Monday, June 29, 2009

Caring for Waianae's Streams - EPA Press Conference June 30; Illegal Dumping & Adopt-a-Stream Info

What: Ka Wai Ola - EPA Press Conference
When: Tues., June 30, 2009, 10am – 11am
Where: Waianae District Court House (map)
Description: Aloha Kakou - Just a reminder, EPA is doing a press release for the Ka Wai Ola O Waianae Moku project on June 30 at 10 am at Ulehawa Stream, behind the Waianae Court House. I know many of you are working and unable to attend. So, please join EPA - Debbie Liang CARE Project Officer and Mike Brandowski CARE Program Director at Zablan (Nanakuli Beach Park) for a talk story session on June 30 at 6:30 pm. Bring a pupu to share. Please let me know if you plan to attend either event! Invite ohana and friends.

Mahalo!
Leslie Kahihikolo, Project director
Pacific American Foundation, Ka Wai Ola O Waianae Moku project
728-7991

ILLEGAL DUMPING AND ADOPT-A-STREAM INFORMATION

From: Iwalani Sato
[mailto:iwalanisato@hawaii.rr.com]

Please see helpful resources below from the City, compliments of Iwalani Sato.

Illegal Dumping/Discharges:
REPORT IT … WE WANT TO BE INFORMED
Honolulu Police Department (occurring now): call 911
Federal Environmental Protection Agency: 541-2721
State Department of Health Solid and Hazardous Waste: 586-4226
State Department of Health Clean Water Branch: 586-4309
State Department of Transportation, Oahu District Complaints: 831-6793
City Environmental Concern Line: 768-3300
City Department of Facility Maintenance (potential flood problem): 768-7890
City Department of Planning and Permitting (residential code): 768-8159

Thanks for giving a helping hand and giving back to the community!
Iwalani

ADOPT-A-STREAM PROGRAM
Release Form - click here
Safety Rules and Guidelines for Volunteers - click here

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Camping Permit Shortages, Concerns

Here is an excerpt of an email Maile sent on 6/28/09. She is interested in hearing your thoughts regarding this matter.

Dear Director Chang, Waianae Liaison Spencer, Director Thielen, Harbormaster Aila, and Neighborhood Board Chair Jordan:

About a week ago I was approached by several concerned citizens regarding the issuance of camping permits for July 4 weekend and the summer months. As you are probably aware, the competition for camping permits for July 4 was so fierce that people were literally "camping" at Satellite City Halls around the state for days to reserve their space in line to vie for permits.

Due to the limited number of available camping spaces, these citizens made the following suggestions, some of which they said are modeled after what's being done in other areas, such as Kualoa Park:

1) During the summer only, open some of the city parks that are currently closed at night for camping, eg, Pokai Bay, "Middle Park" on Pokai Bay St., etc.;

2) During the summer only, open some of the state parks for camping, eg, Makua, Keawaula, etc.;

3) ...limit camping permits to 5 per year per household/address.

Other comments they made were: 1) ...public camping areas at Keaau Beach [are very limited]; 2) Special events often dominate the camping areas at Maili Beach Park, such as the 4th of July Event, Sunset on the Beach, etc.; and 3) Sewer's Beach lacks swimming areas for children (although it is a good park for fishing).

Let me know if you have any feedback regarding these requests, or if there is anything I can do to help address this issue.

Mahalo, Maile

[Note: These citizens, along with many others in the community, also urged lawmakers to set aside land where the homeless would be allowed to camp. I agree with this suggestion, and will continue to try to pursue it.]

Monday, June 22, 2009

Board of Water Supply Construction - Nanakuli Avenue

[NOTE: Honolulu Board of Water Supply is supposed to keep our office updated on the possible use of the WCEAR after they meet with C&C DTS. Also, as far as how long this project will take -- the contractor is working a Monday through Friday schedule from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. They need to work Monday through Friday near Nanakuli Avenue in order to finish the work and move away from Nanakuli Avenue before the start of the fall school semester.

BWS scheduled this portion of the project after the fall school session ended on June 9, 2009. The entire Part 1, Phase A project from Haleakala Avenue to Black Rock is expected to be completed by January 2010.

Work for Phase B will begin in January 2010 between Black Rock and Aliinui Drive. This project will be done at night (non-residential area) and should be completed in March of 2011. The Phase 1 project from Aliinui Drive to the Old Farrington Highway Intersection should be complete by July 2009. BWS and their contractors will all work to stay on schedule and will notify our office and the community if there are any major changes to the schedule.

Click HERE for more detailed project information.]





From: BWS Communications
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 3:00 PM
To: Colleen Young; Moani Wright-Van Alst; Communications


Aloha Colleen,

Moani is out of the office attending a training session, so I’m responding on her behalf. We sincerely apologize for the traffic inconvenience this project is causing. As you know, this project is essential to ensuring continued access to safe and dependable water supply for the Leeward Coast.

