Latest news with #RickBlangiardi
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
New plaque unveiled to honor Queen's Surf Beach
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Mayor Rick Blangiardi and members of Hawaiʻi's LGBTQ+ Māhū community held a special ceremony in Waikiki on June 4. A brand new plaque was unveiled to celebrate the legacy of Queen's Surf Beach, which has been a meaningful location for many for the past 50 years. Hawaiʻi attorneys, businessman found guilty of wire fraud In 1974, Queen's Surf Beach was the site of the first Pride celebration in Hawaiʻi, and the area has been a popular gathering place for members of Hawaiʻi's LGBTQ+ Māhū communities dating back to the beginning of the 1970s. The plaque is now placed at the base of a tree at Queen's Surf Beach. Queen's Surf was a highly visible area to the public, where locals and visitors alike could meet, relax and be themselves without fear of judgment or dancers and lei makers, volleyball players and roller skaters, musclemen and beauty queens were all welcome at Queen's. 'We are proud to celebrate the importance and the significance of a renowned location like Queen's Surf Beach because these are the places and the stories that make our island home special and unique,' Blangiardi said. 'But more than that, we are proud to be a supportive, welcoming, and loving city for all residents and visitors alike, regardless of their sexuality or gender.' The new marker is intended to inspire current and future generations to reclaim and reactivate the beach and was selected by master craftsman Keoni Mossman. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
City launches new assistance program for COFA families
HONOLULU (KHON2) — The City and County of Honolulu are providing help to Micronesian families who lost loved ones to COVID-19. HFD outlines dangers of China Walls, Spitting Caves The Office of Economic Revitalization announced on June 3 the launch of the ʻOhana Memorial Support: COVID-19 COFA Funeral Assistance Program. The program seeks to provide $1.5 million in direct reimbursement of burial expenses to 'Compact of Free Association' residents on O'ahu. 'This program is about doing right by the families who lost a loved one to COVID-19 and were unjustly excluded from federal assistance,' said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. 'While no amount of funding can ever replace the lives lost, we hope this support demonstrates our deep commitment to caring for the most vulnerable in our community.' The program contractor, We Are Oceania, will reimburse burial expenses up to $9,000 for each household member who passed away due to reimbursement amount for households experiencing multiple deaths in one family is capped at $35,500 per application. We Are Oceania is providing both in-person and virtual support sessions for families requiring assistance: Weekly Virtual Community Sessions: Join Facebook livestreams for community-specific information sessions: Marshallese Community: Every Tuesday, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Kosraean Community: Every Wednesday, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pohnpeian Community: Every Thursday, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Chuukese Community: Every Friday, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. In-Person Outreach Events in June 2025: Kosraean Church visits: June 15th at Kalihi Union Church (2214 N. King St.), 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Daily assistance at We Are Oceania Shim Hall (720 N King Street, Honolulu): 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (excluding weekends and June 11) Marshallese Full Gospel Church: June 15 at Kalihi Union Church, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Chuukese Church: June 22 at Kalihi Union Church, 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Pohnpeian Church: June 29 at Central Union Church (1660 Beretania St.), 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Community Leader Sessions: June 17 and 19 at Shim Hall Eligibility requirements are as follows: Immediate surviving family members of a COFA Citizen whose death was attributed to COVID-19 between January 20, 2020, and September 30, 2024 The deceased family member must have resided on O'ahu and must demonstrate COFA citizenship (FSM, RMI, or ROP). Applicants must prove a relationship to the deceased through official documents. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news For more information, visit the We Are Oceania website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
2 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan to step down under pressure
Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan, who has led the department since 2022, is retiring at the end of the month, Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced on Monday. Blangiardi said the retirement was a mutual agreement between Logan and the mayor for the good of the department. The mayor recommended Big Island Chief Ben Moszkowicz to serve as interim chief in Honolulu effective July 16, though the decision will need to be made by the Honolulu Police Commission. Moszkowicz is a former Honolulu Police Department major. Blangiardi said he has been having conversations with Logan about retirement for 'quite a while,' though he would not say exactly when they started discussing the topic. He said their conversations became 'very focused and pointed' last week. He called their last meeting Monday 'amicable.' 'Joe served us well for three years to the best of his ability,' Blangiardi said Monday during a press conference in his office. 'We had a lot of discussions. There were a lot of issues.' Blangiardi refused to elaborate on those issues, though he cited ongoing high vacancies in the department and difficulty retaining experienced officers as some of his concerns. The department had 457 officer vacancies of April 30. That's up from 324 sworn vacancies in 2021. In the last year or so, the mayor has been openly critical of the chief as public safety concerns have increased, particularly violence on the Westside. He has also criticized Logan for his department's lack of communication with the public and with his office. The mayor was outspoken about his concerns after an island-wide manhunt ended in an officer-involved shooting on Jan. 1, 2024. A bystander who said he was beaten by officers later filed a lawsuit against the department. Blangiardi said he didn't learn about the beating until he read about it in the press. 'It's unacceptable to me in a very big way because it negates a lot of the effort we're making and what we're trying to do to build trust and confidence in our team,' he said during an episode of his podcast, One Oʻahu, in January 2024. 'They don't get to be a separate country. They don't get to make up their own rules.' More recently, Blangiardi's staff has been drafting a proposal for the charter commission to put before voters in November 2026 that would switch the power to hire the chief to the mayor and away from the police commission. Robert Cavaco, president of Hawaiʻi's police union, said in a statement that officer vacancies have grown by 42% over the last three years and the department has struggled with retention. There are currently 228 officers eligible for retirement. 'HPD has faced these challenges without a plan and without urgency for three years,' the statement said. 'We need bold and immediate action to turn the tide and the change in leadership provides us that opportunity.' Big Island Mayor Kimo Alameda said Moszkowicz has made progress tackling the department's own staffing crisis, in part by starting a program aimed at getting high school seniors interested in police work. The program allows those who are between the ages of 18 and 21 to engage with the police force through ridealongs and other opportunities. Prospective officers can't graduate from the police academy until they are 21 because that is the legal age to carry a gun in Hawaiʻi. The department has 68 officer vacancies of 484 sworn positions. That's down from 72 vacancies in November 2023. The department is in the process of hiring 28 officers, Alameda said. 'We've been filling those vacancies like nobody's business,' he said. Moszkowicz has faced criticism from the Hawaiʻi Innocence Project for his department's handling of the investigation into a new suspect in the 1991 murder of Dana Ireland. Officers in July brought Albert Lauro in for questioning after he was determined to be the source of semen and other DNA retrieved from Ireland's body but failed to arrest him because Moszkowicz said they lacked probable cause to charge him with murder. Lauro killed himself shortly after he was released from police custody. HPD's Had A Rocky Past The Honolulu Police Department has been dogged by corruption and conflict for the last decade. In 2014, the FBI launched a yearslong investigation into then-chief Louis Kealoha that ended with Kealoha, his deputy prosecutor wife and several HPD officers convicted of corruption charges. He was replaced by Susan Ballard, who lasted about three years before she resigned in the face of a negative job review by the Honolulu Police Commission. It then took the commission a year to hire Logan who took the job in May 2022, and Blangiardi began to raise concerns about the commission's seeming inability to get a new chief in place. Moszkowicz, who served 22 years with the Honolulu Police Department, was one of four finalists for the position at that time. But when he didn't get the job, he soon left for the post running the Hawaiʻi County Police Department. He was sworn in as chief in January 2023. Logan, a former adjutant general who headed the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency, was seen by the Honolulu Police Commission as a stabilizing force with deep roots in Hawaiʻi who could gain the trust of the rank-and-file officers and work well with the community. He had been an HPD officer earlier in his career before joining the military. Police commission Chair Ken Silva said in a statement that violent crime on Oʻahu decreased under Logan's leadership, and the chief 'sought to bring stability to the department and always conducted himself with honesty and decency.' He said nominations and self nominations are encouraged for anyone interested in the position of interim chief. Resumes and cover letters can be submitted to the commission. 