Save Kauai brings together current information about Kauai and web-based tools that allow you to take action. If we want to affect the future of Kauai in a pono way we must organize and begin implementing solutions, not just fighting the problems.
Aloha 'Aina, Imua Kakou!
http://starbulletin.com/2008/08/18/news/story01.html
Condo owners allege fleecing
Residents at a project on Kauai question millions of dollars levied in monthly fees
KAPAA, Kauai » Condominium owners at the new Waipouli Beach Resort allege that the developer of the project, who is a condo owner himself, has swindled them out of millions of dollars over the past two years.
Developer Chris Singleton, who lives at the resort and has his real estate company in the lobby, denies the allegations, saying they are the fallout from upheaval on the project's board of directors.
Singleton is accused of using the maintenance fees paid by the condo owners to pay for his own items, such as his electric bill, the furniture in the bar, construction costs and others.
An audit by a forensic accountant turned up more than $2.2 million in "questionable" charges to condo owners, former and present members of the condo board said recently.
Among those charges at the resort, which opened in January 2007, is the electric bill of developer Singleton's own six hotel-style condo units. The six rooms, these board members found, had been wired directly into the main electric meter for the entire complex, while the rest of the 176 units had their own electric meters. The bill for the main electric meter was paid from the condo owners' maintenance fees.
Singleton has repaid more than $32,000 for the electric bill, but the rooms remain wired to the main meter, condo owners allege.
DHHL’s Wailua commercial plans halted
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by Blake Jones - The Garden Island
WAILUA — The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has frozen plans to develop a commercial project makai of Kuhio Highway in Wailua, though it is moving forward with the much larger mauka residential community.
Income from the commercial component was expected to jump start the master community of up to 700 homestead lots; however, revenue bond funding became available earlier this year and will be used instead to the same end.
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Hawaiian Home Lands Director Micah Kane, speaking to the governor’s Kaua‘i Community Advisory Council Wednesday at the War Memorial Convention Hall, said the $10 million allows the residential project to stick to its timeline while the department explores new options for the commercial side.
Earlier this year Hawaiian Home Lands sought proposals from developers for the 52-acre makai parcel pegged for retail, time share, resort, wholesale, industrial or office use.
The request for proposal generated a few offers, but the entire concept seems to be off the table for now.
“We pulled back on that development plan,” he said.
Asked if the department could have pursued one of the commercial proposals while still applying the bond money, Kane said, “We didn’t have to.”
The Wailua residential project includes up to 700 homestead lots for Native Hawaiians, a school, parks, community center, infrastructure improvements and a bypass road on 400 acres.
http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/08/15/news/news02.txt
Judge upholds Wainiha construction again
by Blake Jones - The Garden Island
Fifth Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe yesterday affirmed that construction may continue at the Wainiha homesite known to contain at least 30 iwi, or graves, while attorneys for the property owner, state and protesters named in a related lawsuit debate a preliminary injunction.
At the end of the hearing yesterday, which will continue Sept. 3, Watanabe denied a last-minute motion from the protesters’ attorney to temporarily halt building until the next court date.
The judge declined the temporary restraining order request, made by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. on behalf of two of its Kaua‘i clients, because the foundation for the home in question is already completed and no further disruption to the ground is anticipated. She also put an end to a previously agreed-upon break in construction, in place since Tuesday.
Watanabe reminded the court that she denied an earlier TRO request July 28 for the same reason.
About two dozen concrete pilings are in place at Joseph Brescia’s 18,000-square-foot beachfront property, none of which sit on top of the known iwi, according to the state.
“There’s no risk of additional earth movement,” Watanabe said.
http://kauaieclectic.blogspot.com/2008/08/stand-off-ends-in-stand-down-a...
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Stand-Off Ends in Stand Down at Naue
Joan Conrow
I spent several hours today at the Naue burial grounds, where about 30 protestors succeeded in halting construction on Joe Brescia’s house. But quite remarkably, the Kauai police declined to make any arrests.
And seven guys — all kanaka maoli — wanted to be arrested. They’d come together from throughout the islands specifically to make a public statement against the “continuing desecration” of the burials there, and they’d linked themselves together with elbows of PVC pipe, a set up that would require cops to cut them apart.
You can see pictures and video at Ehu Cardwell’s Free Hawaii site.
Some veterans in the Hawaiian rights movement, including Palikapu Dedman, Skippy Ioane and Hanalei “Hank” Fergerstrom, also came to Kauai to provide support.
