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Hawai'i Skies

Today's Hawai'i Skies was captured by Wendy Roberts on Waimānalo Beach. "This was the third rainbow we saw this day but this one stood out!  Truly a magical sight."

To submit your Hawai'i Skies photo, visit us 

25 11 18 Steven Roberts

<title>Hawai'i Skies: A magical sight</title>

Today's Hawai'i Skies was captured by Wendy Roberts on Waimānalo Beach.

Hawai'i Skies: A magical sight

Today&#039;s Hawai&#039;i Skies was captured by Wendy Roberts on Waimānalo Beach. &quot;This was the third rainbow we saw this day but this one stood out!  Truly a magical sight.&quot; To submit your Hawai&#039;i Skies photo, visit us online or email: general@alohastatedaily.com

Letters to the Editor

We respect the history of Kakaʻako and the cultural significance of the ʻāina, and we recognize the importance of treating this place, its history, and the people connected to it with care and respect.

That said, we were disappointed to see Waterfront Plaza in "

" portrayed in a manner that, in our view, does not fairly reflect the property, the people who work here, or the experience of the many tenants, visitors, and staff who have been part of this community over the years.

The article blends historical information with personal recollections, folklore, and a number of second- and third-hand accounts. We understand that stories about unusual experiences across Kaka'ako have circulated over the years, and we respect that individuals may have their own experiences and beliefs. However, there is an important distinction between documented history and personal accounts, hearsay, or folklore that has been passed from one person to another. Presenting those accounts together can leave readers with the impression that stories and personal recollections are established facts.

Waterfront Plaza is a place where people work, conduct business, visit, gather, and build community every day. Our tenants and their employees work hard to serve the public, and our staff work diligently to maintain a safe, welcoming, and professionally managed property. That part of the story deserves to be recognized as well.

We also believe that discussions about Kakaʻako should be approached with cultural awareness and respect for Hawaiian history and values. The history of the ʻāina, including the presence of iwi kūpuna and the traditional places associated with this area, deserves thoughtful and respectful treatment. That history carries a significance that goes far beyond the stories of the unexplained.

We are not interested in dismissing anyone’s personal experience, nor are we seeking to tell people what they should or should not believe. We simply believe readers deserve clarity about what is documented history, what is personal recollection, and what is folklore passed from one person to another.

Most importantly, we remain focused on our kuleana to the people who use and care for Waterfront Plaza every day — our tenants, their employees, our visitors, and our staff. We are proud of the work they do and of the community they have built here. 

I have personally had the privilege of working at Waterfront Plaza for 18 years. In that time, I witnessed firsthand the care, pride, aloha, and genuine commitment our staff bring to this place every day. I have seen the countless ways our team works to make sure our tenants, visitors, and guests feel welcomed, supported, and taken care of. There is another story here — one of people who care deeply about this property and the community that calls it home.

We hope that future coverage of Waterfront Plaza will reflect that same level of care, accuracy, balance, and respect.

It is unfortunate that, despite the meaningful work this property and our team do in the community, we find ourselves responding every few years to reporting that does not reflect the full story of who we are and what we contribute.

For example, our team has proudly participated in the Special Olympics for 17 years. More importantly than simply raising funds, we have helped build awareness, provide support, and champion an incredible organization and the athletes it serves. We have also hosted the Foodbank’s Fight for Hunger for more than 11 years, raising funds and awareness to help address hunger in our community.

Countless members of our management team have also served on various nonprofit boards and supported organizations throughout our community. We have worked with Voyager Public Schools in a number of ways, including fundraising and other initiatives that support its students and educational mission.

We also host an annual community cleanup and now partner with SALT to continue that effort each year, along with many other events and initiatives that bring people together and give back to our community.

These are the stories we believe are also part of Waterfront Plaza — stories of service, partnership, generosity, and people who genuinely care about making a positive difference in our community. 

Steven Sullivan, Asset Manager at The Shidler Group for Waterfront Plaza

Waterfront Plaza Rainbow Large

<title>Waterfront Plaza responds to "What Haunts Waterfront Plaza"</title>

Waterfront Plaza responds to "What Haunts Waterfront Plaza"

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Columnists

Government & Politics

Aloha State Daily received a press release today from a Mainland-based national interest group, U.S. Term Limits (USTL), letting us know that “2026 Hawai‘i state senate candidate, Wallyn Christian (District 13) has committed support for term limits on Congress by signing the term limits convention pledge.”