The Board of Water Supply (BWS) understands how frustrating it is for people who have to drive through the construction areas, which is why we are continuing to try and adjust our plans to help alleviate some of he traffic impact. We are implementing contraflow at this time. However, we can only provide one east-bound and one west-bound lane.

The current work to replace a 24” transmission main requires the closure of both east-bound lanes of Farrington Highway near Nanakuli Avenue.

Based on our initial evaluation, it is not feasible to utilize the emergency bridge at this time because the current work zone is adjacent to the bridge access.

We have made contact and are planning to meet with the City's Department of Transportation Services (DTS) to further evaluate the possibility of using portions of the Waianae Coast Emergency Access Road to help ease traffic. As always, public and traffic safety concerns must be weighed in the evaluation of this alternative and as such, there is no guarantee that this traffic option will be permitted.

We have also investigated the option of working at night and have discussed this alternative with the Waianae and Nanakuli Neighborhood Boards. However, the areas that require two-lane closures require "hoe-ramming," an extremely loud procedure (louder than jack-hammering). This activity is not permitted after 10 p.m. in residential areas (near Nanakuli Avenue). This would only allow our contractor to work two hours a night (from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.). This limitation would require additional day work for such noise-related activities, thereby further delaying the completion of the project, while also increasing the overall cost of the project.

We apologize for the traffic inconvenience resulting from our water system improvement project. We will continue to keep the community apprised of our project schedule and sincerely appreciate their input and continued suggestions for mitigating the current traffic impacts.

Thank you for your continued patience.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

CONTACT INFORMATION: (808) 748-5730 contactus@hbws.org

Nanakuli Steel Poles Installation Project - UPDATE

From: Hoo, Lori [mailto:lori.hoo@heco.com]


Aloha, All,

Over the last seven months, we have been working to replace 12 poles located between Lualualei Naval Road and Haleakala Avenue as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen the utility poles along Farrington Highway. I'm pleased to report that we are in the final stages of this project. We have completed the installation of the replacement poles and Hawaiian Telcom and the State DOT have been working to move their facilities to the new poles. Our contractor began removing the wood poles today and will continue to work in concert with DOT, as DOT moves the street lighting from the wood poles to the steel poles. There has been some hesitancy on the part of DOT to do any work that will exacerbate the present traffic conditions caused by BWS' closure of two lanes in the area. As such, we do not have a schedule for the completion of the final stages of work at this time. In addition to the pole removals, our contractor will repair and restore the public walkway areas affected by our construction work.

Of the 12 poles that we were planning to replace, 10 poles were replaced with new steel poles, one was replaced with a concrete pole, and one pole fronting Sack N Save will remain, as is. We will not be able to replace this pole as planned due to some underground utilities in the area discovered during construction. Relocation of the utilities will involve substantial excavation and construction work which will adversely impact traffic for a prolonged period of time. The pole that is not being replaced is significantly thicker than the original pole that fell during the March 2006 and December 2007 storms. Additionally, a brace was installed on the pole to further increase its strength.

Please feel free to post this email or distribute this email to other neighborhood board members and anyone else that may want an update on our work. If you have any questions or need additional information, please email me or call me at 543-5815. I will be out of town until June 17 but if you'd like to contact someone about this project while I'm away, please call Craig Naito at 543-7533.

Mahalo,
Lori

Lori Hoo
Director, Community Relations
Hawaiian Electric Company
543-5815
lori.hoo@heco.com

Monday, June 15, 2009

Used Encyclopedia Sets Available

On Jun 12, 2009, at 10:45 AM, "Judith Cantil" wrote:

We have 4 sets of very nice encyclopedia type sets of books. They are old, but in perfect condition and are complete:
15 volumes of Childcraft Encyclopedia
7 volumes of Young Scientist
22 Volumes of WorldBook Encyclopedia (1991 edition)
10 Volumes of Golden Book History of the United States

They are all real colorful, nicely illustrated and geared to young readers. I'd hate to see them go to a landfill!

If interested in any of the sets, call Jeff - cell 223-5341

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

National Children's Study Presentation June 17th (Wednesday night)

Aloha Wai’anae Community Members:

Just a last reminder before our public presentation at the Wai’anae Public Library at 7– 8pm on Wed. June 17th.

Dr. Rodriguez will be talking about “How to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes in Youth”.

Dr. Shintani will be touching on some hot topics in “Environmental Factors, Food, and Children’s Health”.

And, of course, they will be discussing how everything ties in to the National Children’s Study.

Please let your key contact people know that we would greatly appreciate their feedback at this community meeting.

