano said – about the time Del Monte decided to stop farming the property.

More than one person at the rally spoke about the importance of preserving what’s left of Hawaii’s plantation heritage. One of the most rousing speakers was retired labor leader and social worker Ah Quon McElrath, 88.

“We need to be able to fight those with power who would rather that you leave the thing alone,” said McElrath. She said those in power should be forced to say, “We will not leave you homeless to join the other 10,000 homeless people on Oahu.”

After the meeting, Agduyang walked slowly toward his home at 719 Nui Ave., where he and his wife, Carlina, have lived for decades. From the wall of his carport, he took down a long, framed photo shot at the camp on July 4, 1953.

“That’s me,” he said, placing his thumb on the image of a young man near the end of a long line of plantation workers. “I love this photo because it’s a souvenir.”

After June 30, the photo might be one of the few things left to remind him of his life at the camp, he said….

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March 27, 2004

Builder eyes Hawaii Kai farms

By Suzanne Roig, Honolulu Advertiser

A developer wants to build 200 homes on 87 acres of land off Lunalilo Home Road, a proposal that would end more than half a century of farming in the former swamp land that is Hawaii Kai and bring large-scale construction to its last undeveloped valley.

Stanford Carr, the developer of the Peninsula, a 600-unit project under way on the edge of the marina, has approached area City Councilman Charles Djou, chairman of the council’s zoning committee, with a plan to move Kamilonui Valley’s 16 farmers to other communities to make way for his latest brainchild….

… Continued at Stanford Carr Development

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April 18, 2003

6 firms and 2 men fined
for illegal donations

By Rick Daysog, Honolulu Star-Bulletin

The state Campaign Spending Commission has approved more than $62,000 in fines against eight companies and individuals for making excessive political donations to major local Democratic candidates.

By 3-0 vote, the commission approved fines against the engineering and development firms of Fukunaga & Associates Inc., Fujita & Associates, W.A. Hirai & Associates Inc., AM Partners Inc., Stanford Carr Development Corp. and WMO Corp….

… continued at Stanford Carr Development

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February 16, 2004

Makena Resort Fight Flares Anew

By Timothy Hurley, The Honolulu Advertiser

KIHEI, Maui – It’s deja vu for the Makena Resort and its proposal to rezone hundreds of acres for luxury housing and visitor accommodations.

Two years ago, foes waved signs of protest along the highway and the resort’s plan was debated at length before stalling over Maui County Council quorum issues and a shortage of votes.

The proposal comes before the council again next month….

The center of the storm is Makena Resort’s 20-year plan to add some 200 acres of condominiums and apartments surrounding the Makena North and South golf courses, and to designate 28 acres for a hotel or time-share project south of the Maui Prince Hotel….

… Continued at Seibu Group of Japan

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March 25, 2004

The Maui News – Letters to the Editor

Development should really be called corruption

I’m not ready to let Makena Resort off the hook.

“Development” has been happening to these islands since the missionaries. The only good in “development” is to developers. It has no interest for locals living here year-around….

I witnessed the aloha spirit in 1976-79. The Protect Kaho`olawe Ohana in Kona accepted me and took me in. We lived on the pristine beach front at Kukailimoku. There, we had authentic Hawaiian village with many hale, halau, luau, fishing, taro and Hawaiian pumpkin garden. I was young and naive. My Hawaiian friends showed tolerance for me. Then the National Guard came, making everyone leave. Some Hawaiians were arrested for trespassing, while they were on Hawaiian land. It was heartbreakingly unjust.

“Development” anywhere only serves a select few. It should be called “corruption,” for that is what it ultimately leads to.

Only when political leaders see the spiritual side of their responsibility to these islands will any true good come from “development.”

Ellen Garrison

Lahaina

$ $ $

March 14, 2004

Wake up, Maui – ‘anti-development’ is not a dirty word.

By Lee Cataluna, Honolulu Advertiser

Along vast stretches of the interstate that runs through Oklahoma, you see homestead after homestead with collections of junk in the fenced yards. The homesteads cover several acres, and on those acres are broken tractors, broken trucks, broken barns, broken houses. It’s as if, when something doesn’t work anymore or has aged past the point of viable repair, folks just leave it where it is for the grass and vines to claim it. Then, they build a new barn or a new house or buy a new truck or tractor.

