BEN ANGARONE/Honolulu Civil Beat

Honolulu Civil Beat
With paramedics spread thin, Honolulu dusts off a possible solution
City leaders have contemplated this at least three times — in the 1990s, in the early 2000s and again around 2011. That time, the city hired a consultant for $175,000 to make a recommendation. The consultant said merging fire and emergency services, which at the time included the city’s lifeguards,
 
Honolulu will allow some developers to OK their own projects
That backlog has real effects in a city that desperately needs more housing. The city’s lengthy approval process not only delays construction, it makes it harder to get financing.
 
Limits on Honolulu landfills could change after opposition to Wahiawā site
After more than 150 people spoke out last week against building a landfill in Wahiawā over an aquifer, a Honolulu official said the administration doesn’t want it there, either.
 
Years of shortchanging elections led to Honolulu’s long voter lines
Four years later, Oahu saw a virtual repeat of what happened in 2020. Long lines. Delayed results. And tired voters.
 
Honolulu revives the idea of shipping trash off island
But the reality is that the island has few options on how to handle its garbage in the coming years. The lone municipal landfill is scheduled to close in 2028, and the roughly 300,000 tons of trash that go there every year will need some alternative disposal plan.
 
Hawaii nurses union calls new contract a step in the right direction
Nurse-to-patient staffing ratios had been the Hawaii Nurses Association’s biggest complaint. Throughout negotiations, which started in September 2023, the union said that nurses were being overworked by having too many patients under their care.
 
Why Do Efforts To Impose Higher Taxes On Empty Homes In Honolulu Keep Stalling?
It’s not the city’s first attempt to pass such a tax. Council members also failed to adopt an empty homes tax with Bill 9 in 2022 and Bill 69 in 2018.
 
Honolulu mayor vows tougher approach on homelessness
His team is still figuring out what that looks like. But during a recent interview, Blangiardi said that he interprets the court ruling to give officials wide latitude, allowing city workers to remove homeless people from sidewalks on the charge of trespassing.
 
How did a bunch of grave markers from Punchbowl end up at a house in Palolo?
Homeowner Yujing Shentu’s father discovered them while doing yardwork in 2019. She said they were flipped over and being used as stepping stones at the time, and that her parents called her down when they saw the names engraved on the other side.