Click HERE for our ad for the upcoming public talk and presentation (printing in ‘landscape’ produces a nice flyer).

Also, please see our article “Wai’anae Keiki To Be Part of National Children’s Study” on page 3 of the June Westside Stories.

If you don’t have an issue the article can be found at the Westside Stories website: http://www.wsshawaii.com/ on page 3.

For any questions please call me at Ph. 587-4875.

Mahalo for all your support and hope to see you there!

AL Tachibana


AL Tachibana
Community Engagement Coordinator
National Children's Study
John A. Burns School of Medicine
University of Hawaii
677 Ala Moana Blvd. Ste. 1025
Honolulu, HI 96813
Tel: 808-587-4875
Fax: 808-587-4874

Monday, June 8, 2009

Creating a Healing Environment in Your Home

It Takes An `Ohana

We want to remind Oahu's resource parents* about the FREE workshop on Tuesday, June 16, Creating a Healing Environment in Your Home- Supporting a Child who has been Abused by Sex Assault.

FOR DETAILED INFORMATION ON THIS EVENT, CLICK HERE.

There will be door prizes plus each resource family who attends will receive a copy of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center's most recent book, A Step at a Time ~ A Discussion of Sexual Assault. Dinner and childcare are also provided free of charge.

Our presenter, Jennifer O'Donnel, has her B.A. in Sociology and has worked with youth in the foster care system for many years. Jennifer will share her expertise and resources. In fact, she has arranged for the Childrens Alliance to open the training with information about their unique programs that assist the sexual abuse victim regain the joy of their lost childhood.


Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Time: Dinner at 5:30 pm ~ Training runs from 6 pm to 8 pm
Location: Waianae District Park, 85-601 Farrington Hwy.

Childcare: Provided for children age 3 to 12 years old. Please call to register for childcare and leave your name, contact number plus names and ages of the children needing care.

RSVP: Call or e-mail Julie at 832-5056 or jsueyoshi@dhs.hawaii.gov by June 15th.

Cost: FREE

You can click HERE to download a flyer that includes a map. We hope you can join us!

Judith Wilhoite
It Takes An `Ohana

*Resource parents include foster, adoptive, guardianship & kinship parents.


This training is sponsored by the Department of Human Services and the Foster Care Training Committee (FCTC). FCTC agencies include Catholic Charities Hawai'i, Child and Family Service, Department of Human Services, EPIC 'Ohana Conferencing, Family Programs Hawai'i, Hale Kipa, Inc., Heart Gallery Hawaii, HOPE INC, Inc.,It Takes an `Ohana, Kokua Ohana, Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health, Partners in Development Foundation, University of Hawaii Training Academy.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Summer Tech Program

From: "Naomi Digitaki"
Date: June 3, 2009 12:31:24 PM HST
To:
Subject: Summer Tech @ Waianae

Hi Maile,

Hope you and yours are well.

I wanted to let you know that our school is having a Summer Tech Program for six weeks this summer right here on the Waianae Coast. Can you believe that!

Ulu Ke Kukui is hosting the training program believe it or not, youth enrolled in the program will earn as they learn! Yes, students will be paid $7.25 per hour for 30 hours each week for 6 weeks.

This is only for youth of Native Hawaiian ancestry as ALU LIKE is funding it.

I have attached a FLYER and an INCOME REFERENCE SHEET(the middle column is the one to go by) so folks can determine their eligibility.

The program at HTI is scheduled for June 15 and the one here in Waianae on June 22.

Would you be able to post this info in your blogspot? Any help you can provide to disseminate the info to Waianae residents would be much appreciated!

Hauoli Po`akolu!

Aloha,
Naomi

Naomi Digitaki
President/CEO
Hawaii Technology Institute
629 Pohukaina Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Phone: (808) 522-2700 x 25
Fax: (808) 522-2707
www.hti.edu

Hawaii State Library Summer Reading Programs

From: "Marcy Thomas"
Date: June 3, 2009 9:59:39 AM HST
To:

Dear Maile:

Here is some information about the summer reading programs. Can you post it on your blog?

I also attached a flyer just about the childrens’ program. We have improved it; there are 3 age groups now and each week , when they turn in their reading log, they will received a goody bag w/ some fun items in it-like Pokemon cards, POGS, stickers, tattoos, pencils, colors, and snacks.

Then at the celebration party on July 18, we will have a grand prize winner from all the children who turned in reading logs.

Please let me or Ms. Bono know if you have any questions

Thanks
Marcy

Click on links below to view flyers:

FLYER 1
FLYER 2

Army Finalizes EIS for Makua Training

FROM THE HONOLULU ADVERTISER:

Army Finalizes EIS for Makua Training

by: Advertiser staff

The Army has completed the final environmental impact statement for
military training activities at Makua Military Reservation on Oahu,
looking at the possibility of resuming live-fire military training
exercises at Makua for Army, Marine Corps and Hawaii Army National
Guard units.