Hawaii isn’t Oklahoma. We don’t have that kind of space to spare.

Amazing how many people don’t seem to see that, though.

Twenty years ago, when Kauai voters overwhelmingly supported the resumption of construction of the controversial resort development at Nukolii beach, much of the rationale was based on concern that the island would otherwise earn the label “anti-development”.

As if that’s a bad thing on a small, beautiful island.

And now, that same tangled thinking is all over Maui’s Makena Resort debate. It’s Nukoli’i all over again, except there’s more money involved, and more acreage.

Never mind that Maui’s water supply is literally almost tapped out. Never mind that Maui’s roads are more congested than the H-1 by Love’s Bakery on a Friday afternoon when there’s an accident and it’s raining. Never mind Maui’s affordable real-estate shortage. Maui’s affordable rental shortage. Maui’s mid-range real-estate shortage and Maui’s growing homeless problem; what that island needs is more time-shares, more condos and more overpriced, overbuilt, money-can’t-buy-taste cribs….

The Nukolii fight raged on for a decade. There were lawsuits and appeals and that 1984 public vote where pro-development forces pooled hundreds of thousands of dollars to advertise and organize and send out absentee ballots. Fishermen stood on the sand at Nukolii and cried and cursed as they saw money win over ‘aina and over good sense.

All that, and for what? The hotel that sits there, which has been the Aston, the Hilton and is now the Radisson Kauai Beach Resort, is a mid-priced hotel on a beach that’s usually too windy. It’s the kind of place you go for award luncheons for nonprofit groups, the kind of place the visiting Oahu high-school team stays in during the tournament.

So what if Maui gets the reputation for being “anti-development”? Being seen as “pro-development” is much more dangerous. The mindset on that island, on all the Hawaiian Islands, has to change from this “build, build, build” madness to something more realistic to sustaining life and lifestyle on an island with limited resources….

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April 4, 2004

Farming Loophole Is Costly

Developers save millions on tax breaks

By Allen G. Breed and Martha Mendoza, Associated Press

Millions of dollars in property tax breaks intended to preserve farmland are going instead to companies that bulldoze farms to build housing subdivisions, malls and industrial parks, an Associated Press investigation has found.

It’s happening from coast to coast, costing local governments badly needed revenue or forcing them to increase the taxes of other property owners. The breaks can be enormous. Without them, land owners would typically pay two to 400 times more in property taxes.

In most states, the tax breaks date back to the 1950s and ‘60s, when lawmakers became alarmed at the rate at which farmland was disappearing under concrete and asphalt.

But loopholes in the laws are producing unintended, though perfectly legal, consequences.

Here’s what happening: A developer buys land with the intention of building on it. During the years when he readies the property for construction – preparing architectural plans, acquiring financing and permits, even building roads and laying water pipe – he runs some cows or cuts some hay. Then he claims the tax break. Because of the loopholes, often a pretense of farming can be enough to qualify.

Usually, the tax break ends only after construction of buildings begins; sometimes, it doesn’t even stop then.

The AP found scores of cases throughout the country – some with “Soon to be the Home Of” signs heralding future malls, industrial parks or housing developments on property receiving tax breaks intended to encourage land preservation.

In Polk County, Iowa, which includes the city of Des Moines, about 10 percent of those claiming farmland tax breaks are actually identified on the tax rolls as developers. Jim Maloney, county assessor, said most of the others are also developers and speculators.

All over the country, local officials offered similar accounts.

“We have a lot of wannabe farmers who are out there trying to farm the system rather than the property,” said Alaska State Assessor Steve Van Sant.

Every state offers some type of tax incentive to protect land from development. In some states, only working farms are eligible. In others, the breaks apply to agricultural land whether it is being farmed or not, and some also include timberland or other open space.

“The whole idea was to encourage people to keep their land in agricultural use,” said Talbot D’Alemberte, who sponsored the law as a member of the Florida state legislature in 1972.

TO DISCOURAGE owners from taking a tax break and then developing their land, some states back-bill landowners at the normal tax rate, sometimes tacking on interest, if they develop the land.

