BY SEN. SAM SLOM – Security VS. Liberty? The mainstream media and government officials are telling us we must give up an ever-increasing amount of liberty in order to guarantee security. I won’t buy it. That’s not what Liberty in America and Independence Day are about.
Vicky Cayetano Speaks TOMORROW. Learn successful business tips from former Hawaii First Lady and President/CEO of the highly successful United Laundry Services and Managing Director of United Laundry Kona.
Ms. Cayetano will join us tomorrow, Thursday, June 27, at 7 a.m. at the Pineapple Room at Macys in Ala Moana. Ms. Cayetano is also involved in cultural preservation, promoting better health care and the Honolulu Symphony. Limited seats. Advance reservations available through SBH. Call Darlyn at 396-1724, or go online. The question is: Will Ms. Cayetano have a doggie in her purse as usual?
Go, Larry Go. Billionaire Larry Ellison, who made headlines when he purchased the Island of Lanai (wouldn’t that be nice to be able to buy an island?), then bought Island Air (wouldn’t it be nice to be able to buy an airline?), now is planning to buy GO! Airlines from Mesa Air Group. (Wouldn’t it be…?)
Fung now WPMA President. Robert Fung, secretary and general counsel for Aloha Petroleum, Ltd., is now president of the Western Petroleum Marketers Association. He is the first WPMA president from Hawaii to lead the regional trade association of petroleum wholesalers and marketers. Fung’s term as president begins July 1.
“It’s quite an honor to be selected to lead WPMA, and I’m humbled by the privilege to do so. It will certainly help to boost Hawaii’s profile in the region and reaffirm our contributions to the petroleum industry,” said Fung.
WPMA was founded in 1953 and is comprised of seven state associations, representing Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington.
Tesoro Saved? Par Petroleum of Houston last week agreed to purchase the Tesoro Refinery and all its retail stations in Hawaii for a reported $300 million-plus, thus saving a second refinery and several hundred jobs for Hawaii. And to think, Tesoro and Par accomplished this without the help of the Governor and State Legislative Refinery Task Force. Government helps business best when it simply gets out of the way.
SBH Business All Star Awards. The Small Business Hawaii Entrepreneurial Education Foundation will host its annual SBH Business All Stars Awards Banquet, Friday, September 20, at the Waialae Country Club from 5:30 to 8 pm. There will be several categories of business awardees, a sumptuous buffet, fun, entertainment and a silent auction. Save the date on your calendar now. Sponsorships available (contact Malia Zimmerman at Hawaii Reporter, 306-3161) or to reserve seats contact Darlyn at SBH, 396-1724. Auction item donations are appreciated and welcome.
The first announced 2013 awardees: “The SBH Lex Brodie Business Person of the Year” (2013) is John Carpenter of Island Slipper Company. John will be honored for his many years of business success, management style and for keeping alive an iconic family business, which he has successfully expanded. “SBH Entrepreneur of the Year,” is 11-year old (that’s right, 11!), Skylar Soares, who, despite serious medical challenges, chose through Make A Wish Foundation, and the help of students at Hawaii Pacific University, and Maryknoll School, to start her own successful sun-protection Hawaii hat business. Congratulations Skylar. Come, join and be inspired by Skylar and other business awardees this year. Next week, we will announce more award winners.
Blue Man Group. The Blue Man Group’s first visit to Hawaii at the NBC Concert Hall last week was one of the most fantastic shows I’ve ever seen.
Movie Prices Up. Consolidated Amusement quietly raised its rates again a week ago Friday to $11 for general seating and $8 for seniors, just prior to “Man of Steel.”
Â
$1 Office Space on Maui? What will one buck buy you? On Maui? The Lt. Governor just leased an office from the County of Maui from now until December 2014 for $1.
HAL Appoints Imanaka. Hawaiian Airlines appointed Kevin Imanaka to the new position of Director – Internal and Corporate Communications. In this new position, he is responsible for overseeing and managing the strategy for communicating with more than 5,000 Hawaiian Airlines employees.
Immigration Reform? The big national news for the few past weeks has been Congress’ attempt to pass immigration “reform.” It is coming to a head in the next day or two. Maybe. Conveniently, this bi-partisan issue has served to push all the Obama Administration misdeeds- Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS, Drones, Tapping FOX News correspondents and spying on the Associated Press-off the front (or back) pages. This legislation, featuring “a pathway to citizenship (read Amnesty),” is the 1,200-page version of Obamacare. Pass it – then we’ll read all of it.
