Question: The construction of Whole Foods in Kailua seems to have stopped while the Target construction hasn’t started. What is the status of these two projects?

Answer: They’re still scheduled to be completed next year.

Whole Foods is targeted to open in early 2012, said Kimo Steinwascher, vice president of Kaneohe Ranch Management Ltd., landlord for the natural foods chain. “There is no holdup … just paperwork.”

As the landlord, Kaneohe Ranch has completed “our work, which is the building shell,” he said. Whole Foods is now working directly with its contractor on interior work.

Preconstruction meetings have been held “and we anticipate them to start (interior construction) shortly,” Steinwascher said last week. “The target opening is the first quarter of 2012.

As for the Target project, Kaneohe Ranch sold the 311,000-square-foot former Don Quijote site to Target Corp. earlier this year, “so we are not involved” in the project, he said.

“The last I heard was they were hoping to start construction imminently,” Steinwascher said. “That’s why they put the dust barriers up and are hoping to open next summer or fall.”

Asked for the status of the Kailua store, a spokeswoman for Target told us, “We continue to move through the permitting process and look forward to bringing Target to Kailua residents in 2012. Unfortunately, I don’t have additional details at this time.”

Question: Will all prospective volunteers for the November APEC Conference be notified of their nonselection or selection? We were individually interviewed on July 16 at the Hawai‘i Convention Center and have yet to hear from the organizers. A recent article in the Windward MidWeek displayed a picture of volunteers already in training. For planning purposes, it would be diplomatically correct to be so advised.

Answer: The APEC Host Committee is continuing to notify prospective volunteers of their status, according to Gregg Yamanaka, chief executive officer of the committee.

“Many have already been confirmed and have started going through training,” he said. “It is expected that all notifications will be sent out within the next few weeks.”

The response to the call for volunteers was “overwhelming,” he said, with many more applicants than available volunteer positions.

In a letter to volunteers, the committee said it had originally sought 1,300 volunteers, but have since cut that number down to 1,000. Those who had received training but not selected were to be placed on a wait list.

Yamanaka said there are some opportunities for those who still want to volunteer in preparation for APEC 2011.

One is a community cleanup project on Oct. 29 being coordinated by Totally Against Graffiti. Contact Marilyn Yeager of TAG at 944-4656 or marinhi@aol.com.

AUWE

To the person who took my wallet at Ala Moana Center during the Labor Day weekend. Not only did you take a billfold that had sentimental meaning, but you forced me to cancel plans on the day before my birthday. I hope that you enjoyed my wedding photo from 32 years ago. More than the inconvenience and peace of mind you took, you removed birthday money that was intended to go to a charity.

After all of the wallets that I have anonymously returned, I know that the good feelings from those experiences outweigh any selfish short-term benefits that you might have gotten from taking my wallet.

Please consider that the next time you put someone though this depressing experience. Believe me, it’s infinitely better to have less money and a serene conscience.

— Disappointed Retired Lady on a Fixed Income in Waikiki