Akaku: Maui Community Television Press Release:
Court Adopted a “Wait & See” Approach to Confusing RFP Process
Statement from AKAKU: Maui Community Television CEO/President Jay April Responds to Court Hearing in Akaku vs. DCCA & State of Hawaii: “We are encouraged that Judge Joel August indicated support for free speech and an interest in seeing that Hawaii’s publics are ensured access to the ‘marketplace of ideas’; however, we are disappointed with the court’s decision today to continue our motion for summary judgment...
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Maui community TV goes to court over bidding process
Maui News via The Honolulu Advertiser:
23 January 2008, Ilima Loomis
WAILUKU — The bidding process has already been delayed more than a year, and now Akaku: Maui Community Television will seek a judge's order to free it from competing for its contract altogether.
Akaku CEO Jay April said "the station will ask August to find that the state should not use a competitive bidding process to award contracts for public-access services."
Read More...
23 January 2008, Ilima Loomis
WAILUKU — The bidding process has already been delayed more than a year, and now Akaku: Maui Community Television will seek a judge's order to free it from competing for its contract altogether.
Akaku CEO Jay April said "the station will ask August to find that the state should not use a competitive bidding process to award contracts for public-access services."
Read More...
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
State of Hawaii Reigns in April, Unaccountable Akaku:Maui Community Television CEO/PRESIDENT
State of Hawaii, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Cable Advisory Committee
During the minutes of the January 9, 2008 Cable Advisory Committee, The State of Hawaii clearly distinguished its unambiguous position that "PEG Assets are Public Assets for the Benefit of the Public," in response to years of protests and lawsuits filed by Akaku:Maui Community Television's during Jay April's multi-year tenure as Board Chair and CEO of Akaku: Maui Community Television. Mr. April has continually claimed the right to deny access to the record of expenditures of these public funds, while allegedly authorizing the transfer of millions of dollars of financial and property assets from the non-profit, Akaku: Maui Community Television organization into the accounts of a private corporation under his control. Mr. April simultaneously claimed the proprietary copyright on all community television programming cable cast on Akaku's cable channels 52,53,54 on Maui, and authorized at least seven simultaneous lawsuits, all apparently without grounds, against the State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, The State Procurement Office, The State Attorney General, and at least one non-profit charity community school, one local business and four individual residents of the State of Hawaii.
Read more or Watch It!
During the minutes of the January 9, 2008 Cable Advisory Committee, The State of Hawaii clearly distinguished its unambiguous position that "PEG Assets are Public Assets for the Benefit of the Public," in response to years of protests and lawsuits filed by Akaku:Maui Community Television's during Jay April's multi-year tenure as Board Chair and CEO of Akaku: Maui Community Television. Mr. April has continually claimed the right to deny access to the record of expenditures of these public funds, while allegedly authorizing the transfer of millions of dollars of financial and property assets from the non-profit, Akaku: Maui Community Television organization into the accounts of a private corporation under his control. Mr. April simultaneously claimed the proprietary copyright on all community television programming cable cast on Akaku's cable channels 52,53,54 on Maui, and authorized at least seven simultaneous lawsuits, all apparently without grounds, against the State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, The State Procurement Office, The State Attorney General, and at least one non-profit charity community school, one local business and four individual residents of the State of Hawaii.
Read more or Watch It!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
PSA: Save Public Access Television! Please Call and email your Senators and Representatives Now!
PSA: Save Public Access Television! Please Call and email your Senators and Representatives Now!
Support Public Access, Public Accountability, Public Audits and Public Procurement for Public Access Television. Call your State Representatives and State Senators today and say A`ole to self appointed, law exempted, litigious, private interests and public non-profit/corporate/government facist, community television executives illegally lobbying to maintain the status-quo and their own salaries, despite the obvious illegal conflict of interest, using the very public access funds they were entrusted with to instead, line their own pockets and keep their books secret.
PLEASE VOTE NO ON Senate Bill 1789. Do not exclude the public from public access television!
Please Call or Email, Senator Brian T. Taniguchi, sentaniguchi@capitol.hawaii.gov
Please Call or Email, Senator David Y. Ige, sendige@capitol.hawaii.gov
PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT House Bill 3417. Do Not exclude the public from public access television!
Please Call or Email, Representative Kyle Yamashita, 808 586-6330, repyamashita@capitol.hawaii.gov
Keep the Public in Public Access! Don't let the blackshirts get you down! Facism has no place in Hawaii. Ku`e!
