04-24-2019, 05:31 PM
And more:
"VIDEO: DLNR Chair Gives Pohakuloa, Mauna Kea, TMT Update"
"Kahele then turned to the Mauna Kea master lease, currently held by the University of Hawai#699;i, which expires expires on December 31, 2033. Kahele asked Case for her thoughts on a concept for Mauna Kea “where the state of Hawaii issues a master lease for the summit of Mauna Kea, with a certain allocated fixed rent, and then it’s up to the lessee – which would be the University of Hawai#699;i – to then sublease portions of Mauna Kea to various telescope entities to meet the master lease values to fund the Land Division rather than master leasing it for a dollar, we could master lease for right $5 million, right? $10 million.”"
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2019/0...mt-update/
I explained the MK observatories' rent situation many times on PW. Each observatory pays rent via 15% observing time at the telecopes for the University of Hawaii; the observatories provide several million dollars a year of their money to provide this access. This enables the university to carry out a strong astronomy and physics program with access to the telescopes for students. It's been well known for a long time that the best education for university students comes from staff still actively carrying out research and are therefore aware of the latest results in astronomy and physics and can pass that onto their students as well as having those students involved in the research thereby attracting even more STEM-related students.
Switching this rent to a simple fee will not only make astronomy more expensive for the observatories, it will likely force some to close. Not only that, it will reduce the accessibility of the UH to the telescopes and have a detrimental effect on both research and STEM education in Hawaii. It's a typical politician's short-term view of looking for more tax money and ignoring the potentially catastrophic mid and long-term effects it will have on the state.
"VIDEO: DLNR Chair Gives Pohakuloa, Mauna Kea, TMT Update"
"Kahele then turned to the Mauna Kea master lease, currently held by the University of Hawai#699;i, which expires expires on December 31, 2033. Kahele asked Case for her thoughts on a concept for Mauna Kea “where the state of Hawaii issues a master lease for the summit of Mauna Kea, with a certain allocated fixed rent, and then it’s up to the lessee – which would be the University of Hawai#699;i – to then sublease portions of Mauna Kea to various telescope entities to meet the master lease values to fund the Land Division rather than master leasing it for a dollar, we could master lease for right $5 million, right? $10 million.”"
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2019/0...mt-update/
I explained the MK observatories' rent situation many times on PW. Each observatory pays rent via 15% observing time at the telecopes for the University of Hawaii; the observatories provide several million dollars a year of their money to provide this access. This enables the university to carry out a strong astronomy and physics program with access to the telescopes for students. It's been well known for a long time that the best education for university students comes from staff still actively carrying out research and are therefore aware of the latest results in astronomy and physics and can pass that onto their students as well as having those students involved in the research thereby attracting even more STEM-related students.
Switching this rent to a simple fee will not only make astronomy more expensive for the observatories, it will likely force some to close. Not only that, it will reduce the accessibility of the UH to the telescopes and have a detrimental effect on both research and STEM education in Hawaii. It's a typical politician's short-term view of looking for more tax money and ignoring the potentially catastrophic mid and long-term effects it will have on the state.