Why does this matter to that organization? “(USTL, the leader in the national, non-partisan movement to limit terms for elected officials, is gathering support from state lawmakers across the nation,” the statement says. “Its mission is to get 34 states to apply for an amendment proposal convention specific to term limits on Congress.”

Term-limiting Congress is a popular idea, and USTL cites a 

 that, “An overwhelming majority of adults (87%) favor limiting the number of terms that members of Congress are allowed to serve. This includes a majority 56% who strongly favor this proposal, just 12% are opposed.”

The idea emerges often for local politicians, as well. Civil Beat has found public support for term limits to be as high as 70% in a 2018 poll of likely voters, a stat Honolulu Civil Beat resurfaced 

 of the lawmakers themselves to see where they stand on the idea of limiting their own time in office. “Nearly half of House members and more than a third of senators say they support term limits. There are enough undecideds in both chambers to give it a good shot if they held their position for two years,” CB found.

Respectfully, all of these people are wrong. Well intentioned, but they're aiming term limits at the wrong people.

I mean, I totally understand where the frustration is coming from. We elect people, nationally and locally, then are disappointed in their results. We could end their terms ourselves by simply not reelecting these people and yet obviously a lot of the people who say they want term limits do something very odd: They seem to reelect the lousy politicians they say they want to term limit.

You want to limit someone’s term? You’re just a month away from your next opportunity to vote for someone else!

So we’ve always had the power to fire politicians with every election, but don’t, then remain convinced that what we need is more turnover in government to make it more efficient, effective and responsive. Somebodies’ terms need limiting, but who?

Easy: The workforce. The bureaucrats. See, I want term limits, too, but I want them on the people staffing all the departments and agencies that we’re perpetually frustrated with. 

Consider, to cite just one example, how many different mayors you’ve seen over the past 20 or 30 years promise to reform the departments of planning and permitting in each county. The mayors have term limits. They come and go. Have any of them succeeded at this reform?

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi has done more than any predecessor but there’s a long way still to go.

How many Hawai‘i governors — term-limited governors — have promised Hawai‘i a public education second to none? Which of them succeeded? Who is still in place, immune to reform?

What happens in real life is, candidates make bold promises of reform, we elect them, then they announce bold plans for reform and those plans run headfirst into a culture of unfirable civil servants shielded by union protections. These folks don’t even have to noisily and aggressively oppose the reform, all they have to do is … not do it. And wait. Four years later, or eight years later, their antagonist is gone, the staff remains, with its culture of job security over excellence safely intact.

[{"type":"text","text":"We, the taxpayers and voters, then sit around wondering what happened."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Two Hawai‘i’s"}]

What’s happened is simple: Since statehood, Hawai‘i’s people have steadily split into two camps, those who work for government and everybody else. The appeal of Government Hawai‘i is the security and benefits — lifelong employment, if you want it, totally protected from market forces and competition, with solid benefits like healthcare and retirement, paid for by the rest of us in Real Hawai‘i.

If you think the security and the bennies of government jobs are a trade-off to compensate for low pay, guess again. Government Hawai‘i earns more than Real Hawai‘i.

The annual average wage of a non-government job in Hawai‘i is 

 from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The average annual wage in state government? 

What does Real Hawai‘i get in return? One of the highest tax burdens in America for one thing, and then very little to brag about in high-quality government service. (

I would say that that two Hawai‘i’s have hardened into opposing camps, except that’s not exactly true. Government Hawai‘i drives an Us vs Them dynamic, that was never clearer to me than it was during Covid, when Government Hawai‘i showed us that it will shut the rest of down for years at a time given the slightest opportunity. It will also protect itself first, at the expense of the public is supposedly serves, as we see in the lingering effects of the schools closing for so long. That policy made no one safer, but it did mess up the kids. (And have you noticed ever since then, Government Hawai‘i takes the day off for even bad weather like it never did before, while the rest of us soldier on with our work?)

