Hawaii County’s Motion For Summary Judgment Was Granted In The Keokeo/Holu Street Roadway Condemnation

The Honolulu Advertiser finally reported about Sandwich Isles Communications meeting with the FCC recently (I had blogged about this on Saturday). This meeting was regarding NECA’s denial of SIC’s request for subsidies to pay for the operating costs of their inter island fiber-optic network.

The Saddle Road website has been updated to reflect the current status of this much needed roadway improvement project. They also included information regarding the SEIS process for the Kona side re-alignment of this critical cross island link.

(Related Item: Kona Side Saddle Road Realignment Draft SEIS Available)

John Powell has a great poll titled Does HELCO care ?

I haven’t seen West Hawaii Today or Hawaii Tribune-Herald mention this brush fire off of South Point Road on Saturday. I was up at my brother’s house up in HOVE. He is a ham radio operator and has a lot of police scanners. I heard all the action on the police, ham radio, and fire dispatch regarding this fire. It seems the fire was suspicious in nature. There was a truck seen leaving the area shortly before the fire started.

Lastly, Judge Ibarra granted the County of Hawaii’s motion for summary judgment on November 19th,2009 regarding their condemnation of the roadway easement between Keokeo and Holu Street. I hope this will pave the way to open this much needed connector street between Kona Coastview and Kona Palisades.

Hawaiian Telcom And Oceanic Time Warner Have Failed To Address A Serious Utility Pole Issue

There is another utility pole issue which  fits perfectly with these ongoing issues (here,here, and here).

This jungle vine has totally covered up both Hawaiian Telcom and Oceanic Time Warner’s utility poles at the junction of highway 180 and 190 here in Kona. I’ve tried to talk to both of them about this issue with no success. Hawaiian Telcom’s local employees did not know where these poles are located and do not have the manpower to address this issue. On the other hand, I spoke to Oceanic’s Kona construction manager a few months ago about it as well.He mentioned the vine would not damage the cables. On top of that, it would be costly to remove this vine from on top of the cables.

He assured me he would keep an eye on this issue. However, it seems to have gotten worse since that time.

I hope either Hawaiian Telcom or Oceanic Time Warner Cable addresses this issue before it damages the cables on these poles.

The Kona Blog Survey Will End On November 26, 2009

I’ve decided to end my survey on November 26, 2009. There hasn’t been any new survey submissions for four days already. On top of that, I’ve been able to get a snapshot of the demographics of my blog’s readership. If you have not submitted a survey please do so before it closes.

There has been number of survey comments critical of my thoughts about Hawaiian Telcom (here, here, and here). However, it seems like these same individuals have gone back to hiding in the shadows. They never even bothered to respond to these supportive comments (here, and here) I received regarding my criticism of Hawaiian Telcom. Talk about a lack of balls !

I really hope that people continue to let me know about spelling and grammar issues with my postings. These issues can’t be fixed if I’m not aware about it.

Lastly, it looks like someone believes that I’ve plagiarized content here from other sources.

I would love to have someone point out where I’ve plagiarized here. I’ve properly credited the sources used for my postings. On top of that, I’m mindful of putting the information in my own words. Thus it boggles my mind that someone believes this.

Update: I’ve gotten a surge of completed surveys since I posted this a few hours ago. There has been a couple comments I want to make note of in this latest surge.

“Don’t like the attitude you display. You come off as a whiny bitch”
“Bring in guest writers who don’t have such a lousy attitude”

This person has no clue who I am and what I stand for. There is a multitude of issues facing our island. They can’t be addressed through “fluff” blogging. The only way that I know of addressing them is blatantly pointing them out. If I have to step on a few toes to accomplish solving these issues, so be it.

The well-being of future generations is at stake now. Whenever I hold my nephew it makes up for all the hate and criticism I receive for my opinions.

Ane Keohokalole Highway Press Conference On Tuesday

(From Hawaii County News)

Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi will meet with members of the press at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24, regarding an important announcement about the Ane Keohokalole Highway, also known as the Mid-Level Road. The press conference will be held at the mayor’s Kona office, 75-5722 Hanama Place. Other state, county and private sector partners will also attend. For more information, call Bobby Command at 217-2387.

Palani Road/Kealaka’a Street/Palihiolo Street Intersection Update

There is some troubling news regarding the  Palani Road/Kealaka’a Street/Palihiolo intersection improvement project.I wanted to hear from Noelani Whittington before I blogged about this.However, this posting from John Powell caused to me to expedite this update.

HELCO hired an outside contractor to drill nine holes for new poles. The contractor started work in early November. It is my understanding that the contractor should have completed work as of last Friday. Thus HELCO should begin installing these new poles very soon. This will be a complicated job due the size of these new, reinforced concrete poles. Nevertheless, HELCO believes they will take only three weeks to install the new poles, including relocating their wires. (Hawaii County DPW needed to improve the pioneer trail to where the poles will be installed. This is likely why HELCO’s outside contractor did not start drilling these holes until November.)

The next part of this project will require Hawaiian Telcom and Oceanic Time Warner to relocate their wires. This is where it gets tricky.Hawaiian Telcom has budgeted six weeks to relocate their wires. It boggles my mind that Hawaiian Telcom will take so long to complete this line transfer. I know there are many lines traversing these cables. Even so, it should not take six weeks.

I estimate these latest delays will cause this project to extend through the first quarter of 2010.

Sandwich Isles Communications Reveals That They Can’t Financially Survive If The NECA Decision Is Not Overturned

I’ve been following Sandwich Isles Communication’s FCC petition to restore funding for the operating costs of their new inter island fiber-optic network. This is a chronological history of all the documents filed regarding this petition thus far (The documents can be viewed here by searching for docket number #09-133).

Sandwich Isles latest filing was this ex parte letter to the FCC. There was a number interesting aspects to this document that I could see. For starters, SIC asserts that Pacific LightNet’s and TW Telecom’s inter island submarine fiber-optic networks are not reliable or carrier grade.

The other interesting aspect was Sandwich Isles Communications revelation that they can’t survive financially if the FCC doesn’t reverse NECA’s decision in this matter.

I’ve been strongly opposed to Sandwich Isles’s plans to wire DHHL’s homestead lands for the last seven years. It doesn’t sit well with me that DHHL homesteads will have fiber-optic connections while non-DHHL lands will not have that luxury.

(Related items:Sandwich Isles Communications Facing Questions About Their Ownership And Affiliates Using The New Inter-Island Fiber-Optic Network

Sandwich Isles Communications Continues To Ignore Questions Regarding Ownership And Affiliates Using New Inter-Island Submarine Fiber-Optic Network)