But 20 states, including Florida, don’t back-bill at all. In eight others, back-billing is limited to three years or less of back taxes – but developers and speculators often hold land longer than that before building.

Developers are unapologetic. “The way they tax is what you use it for,” said Bob Schroder, vice president of Arlinghaus Builders. “It’s not who owns it or what you might do with it someday. It’s what you do with it now.”…

Those who benefit from the tax breaks are a large and vocal constituency. In Iowa, they showed up en-masse last year to block the reappointment of a tax assessor who was trying to get tough on agricultural exemptions.

Many farmers’ organizations, whose members truly are farming their land, also oppose reform, fearing tinkering with the laws could cost their members money.

“Change this law?” said John Zimple of Arkansas’ Assessment Coordination Department in Little Rock.

“There probably would be a civil war.” …

~ ~ ~

AND IN OUR 50^TH STATE, HAWAII, HERE’S A GLIMPSE OF JUST SOME OF THE BIRDS WHO ARE PAVING PARADISE AND GETTING RICH AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE …

Alexander & Baldwin – One of Hawaii’s old “Big Five” corporations.

March 10, 2003

ALEXANDER & BALDWIN INC – FORM 10-K

A&B and its subsidiaries are actively involved in the entire spectrum of land development, including planning, zoning, financing, constructing, purchasing, managing and leasing, and selling and exchanging real property.

… Planning and Zoning

The entitlement process for development of property in Hawaii is both time-consuming and costly, involving numerous State and County regulatory approvals. For example, conversion of an agriculturally-zoned parcel to residential zoning usually requires the following approvals:

– amendment of the County general plan to reflect the desired residential use;

– approval by the State Land Use Commission to reclassify the parcel from the “Agricultural” district to the “Urban” district;

– County approval to rezone the property to the precise residential use desired; and,

– if the parcel is located in the Special Management Area (“SMA”), the granting of an SMA permit by the County.

The entitlement process is complicated by the conditions, restrictions and exactions that are placed on these approvals, including, among others, the construction of infrastructure improvements, payment of impact fees, restrictions on the permitted uses of the land, provision of affordable housing and/or mandatory fee sale of portions of the project.

A&B actively works with regulatory agencies, commissions and legislative bodies at various levels of government to obtain zoning reclassification of land to its highest and best use. A&B designates a parcel as “fully-entitled” or “fully-zoned” when all necessary government land use approvals have been obtained.

As described in more detail below, in 2002, work to obtain entitlements for urban use focused on (i) obtaining Community Plan designations for various A&B lands on Maui, and (ii) obtaining County entitlements for a proposed single-family subdivision and proposed hotel on Maui. The Community Plans serve to guide planning and development activity on Maui. A&B has obtained and continues to seek various urban designations for its undeveloped lands within the four Community Plans where most of its Maui lands are located….

$ $ $

Alexander & Baldwin Officers & Directors

Officers

Charles M. Stockholm

Chairman of the Board, Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.; Chairman of the Board, Matson Navigation Company, Inc.

Allen Doane

President and Chief Executive Officer, Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.; Vice Chairman of the Board, Matson Navigation Company, Inc.

James S. Andrasick

President & Chief Executive Officer, Matson Navigation Company, Inc.

Christopher J. Benjamin

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

Norbert M. Buelsing

Executive Vice President (Property Management), A&B Properties, Inc.

Meredith J. Ching

Vice President (Government & Community Relations), Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

Nelson N.S. Chun

Vice President and General Counsel

Matthew J. Cox

Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Matson Navigation Company, Inc.

Robert K. Sasaki

President (Properties), A & B Properties, Inc.

Thomas A. Wellman

Vice President, Treasurer and Controller, Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

Directors

Charles M. Stockholm

Chairman of the Board, Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.; Chairman of the Board, Matson Navigation Company, Inc.; Managing Director, Trust Company of the West (investment management services)

Michael J. Chun

President and Headmaster, The Kamehameha Schools

Allen Doane

President and Chief Executive Officer, Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

Walter A. Dods, Jr.