Some of the arguments say this plan will be good for the 11 million illegal aliens in America (remember when it was 18 million?), and good for businesses that can then hire these illegals without paying them the same wages and benefits demanded for American workers and legal immigrants.
Do you really think that an illegal will “have to learn English, pay a fine, not be allowed any Federal benefits, then go to the back of the line for 13 years?” Who will enforce this? We can’t seem to find the “11 million in the shadows” now. Security? What about completion of the 700-mile border fence, which was authorized years ago, but only 35 miles were built. This is not reform; this is DC politics as usual targeting Hispanic voters.
UH Chooses Illegals. The University of Hawaii has already weighed in on the illegal immigrant issue. Despite a failed bill in the 2012 Legislature, the Regents decided to allow certain children of illegal immigrants here to qualify for the lower resident tuition rates at UH as “residents.” They are now actively and publicly distributing flyers and messages to the public.
New Hawaii Restaurant Officers. The board of directors of the Hawaii Restaurant Association (HRA) announced new officers for the upcoming year. Inducted by retiring chair, Tom Jones (Gyotaku Japanese Restaurants), the following officers have been elected to serve from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014:
- Chair – Bryan Andaya, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, L&L Franchise Inc.
- Chair Elect – Dirk Koeppenkastrop, Ph.D., Founder and Co-owner, Il Gelato Hawaii
- Vice Chair – Pat Kashani, Owner, Auntie Pasto’s (Beretania)
- Treasurer – Eron Read, Director – Restaurant and Retail Development, Kona Brewing Company
- Secretary – Tushar Dubey, President, Hokulani Bake Shop
Six new directors also have been elected to the HRA board of directors, representing both restaurant members and allied members. The new directors include Patrick Dolan (Dixie Grill), Tushar Dubey (Hokulani Bake Shop), Pat Kashani (Auntie Pasto’s), Len Delekta (Image Apparel Hawaii), Kevin Matsuda (Hawaii National Bank), and Gerda Tom (Aloha Shoyu).
Governor’s Vetoes. On Monday, Governor Neil Abercrombie, as required by law, released his list of 9 bills on the “intent to veto” form. If a bill is on the list he does not have to veto it, but if it is not on the list he cannot veto it. There were 293 bills passed (of 3,000 introduced) in 2013 and the Governor has until July 9 to veto, sign, or allow the remaining bills to become law. He has signed more than 150 bills into law, many with public ceremony, to date. His veto list includes: HB 763 (State Building Code); HB 619 (feral birds); HB 988 (Native Wildlife); HB 424 (Timeshare Conveyances); HB 654 (Nursing); HB 1130 (Hawaii Health Systems Corp.); SB 3 (OHA); SB 68 (Sentencing) and SB 1265 (Contracts).
Â
Livable Hawaii Kai Hui Seeks Help. Every second Saturday Livable Hawaii Kai Hui holds a community workday and open house at Keawawa wetland and Hawea Heiau complex. LHKH also offer schools, churches, other groups and organizations opportunity to fulfill service projects as groups or individuals on those second Saturdays or on special days we coordinate with them. Please join them at their July 13th open house/ workday. To schedule a group contact: mardilaprade@aol.com. Join LHKH on July 4th at Independence Day at Maunalua Bay. There will be wetland coloring sheets and making dragonflies with the keiki.
TEA Party Maui Pizza Party With No Pizza. Come and join TEA Party Maui’s “Pizza Party” this Friday, June 28th, for the third Friday Night “Pizza Party” (but, without the pizza). The monthly social gathering will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Saeng’s Thai Cuisine, in Wailuku. Join TEA Party Maui for an evening of talk story, fun, and good food. Be sure to bring a friend.
Grassroot Institute to Host Leftist Trippi. The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Hawaii’s first conservative think tank (2000), is inviting the public to the annual Milton Friedman Birthday (Milton’s 101st) event. This is a dinner July 31 at Pearl County Club. Surprisingly, the keynoter is Joe Trippi, well known Democratic Campaign Consultant and critic of conservatives and the free market.
Sabas at Helm of Rail Group. No surprise, Jennifer Sabas, who was the late Sen. Daniel Inouye’s Hawaii chief of staff, has been named executive director of Move Oahu Forward, a coalition of big business and union leaders supporting the $9.03 billion Honolulu rail project. Sabas will work “behind the scenes” to push the ill-fated project forward on the backs of Honolulu taxpayers.
League of Women Voters on Rail and the Budget. Taxpayers already fund the bus with some 10 percent of the city budget. However, that will rise with rail. An estimated 19% of the total city budget will be required to fund the entire public transit system if rail should become operational. Taxpayers also must pay the enormous costs of the court-ordered repairs to Honolulu’s crumbling sewage system and replace or repair the county’s decrepit streets and bridges. How will Honolulu pay for it all — and how will it impact needed capital improvement projects and maintenance in the future?”