'The search for a permanent chief will commence as soon as the Commission is able to do so,' the statement says. Logan received good job reviews from the police commission although in 2024 the annual evaluation was clouded by a nearly simultaneous survey of police employees who raised serious concerns about leadership as well as other problems in the 2,800-employee agency. And while Logan has enjoyed a smooth ride with the police commission, which has the power to hire and fire him, his relationship with Blangiardi has been rocky. Blangiardi called the employee survey and the overwhelmingly positive police commission evaluation 'a disconnect.' Logan has struggled to bolster staffing and recruitment since he took over. The department has faced increasing numbers of vacancies with hundreds of sworn-officer positions needing to be filled. Moments before Blangiardi took advantage of the late-afternoon TV news shows to announce Logan's retirement live, the police chief emailed a press release saying he had decided to resign. 'Over the last three years, crime has gone down; and we have made significant progress in moving the HPD forward,' Logan said in the statement. 'This would not be possible without the hard work, commitment, and creativity of our officers and civilian employees. Your dedication to serving and protecting the people of O'ahu is inspiring and unequaled. 'And so, it is with a heavy heart and to avoid distracting from the HPD's important work, I will be retiring at the end of this month.' Logan noted that leading a large police department is 'tough and demanding, and requires constant balancing of competing needs and wants from all sectors of the community.' Alameda said he was happy for Moszkowicz, but that he will be missed on the Big Island if he's confirmed to serve as interim HPD chief. 'He's been very innovative,' he said. 'He's come up with some ideas that I think have benefited our department. He advocates for positions. I think he sees the big picture.' The Honolulu Police Commission is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The public can attend in person at the police department's Beretania Street headquarters or can watch on a video livestream. ___ This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Honolulu City Council advances sewer fees bill
Mayor Rick Blangiardi administration's proposed 10-year, 115 % sewer fee rate increase that's expected to begin this summer has been countered by the Honolulu City Council. The Council's five-member Budget Committee voted 4-1 Tuesday, with Radiant Cordero dissenting, to approve passage of a committee draft of the city-initiated Bill 60. Budget Committee Chair Tyler Dos Santos-Tam's version of the measure, which shaves the city's decade-long span for increased rates down to about six years, will start Jan. 1, 2026 and run through 2031. Dos Santos-Tam's Bill 60 proposes sewer fee increases for a household that uses about 6, 000-gallons per month—deemed 50 % of all single-family households in Honolulu—equates to a 6 % increase in sewer fees in fiscal year 2026, 7.5 % in fiscal year 2027, 8.5 % in fiscal year 2028, followed by 9 % over the remaining three fiscal years. If adopted, Bill 60 would see a 60 % base charge—a fixed monthly fee—and a 40 % volumetric charge, or fees based on monthly water usage. Currently, city and county sewer bills calculate a 70 % base charge—a fee of $77.55 for all single-family homes—and a 30 % volumetric rate, which is applied equally for every 1, 000 gallons used, the city Department of Environmental Services states. ENV indicates that a household using 6, 000 gallons per month pays $99.77—with the base of $77.55 plus $22.22 for the volumetric rate. Dos Santos-Tam's version of Bill 60 also will align with ENV's 6-year capital improvement projects plan. 'So we can get through a full CIP cycle, ' he added. 'And then we can deal with what happens in the out years thereafter.' Under Dos Santos-Tam's Bill 60, the budget committee voted to allow 'rule-making authority ' for ENV to set up a program called Customer Assistance for Residential Environmental Services, or CARES, to help with 'affordability and equity ' of increased sewer fee rates. Sewer customers who qualify based on household income of less than 80 % area median income will be eligible for a $20 to $25 credit on their monthly base fee. The program will be funded at $10 million per year. Customers will have to apply for the program to prove eligibility and then be re-verified every six months, ENV states. Bill 60 is scheduled to return for a third and final reading before the full Council on June 4. In October, ENV initially proposed to increase sewer fees annually for the next 10 years—by 9 % over the first six years, followed by smaller annual increases of 8 %, 7 %, 6 % and 5 % over the subsequent four years. But by April, ENV Director Roger Babcock presented to the Council's Budget Committee the so-called 6 % option—which sees sewer rates rise by 6 % on July 1. Those rates would increase by 7.5 % in 2027, 8.5 % in 2028, 9 % in the following four years, then rise by 8 %, 7.5 % and 7 % in the final three years, ending in 2035. City officials say proposed sewer fee hikes are necessary to support ongoing wastewater operations and maintenance efforts, as well as a $10.1 billion capital improvement program for Oahu's wastewater collection and treatment