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, BancWest Corporation; Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, First Hawaiian Bank

Charles G. King

President, King Auto Center; President, King Windward Nissan

Constance H. Lau

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, American Savings Bank, F.S.B; Trustee, Kamehameha Schools

Maryanna G. Shaw

Private investor

Jeffrey N. Watanabe

Managing Partner, Watanabe Ing Kawashima & Komeiji LLP (attorneys at law)

~ ~ ~

For more on the issue of WATER RIGHTS FOR THE WEALTHY, GO TO > > > www.the-catbird-seat.net/BlueGold.htm

To join in the ACTION, GO TO > > > www.hi.sierraclub.org/maui/index.html

For more on MATSON, GO TO > > >www.the-catbird-seat.net/EricShine.htm

For much more on A&B, GO TO > > > Alexander & Baldwin

Apollo Advisors – Advisors to the gods, they aren’t.

For more, GO TO > > > Apollo

Azabu Builders – Japan-based developer.

For more, GO TO > > > Broken Trust; Dirty Money, Dirty Politics & Bishop Estate; Yakuza Doodle Dandies

Bert A. Kobayashi – Chairman, Kobayashi Development Group, LLC

October 20, 2002

Meet Hawaii’s Top Ten Power Brokers

Hawaii Business Magazine

Developer Bert A. Kobayashi is a good friend of the governor. He is also the current chair of the University of Hawaii’s Board of Regents and is a board member of numerous other Hawaii community institutions. Kobayashi is a formidable fund raiser, recently chairing the recognition event when First Lady Vicky Cayetano received the 2002 Distinguished Citizen Award from the Aloha Council of the Boy Scouts of America. His community involvement extends to Washington, D.C., where he is a regent of Georgetown University.

“It’s not power that I’m looking for. It’s more like connections, so that I can help other people,” Kobayashi says, “I help myself once and a while, too.”…

Today, he estimates that his development projects, under numerous companies, including Kobayashi Development Group LLC, have been grossing about $100 million a year. Some of his more high-profile projects include proposed twin luxury condominium towers (in partnership with Duncan MacNaughton) on land formerly owned by Victoria Ward Ltd., the Kukio Beach Resort on the North Kona Coast of the Big Island, Kapolei Civic Center and Kapolei Middle and High Schools.

Lobbyist Bob Toyofuku says, “I think Bert’s relationship with Gov. Cayetano, especially, and his network of friends throughout Honolulu and outside make him a power person in this state.”…

$ $ $

July 17, 1998

Cayetano pal got $40 million in non-bid work

Critics cry favoritism over contracts for
Bert Kobayashi’s company, but the state
and governor deny any wrongdoing and
point to a mandate to expedite
school construction

By Rob Perez, Star-Bulletin

A company whose financial backer is a close friend and supporter of Gov. Ben Cayetano has received more than $40 million worth of state school contracts since last year without having to compete for the jobs.

State officials say the nonbid contracts were awarded legally, had nothing to do with favoritism toward builder Bert A. Kobayashi and will greatly benefit Kapolei students and parents, bringing two new schools to the area faster than the government otherwise could have done.

The string of exclusive deals started last year when planning and construction contracts worth nearly $37 million for a Kapolei middle school were awarded to a company affiliated with Kobayashi.

The state did not solicit proposals from other bidders before awarding the contracts to Makai Village Partnership in June and November.

Kobayashi, whom Cayetano describes as a dear friend and one of the state’s most honest business people, is chairman of PAB Investment Corp., one of two general partners fro Makai Village.

The state awarded the contracts to help meet a 1996 legislative mandate to expedite school construction in Kapolei, a fast-growing community with only one public school, a severely overcrowded elementary school.

On the day Makai Village broke ground for the middle school, Nov. 14, 1997, it received another contract, again on a noncompetitive basis, to begin the planning process for a Kapolei high school.

Last April, it got another nonbid contract to develop the high school’s design plans, specifications and environmental assessment. The two most recent agreements are worth more than $4 million.

For most major contracts, the state is required to seek competitive bids to try to ensure that taxpayers get the best deals for their money. The idea is that competing companies will bid as low as economically feasible to win the business.

A competitive process also is supposed to prevent selections based on favoritism.

The manner in which Kobayashi’s company got the Kapolei contracts has raised questions of favoritism and fairness, particularly when some contractors are struggling for jobs in Hawaii’s sputtering economy….

Kobayashi’s close ties to Cayetano also have fueled criticism of the deals.

