Green lights for affordable housing

Things are looking up for the affordable-housing mission, if one allows that this means “looking up” from a deep pit of deficit. The Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. is favoring the issuance of $130 million in financing for a pair of apartment towers in Halawa, adding 302 rental units.

Community opposition has eased: Worries about housing shortages may have trumped traffic and density concerns. But these objections may resurface as Aloha Stadium redevelopment plans also move forward.

Key DOE executives leave

The state Education Department is losing two key players on its leadership team, with Amy Kunz, assistant superintendent and chief financial officer, and Dann Carlson, assistant superintendent for school facilities and support services, moving on to posts at the University of Hawaii and Hawaii Air National Guard, respectively.

Kunz had pushed to modernize fiscal management and make more budget information readily available online; and Carlson spearheaded a job-order contracting revamp that expedites routine repairs such as roofing. Those steps helped bring more, much-needed transparency to the workings of the unwieldy statewide school district.