system that is planned through 2040. The fee hikes also will fund projects to prepare the city's wastewater infrastructure for climate change and sea-level rise, city officials say. And they assert the work includes a $2.5 billion upgrade to the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant as required under a 2010 federal consent decree. Previously, Council Chair Tommy Waters—who does not sit on the budget committee—offered his version of Bill 60, a 6.75 % increase for the first five years, starting July 1. The initial increases would be followed by an 8.75 % increase for the next two years, then a decrease to 7.75 %, 6.75 % and 5.5 % over the remaining years, 'thereby creating savings, ' Waters said previously, adding instead of a 100 % increase over the decade, 'it would amount to approximately about a 70 % increase over 10 years.' But at Tuesday's hearing, Waters admitted his version of the bill was found to have calculation errors. 'We started from 2012 rather than 2016 … which is the last date that sewer increases took effect, ' he explained. During a presentation, ENV Director Roger Babcock highlighted that Waters' proposed Bill 60 in fiscal year 2026 would provide less revenues—about $397.5 million, a 13 % drop—compared with the city's current revenues of $457.03 million devoted to sewer funding. 'So that's a $60 million decrease, ' Babcock said, 'which would be very problematic for the program.' In contrast, Babcock noted the city's proposed 6 % option would provide $484.4 million in revenue needed to support required sewage system upgrades. Initially stating he'd resubmit a corrected version of his measure, Waters later backed Dos Santos-Tam's draft of Bill 60. Still, Waters noted households using 6, 000 gallons of water or less per month could see their sewer bills rise by over 61 %, from $99.77 per month to $160.85 per month. 'And those using 9, 000 gallons per month, which is the typical user—a family with two kids, a dog, maybe in-laws—that would go up from $110 to $204 ' per month, an over 85 % increase, said Waters. 'I mean that's really what we're voting on.' At the meeting, city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services Director Andy Kawano favored Dos Santos-Tam's measure as 'revenue calculations will meet our required minimums going forward through 10 years.' However, 'there could be an option, if it's more palatable for Council members, to truncate the (10-year ) term to five to seven years, that's possible, ' Kawano claimed. 'If we do that, we would meet our required minimums for every year, for one through five or one through seven, depending on what Council members decide.' Ways to defray the overall cost of the city's wastewater operations also were touched on at the meeting. During public testimony, Frank Doyle, a former city and county ENV director, testified the Council and city should work together to end the 2010 federally-mandated consent decree that included upgrading the island's sewage treatment plants to 'secondary treatment.' Although secondary treatment does not make the water drinkable, it does turn it into recycled water that can be used for things like landscaping, city officials say. 'Since entering the consent decree the city has spent billions of dollars for improvements of our wastewater system, and has essentially completed almost all of the requirements of the decree except for the one, largest project—a $2.5 billion (secondary treatment ) project for Sand Island, ' Doyle said. 'If secondary treatment was required at Sand Island (Wastewater Treatment Plant ) in 2010—because it really holds some significant public health or environmental concern—that project would have been prioritized immediately.' 'Instead, it comes in last, not needed until 2030, ' he said, adding no real public health concern occurred in 2010. 'And there isn't any today.' Doyle requested the Council 'urge the administration to continue to pursue a discussion with EPA ' on the consent decree. 'And if the administration doesn't want to do it, the Council should do it, ' he added. In 2010 the negotiated consent decree included three phases and a 25-year implementation schedule, the city says. According to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the work was meant to reduce the public health risk caused by exposure to pathogens in raw sewage and the amount of harmful pollutants affecting the island's marine environment. At the time, overflows caused millions of gallons of untreated sewage to be discharged into water off Oahu. The city had to pay a total fine of $1.6 million to be split between the federal government and state to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act and Hawaii's water pollution law, the EPA states. Those violating acts included the March 24, 2006, Beachwalk force main break which spilled about 50 million gallons of sewage into the Ala Wai Canal, according to the EPA. For his part, Waters stated 'as a Council, we've asked the administration to discuss with the EPA removing the need for secondary treatment or extending the term of the consent decree.' 'We need to extend the sewer fees, but not for the full 10 years, as requested, ' he added, 'to give us time to work with the EPA and find alternatives to funding the wastewater system.'