Support Public Access, Public Accountability, Public Audits and Public Procurement for Public Access Television. Call your State Representatives and State Senators today and say A`ole to self appointed, law exempted, litigious, private interests and public non-profit/corporate/government facist, community television executives illegally lobbying to maintain the status-quo and their own salaries, despite the obvious illegal conflict of interest, using the very public access funds they were entrusted with to instead, line their own pockets and keep their books secret.
PLEASE VOTE NO ON Senate Bill 1789. Do not exclude the public from public access television!
Please Call or Email, Senator Brian T. Taniguchi, sentaniguchi@capitol.hawaii.gov
Please Call or Email, Senator David Y. Ige, sendige@capitol.hawaii.gov
PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT House Bill 3417. Do Not exclude the public from public access television!
Please Call or Email, Representative Kyle Yamashita, 808 586-6330, repyamashita@capitol.hawaii.gov
Keep the Public in Public Access! Don't let the blackshirts get you down! Facism has no place in Hawaii. Ku`e!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Testimony attacks Molokai Ranch from all angles
David Lichtenstein
2/20/2008 59:46:52 PM, The Molokai Times
Out of the 22 people who expressed their feelings about the La'au Point Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to the Molokai Planning Commission (MoPC), only one defended the most recent version of the plan to create the luxury development.
He was John Sabas, general manager for community affairs for applicant Molokai Properties Limited (MPL). Criticisms of the plan were similar to those levied against MPL during the State Land Use Commission hearings in November of 2007. MPL spent a month-and-a-half revising the original EIS after withdrawing its application at the LUC hearings, but the public was still left with many of the same questions:
• Does MPL's master plan represent a consensus of the community as it claims?
• Does MPL have adequate water resources to support the plan?
• Does MPL have the legal rights to use the Molokai Irrigation System to transport water to Molokai's West End?
• Does MPL have the legal right to the one million gallons of water a day it claims to have in light of a recent Hawaii Supreme Court ruling concerning its West End water permits?
• Does the plan adequately protect the monk seal and its habitat?
• Does the language in the Covenants, Codes and Restrictions (CC&Rs) adequately protect the environment or can they be changed in the future to suit MPL's needs?
• Has MPL addressed the cumulative environmental impacts of the entire master plan beyond just La'au Point?
• Has MPL properly analyzed alternative uses of its land including using it for wind power?
• Has MPL addressed the impact to the island's agricultural resources? “There really isn't too much difference from the first round,” said Karen Holt, attorney and director of the Molokai Community Services Council (MCSC).
Holt testified that the DEIS makes 866 references to the plan offering protection of environmental resources with the use of CC&Rs. “This time they did submit CC&Rs, but the first thing that leapt out was that the declarant (MPL) can change anything as long as they are the owner.
“The CC&Rs are very basic, very boilerplate … they say nothing about seals, fences or cultural training … it doesn't do what it says it's going to do in the first EIS,” said Holt.
“There's nothing on the cumulative effect on the whole plan.” Holt referred to the proposal of six hotels north of Kaluakoi, space for condominiums and how agricultural and rural easements will be affected.
Glenn Teves, a Ho'olehua homestead farmer and University of Hawaii extension agent, is a long-time critic of MPL's water use. In his testimony, Teves claimed that MPL misinterpreted a one-dimensional U.S. Geological Survey water study in its EIS. Teves also stated that MPL allowed the agricultural line in its dual water system in Kaluakoi to fall into disrepair.
“MPL is on shaky ground with pieces of a system that is subject to litigation,” said Teves. “MPL is not forthcoming … I just received...
Read More ... or Watch it!
2/20/2008 59:46:52 PM, The Molokai Times
Out of the 22 people who expressed their feelings about the La'au Point Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to the Molokai Planning Commission (MoPC), only one defended the most recent version of the plan to create the luxury development.
He was John Sabas, general manager for community affairs for applicant Molokai Properties Limited (MPL). Criticisms of the plan were similar to those levied against MPL during the State Land Use Commission hearings in November of 2007. MPL spent a month-and-a-half revising the original EIS after withdrawing its application at the LUC hearings, but the public was still left with many of the same questions:
• Does MPL's master plan represent a consensus of the community as it claims?
• Does MPL have adequate water resources to support the plan?
• Does MPL have the legal rights to use the Molokai Irrigation System to transport water to Molokai's West End?
• Does MPL have the legal right to the one million gallons of water a day it claims to have in light of a recent Hawaii Supreme Court ruling concerning its West End water permits?
• Does the plan adequately protect the monk seal and its habitat?
• Does the language in the Covenants, Codes and Restrictions (CC&Rs) adequately protect the environment or can they be changed in the future to suit MPL's needs?
