Hallelujah!  The ugly black pipe that creeps along the Ala Wai Canal in Waikiki will be gone by the week’s end — hopefully.  Back in March 2006, the sewer line burst, causing nearly 100 million dollars to repair.  The big bonus here is that parking will be restored in a much needed area of town.

Now I’m wondering when, if ever, that old, ugly pipe that runs above ground on the median of the Kalanianaole Highway will disappear.  I have a feeling that project will be held off for quite some time, as there are no real problems with the Kalanianaole pipeline right now…

If you’re a regular traveling back and forth over the Pali you might have noticed an increase in a certain group of civil servants. I’m not talking about the group that’s put up the netting to prevent mudslides on the eastbound side of the Pali, or those that are doing the weed whacking and lawn maintanence.

No, I’m talking about all the police vehicles that are lining the roads these days on the town side of the Pali Highway. Mostly I’m noticing all the police motorcycles and the cops that are standing next to their bikes firing their radar guns your way as you speed around a corner.

Next thing you know, a half mile up the road is either another motorcycle cop or another cop car waiting for the radio from their other half about who was speeding (or at least I think that’s the way it goes.)

I’m not sure if there have been a lot of accidents on the Pali Highway lately that I haven’t heard of or what the deal is but the cops seem to be cracking down. Maybe it’s that the speed limit changes from 45 to 35 to 25 in spots on the highway and these cops are just taking advantage of all the sudden speed changes.

Whatever it is, slow down when you’re driving on the Pali.

Hawaii State Senator Ron Menor, a Democrat whose district includes Waipahu and parts of Mililani and Mililani Mauka., was arrested just after midnight this morning by police for allegedly Driving Under the Influence. Details were not released as to what police did to determine if the Senator was intoxicated.

Menor posted bail at $500 dollars shortly after and was released. Menor is the second Hawaii legislator to be caught for DUI in under a year. The first was former House Vice Speaker Rep. Jon Karamatsu. Rep. Karamatsu shortly thereafter stepped down from his post as Vice Speaker but remained in office.

It will be interesting to see how this effects the upcoming election. Both legislators are Democrats and the Democratic Caucuses reported record showings around the state. An up and coming Democrat could have a chance at landing the post or maybe a Republican for that matter.

In this world where one President did not have sexual relations with that woman while the next can wage an unpopular war that breaks records for debt, it’s a good chance both of these legislators will be forgiven for something as “insignificant” as a DUI.

What do you think?

JMAW

The City and County of Honolulu City Council members will be meeting to discuss the issue of mass transit on Oahu, the most populous island in Hawaii, for the 5th time, yes that’s five times, today.  The issue has been quite the nightmare and is being explored to death, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on where you stand on the issue.

For advocates of the issue, getting it right the first time is important, so it makes sense for the Council members to be in agreement before implementing a project that could rival the Iraq War in cost (3.7 billion cost, for one county, c’mon).  It’s also important that they hammer out a few details before breaking ground because some of the areas that have been selected initially (Salt Lake) don’t make so much sense (how about linking the UH campuses, another example of students getting it in the …).  Other benefits include clearing up traffic on the congested H1, H2, and at times H3.  Eh, here’s an idea, why not not build an H4, it’d be cheaper, nah, nah, I kid.

Opponents of Mass Transit argue the pollution family (noise, physical blight, and environmental impact) as the reason for not implementing this project.  Others are supportive of the project but wish a different type of rail choice was made over the more reliable but noisy steel.  There is a push to get the Phileas rail installed.  Phileas is a bus transit system that runs on a fixed track and the biggest thing I’ve heard about it is that it makes less noise.  

All this fuss about noise.  I wonder if it really makes that much difference.  I mean a leaf blower and a lawn mower are both loud in my opinion so does it really matter if one is louder than the other?

Will this issue be resolved today or anytime soon?  Is this just a legacy project for Mayor Mufi?  Stay tuned same rail station (that’s a funny one), same rail time….

Dunna dunna dunna dunna Rail!!! (Old School Batman reference just in case you no know)

Shoots.

JMAW

Since it’s opening on March 7th, Hawaii’s first full blown Nordstrom has been getting a lot of attention. I visited the Nordstrom located at the Ala Moana Center after the storm calmed down because one, I wanted to get parking, and two, it was just too crazy to be with so many people at the same time, just because it was a new place.

