Target Officially Broke Ground On Their Kona Store, Matson & Horizon Co-Conspiring To Make Excessive Profits ?

The ground breaking for the planned Target store at Kona Commons happened yesterday(here,here, and here).

The Honolulu Advertiser article was particularly interesting. Especially the part detailing the other tenants whom are going to occupy this shopping center. I’m really looking forward to Circuit City and Office Max opening especially.

On a related note, it seems the developer of Kona Commons was a bit more upbeat in building Phase III of this this shopping center compared to about a year ago.

From this WHT article:

“However, Kona Commons will likely not immediately usurp the Prince Kuhio Plaza as the largest shopping center on the Big Island. When it was first announced, Kona Commons was planned at 685,000 square feet of retailing space, making it more than 25 percent larger than the 505,000-square-foot Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo.”

“Dinsmore said that may not be out of the question in the future, but he added that current market conditions are not conducive to such a large mall. “It will be dictated by the retailers,” said Dinsmore. “If there is a demand, then we’ll expand (makai, toward the old Kona Airport).”

As for Target opening a store here, I strongly feel that this will give the Big Kmart a run for its money. Sears was planning on renovating our Big Kmart about 1.5 years ago. But ultimately decided to scuttle those plans. With Target opening, if Big Kmart wants to remain competitive, they really need to re-examine those renovation plans.

I found this CNN Money article on a on a class action lawsuit filed against Matson Navigation very interesting. Allegedly Matson conspired with Horizon Lines to raise their fuel surcharge at a much higher rate than the actual increase in fuel prices since 1999. If this proves to be true hopefully the DOJ will throw the book at these companies for making excessive profits at the expense of the residents and businesses here in Hawaii.

Queen Kaahumau Highway Widening Delayed Again ?,Geothermal Opponents Come Out Of the Woodwork,More Sustainable Big Island Economy

I came home from work this morning and checked the Konaweb forums.To my utter shock I saw this posting here about the Queen Kaahumanu Highway Phase I widening.According to this person,there will be more delays in completing this project. Apparently the contract amendments had been funded, but not signed off on yet.She got this information directly from the Hawaiian Dredging representatives. Whom were at the monthly Queen Kaahumanu widening update meeting at the Kona mayor’s office.

After I saw this posting I called up one of the Metcalf & Eddy Pacific engineers handling this project.He wasn’t aware of any further delays.According to this engineer it seemed things are moving a long quite well. The mauka lanes from the harbor to Palani Road should be opened by July 10, 2008 (baring if they don’t have anymore asphalt supply issues).

This will allow the contractor to work on the makai lanes.Which should be completed a lot faster than the mauka lanes. The harbor to Makala Blvd stretch only needs a final layer of asphalt. The Makala Blvd to Palani Road intersection will have to be torn up. But it seemed the most time consuming aspect of this project now is the Queen Kaahumanu/Palani Road intersection.

On a related note, I e-mailed Brennon Morioka about this alleged delay also. He was not aware of any additional delays in completing this project. I called him up and left a message to call me tomorrow.
Hopefully either way I can get to the bottom of this.

Hat tip to Hunter Bishop for blogging about this Big Island Weekly op-ed by Kristine Kubat.Kubat criticizes WHT’s series of articles on Geothermal energry on the Big Island. I’m frankly not suprised by her position on this. She was a ardent opponent of Geothermal development in Puna during the early 1990s.But considering the rapid increase in oil prices the Big Island needs to become more energy self sufficient. Geothermal is the most reliable alternative energy resource the Big Island has.

Speaking of self sufficiency, Richard Ha has a interesting blog posting on the future of the Big Island.Since energy prices may eventually kill off our golden goose, tourism, Richard is advocating expansion of astronomy on Mauna Kea. Which I strongly support. Hawaii needs to move away from its current unsustainable economy.

Update On Local Roadway Projects,Speed test Issue,PGV Follow-Up,More on the Sen.Dwight Takamine Campaign Donation story

Below is a couple updates on a number of local roadway projects:

The resurfacing of Saddle Road between m.m 35 and 47 is still on schedule for the month of July.

There is still nothing new to report in regards to the Hokulia Bypass (at least from Hawaii County).