• Has MPL addressed the cumulative environmental impacts of the entire master plan beyond just La'au Point?
• Has MPL properly analyzed alternative uses of its land including using it for wind power?
• Has MPL addressed the impact to the island's agricultural resources? “There really isn't too much difference from the first round,” said Karen Holt, attorney and director of the Molokai Community Services Council (MCSC).
Holt testified that the DEIS makes 866 references to the plan offering protection of environmental resources with the use of CC&Rs. “This time they did submit CC&Rs, but the first thing that leapt out was that the declarant (MPL) can change anything as long as they are the owner.
“The CC&Rs are very basic, very boilerplate … they say nothing about seals, fences or cultural training … it doesn't do what it says it's going to do in the first EIS,” said Holt.
“There's nothing on the cumulative effect on the whole plan.” Holt referred to the proposal of six hotels north of Kaluakoi, space for condominiums and how agricultural and rural easements will be affected.
Glenn Teves, a Ho'olehua homestead farmer and University of Hawaii extension agent, is a long-time critic of MPL's water use. In his testimony, Teves claimed that MPL misinterpreted a one-dimensional U.S. Geological Survey water study in its EIS. Teves also stated that MPL allowed the agricultural line in its dual water system in Kaluakoi to fall into disrepair.
“MPL is on shaky ground with pieces of a system that is subject to litigation,” said Teves. “MPL is not forthcoming … I just received...
Read More ... or Watch it!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Council not quite ready to bag it, Debates open on plastic ban plan, taro modification
CHRIS HAMILTON
February 21, 2008, The Maui News
...Other discussions were on a taro-defense resolution introduced by Council Member Bill Medeiros, who holds the Hana residency seat. At least a dozen Native Hawaiian taro or kalo farmers spoke passionately about how preserving taro unadulterated is a direct reflection on Hawaiians’ connection to the land and their culture.
Molokai-based Hawaiian rights advocate Walter Ritte spoke in favor of the taro bill. He said it was the University of Hawaii researchers who decided on their own a few years ago to modify traditional Hawaiian varieties of taro by adding rice gene strains.
The reports of the research efforts on standard Hawaiian varieties of taro provoked protests at the UH-Manoa campus.
“This issue is bringing Hawaiians together,” said Ritte.
While Hawaiian taro proponents are planning major protests, they also want to make sure that they are careful not to hurt the state’s burgeoning biotechnology industry, he said.
Wayne Chun spoke to council members with his baby hanging from his chest.
“I am here for my kupuna and the keiki,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with the taro; we’ve been eating it for years.”
Penny Levin, a conservation planner and taro grower on Maui, said ...
Read More ... or Watch it!
February 21, 2008, The Maui News
...Other discussions were on a taro-defense resolution introduced by Council Member Bill Medeiros, who holds the Hana residency seat. At least a dozen Native Hawaiian taro or kalo farmers spoke passionately about how preserving taro unadulterated is a direct reflection on Hawaiians’ connection to the land and their culture. Molokai-based Hawaiian rights advocate Walter Ritte spoke in favor of the taro bill. He said it was the University of Hawaii researchers who decided on their own a few years ago to modify traditional Hawaiian varieties of taro by adding rice gene strains.
The reports of the research efforts on standard Hawaiian varieties of taro provoked protests at the UH-Manoa campus.
“This issue is bringing Hawaiians together,” said Ritte.
While Hawaiian taro proponents are planning major protests, they also want to make sure that they are careful not to hurt the state’s burgeoning biotechnology industry, he said.
Wayne Chun spoke to council members with his baby hanging from his chest.
“I am here for my kupuna and the keiki,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with the taro; we’ve been eating it for years.”
Penny Levin, a conservation planner and taro grower on Maui, said ...
Read More ... or Watch it!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Poor Stewardship Jeopardizes the Survival of the Molokai Irrigation System
Gillian Tett
February 20, 2008, The Molokai Dispatch
State audit slams the Department of Agriculture for mismanaging farmers’ water system.
The following is an excerpt from a report to the governor and legislature of the State of Hawaii. The entire report, published this month, can be found at: http://www.state.hi.us/auditor/Reports/2008/08-03.pdf
We conducted this audit in response to Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 176, of the 2007 legislative session. The Molokai Irrigation System provides about 1.4 billion gallons of water annually to its users. Construction was started in 1957 to bring water from the eastern end of Molokai to the central farming areas as part of a federal and state commitment to native Hawaiian homesteaders. The system consists of collection dams and deep wells; a transmission tunnel, pipes, and flume; a reservoir; and distribution pipes to customers. Among the customers is the Molokai Ranch, via a rental agreement.