I have to say I was kind of impressed. Nordstrom is normally pretty expensive, so it’s not a place I would probably go to purchase things, but they did a pretty good job with the interior. What surprised me was two brands of clothes I didn’t think they were going to carry, which was Affliction (a lot of UFC fighters are sponsered and wear this clothing line and RVCA (pretty much use designs from various artists to support them). I own both clothing lines, and was very happy to see them there. Then again, the price was still pretty steep, with the Affliction costing around $55-70. But it was pretty cool to just see it there. Now there is another place to purchase Affliction clothing besides Blue Buddha on Kapiolani.

What was also pretty cool was the children’s section. Where they have the fitting room for the children, there was also a room for kids to play XBOX 360. This is a good place to have your kids just chill while you go off looking for clothes (well, one of you parents have to stay to keep an eye on them). Just offering something like that for kids to play was a cool idea.

We walked into the Cafe which was pretty much a cafeteria where you point at food, and the put it on your plate. It wasn’t too expensive, but still was more than I would normally pay. They have the cafe on the ground floor.

We visited one of the two e-bars, where they let you buy anything you want. Their menu didn’t look like they had more than 10 different items, but the lady who helped us said you could order any type of coffee beverage and they’d make it. Pretty cool if you ask me.

We did walk into the gelato bar, but didn’t buy any of it since there was a line. It looked pretty good, but they had limited flavors. If you want more flavors, I suggest going to Mondo Gelato on the Waikiki Beachwalk.

I guess Nordstrom is a good addition to the Ala Moana Center, since they cater a lot to the tourists who want to spend money, and the fact that Ala Moana has a lot more ritz-ier stores than any other shopping center on the island. Is it a cool place? Sure. Places to eat, e-bars to hang out, gelato for a date…it has it all. Would I purchase stuff there? Not likely, but it is a little more affordable than Neiman Marcus. Then again, they are both too expensive. Maybe after a few more raises…

And then there were three… soon to be only two.  Waialae Bowling Alley in Kahala closed last night after over fifty years of service.  The only remaining bowling alleys on the island of Oahu are Leeward Bowl, Aiea Alley, and Pali Lanes, which will be closing next year.  The down trend shows a decreasing interest in this sport that attracts mostly older men.

What ever happened to Rock ‘n Bowl or the hip factor in bowling?  Goodness knows I purchased my very own pair of patriotic bowling shoes and a maroon bowling ball back in high school, but now they are both stuffed somewhere deep in my closet of lost goods.  Maybe in a few years we’ll see another surge, but now we’ll just have to make do with playing it on Wii.

Yesterday at about 5:45pm, a black Ford Explorer ran a stop sign at about 60mph and slammed into a white car on Maluniu Avenue.  When the woman stepped out the car, which had spun around since the impact was so great, a man came out of his Ford Explorer, ran to the woman, and punched her in the face.  He then went back to his car and grabbed a gun, came back to her, and started clubbing her with the gun.  A neighbor tried to help the woman out, but the suspect pointed the gun at him and told him to step back, to which the woman tried to run away again.  The suspect then chased after her, hit her in the stomach, and when the neighbor tried to help again, the suspect hit the neighbor in the back of the head with the gun.  She tried to crawl away, but the suspect repeatedly beat her on the head again, then got in his Explorer and drove away.  She was pronounced dead by the time she was in the hospital 15 minutes after the incident occurred.  (Source: Honolulu Advertiser).

What is going on.  The suspect is believed to be her ex-boyfriend whom they both had a child with together.  The man was 6 foot 2 and 340 pounds.  I’m sure she couldn’t do anything to defend herself, and with a gun, most people who wanted to help would be scared for their own lives.  This is jsut messed up.  I can’t believe someone would go as far as beating up their ex-girlfriend in such a vicious way.  Maybe he wasn’t trying to kill her, but you have to admit that he was out to hurt her, and real bad.  To take a metal object like the butt of a gun and repeatedly hit someone…I don’t think anyone will escape without injury.  And from a 340 lb man?