Shortly after Cayetano took office, he nominated Kobayashi to probably the most prestigious state board in the isles: the University of Hawaii Board of Regents.

When President Clinton came to Hawaii in 1996, Kobayashi was among a select group of six people invited to golf with Clinton and the governor.

Giving nonbid work to someone so close creates the appearance of rewards, critics charge….

Cayetano said the contract awards were handled “by the book” and that he had nothing whatsoever to do with them….

$ $ $

May 14, 2000

Task Force Reviews Bishop’s Loan Of Artifacts

By Robbie Dingeman, Honolulu Advertiser

The Bishop Museum Board of Directors wants changes in museum policy to prevent a repeat of the mistake made with the release of 83 rare Hawaiian artifacts in February.

The release of the objects to one organization triggered a controversy among other groups that also claimed the priceless cultural artifacts.

And there are growing questions about the museum’s treatment of employees who raised the concerns about the issue. One employee was fired, one suspended and the 21 employees who signed a protest letter were reprimanded.

Longtime board member and part-Hawaiian businessman Kenneth Brown said the museum didn’t realize that the issue was “so potentially explosive” until after the loan of a collection from the Kawaihae Caves complex on the Big Island was made to Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei….

Stender: avoid repeating mistake

Board member and former Bishop Estate trustee Oswald Stender said the board needs to determine what can be done to avoid repeating the mistake made in releasing the artifacts.

“The process seems to be flawed somehow,” Stender said. “What happened put the museum in a very compromising position and we shouldn’t be in that position….

Redraft of museum policies in works

Board chairman Bert A. Kobayashi said the museum is working to redraft its polities concerning such artifacts as announced by Duckworth last month when the museum acknowledged the mistake and apologized for it….

Stender and Brown both said they are concerned about actions taken against museum employees who criticized the museum’s actions.

Last month, the museum fired public relations manager Nanette Napoleon Purnell, charging that officials lost confidence in her after she expressed strong opinions about the controversy at a staff meeting in March.

Staff that speak out reprimanded

Last week, well-known Bishop Museum archivist DeSoto Brown was suspended without pay for speaking out publicly about the artifact controversy and criticizing the museum’s actions. Both Purnell and DeSoto Brown are authors, respected in their fields and well-known in the community. All the employees who signed the protest letter received reprimand letters and some included language that threatened them with termination for further offenses….

Staff told not to talk to board members

Last week, museum employees received a staff e-mail on a variety of matters that proposed “communications policy should indicate that staff should not contact BPBM (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum) Board members directly.”

Stender said he would oppose a policy that keeps employees from contacting board members.

“That was the whole problem with Kamehameha Schools, they tried to stifle communication,” he said.

Stender said he doesn’t see a consensus on what should happen to the artifacts, but he has his opinion: “Personally, I would like to see those things exhibited at the museum for future generations and the world to see.”

Catbird Note: The trustees for Kamehameha Schools are also the same trustees for Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.

For more on the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate connections, GO TO > > > Dirty Money, Dirty Politics & Bishop Estate; RICO in Paradise

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January 23, 2002

Firms chosen to bid on medical school job

By Treena Shapiro, Star-Bulletin

A 14-member advisory committee, composed of local business and education leaders, has selected three local and mainland joint venture partnerships to bid on a $100 million to $120 million project to build a medical school campus in Kakaako.

The construction is the first phase of a $300 million effort to build a Health and Wellness Center on land now occupied by the Department of Agriculture’s plant quarantine branch.

Previously a project of this scope would have been sent to the Department of Accounting and General Services.

UH president Evan Dobelle said he was uncomfortable with a lack of process and procedure that has plagued UH construction projects in the past. With a community advisory committee, he hopes to avoid local politics and “to broaden those who get to look at the dollars to get to look at the contracts that are given out.”

“The point of the thing is we need to prove after way too many years that the University of Hawaii can build a project on time and on budget,” Dobelle said.

The bidders are ACK + McCarthy, Hawaiian Dredging/Kajima and Kiewit/DPR. UH Board of Regents Vice Chairman Bert Kobayashi previously held a controlling interest in ACK, but sold the company to employees in 1997.

His only financial interest in the company is a pension plan, said Paul Costello, UH vice president of external affairs. Kobayashi has recused himself from any decision making about Kakaako….