“We came to the conclusion we have to take matters to a higher level to force the so-called authorities to deal with this,” said Andre Perez of Pohaku O Kane, a Koloa boy now living on Oahu who was one of those willing to be arrested.
From the get-go, though, the cops took a conciliatory, hands-off approach, and the protestors were mellow, too. The first two cops arrived, sirens wailing, at 9:22 a.m., and after checking out the scene, called for back-up. Another two showed up, then another, and they conferred with contractor Ted Burkhardt.
The landowner/developer Breschia brought in a backhoe on the property. According to Kauai ohana, he has already "poured concrete" for the foundation of the house. If anyone has more information please share.
This youtube video was just released.
Classified Ads July 30, 2008 - 1:31 P.M.
KAUAI News
Burial hearing set
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by Michael Levine - The Garden Island
A hearing that could put a halt to controversial construction on a Wainiha property containing some 30 burials is scheduled for Aug. 12 after a judge denied protesters’’ request for a temporary restraining order Monday.
Attorney Alan Murakami of the Honolulu-based Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation said yesterday that his client, Jeff Chandler, and five co-defendants hope to convince 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe to grant a temporary injunction, stopping further construction until the full civil suit is adjudicated.
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In that lawsuit, plaintiff and landowner Joseph Brescia is seeking unspecified damages from protester defendants Chandler, Ka‘iulani Edens-Huff, Puanani Rogers, Dayne Gonsalves, Louise Listman and Hale Mawae, according to electronic court records.
The original complaint was filed by Brescia’s O‘ahu-based attorney, Philip J. Leas, on June 5, two days after some 40 protesters rallied on the adjacent beach to pray for Hawaiian ancestors.
The suit seeks temporary restraining orders and injunctions against the six defendants to keep them off of the Wainiha subdivision where Brescia has been trying to build a home for some seven years despite a litany of environmental, legal and community challenges.
On June 24, Kaua‘i Police Chief Darryl Perry halted groundbreaking at the 11th hour, saying construction could violate a law regarding desecration of burial sites.
http://kauaieclectic.blogspot.com/2008/07/details-of-naue-burials-lawsui...
Details of Naue Burials Lawsuit
As I reported yesterday evening, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. was unable to secure a temporary restraining order to halt construction of Joe Brescia’s house atop some 30 burials at Naue.
However, the NHLC also has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on behalf of Jeff Chandler, a fisherman whose family goes way back in the Wainiha-Haena area. That hearing is set for Aug. 12.
The memorandum in support of that motion states:
Initially, Brescia’s contracted archaeologists produced an incomplete and misleading description of the affected burial site, leaving the Kaua`i/Ni`ihau Island Burial Council (KNIBC) with an incomplete picture of the extent of burials his luxury home construction would impact. In addition, following the KNIBC’s determination to preserve the thirty individual burials comprising the burial site located on the Brescia parcel in place, the State defendants failed to uphold their obligations pursuant to the State Constitution, Hawai`i Revised Statutes and the public trust doctrine to preserve the burial site. Instead, they improperly assented to county permitting and unilaterally usurped the Burial Council’s role, by approving a revised burial mitigation plan that allowed construction of yet another of a string of Brescia’s luxury residential investment property developments to commence.
Want to join the effort to pass the Charter Amendment to limit growth? Learn more and get involved this Thursday, at 7pm at the Kapa`a Neighborhood Center.
Want to join the effort to pass the Charter Amendment to limit growth? Learn more and get involved this Sunday,at Anini at 2pm.
This morning, the County Clerk's office notified us that the County Clerk has verified that a sufficient number of valid signatures was submitted for the Coalition for Responsible Government's petition for a County Charter amendment. So the CRG proposal will be on the November ballot (provided that no unanticipated legal machinations occur to prevent this).
Congratulations to all of you who worked so hard to collect the needed signatures!
Now, because no good deed goes unpunished, our group must begin work on the next phase of the campaign. We need to begin organizing the campaign (outreach strategy, meetings with council and mayoral candidates, publicity plans, fundraising, treasurer, secretary, etc.).
We also need to address a very serious emergency that has arisen as a result of Councilmember Iseri-Carvalho's resolution to put onto the November ballot a proposed charter amendment that could make it extremely difficult to achieve passage of the CRG amendment and other charter amendments. That proposal - which appears to already have the support of several Councilmembers - would count blank votes as No votes, and would also require that a measure be approved by 30% of the registered voters (rather than 50% of those who vote on the measure). It would have the effect of changing the voter approval requirements from the current 50% of those who vote, to something between 70-83% of those who vote (depending on voter turnout).