The activation of the stop light below Malulani Gardens and Lowes is still being worked on. The roadway striping still needs to be completed.

Grace Church is still trying to obtain the two land easements needed to move the utility poles. When those easements are obtained the upper portion of Palani Road can be re-aligned.

I found out it may be up to 2 years before the Kamaka’eha Avenue/Palani Road turn pocket construction may be able to proceed. Apparently this project involves moving the HELCO 69KV utility poles. Which requires Hawaii PUC approval and public hearings.I find it perplexing this issue was not addressed sooner. Especially since this project was in design phase since September 2004 ?

I got word that the bids for the Queen Kaahumanu Highway Phase II widening have been opened.It should be any day now that we should be hearing who will be the contractor for this project. Which will widen Queen Kaahumanu Highway from Kealakehe Parkway to Kona Int’l Airport.

I find it strange that I can get really great DSL speeds from these servers. But I can’t get squat from these DSL Reports speed test servers. Unless proven otherwise, I’ll just chalk it up to that these DSL Reports speed test servers are incapable of gauging high speed circuits like what I have.

I found this reader comment in regards to this WHT geothermal energy article very interesting.

kibitzor wrote on Jun 16, 2008 9:05 AM:
“Also not mentioned: the resource has drastically dwindled (now less steam and more brine), which has limited production. “

I e-mailed PGV about this. It seems this reader comment is right on.Back in 1993 PGV had two wells which produced 90% steam/10% brine. But over the years PGV has drilled more wells (five production wells/four injection wells). and the ratio has changed. It is currently 25% steam/75% brine. Since this has occurred PGV is exploring the use of the brine byproduct to produce power.

Lastly, I found this comment from one of the Hawaii Tribune Herald editors very frustrating. He was responding to a reader criticism of the Hawaii Tribune Herald’s reporting the Sen. Dwight Takamine campaign donation violation story.This is another example of why the Big Island needs another alternative paper to counter the biased reporting of the Stephens Media cabal of papers.

We Need To Expand Geothermal Energy Use, Financial Prudence by Local Governments,SUV/Truck Owners Feeling The Squeeze

WHT published a second article on Geothermal energy usage in Hawaii. With oil prices soaring we need to make better use of this truly reliable alternative energy resource. But nonetheless I figure the fringe element will stall further expansion.Which is real shame especially since this resource can truly reduce our huge dependence on foreign oil.

I can see both arguments for against local governments here borrowing more money . I certainly agree with Governor Lingle and Mayor Kim’s assessment that government spending on capital improvement projects is good thing to jump start the economy. But on the flip side both the state and counties  need to be more financially prudent if the economy gets worse.

I don’t feel sorry for these folks who spent big bucks on SUV and big trucks. Whom are getting squeezed by high oil prices and finding that trade in value of their vehicle has dropped. I bought light duty 2005 Ford Ranger XL in 2005. Fuel increases have hurt me. But at least I get about 20-24mpg with my truck.So I usually don’t have to go the gas station more than once a week.

Smoking HawaTel 11Mbps Speeds,Hokulia Financing/Bypass Update,Why Is The Sierra Club Fighting The Hawaii Superferry Still,Mesa’s Financial Meltdown,More Hawaiian Soverignty Thoughts

I suspect why I was getting such poor speed results on my new Hawaiian Telcom 11Mbps service from DSL Reports is because the sites are incapable of gauging high speed circuits line like mine. I really can’t think of any other explanation especially when I get excellent results from Speedtest.net and Speakeasy’s speed test site. The clincher was when I found these NDT servers.Below is the awesome results I got from these servers.

Overall, I’m very happy with the new speeds.The web pages load much faster and the new upload speed is sweet.

I wonder if Bank of Scotland and Hokulia have run into a snag in reaching an agreement to restructure Hokulia’s financing. According to this WHT article on May 16, 2008, it stated an agreement was imminent. Nonetheless its been over a month and nothing has happened ?

On the Hokulia Bypass front, I’ve been checking the Hawaii Judiciary website daily to see if they’ve scheduled oral arguments for Charles and Joan Coupe’s appeal. I would surmise it should be hopefully really soon that the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals decides the fate of this appeal. Especially since both Hawaii County and the Coupe’s have filed their briefs to the court.

