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…

A recent article in Fortune Magazine Online sparked my interest in a new trend on The Big Island, sustainable farmed fish. Especially after going to the Kokua Festival this last week and soaking up the energy of the “green scene,” I thought it would be a good idea to do a little more research and pass this article onto our readers.

It turns out, whether we like to admit it or not, the waters in Hawaii and around the world are being over fished. Yup, that big blue ocean is being messed with, and it’s not just the global warming that’s giving it problems. Too many people trying to catch too many fish and not doing so in a sustainable way.

That’s where a company off the Kona coast of The Big Island comes in. Kona Blue Water Farms grows a special breed of yellowtail tuna dubbed Kona Kampachi. The nets are a half mile off shore in some 200 feet deep water. This is a big difference from farmed fish which usually reside in man made reservoirs causing the fish to be lower in nutrients, lack flavor, and be susceptible to diseases in such close corners.

Kona Kampachi on the other hand is claimed to be very flavorful and richer in omega-3 than any other fish in ocean. It’s not genetically engineered. It’s not treated with antibiotics of any sort, or any other growth hormones. It’s also claimed to be of sashimi-grade (which I wasn’t aware there was such a grade of fish.)

The fish are bred on the island in special breeding stations, the eggs are grown up to inch long fishes, and then those fish are taken to the nets until they’re about 4 to 6 pounds. One of only down sides to the growing of fish like this is that the feces could create potential problems for local aquatic life. However, I see this as a much more solvable problem than hormone injected fish, or depleting our oceans.

If you’re interested in the fish you can order right from their website for $17 per pound plus shipping and handling, or you can head to your local Whole Foods which carries the fish for $20 per pound. Kings Supermarkets, Kroger and Costco are all carrying the fish in selcet locations as well.

I think it’s an interesting idea and with the population growing and more and more people looking towards our oceans for food, we’ll need to have ideas like this help keep our oceans from being depleted.

You can read the Fortune article here.

Check out this blog from the Honolulu Advertiser site.  Capitol Journalist Derrick DePledge reported on some bad blood brewing in the House of Representatives amongst the staff of all people.  It’s amazing to see the response and feelings of the people there, not to mention the names being thrown around.  I won’t go into details, as you can read it for yourself.  This is my comment on it all.

In my opinion, it’s obvious that politics has itty bitty nasty bits but the way that people are talking on these blogs, it’s obvious to me why Kimo Public feels like we stay taking it in the behind from the government.  

This is my second session at the Capitol.  I’ve seen so much in such a short time and still believe there is room for change but it’s the fact that people are getting so worked up over BS that’s frustrating.  I can see both sides of the coin.  I always try to take the middle path, it just makes no sense that there’d be such a fuss over a party.

Why would someone have to be forced to do anything?  Perhaps it’s the lingering effects of Hawaii’s illegal occupation or the martial state that was here in WWII.  Perhaps, it’s the effects of having one political party that’s too big for it’s own good.  Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…

I wanted to run for office this year.  I live in House District 24, University and Manoa area.  I was still at UH, when the current Representative, Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell was elected.  I never saw him once.  He had 3,000 potential voters there and not once did he come to us.  I heard this from the Horse’s mouth so to say, but that is beside the point.  I wanted to run because I love this area, I love the students.  

I thought, I could be young, and inject some new blood, energy into the process if you will.  As much as I believe that, the current culture there, man, ugly.  And there are some amazing people working there, on both sides of the aisle, from Representative to Senator, to Permanent and Session staff, really amazing people, but the true challenge is the culture.

How do we change the culture?  How do wash away the sand so it doesn’t get in the places it has no business in, like a party for example…

Shoots.

JMAW of Hawaii

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.

Living close to Iolani, I was realy surprised to hear of a shooting that happened pretty close to where I live. A few days ago, a 20-something year old male was shot half a dozen times at his head and body, stabbed a few times, and dropped out of a car near Washington Intermediate school in McCully. Neighbors did not hear the shots, so they presumed the shooting took place elsewhere and then somebody dumped his body off in the residential area.

How scary is that? The vicitm remains in critical condition, and to be honest, I don’t know how he survived. I actually drive on that road going to work, and it looks like a nice peaceful area. To find somebody left out to die over there makes me think twice about the area I live in. I also run to the gym and run back around 8 or maybe 8:30pm. Now, I think I’d much rather drive instead just to be safe.

This is just getting too crazy folks. I don’t know what prompts people to do such insane things. It just boggles my mind.

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

Remembering a story I heard on the news a few days ago, I got quite angry and frustrated. Why? Because a car hit a teenage girl who was crossing Farrington Highway, and after the car hit her and she fly up into the air, he just drove away as fast as he can. It’s been over a week already, and no one has fessed up to the accident. The girl, didn’t even remember getting hit because it was at such a high impact, and now she is sitting in the hospital eating pills every day to get rid of the pain. She already got some pins, screws, and plates in her leg, and doctors say that it will take some time in rehab before she can get up and walk again.

I just don’t understand how someone can be so messed up like that. Yes, whoever it is, it is your fault. Driving away thinking that you’ll get away isn’t the way to solve it. It’s lucky that you didn’t kill the girl, so you should come out of hiding and fess up. I’m sure the parents can’t sleep at night knowing that someone had hit their beloved daughter and is getting away with it. The longer you hide, when the police find you, it’s gonna be worse. So please come out and account for your actions. What happened, happened.

It just makes me sick to know people can hurt others (even unintentionally like this one), and not account for their actions. What a world we live in.

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

It’s been quite a while since I’ve went to the Iolani Family Fair…I have to say probably around 7 years ago.  It was pretty fun I must admit, but it is no Punahou Carnival.

So if you’ve never visited the Iolani Family Fair, now is your chance!  This year, the fair will be held this coming Friday and Saturday, from noon to 10:30pm. Just to give you an idea of what type of attractions will be at the fair, and at what times, look below:

Friday:
12:00p Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association
12:30p `Iolani Dance
2:00p `Iolani Stage Bands
4:00p Brother Noland
6:00p Mighty J
7:30p George Kahumoku Jr, Slack Key Master
9:15p Ho’okoa

Saturday:
12:00p Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association
12:30p tba
2:00p Hawaii Music Works
3:30p Reach For the Stars Talent Show
6:00p Beach 5
7:30p Greg Sardinha & Zanuck Lindsey w/ Kimo Artis
9:15p LS 34

There will also be lots of games, activites, and FOOD.  Admission is free, so you should go!  Luckily we live pretty close to the Iolani campus, so we’ll just walk there.  But I would suggest getting there early since parking is limited.  For more information, visit http://www.iolanifair.org/.  Have fun!

If you’ve eaten at Gina’s Korean BBQ or Formaggio’s, or even purchase craft products at Ben Franklin’s, then you know about the Market City Shopping Center on Kapiolani Blvd under the H1 freeway. Although they will not have a public celebration, this Saturday, an invitation only celebration for their 60th anniversary will be held at the lower parking lot level, where Ben Franklin and Formaggio’s is (Source: Honolulu Advertiser).

The event will be held between 6-8pm and will feature about 500 people. That’s pretty busy if you ask me.

And not for a quick trivia question. Where was the location of Hawaii’s FIRST Foodland supermarket? If you guess Market City Shopping Center, then you’re absolutely right! So where was the location of Hawaii’s first McDonald’s? Not Market City…go farther east…