The euphoria I was feeling from yesterday’s Office of Administrative Hearings Queen Kaahumanu highway decision did a crash and burn when I read this WHT article today.It was my understanding that the Smiths/Whitakers and Oceanside 1250 had an agreement in place to convey part of their land for the Hokulia Bypass.This agreement would be implemented if the Coupe litigation and Hokulia’s financial situation were resolved.
However the Smiths/Whitakers want to back out of their negotiated deal with Oceanside 1250.I hope this doesn’t turn into another Coupe debacle. Nonetheless,despite assurances to the contrary, it seems this issue with these landowners is headed in the same direction.
The Hawaii County Council approved the continued limited use of the partially completed Hokulia bypass yesterday. Big Island Video News video taped part of the hearing here.
The Hawaii County Council decided to keep their 22% pay increase. The majority of the council seems to only know how to do the wrong thing, not the right thing.
Margaret Wille wrote up an excellent blog entry here chastising the Hawaii County Corporation Counsel’s recent reply to the State OIP regarding the Hawaii County Council coup.
Lastly, it seems the State of Hawaii’s financial picture is continuing to darken.This is absolutely not good news at all. It will probably mean that there will be more budget cutbacks,layoffs/furloughs ultimately.