The best case scenario I’ve heard is the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals decides to not hear this case.I would figure in that scenario, it would dry up any remaining appeal options for the Coupes. Thus this much needed road can be completed.

It is simply unconscionable that the Sierra Club is continuing to fight the Hawaii Superferry service. According to Ian Lind’s blog, the Sierra Club and the other plaintiffs have filed an appeal with the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals seeking to reverse Judge Cardoza’s decision to lift the injunction. Which consequently allow HSF to restart service to Maui.

The Sierra Club and the plaintiffs contend that Act II is unconstitutional. In my view, Hawaii needs the Superferry. Especially in light of Aloha Airlines closing.The actions of the Sierra Club and the other plaintiffs will likely make it impossible to affordably travel between the islands.

On that note, traveling affordably inter island may get hit again . Especially if Mesa Airlines financial meltdown continues. They’ve recently be put on notice by NASDAQ that they may get delisted if they can’t shore up their stock price.

Someone sent me this Hawaii Island Journal article about the political shenanigans that happened the last time former State Senator and Councilwoman Virgina Isbell ran again for County Council against Brenda Ford. In my view, this is another example that we need to make doubly sure that Rep. Josh Green gets elected to Sen. Paul Whalen’s District 3 Senate seat that he is vacating.

“Jimmy T.” posted this comment in regards to this blog posting about my thoughts pertaining to Jon Conrow’s thoughts about Hawaiian Sovereignty.

“aloha aaron,

the roasting was brought on by the alarmist tone of your posts. no one is forcing anything upon you; every one is entitled to their opinion. the reality of sovereignty is that there is popular support for a process for addressing the long standing issues surrounding the overthrow of 1893. what that process looks like is a crap shoot. you hope that the vote goes to everyone; others think differently.

we’ll see what the state and the feds have to say before we the people get a fair shot at creating a just process for all stakeholders. the key is an inclusive and just process and an acknowledgment by stakeholders that the injustice of 93 needs to be resolved and made right.”

My response is below:

“I completely disagree. If Hawaii breaks away from the US and I had no choice in the matter that is certainly being forced upon me. Since I’ve lived here in my entire life I should have a lawful standing to be a part of this process. Anything less is akin to the overthrow of 1893 all over again for the longtime kama’aina’s living here.”

Lastly, I was driving home from Kmart today. I noticed that Hawaiian Dredging has completed the first segment of the Queen Kaahumanu widening between Makala Blvd and the Police Station. It certainly looks very impressive (But I doubt it will quell the griping from all the armchair engineers out there).

Anyway I dropped a line to one of the engineers handling this project. I made the comment of how nice this new segment of roadway looked. Below is the response from him.

“Hey Aaron,

You are correct. The pavement markings, (striping, markers) being installed with some new signs from Palani to Police Road. Next is from Police Road to Kealakehe Parkway.

The new traffic signals to be installed before the end of June and tested.

Looks like opening 2 north bound lanes sometime in July if we continue with the asphalt cement supply.

Thanks for informing our Kona residents on our project progress.
Bobby”

Finally Got 11Mbps Hawaiian Telcom DSL,Stephens Media Cabal Twisted Sen. Dwight Takamine’s Campaign Violation,114 Million Dollar Bond Float Passes First Reading

My Hawaiian Telcom DSL circuit was upgraded to the new 11Mbps speed tier today. But I’m not getting the optimum speeds for this grade of service. With at 11Mbps circuit I should be getting higher than 4-5Mbps to the mainland. I suspect my Windows Receive Window (I’m using Windows XP Home) is not properly tweaked. I tried playing around with different settings. I ultimately left it at 130,088. But I figure that it can be tweaked even more ? So I’m open to any suggestions.

It is abhorrent how the Stephen Media news media cabal on this island twisted the Sen. Dwight Takamine campaign donation violation.This is another example of why we need another independent alternative news weekly here.

It is good to see that the Hawaii County Council voted in favor of the 114 million bond float.But Councilwoman Naeole’s actions are very puzzling.After all her grandstanding,she voted in favor of this bond float. Hunter Bishop wrote an excellent commentary on this. I think it is time for the residents of Puna to look at making some changes in the upcoming elections.