The good news is we have just about made it through 2019; the bad news is that most of Hawaii’s political crises, missteps and predicaments will follow us into 2020.
Perhaps the longest-running catastrophe is the failure to control the costs for the Honolulu rail system. First boosted by former Mayor Mufi Hannemann, rail is now seeing the once-fervent Mayor Kirk Caldwell expressing more doubts about construction plans for finishing the final four miles. Just the problems presented by building on Dillingham Boulevard above Honolulu’s main waterline and below Hawaiian Electric’s 138 kV power lines were described in the city’s environmental impact statement as “unique and of extraordinary impact.”
This year marks the first time that the city has used its own money to pay for a portion of the $9 billion project. A total of $92 million in city money will now go to rail, money that presumably could have gone for swings in parks, repairs to frequently closed swimming pools and more police on patrol. Many critics expect that more city money and not just the general excise tax surcharge will have to go for the over-budget project.
The second long-lingering worry of 2019 is: Will Hawaii build Mauna Kea’s Thirty Meter Telescope? The TMT issue has become political TNT, after Gov. David Ige announced this summer that the trucks would roll and construction would start on what would be the biggest and best telescope in the world. Well, that didn’t happen. Just as in 2014 and 2015, blockades, protests and road closures have again stalled the $1.4 billion project.
As protesters gathered this summer, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that “Helmets and long batons have been issued to officers who expect to be deployed to the protests, and police vans that can be used to transport officers or arrested protesters were shipped last week from Oahu to Hilo.”
The protests grew, becoming a genuine Hawaiian movement, and Ige and Big Island Mayor Harry Kim wavered, declining to press forward or retreat. As 2020 is an election year, action is unlikely, raising the probability that TMT’s backers will quit Hawaii, which is where some 3,000 will attend the 235th conference of the American Astronomical Society meeting at the Hawai‘i Convention Center from Jan. 4-8, 2020.
No review of Hawaii’s wayward 2019 is complete without mentioning the law enforcement embarrassment: The crime couple — former police chief, Louis Kealoha, and his former wife and deputy prosecutor, Katherine Kealoha, who will be sentenced to federal prison in March for stealing a mailbox, lying to investigators and bank fraud.
Also ensnarled in the Kealohas’ case and the subject of a federal investigation are Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro and Donna Leong, Honolulu’s corporation counsel. Both lawyers have been on leave with pay for much of 2019.
One piece of possibly good political news of 2019 is that after dithering for almost a decade, the Legislature this year approved vote by mail. All Hawaii voters will be mailed a ballot for both the primary and general elections. Even that democratic advancement, however, comes with a caution. Common Cause Hawaii is asking that vote officials increase support and explanations for the first year of the new system. State and county officials contend enough has been done.
We will see next year.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