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Honolulu's proposed 115% hike in sewer fee under review
Mayor Rick Blangiardi administration's proposed 10-year, 115 % sewer fee rate increase that's expected to begin this summer remains under Honolulu City Council scrutiny. The Council's Budget Committee today is scheduled to review aspects of city-initiated Bill 60, which, if approved, will take effect July 1. The measure passed its second of three readings April 16. The city Department of Environmental Services says an average single-family residential sewer bill totals approximately $110.89 a month. By July 1 that bill could rise to $122.04 a month. ENV contends planned sewer fee rate hikes are necessary to address rising operational costs as well as fund critical projects within its $10.1 billion capital improvement program, scheduled for 2025 to 2040. That includes work to upgrade the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant to full secondary treatment, which will cost an estimated $2.5 billion. Potable water fee rates will not be adjusted, as they are separate fees administered by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. In October, ENV initially proposed to increase sewer fees annually for the next 10 years—by 9 % over the first six years, followed by smaller annual increases of 8 %, 7 %, 6 % and 5 % over the subsequent four years. But since that time other versions to Bill 60 have materialized—including a revision by ENV itself that supposedly lessens the initial blow of higher fees to its rate-paying customers. In April, ENV Director Roger Babcock presented to the Council's Budget Committee the so-called 6 % option—which sees sewer rates rise by 6 % on July 1. Those rates would increase by 7.5 % in 2027, 8.5 % in 2028, 9 % in the following four years, then rise by 8 %, 7.5 % and 7 % in the final three years, ending in 2035. Under this 6 % option, the city said, the same average single-family residential sewer bill in the first year would go to $119.18 a month instead of $122.04, a 2.3 % difference. Babcock said new rates should ensure the city is 'whole, in terms of operations and maintenance, debt service and new debt issued in order to do our (capital improvement program ).' But Council Chair Tommy Waters has said the city's new 6 % option is 'putting the big rate increases at the end of the 10-year cycle, rather than at the beginning.' With regard to Bill 60, Waters' tentative proposal to increase sewer fees annually for the next decade includes a 6.75 % increase for the first five years, starting July 1. The initial increases would be followed by an 8.75 % increase for the next two years, then a decrease to 7.75 %, 6.75 % and 5.5 % over the remaining years, 'thereby creating savings, ' he said. Waters said instead of a 100 % increase over the dec ade, 'it would amount to approximately about a 70 % increase over 10 years.' Legislation related to the city's sewer fund has also materialized. On May 5, Waters introduced Bill 43, meant to redirect a portion of the 3 % visitor-generated Oahu transient accommodations tax, which in part is earmarked for Honolulu's rail project, to the city's sewer fund. Bill 43, as drafted, would temporarily amend the disposition of the city's OTAT revenues so that 50 % would be deposited into the transit fund, while 41.66 % would go into the sewer fund. The legislation also allocates 8.34 % to create a special fund, one to be named by the city Department of Budget and Fiscal Serv ices, to mitigate impacts of visitors on public facilities and natural resources and 'supplement any funds regularly appropriated for that purpose.' If approved, Bill 43 would take effect July 1, 2027, and be repealed June 30, 2037. But critics of Waters' measure—including BFS Director Andy Kawano—say it's not a feasible option for the city to pursue. 'This measure will negatively impact the city's general fund and deviate from the intended purpose of the TAT, which is to provide general fund capacity to fund city services ; mitigate the strain visitors place on public facilities, emergency services, and natural resources ; and provide additional funding for rail (i.e., 'Skyline') construction, ' Kawano wrote in a May 12 letter to Council. Still, Waters previously told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that 'Bill 43 offers a more strategic and equitable alternative to the administration's proposed 115 % rate hike.' 'By using the Council's existing authority to reallocate a portion of OTAT revenue, Bill 43 reduces pressure on working families, ' he said. 'It ensures that visitors who contribute heavily to the wear and tear on our water and wastewater systems contribute a fair share.' The meeting begins at 9 a.m. inside Council chambers, 530 S. King St.