The final EIS analyzed four alternatives to accomplish the proposed
training, as well as a no-action alternative, under which no live-
fire training would be conducted. The Army's preferred alternative
involves full-capacity use with fewer weapons restrictions. The Army
says many of the munitions used would be consistent with the
Endangered Species Act biological opinion established for training at
Makua.

Live-fire training ended in 2004 pending completion of the EIS. The
military says live-fire exercises are critical to maintaining
military readiness and preparing soldiers for combat.

Some of the major potential impacts discusses in the final EIS are
associated with soil, surface water and groundwater quality, air
quality, cultural sites, natural resources, endangered and threatened
species, noise, recreational resources, wildfires and the safety and
transport of munitions through the Waianae community. The Army has
recommended several mitigation measures that would reduce the overall
impacts associated with the training.

The EIS is expected to be published Friday in the Federal Register
and may be available to the general public at that time.

Copies of the final EIS are expected to be available at
http://www.garrison.hawaii.army.mil/makuaeis/
as well as at the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii Public Affairs Office and select public libraries.

Housing Meeting Cancelled

--- On Thu, 6/4/09, Anna Ventura wrote:

Aloha All Agencies:

This is just a reminder that June 11th, 2009, Thursday meeting will be cancelled due it is a Holiday “King Kamehameha Day.” The meeting will be reschedule for July 9th, 2009, second Thursday of the month. During the month of July, I will e-mail you your agenda and survey.

If you have any questions, please call me at 696-1217 and I will be happy to assist you, if I can.

Thank you
Anna Ventura

Wai`anae Farmers' Market

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Seeking West Oahu Management Team Members for Local US Census Office

My name is Malissa Kaawa, I am a recruiter with the 2010 US Local Census Office. I am currently recruiting and testing for management positions for the second Local Census Office for the State of Hawaii. The office is projected to open October 2009 and will be located in West Oahu. This office will service areas in Hawaii, west of Aiea (including Aiea), North Shore, and the neighbor islands.

It is important we get an accurate census count as it will affect our State for the next 10 years. Federal appropriations, like Medicaid, are based on census numbers.

If you know of anyone who is qualified and interested in interesting and important work, kindly forward the recruiting bulletins (attached) or have them call our recruiting department at 535-0920. While the job is temporary (appointment will not exceed 9/25/2010), the pay is competitive ($21.25-$29.00/hour) and the work rewarding.

Please note the closing date on the recruiting bulletins is June 19th. Also, passing a written test is required for the management positions. Call 535-0920 to schedule a test date. Testing will be held at the Waianae Satellite City Hall conference room on Monday, June 8, 2009 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

More information may be found at our regional website: http://www.census.gov/rolax/www/2010Jobs.html

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.


Sincerely,
Malissa Tongg Kaawa
Recruiting Assistant
2010 US Census Bureau
Direct: (808) 282-8560
Email: mkt@hawaii.rr.com

FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO APPLY FOR MANAGEMENT POSITIONS, CLICK HERE.


Click on each link below to view the recruiting bulletins:

BULLETIN 1
BULLETIN 2
BULLETIN 3
BULLETIN 4
BULLETIN 5
BULLETIN 6

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Wai`anae Grads Need Help Funding Project Graduation

Rep. Shimabukuro is putting a call out to the public for monetary donations to help fund Wai'anae High School Project Graduation.

This year, the Department of Education stepped away from Project Graduation, pulling funding from the program, because of recent budget cuts. Parents and community volunteers instead worked to get sponsors to help fund the all-night party for high school seniors on their graduation day. However, many local businesses have been unable to help without jeopardizing their business needs.

Although the committee and students have worked very hard fundraising and seeking sponsors, they are still $10,000 short of making the event happen. Even more, many parents, who have lost their jobs or have accumulated more expenses by taking struggling family members into their homes, are unable to pay the $200 fee to attend the event.

"Realizing graduation is this week Friday, June 5, 2009, we really want these kids to attend. Since we have already placed deposits on everything, [including] event locations, meals, paid for buses, shirts and jackets, we must roll forward," said Gail Gomes, chair of the Wai'anae High School Project Graduation committee.

"Project graduation is an important high school experience in Hawaii," added Rep. Shimabukuro. "These kids deserve a night of fun for all their hard work. I encourage everyone who is able to donate any amount of money to help make Project Grad a reality for our Wai'anae students."

The public should call Gail Gomes at 808-696-7978 or email at http://us.mc1115.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=wss@hawaii.rr.com for more information. Checks should be payable to "Wai'anae High School Project Graduation".