The construction effort will be headed by UH vice president Allan Ah San, to be assisted by Massachusetts-based consultant Jack Bradshaw, a senior management team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a consulting firm hired by Kamehameha Schools, Dobelle said.

For more, GO TO > > > The Firing of Evan Dobelle; Kajima

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January 24, 2002

THREE VETERAN BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS JOIN AMERICAN SAVINGS BANK BOARD

Three veteran Hawaii business and community leaders have been appointed to the board of directors of American Savings Bank, adding to the diversity and expertise of its existing board. On January 1, 2002, the bank’s board welcomed Barry K. Taniguchi, president and chief executive officer, KTA Super Stores and K. Taniguchi Ltd.; Bert A. Kobayashi, chairman, Kobayashi Development Group LLC; and Richard “Dick” W. Gushman, chairman of the board of trustees of the Estate of James Campbell.

“These three individuals are leaders in their fields, and bring a wealth of business acumen, management experience, and commitment to improving the local community,” said Constance H. Lau, president and chief executive officer of American Savings Bank.

“Each has the integrity and expertise to help guide American Savings Bank as the financial institution Hawaii residents and businesses can count on to support our local businesses and community….”

Bert Kobayashi has 38 years of construction experience, including 30 years as a developer. His projects include some of Hawaii’s major residential, resort, business and community developments such as West Loch Estates, Kapolei Middle Schools, Kapolei High School, Kapolei Civic Center, Napili Villas condominiums, and Kukio Beach Resort residential and golf community in North Kona.

An active member of the community, Kobayashi serves on the boards or committees of the University of Hawaii, Georgetown University, Hawaii Nature Center, Bishop Museum, St. Louis Education Foundation, Mid-Pacific Institute, Kapiolani Health Care Foundation, Kuakini Health System, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, Hawaiian Educational Council, The Japan America Society, and Honolulu Zoo Society Capital Campaign Committee.

In addition, Kobayashi is on the advisory boards of the Pacific Air Forces Civilian Advisory Council, Georgetown University Law Center, Georgetown University Business School, St. Francis Hospital Hospice Capital Campaign “A Vision for Dignity.”

His past board involvement includes the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, Aloha United Way, Ronald McDonald House, Child & Family Services, Polynesian Voyaging Society, and March of Dimes Governor’s Ball….

The addition of the three new directors expands the board to 10.

The other directors are Robert F. Clarke, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. and chairman of the board, American Savings Bank; Jorge Camara, M.D.; Kenton T. Eldridge, business advisor; Louise K.Y. Ing, partner, Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing; Constance H. Lau, president and chief executive officer, American Savings Bank; Diane Plotts, business advisor; and Jeffrey Watanabe, partner, Watanabe, Ing & Kawashima.…

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For more on Bert Kobayashi, GO TO > > > Woo vs. Harmon

For more on Constance Lau and Diane Plotts, who are also trustees of Kamehameha Schools, GO TO > > > Dirty Money, Dirty Politics & Bishop Estate

For more on Jeffrey Watanabe, GO TO > > > The Consuelo Zobel Alger Foundation; Harmon’s Letters to Hamilton McCubbin; RICO in Paradise

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February 1, 2002

KG Buys Waikiki Hotel

By Debbie Sokei, Pacific Business News

Ninety-four people laid off following the sale of the Ocean Resort Hotel Waikiki could be able to keep their jobs after the new owner said Friday it was open to such a possibility.

KG Holdings LLC completed its purchase of the hotel this week from Sports Shinko (Waikiki) Corp., the same company it bought three island golf courses from last week.

KG spokeswoman Ruth Ann Becker declined to release the sale price, but said the sale of the 450-room hotel on Paokalani Avenue was finalized Wednesday. Developer Bert A. Kobayashi is the chairman and principle shareholder of KG.

Sports Shinko (Waikiki) Corporation notified the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of the sale on Thursday, saying it no longer would operate the hotel and was terminating its 94 employees….

Sports Shinko owns the Queen Kapiolani Hotel in Waikiki. Becker wouldn’t say if KG Holdings would try to acquire that property.

KG last week purchased golf courses on Oahu, Maui and Kauai from Sports Shinko for $12.4 million.