We found that while the Department of Agriculture inherited a broken system, little has been done to learn about system problems or to create a plan to address them. The department received historical data on the system from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and yet it was not clear that department personnel understood the significance of its history. Numerous studies recommended management and operational improvements. For example, problems reported in a 1987 study still exist today, unadressed.
The department’s flawed management endangers agriculture in Molokai. It has been unable to reconcile its responsibilities as stewards to the irrigation system and obligations to the Hawaiian homesteaders. While it...
Read More ... or Watch it!
February 20, 2008, The Molokai Dispatch
State audit slams the Department of Agriculture for mismanaging farmers’ water system.The following is an excerpt from a report to the governor and legislature of the State of Hawaii. The entire report, published this month, can be found at: http://www.state.hi.us/auditor/Reports/2008/08-03.pdf
We conducted this audit in response to Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 176, of the 2007 legislative session. The Molokai Irrigation System provides about 1.4 billion gallons of water annually to its users. Construction was started in 1957 to bring water from the eastern end of Molokai to the central farming areas as part of a federal and state commitment to native Hawaiian homesteaders. The system consists of collection dams and deep wells; a transmission tunnel, pipes, and flume; a reservoir; and distribution pipes to customers. Among the customers is the Molokai Ranch, via a rental agreement.
We found that while the Department of Agriculture inherited a broken system, little has been done to learn about system problems or to create a plan to address them. The department received historical data on the system from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and yet it was not clear that department personnel understood the significance of its history. Numerous studies recommended management and operational improvements. For example, problems reported in a 1987 study still exist today, unadressed.
The department’s flawed management endangers agriculture in Molokai. It has been unable to reconcile its responsibilities as stewards to the irrigation system and obligations to the Hawaiian homesteaders. While it...
Read More ... or Watch it!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Insight: The next crisis will be over food
Gillian Tett
February 14, 2008, Financial Times
I used to think that the fastest way to become worried about markets was to stare into the bowels of a monoline. No longer. A few days ago, I happened to hear Goldman Sachs discuss the state of the global financial system with European clients.
And what struck me most forcefully from this analysis – aside from the usual, horrific litany of bank woes – was just how much trouble is quietly brewing in corners of the commodities world.
Never mind that oil prices are high; that problem is already well known and gallons of ink have been spilt debating that, along with the pressures in metals and mineral spheres.
Instead, what is really catching the attention of Goldman Sachs now is the outlook for agricultural prices. Or as Jeff Currie, head of commodities research at the US bank, says with disarming cheer: “We think we could go into crisis mode in many commodities sectors in the next 12 to 18 months . . . and I would argue that agriculture is key here.”
Now, to some readers of the Financial Times, that observation might seem odd. After all, inhabitants of the western world typically spend far more time worrying about the price of petrol for their car, rather than the price of wheat or
Read More ... or Watch it!
February 14, 2008, Financial Times
I used to think that the fastest way to become worried about markets was to stare into the bowels of a monoline. No longer. A few days ago, I happened to hear Goldman Sachs discuss the state of the global financial system with European clients.And what struck me most forcefully from this analysis – aside from the usual, horrific litany of bank woes – was just how much trouble is quietly brewing in corners of the commodities world.
Never mind that oil prices are high; that problem is already well known and gallons of ink have been spilt debating that, along with the pressures in metals and mineral spheres.
Instead, what is really catching the attention of Goldman Sachs now is the outlook for agricultural prices. Or as Jeff Currie, head of commodities research at the US bank, says with disarming cheer: “We think we could go into crisis mode in many commodities sectors in the next 12 to 18 months . . . and I would argue that agriculture is key here.”
Now, to some readers of the Financial Times, that observation might seem odd. After all, inhabitants of the western world typically spend far more time worrying about the price of petrol for their car, rather than the price of wheat or
Read More ... or Watch it!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Focus Green
Helen Anne Schonwalter
February 14, 2008, The Maui Weekly
Conversations on climate change.
Beginning Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s McCoy Studio Theater, Mauians of all ages, political persuasions and interests will be given an opportunity to hear a diverse group of speakers on topics ranging from electric sports cars to energy efficiency in urban areas. In its second year, this Focus Green five-part lecture series even offers a comedic scientist, Bill Nye the Science Guy, for the young and young at heart.
“Conversations on Climate Change,” sponsored by Dowling Company, will be held on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. from Feb. 26 to March 25.