Domestic violence is just not necessary.  It angers me that people to this day still hit their supposed loved one.  Why resort to violence?  What will violence ever solve?  It will only cause more conflict, and you can be sure they aren’t going to love you back as much.  Some men think that violence will empower them, so that their wife or girlfriend will do whatever they say.  Really?  Those guys need to get punished just to know what it feels like.  OK, I know I said violence isn’t the answer, but I was getting ahead of myself.  Anyhow, bottomline is domestic violence isn’t the answer.  It’s wrong, it’s messed up, and it will solve nothing.

Panda Travel is giving all of you an incentive to donate canned foods to the Hawaii Food Bank.  What’s the incentive?  For starters, you can get travel discounts, Disney themed prizes (ie. collectibles, key chains, etc.), but the biggest prize is a chance to win a FREE trip to Los Angeles.  Yes, you read that right.  You could donate a $3 canned food item (hopefully more than just one), feel good that you are feeding the hungry and unfortunate, and you could be rewarded with a free flight to LA.

So where you do donate the canned goods?  Panda Travel is having a Disney Day with the Hawaii Food Bank drive from 10am to 1pm this Saturday at the Panda Travel parking lot.  During this time, Panda Travel will be giving out information for all Disney related information, including Disney World, Disney Land, Disney Cruises, etc.  They will be looking to help people book Disney trips and help them to make most of their time while on their Disney vacation.

It is a nice way to both promote business as well as giving back to the community.  And with the grand prize, there’s even more incentive to stop by.  So when will you find out if you are the winner?  The grand prize winner will be announced at 1pm that same day.  You could be that person, so I encourage you all to stop by!

Reading up on some of the news happening around our island, I came by a story reported by KGMB 9 news about a family from Punchbowl who traded in their van and bought two cars, only to find them breakdown just a few days later.  The victim purchased a 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipise and her mom bought what looks like to be a 1998 Nissan Altima.

The victim purchased their car from Deals on Wheels on Nimitz Hwy, which is a used car dealership right before Nimitz turns into H1.  She said that she has been paying a ton of towing fees, and her mechanic checked it out afterwards and told her it was going to cost her $3000 to fix.  She purchased the car for $10,000 after the trade-in.

The owner of the dealership said that he is not bound to help her out in anyway, but that he would send her car to his mechanic to check out and fix what he thinks is necessary.  The owner buys his cars from auctions and checks them out, but I’m assumming doesn’t do a thorough inspection of the vehicle.  In fact, when they opened the hood the car, the engine bay had some modifications for the 3 seconds it was on TV.  I quickly noticed a modified intake, but was not able to check what else was different.  People who modify their cars incorrectly oftentimes suffer the consequences of their car not working properly, and voiding their warranty at the same time.

The owner of the dealership did make a good point to bring your own mechanic to check out the car, but I feel that it is the duty of the dealership to make sure the car is in working condition and not to sell as is, unless you tell them what’s wrong with the car.  I understand the dealership wants to make money, but at the same time, the victim could have been involved in a severe accident due to a problem with a car.  It’s not just about making money, but selling someone something that is safe.

Now I’m more inclined to purchase a used car from a reputable dealership, ones that do thorough inspections, or even certifying the car which comes with a warranty that is given to a new car.  This ensures that the car is most likely safe, and also guarantees that problems will be fixed if a problem does arise.  Yes, you are more than likely to pay more for that vehicle, but I think safety and less headaches is worth the money.

No, it’s not just an ordinary van.  The van belonged to a Nanakuli family which contained a bunch of gifts for Christmas as well as a child car seat and an asthma breathing machine.  I was horrified when I watched news on KHON who reported on this story first.

The Hodges family had parked their van in front of their home which contained all of the things listed above.  To their horror on Christmas morning, their van had been stolen with all the contents.  The worst part is that the 6 year old grandson is the one who suffers from asthma and needs the machine.  In fact, he has to use a nebulizer to help him breathe.  Now that New Year’s in creeping around the corner, they don’t know how he is going to react to all the smoke.  With an existing asthma problem, it’s going to be especially hard for him to breate without the machine.

On top of all this, the van was used to take the two grandchildren to school.  The school they go to is over a mile away.  Now they have to resort to taking the bus or even walking.  Since the grandkids are really young, the grandmother who is taking care of them probably has to walk with them.

I hope the thieves have what’s coming to them.  This family doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment.  If you want to look for this van, here is the info:

Chrysler Van
Silver color
Year 2000 model
License JFB 091

Call the police if you see them.  Those thieves deserve to go to jail!!!