Out here in Real Hawai‘i, we grumble but otherwise settle for apathy (i.e., low voter turnout) or outright flight to states where it feels like a good life is more possible. I don’t know who Government Hawai‘i is going to tax when the last of us moves to Vegas.

With all that in mind, term limits on government service seem like the one revolution we haven’t tried, haven’t even discussed, but should. Say 10, 15 years max, total lifetime employment in government at any level. We want people to stay long enough to learn the ropes and finish things they’ve started, not so long that they just settle in and kill time until retirement.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The upsides:"}]

Breaks up all the pockets of resistance to change. Turnover would occur systemwide, one person at a time, as they age out. Reformers at the top have a chance building support in the workforce among newer staff.

[{"type":"text","text":"Brings in new people and new ideas in government at every level."}]

Opens up more opportunities for Government Hawai‘i and Real Hawai‘i to trade places and live in each other’s worlds. This may be the biggest upside — more of us would get a chance to feel like we had a chance to change the system from the inside and deliver the service we’ve always wanted, while more of them would be forced to realize that Real Hawai‘i is something more than subjects to be ruled and tax cows to be milked.

Forces a revolution in how government hires. Using Mayor Blangiardi again as an example, he’s talked about how it took people six months on average to get hired by the City & County of Honolulu when he assumed office. 

, he had cut that down to three months. Compared to the speed at which the private sector can hire, that’s still an eternity, and that would have to change immediately to deal with the kind of turnover we need.

(To be fair, government is not alone on this front. In my decade at Pacific Business News, I heard executives at Hawai‘i’s larger companies talk endlessly about a labor shortage. At the same time, I knew plenty of talented people who could not land great jobs. Something is seriously broken in the hiring process, and I suspect HR, especially using automated keyword-based filters on resumes, is to blame. Make Direct Hiring by Managers Great Again!)

Loss of expertise, I suppose, but we’ve seen what the accumulated expertise gets us: A chief elections officer who thought a lauhala basket suited the dignity of a Hawai‘i electoral tie-breaker and ended getting his office sued — successfully — and 

. Scott Nago has worked at the Office of Election for nearly 26 years, almost 17 of those years as its chief election officer. As Civil Beat 

, it’s just about the only place he has ever worked in his life. Well, in the private sector, you can lose your job for bungling things so badly you get sued. Under my plan, the private sector is where he would’ve been sent years ago. Had someone else, perhaps with a wider range of life experience, been at the helm, maybe that person would've made better decisions.

[{"type":"text","text":"So, OK, there are no downsides."}]

Term limits on government service. If you like this idea, spread the word. We’d be moving a mountain to make it happen. But that’s got to be better than carrying the mountain of Government Hawai‘i on our shoulders forever.

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

Term limits i Stock 517737402 16x9

People take time out of their lives to participate in the democratic process by testifying before committee hearings. Too often, the committee isn't there.

I Stock 1169235347

Pipikaula Corner: Invisible Legislators

It's not getting much media attention, but the private diaries of Dr. Anthony Fauci have been published online by Sen. Rand Paul in advance of his hearings this week into Fauci and Covid-19. What they reveal across thousands of pages is man in love with the adulation he received, who privately knew that many of things he said publicly about the pandemic were wild exaggerations.

Getty Images 2155919948

Pipikaula Corner: Fauci revealed as fear-mongering, fame-loving fraud

<title>Pipikaula Corner: Limiting the wrong terms</title>

It's an election year, and some people are running on the popular idea that legislators and Congress should have term limits to prevent lifers from working the system. ASD Editor in Chief A. Kam Napier argues this is a great idea, with the wrong target. What if it's actually the government workforce itself that needs a term limit?

Pipikaula Corner: Limiting the wrong terms

WEB square crop Hayley Lehman Headshot RGZ1636

Haley Lehman

Crime & Courts

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court found on Friday afternoon that no candidate was validly nominated in the House District 43 primary after the tie between two Republican candidates was broken by a drawing from a lauhala basket in August. The two candidates will be placed on the general election ballot in November.

Candidates for House District 43, Kristen “Kanani” and Sheila Medeiros, both Republicans, tied in the August primary. Medeiros was named representative elect after election officials drew her name from a lauhala basket on Aug. 15.