Water and sewer fees and most of the other sources of income such as parking have already been recently raised significantly. The only other source of revenue that the City Council can “adjust” is property taxes — which the public has adamantly opposed in the recent past.
Pearl Johnson, of the League of Women Voters-Honolulu, said the LWV forum will help taxpayers better understand the reality of the Honolulu budget situation. The forum on Saturday, June 29, 10 a.m. at the Washington Middle School is free and open to all. Panelists include: Natalie Iwasa, CPA and City Council Activist; Councilmember Ann Kobayashi, Chair, Budget committee; Matthew Lynch, Asia-Pacific Center for Regenerative Design; and Richard Ubersax, Corporate Project Analyst.
Kim Represents Hawaii at Diabetes Event. Taylor Kim, 12 years old, of Aiea, has been selected by the Junior Diabetes Foundation to join 150 other children from around the country in Washington, D.C., to remind their Members of Congress of the vital need to continue supporting research that aims to reduce the burden they all share, of type 1 diabetes (T1D), until a cure becomes available. The event, held every other summer, will once again be led by JDRF International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore.
Teipel Responds to Real Estate Sale Article. Auction Action’s Joe Teipel sent this comment about last week’s item about a house that sold in Hawaii Kai: “Your real estate story points exactly to ONE thing; Auction Action. It’s a perfect storm for auctioning real estate; I GUARANTEE that seller would have “SOLD ” higher after those 7 bidders were properly registered into a live, one-shot winner-take-all auction event. Just completed real estate courses; duty of agent is to get seller TOP dollar. NOT possible after accepting ONE offer, throwing out all the other bidders. Happens often right now.”
AARP to Hold Social Security Briefing. You are invited to an informational meeting conducted by AARP Hawaii on proposed changes to Social Security and Medicare. The meeting will be held this Saturday, June 29, 9 a.m to 11:00 a.m., at the Ward Warehouse – Kakaako Conference Room, 2nd Floor. AARP will be providing an update on Long-Term Care legislation and the Affordable Care Act implementation (in particular the Hawaii Health Connector).
Abercrombie Signs Mortgage Bill. On June 21, Gov. Abercrombie signed Senate Bill 1025 (Act 135) to make home ownership more accessible by updating the Hula Mae Single Family Mortgage Loan Program and broadening eligibility. The act is effective July 1. In 1979, the Hawaii State Legislature authorized the Hawaii Housing Authority to fund the mortgage loan program to assist low- and moderate-income home buyers. Since then, the Legislature has authorized the issuance of revenue bonds in an aggregate principal amount of $2.2 billion to fund this program. As of June 30, 2012, $1.8 billion in single-family mortgage purchase revenue bonds have been issued, providing eligible first-time homebuyers with mortgage loans at below market interest rates. Also since then, the Hula Mae Single Family Program has helped more than 10,000 families purchase first homes.
Rusty Humphries Coming! Tickets are now on sale for the Hawaii Republican Assembly’s HIRA’s exclusive presentation of national conservative talk radio superstar Rusty Humphries at the Waialae Country Club on Friday, July 19, from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Write to: alerts@hawaiirepublicanassembly.com
Â
Young Professionals: Time to Join SBH. Smart Business Hawaii (SBH) is reaching out to Young Entrepreneurs with a special place within SBH for younger business owners. Annual dues only $75 if you are under 30. Contact me directly (SBH@lava.net), go online (www.smartbusinesshawaii.com) or call Darlyn at 396-1724 for details. Welcome aboard!
SBH PAU HANA at Hilo Hattie. A fun networking social at Hilo Hattie open to all Wednesday, July 17 – Friends, Food and Trivia 5:30 – 7:30 pm – $20 SBH Members $30 non-members RSVP Darlyn 396-1724.
Dr. Panos Prevedouros is a weekly guest on Rick Hamada’s Tuesday morning radio show every Tuesday, 7:05 – 8 am. Tune in!
News Behind the News. Don’t forget that Malia Zimmerman delivers the daily Hawaii Reporter news briefing very day at 7:05 am on KHVH. Get the REAL news with Malia!
SBH can help you with YOUR business. Just starting a business?  Call me personally for help at 396-1724 or email: SBH@lava.net. Smart Business Hawaii Means Business and we’re here to help you.
I didn't found where's that 1 dollar office. Help, please? ^_^
Comments are closed.