City Council looks to ban plastic bags, at last

A Honolulu City Council committee is advancing a plan to put in place a deadline through which checkout counter plastic bags will be banned, effective Jan. 1, 2020. A loophole in the current law allows businesses to offer “reusable” plastic bags that are slightly thicker than the banned filmy sacks.

Five years have passed since Hawaii became the first state nationwide in which each county had in place a ban on single-use plastic bags. And while the neighbor islands are maintaining effective checkout-counter bans, Oahu’s law, which has been on the books for nearly two years, is lagging behind. We’re overdue for a tougher, environmentally sound law.

‘Gentlemen’s farms’ plan comes with a sweetener

Kennedy Wilson Inc. may have won over just enough of the Mokuleia community with its revised subdivision plan for the historic Dillingham Ranch. The North Shore Neighborhood Board couldn’t quite muster the votes against this version of the controversial plan, which now reduces the number of home sites from 91 to 70.

Actual cultivation on these so-called “gentlemen’s farms” would be encouraged with financial credits, and there’s an added hydroponic farm as well as money for Waialua schools’ farming programs. Time will tell if that’s enough sweetening of the deal.