Souza challenged Hawaiʻi Chief Election Officer Scott Nago, Acting Honolulu City Clerk Chadd Kadota and Honolulu Elections Administrator Rex Quidilla

 and justices ruled in her favor on Friday.

According to Quidilla’s testimony on Wednesday, two District 40, precinct three voters were mistakenly given ballots to vote in District 43, precinct 3 on election day at Kapolei Hale. That created two overages for House District 43-03 and two underages at House District 40-03 in which there was a discrepancy between envelopes received and the ballots counted.

In two opinions issued Friday afternoon, justices invalidated the House District 43 primary results. Medeiros and Souza will be on the general election ballot under a section identified for “Republican Party Voters Only.”

Souza told Aloha State Daily on Friday that she believes the justices made the right decision and she looks forward to being in the general election.

“This really is about the preservation of democracy, the voters right to vote and making sure that we have eligible voters voting in the proper district,” she said.

She said that this case will lead to the Hawaiʻi legislators revisiting election laws during the next session, primarily the tiebreaker statute.

“I think this is going to spearhead a lot of things going forward and I’m glad to be a part of this very historic moment,” she said. “This has a far greater ripple effect than just about me and my house seat. This was never about me. I just did what was right and today I think the outcome was gratifying.”

Associate Justice Lisa Ginoza, Intermediate Court of Appeals Associate Judge Sonja McCullen and Intermediate Court of Appeals Associate Judge Kimberly Guidry, wrote that evidence from Quidilla, Kadota and Nago supports that the two-ballot overage could cause a difference in election results.

The found that Nago erred by not complying with state rulemaking process and ordered Nago to “expeditiously promulgate rules to implement the tie-breaker statute.”

Associate Justice Todd Eddins, joined by Associate Justice Sabrina McKenna, wrote that the “primary is not pau” and the choice returns to the voters.

“The right to vote means little if the result cannot be trusted. Here it could not. So the voters will settle it,” the justices wrote.

According to Eddins and McKenna, the two-vote overage made a difference in the election with no margin, showing that “there was no reliable tie to break.” 

“The cause is known. Not the effect. Whether either ballot carried a vote in the Republican race, and for whom, the record doesn’t say. At a tie, that’s enough. Two ballots that do not belong, in a race decided by none, put the true result beyond reach,” Eddins and McKenna wrote.

Eddins and McKenna wrote that Nago’s method of sealing candidates’ names in plastic egg captures, dropping them into a lauhala basket and drawing one was a rule. They found that tiebreaker method invalid and the selection of Medeiros falls with the rule.

Aloha State Daily reached out to Sheila Medeiros for comment.

Kanani Souza

<title>“The primary is not pau:” The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court orders new primary election in tied…</title>

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruled Friday that the House District 43 primary race will go back to the voters in November.

“The primary is not pau:” The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court orders new primary election in tied Makakilo race

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawai‘i History

In our oral tradition, Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes, came from a far-off place called Kahiki. Her beauty and mana were unrivaled, but her carelessness and her short temper often brought conflict and destruction in their wake.

As stories of antiquity were passed down from mouth to ear, details sometimes changed depending on who told them and how they interpreted them, including the tales of our akua. Some details of Pele’s story differ, but the overall arc of her tale remains the same.

In one version, Pele’s uncle Lonomakua gave her an ʻōʻō, a digging stick imbued with mana. The ʻōʻō was called Pāoa, and her uncle taught Pele how to use it to control her own mana. One day, when Lonomakua was gone, Pele accidentally caused a raging fire that burned down the family home. Pele’s sister was angry and exiled Pele, then pursued her across the ocean, never letting her rest.

Another telling of the tale says that Pele’s older sister, Nāmakaokahaʻi, the goddess of the sea, was married to the powerful demigod ʻAukelenuiaʻīkū. On his way to the shore to go fishing, ʻAukele came upon the beautiful Pele and immediately desired her. Thus began an affair that would bring about a conflict between fire and sea that would eventually shape the Hawaiian Islands.

