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I can't imagine OHA managing anything properly.
http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/01/searing...f-dollars/
The draft report by the Hawaii State Auditor questions whether the public agency has met legal requirements and suggests OHA is failing its trust obligation to improve the well-being of the Native Hawaiian community.
Among the findings: OHA trustees tripled their personal allowances and are spending them on questionable expenses such fancy dinners, international flights, seating upgrades, religious ceremonies, political events and medical expenses for the relative of a trustee.
OHA, a trust valued at $600 million that relies on a combination of public trust land revenue and other funding, also now provides more than $14 million annually in grants to qualified individuals and groups. The agency also provides scholarships and loans for the Hawaiian community and advocates on their behalf.
But OHA has long been plagued by costly infighting and criticized for poor fiscal management. Recent lawsuits involving OHA have cost more than $1.7 million.
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more than $14 million annually in grants to qualified individuals and groups.
I know of a number of recent grant recipients that were given millions as seed money to get off the ground, but disappeared as soon as the grant funds ran out. One was a "farm" with more executives on the board than workers. They never produced a thing.
Recycle Puna. Humans, although probably not you personally, have already left 400,000 pounds of trash on the moon. - YouTube's Half As Interesting
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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With all due respect TomK, I think having the MK summit managed by the National Park would be a disaster. As far as I am concerned, the Park operates the National Parks more by what's convenient for them than what is desired by the public. Seeing them - needlessly - kick paying/paid hotel guests out of Volcano House and KMC for the partial day Gov't shut down is but the most recent example...
How many years did it take for them to get Volcano House leased and renovated - with no place in the park to so much as get a sandwich? I attended a meeting some years back where there was discussion of some action that needed Park approval - it might have been the re-construction of the Chain of Craters road connection into the Park when it looked like Pahoa could lose its access to Hilo via Rt. 130 - but Cindy Orlando's attitude was "F-you, we're the Feds, we'll do what we want...". It was pretty clear that she wasn't much concerned for the surrounding community.
Be careful what you wish for...
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Fair point, geochem, I hadn't thought of the recent events for the Volcano National Park. My visits to the parks on the mainland have all been excellent experiences with real care being taken of the environment and visitors, so was thinking more of that.
In any case, I really don't see Mauna Kea being taken over by the park system, not in the near or mid-term anyway.
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There have been several news reports in the last couple of days about the bill to transfer management of Mauna Kea science reserve from UH to some other entity and have observatories pay a "true" rent (Senate Bill 3090). I'll pick this one just as it has fewer videos and adverts than other sites I've visited:
http://www.wthitv.com/content/national/473701633.html
" "All revenue whether it's commercial tours, whether it's charging for access to Mauna Kea or revenue generated from the ground lease, rent that the telescope should be paying, fair market value, all of those revenue should go to ultimately the Office of Hawaiian Affairs but it should also go to native Hawaiians," Kahele said."
There we have it. Forget education, it's OHA that wants more money. Let me outline briefly what this would mean for the observatories.
Let's say an observatory has an operational cost of $10 million to operate every night for a whole year. The rent they pay is 15% observing time to UH which goes to the university for research and educational costs. It is factored into the costs the observatory partners have to pay to keep the observatory running.
If that observatory now had to pay rent, at 15% that would be $1.5 million a year, that money would disappear from education and be taken away from the observatory's operational costs. That means, in order to keep the observatory operational every night, the cost to the partners would increase by 15%. Funding is already tight and such a large increase might not be possible to raise. If it can't, local jobs are lost. I know UKIRT and some other telescopes would soon be in trouble (and remember, UKIRT is currently the most scientifically productive telescope on the planet right now). And let's not forget the observatories have already signed leases until 2033.
Changing the system might be OK if the funding went to STEM education, after all, that's what the observatories are all about; they don't exist to line the pockets of the OHA.
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PS. I should mention that if you feel strongly about this, you can submit written testimony via:
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_i...illtype=SB&billnumber=3090&year=2018
I don't know if there's a deadline for written submissions, but there is a public hearing on the bill at 1:15 pm this Monday (12th, Feb) at the State Capitol in Honolulu, so it might be worth submitting something before then. From a colleague:
If you are already registered, please go to the page above, and click on “Submit Testimony” If you have not already registered, please click on “Register” (in the upper right hand corner of the screen’s home page) and enter your name, email address and the password you would like to use for this website. Once you are registered, click on “Submit Testimony”.
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TomK @ 01:16:47 02/11/2018-
Testimony submitted in opposition.
The list of sponsors is an interesting cast of characters
shall we say.
Pure extortion and conspiracy.
The "Protectors" are OHA's terrorists/enforcers,
and some legislators are their enablers.
Hawaii is a kleptocracy.
There is no check on these criminals.
Most citizens are too lazy to be concerned and speak up.
So the kleptocrats go on looting and plundering and hamstringing
any hope for a future for all of us in Hawaii- as long as they get theirs.
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Just saw the fate of HB1565, that would have made land use for scientific purposes
simpler, tabled because of the fierce opposition from NIMBY's, OHA stooges, the Sierra Club, etc.
I have never seen such ignorance and lack of vision in my life.
Sorry, but I'm pissed and I have more than every right to be.
Cultural Nationalism doesn't pay the bills, although some crooks profit. How are we going to have a sustainable economy here?
How can we give our children a chance to stay in Hawaii without jobs and an economy?
OHA and DHHL need RICO investigations along with the enabling politicians, some of whom were in the past OHA functionaries I believe.
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How are we going to have a sustainable economy here?
Demand that County enforce all the rules, every time. Eventually, County will simply have to hire everyone; once the entire population has government jobs with annual raises forced by collective bargaining, it will be trivial to afford the tax increases necessary to pay for all those salaries and benefits.
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kalakoa @ 12:36:43 02/11/2018-
Maybe direct rule from Wash. DC. after bankruptcy arising from your proposed endgame?[8D]
Like direct rule of Ulster from London in the 70's, 80's into the 1990's ?
I just can envision all the fun.[  ]
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