Appropriately for 2008, the International Year of the Reef, the opening talk features Dr. Sylvia Earle, world-renowned oceanographer and National Geographic explorer-in-residence. A pioneering aquanaut and marine explorer
Read More ... or Watch it!
February 14, 2008, The Maui Weekly
Conversations on climate change.Beginning Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s McCoy Studio Theater, Mauians of all ages, political persuasions and interests will be given an opportunity to hear a diverse group of speakers on topics ranging from electric sports cars to energy efficiency in urban areas. In its second year, this Focus Green five-part lecture series even offers a comedic scientist, Bill Nye the Science Guy, for the young and young at heart.
“Conversations on Climate Change,” sponsored by Dowling Company, will be held on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. from Feb. 26 to March 25.
Appropriately for 2008, the International Year of the Reef, the opening talk features Dr. Sylvia Earle, world-renowned oceanographer and National Geographic explorer-in-residence. A pioneering aquanaut and marine explorer
Read More ... or Watch it!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Lake Mead Could Be Within a Few Years of Going Dry, Study Finds
FELICITY BARRINGER
February 13, 2008, The New York Times
Lake Mead, the vast reservoir for the Colorado River water that sustains the fast-growing cities of Phoenix and Las Vegas, could lose water faster than previously thought and run dry within 13 years, according to a new study by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The lake, located in Nevada and Arizona, has a 50 percent chance of becoming unusable by 2021, the scientists say, if the demand for water remains unchanged and if human-induced climate change follows climate scientists’ moderate forecasts, resulting in a reduction in average river flows.
Demand for Colorado River water already slightly exceeds the average annual supply when high levels of evaporation are taken into account, the researchers, Tim P. Barnett and David W. Pierce, point ...
Read More ... or Watch it!
February 13, 2008, The New York Times
Lake Mead, the vast reservoir for the Colorado River water that sustains the fast-growing cities of Phoenix and Las Vegas, could lose water faster than previously thought and run dry within 13 years, according to a new study by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.The lake, located in Nevada and Arizona, has a 50 percent chance of becoming unusable by 2021, the scientists say, if the demand for water remains unchanged and if human-induced climate change follows climate scientists’ moderate forecasts, resulting in a reduction in average river flows.
Demand for Colorado River water already slightly exceeds the average annual supply when high levels of evaporation are taken into account, the researchers, Tim P. Barnett and David W. Pierce, point ...
Read More ... or Watch it!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat
ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
February 8, 2008, The New York Times
Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these “green” fuels are taken into account, two studies being published Thursday have concluded.
The benefits of biofuels have come under increasing attack in recent months, as scientists took a closer look at the global environmental cost of their production. These latest studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, are likely to add to the controversy.
These studies for the first time take a detailed, comprehensive look at...
Read More ... or Watch it!
February 8, 2008, The New York Times
Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these “green” fuels are taken into account, two studies being published Thursday have concluded.The benefits of biofuels have come under increasing attack in recent months, as scientists took a closer look at the global environmental cost of their production. These latest studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, are likely to add to the controversy.
These studies for the first time take a detailed, comprehensive look at...
Read More ... or Watch it!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Cultural panel wants time for Laau EIS
CHRIS HAMILTON
2/8/2008 5:48:41 PM, The Maui News
WAILUKU — The Maui County Cultural Resources Commission Thursday joined a growing chorus asking Molokai Properties Ltd. for more time to review the company’s voluminous draft environmental impact statement on its proposed Laau Point rural residential project.
The deadline for comment on the draft is Feb. 22. But since the 1,600-page document was released last month, the Molokai Planning Commission, Council Member Danny Mateo of Molokai and a number of Molokai residents have all asked for an extension.
“I just got this a couple days ago,” said Cultural Resources Commissioner Erik Frederickson. “This is huge. . . . I can’t in good conscience say, ‘Yeah, I’ll take the developer’s word for it. This is great.’ ”
Read More ... or Watch it!
2/8/2008 5:48:41 PM, The Maui News
WAILUKU — The Maui County Cultural Resources Commission Thursday joined a growing chorus asking Molokai Properties Ltd. for more time to review the company’s voluminous draft environmental impact statement on its proposed Laau Point rural residential project.
The deadline for comment on the draft is Feb. 22. But since the 1,600-page document was released last month, the Molokai Planning Commission, Council Member Danny Mateo of Molokai and a number of Molokai residents have all asked for an extension.
“I just got this a couple days ago,” said Cultural Resources Commissioner Erik Frederickson. “This is huge. . . . I can’t in good conscience say, ‘Yeah, I’ll take the developer’s word for it. This is great.’ ”
Read More ... or Watch it!
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