Enraged after discovering the affair between her husband and her sister, Nāmakaokahaʻi attacked Pele. Pele cried to their parents, who told her she must leave to find a safe place for their family. Entrusted with her youngest, most beloved sister, Hiʻiakaikapoliopele, Pele set off to find a new home with Nāmakaokahaʻi in furious pursuit.

The story comes together again as Kamohoaliʻi helped Pele by guiding her travel on his waʻa kaulua, his voyaging canoe. As they made their way across the Pacific, they could hear the waves of Namakaokahaʻi right behind them. They reached the northwest Hawaiian Islands, but every time they came across land, Namaka drove them away. Finally, the small group of siblings reached the island of Kauaʻi. Pele dug her ʻōʻō into the earth and created Puʻukapele, the hill of Pele, where they were able to rest. But their respite was cut short as the glow of Pele’s fire was reflected on the clouds above, alerting Namaka to their whereabouts. Huge waves from the sea forced Pele to flee once more.

Pele built a new home on Oʻahu, digging her ʻōʻō into the ground once, bringing forth a great quantity of fiery rock. It is said that Hiʻiaka called their new home Laeʻahi because, to her, the view of the craterʻs profile from the east looked like the lae (brow) of the ʻahi (tuna). Again, the rage of Nāmakaokahaʻi would not let them be, and waves of salt water drowned Pele’s flames. Pele and Hiʻiaka were driven away once more. In modern times, the name was shortened to Lēʻahi. Today, the crater is widely known as Diamond Head.

Some Hawaiian scholars note that another translation of Lēʻahi could mean “wreath of fire.” At its summit, fires were kept burning to guide voyaging canoes that were traveling along the coastline. It is said that there was a heiau at the top of the crater dedicated to Laʻamaomao, goddess of the wind, to redirect the winds that might extinguish the flames.

Pele’s journey continued southeast through the Hawaiian islands, eventually ending up at Kīlauea, where she resides today. However, there are numerous modern-day reports of Pele sightings across the islands, even on the slopes of Lēʻahi.

One man shared that he was riding his bike up the hill on Diamond Head Road one evening. As he reached the lookout, he passed an older woman wearing a long brownish colored dress or wrap over one shoulder, standing in the middle of the empty parking lot. The man said he nodded to the woman as he rode by, and she nodded back. Then he stopped for a bit to take in the view, and when he glanced behind him, the woman was gone. Any other day, he would have assumed the person just got into a nearby car, but there weren’t any cars around them.

As he’d only been living on Oʻahu for nearly a decade, he didn’t immediately make any assumptions. He said he was just puzzled. That is, until he shared the story with some friends at work. His coworkers were convinced he came across Pele.

Another story was shared with me about an encounter in roughly the same area. This time, a young man and his girlfriend were driving up Diamond Head Road and noticed a woman sitting on a rock wall. The sight of her caught their eye, particularly because the wall was at least four feet high. It wasnʻt easy to climb a wall that high without getting scratched up. The woman had dark brown skin and long white hair, and was wearing a long, plain white muʻumuʻu. As the woman was sitting on the wall, she was leaning forward against a long wooden walking stick.

The couple drove past the woman, but the young man was suddenly overcome with a strong urge to stop. He hit the brakes right in the middle of the road and turned his head back to look at the old woman. She seemed to be looking past him, or through him. He asked his girlfriend if she saw the woman. She had, but urged him to get them out of there.

He put the car in gear, and as he slowly drove away, he looked in his mirror only to see that the woman had disappeared. There was no one sitting on the wall, no one on the sidewalk. She was just gone.

A second later, a car came speeding around the bend ahead of them. The driver swerved to miss a mailbox and spun out, coming to a stop facing the wrong direction barely 20 feet in front of them.

“I’m Japanese, but I was born and raised here,” he said. “We all know the stories from small kid time, but I never really believed things like this happened anymore.”

Diamond Head Full Moon

<title>Sightings of Pele at Lē‘ahi</title>

You might associated Pele most with the active volcanoes of Hawai‘i Island but ancient myths — and contemporary encounters — tell of her presence on Kaua‘i and O‘ahu as well.

Hawai'i Skies: A magical sight

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Hawai'i Skies: A magical sight

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

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