Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff and wire
City urges Council to rethink Best Buy
"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."The city administration used the line in the Counting Crows remake of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" in a video yesterday to persuade the City Council not to overturn the mayor's veto of a zoning change bill for a Best Buy store near the waterfront in Pearl City.
The Council voted 9-0 to override the mayor's veto. The Council needed at least a two-thirds vote, or six of the nine members, for an override. By the same vote last month, the Council approved Best Buy's request to rezone a 3.3-acre parcel on the makai side of Kamehameha Highway from intensive industrial to industrial-commercial mix to build a 51,000-square-foot store.
Harris vetoed the zone change. Administration officials said the Best Buy is in the wrong spot and that putting the big-box electronics retailer there would continue to condone strip commercial development that blocks open ocean vistas.
Eric Crispin, director of the city Department of Planning and Permitting, played the video depicting both commercial development and park space along Kamehameha Highway.
But Councilmen Charles Djou and Gary Okino, who pushed for the override, said Best Buy has been a good neighbor in working with the community to adjust its design to appease concerns.
Council to seek more time for landfill plans
The City Council voted 7-2 yesterday to seek more time to pick a new landfill site, Councilman Rod Tam said.Council Resolution 75 asks the state Land Use Commission to extend its June 1 deadline for picking a new landfill site to Dec. 1.
The original deadline, set last year, was intended to give the city enough time to complete landfill permits and preparation to open a new city landfill by June 2008.
"We're still going to try to meet the deadline of June 1, but I needed a cushion of more time available," said Tam, who introduced the resolution.
"Mayor (Jeremy) Harris said today that the city administration will allow the Council to present its case for more time to the Land Use Commission, but the city will offer a strong recommendation that no time extension be given," city spokeswoman Carol Costa said.
Tam's Public Works and Economic Development Committee is holding 7 p.m. public informational meetings about the landfill selection process next week, on Monday at Kapolei Hale and Tuesday at the Kailua Recreation Center.
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[Taking Notice]
Isle science teacher flies in hurricane jet
Dan VanRavenswaay, ASSETS School marine science teacher, flew aboard a Gulfstream-IV hurricane surveillance jet recently as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Teacher in the Air.He was aboard the jet March 13-14 when it conducted ozone research and surveyed severe winter storms along the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean.
The program is an extension of NOAA's Teacher at Sea Program. VanRavenswaay also was a NOAA Teacher at Sea in 1993 aboard the fisheries ship Townsend Cromwell.
After the two NOAA flights, Van Ravenswaay said he couldn't wait to take his experience back to his class.
He said he would have the students do some metric-to-English unit conversions and make a map of his flights using GPS coordinates from the flight path. "This will be a great earth science, math, geography lesson for them," he said.
The jet was based here temporarily Jan. 21-31, then moved to Anchorage, Alaska, Feb. 1-27, and returned here Feb. 28. The project ended March 15 after gathering data on severe winter storms over the Pacific that affect the mainland and Alaska.
"Taking Notice" runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staff[The Courts]
Family sues city after death at Hanauma Bay
The family of a woman who drowned at Hanauma Bay in 2002 has sued the city, saying the swimming area did not have adequate warning signs.The suit, filed in Circuit Court yesterday, also alleges there were not enough lifeguards at the bay.
Sue A. Kuhlmeier, 58, was found lifeless in shallow waters at about 11:30 a.m. on June 6, 2002. Her family is seeking damages, burial expenses and attorney fees.
Driver who allegedly was on 'ice' is indicted
A grand jury has indicted Jessie Badua Curameng on three drug-related counts, including intent to manufacture crystal methamphetamine.The charges stem from a Sept. 19 incident in which Curameng was allegedly driving while under the influence of crystal meth.
The indictment was filed yesterday in Circuit Court. Curameng was also charged with one count of crystal meth possession.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
