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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"I can't spot the difference, can you? "}]

Smile 26 10 23

<title>Daily Smile: Friday, Oct. 23, 2026</title>

I can't spot the difference, can you?

Daily Smile: Friday, Oct. 23, 2026

 I can&#039;t spot the difference, can you? 

Pua headshot

Puanani Fernandez-Akamine

Viewpoints

Aloha Spirit

Thomas “Kamaki” Awa Kanahele III was many things: a cultural practitioner, a traditional healer and priest, a kumu hula, a teacher, a businessowner, an administrator, community leader, and a politician. He is remembered by the community, and especially by those who knew and loved him, as a beloved kupuna and visionary who dedicated his life to advocating for and serving our lāhui.

Kanahele was born to a large ʻohana and mostly raised in Nānākuli, Oʻahu, on a Hawaiian homestead. His mother was Agnes Kalanihoʻokaha Cope (Aunty Aggie Cope) who would, in time, become a revered kūpuna and community leader on the Waiʻanae Coast. His father, Thomas Kahaku Awa Kanahele, passed away unexpectedly when Kanahele was just 5 years old.

After his father passed, Kanahele was sent to live for a time with his grandparents on Niʻihau. He was trained by his mother and grandmother in both hula and the healing arts including lāʻau lapaʻau, hoʻoponopono, lomilomi and more. He recalled, as a child, practicing his healing lessons on the family dogs saying “they were very good patients because we loved them.”

Kanehele graduated from Waiʻanae High School and went on to BYU Hawaiʻi (then known as Church College) and earned a bachelor’s degree in art and education. From there he went to BYU Provo where he completed a master’s degree in education. After graduating, he taught art history for five years at Olympus High School in Utah. As a teacher, he successfully helped to reduce racial conflicts between Ute and Hispanic teenagers, drawing upon his training as a traditional healer.

While living in Utah, Kanahele also started an import-export business, owned a couple of Hawaiian dance studios, and performed at a Hawaiian restaurant.

Around 1974, he accepted a job in Washington, D.C., as the administrator of education for the National Endowment for the Arts, coordinating and administering federal funding in support of arts education programs. It was an interesting time to be in Washington — although Richard Nixon was still president, it was at the height of the Watergate scandal and soon after Kanahele moved to Washington, Nixon resigned.

Many Washington administrators only last through one presidential term, but Kanahele held his position for 10 years serving under four administrations: Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan. In a 1986 "Focus Hawaiʻi" television interview, Kanahele recalled at the time that, “in the entire federal agency, I was not only the highest-ranking Native Hawaiian, but the highest-ranking Native American.”

It was an exciting job that afforded Kanahele the opportunity to meet famous artists and performers like Helen Hayes and Clint Eastwood. He also met world leaders, including the Shah of Iran, the Dalai Lama, and Mother Teresa.

However, the defunding of the Civil Rights Commission, federal reconsideration of affirmative action, and the appointment of four conservative justices to the Supreme Court during the Reagan administration gave him pause. He noted in the interview that the impact of these developments on him as a Polynesian — and the potential impact on the Hawaiian people — left him “a bit shaken as to what our role is in all of this.”

Kanahele left Washington and returned home to Hawaiʻi in 1985 after being selected as the new administrator for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) in a special meeting of the OHA Board of Trustees to replace outgoing administrator T.C. Yim.

At a news conference following his appointment in November 1985, Kanahele said that his most important kuleana would be to ensure that Hawaiians were free to chart their own destiny exclaiming, “Give us an opportunity to decide our fate, not other people.”

Kanahele began his duties at OHA in January 1986 and served in this capacity for three years through February 1989. During his tenure as OHA administrator, Kanahele helped to set the direction for the 6-year-old organization and advance OHA’s work in education, health, economic opportunity, cultural preservation, and the pursuit of resources and revenues owed to Native Hawaiians.

“Kamaki Kanahele belonged to a generation of courageous Hawaiian leaders who helped establish OHA and define its responsibility to our beneficiaries,” said OHA Board Chair Kaialiʻi Kahele. “He understood that OHA could not merely speak about the needs of our people; it had to listen to our communities, protect their interests, and act with courage on their behalf.”

Around the same time, Kanahele became actively involved in the Hawaiian homestead movement. “When homestead leaders from across Hawaiʻi came together in 1987 to form what became the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA), Kamaki became the first leader elected by homesteaders to serve as its chairman,” Maile Luʻuwai, current vice chair of SCHHA, was quoted as saying in an Aug. 26 Star-Advertiser article.

Kanahele stepped down as OHA administrator in 1989 and the following year he ran for a seat on OHA’s Board of Trustees. He was elected as an at-large trustee and served in this capacity for four years, from 1990-1994.

As an OHA trustee, Kanahele chaired the Committee on Education and Culture, bringing community concerns regarding traditional fishing practices and coastal development and access before the board. He also helped establish OHA’s Hawaiian Language Award that is presented at the Merrie Monarch Festival each year.

After leaving public office, Kanahele continued to provide leadership to the Hawaiian Homestead Association and dedicated himself to his Waiʻanae Coast community serving as a traditional healer and kahu. He eventually became chair of the Kūpuna Council of practitioners of Hawaiian healing traditions in West Oʻahu.

In 2009, Kanahele and his mother, Aunty Aggie Cope, established the Dr. Agnes Kalanihoʻokaha Cope Center for Traditional Native Hawaiian Healing where skilled practitioners not only treat patients, but pass their ʻike on to others. The Healing Center is overseen by the Kūpuna Council to ensure that cultural knowledge is practiced – and passed down – correctly.

Located on the grounds of the Waiʻanae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC), the placement of the Healing Center is significant; Cope herself helped to found WCCHC in the early 1970s after realizing that many Hawaiians on the Waiʻanae Coast could not afford to visit a hospital when they became sick.

Upon the opening of the new Healing Center in 2009, Kanahele said: “This is the only place in all Hawaiʻi that will be a formal training center for the traditional healing arts. We’re trying to make this the premier reservoir of traditional healing practices by preserving, and healing, and actually implementing these practices.”

Reflecting on Kanahele’s profound contributions to our lāhui throughout his lifetime, Rep. Darius Kila who represents Kanahele’s beloved Nānākuli wrote in a Facebook post, “Uncle Kamaki dedicated his life to preserving Native Hawaiian culture, healing traditions, and advocating for our people. His legacy will continue to live on through the countless lives he touched and the generations he inspired.”

In an interview with "Native Voices," Kanahele said that “death and dying is part of the structure in which all know of – and we prepare ourselves from childhood all the way up to the passing to understand that it is an important part of life.”

In remembrance

“Many people have no use for these young Hawaiian radicals but I count my blessings for them. They’re telling everyone that they are Hawaiians, they love who they are, [they] are intelligent, talented, and will speak up, be heard, and finally be counted.” – Kamaki Kanahele on July 8, 1983

This article is reprinted with permission from 

OHA's Ka Wai Ola newspaper: "A Visionary Hawaiian Leader," by Puanani Fernandez-Akamine in its October 2026 issue, Vol. 43 No. 10. Read more at 

Kamaki Kanahele 16x9

<title>Community Voices: Remembering Kamaki Kanahele, a visionary Hawaiian leader</title>

Thomas “Kamaki” Awa Kanahele III was many things: a cultural practitioner, a traditional healer and priest, a kumu hula, a teacher, a businessowner, an administrator, community leader, and a politician. He is remembered by the community as a beloved kupuna who advocated for and served his people.

Community Voices: Remembering Kamaki Kanahele, a visionary Hawaiian leader

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

What happened to Waikīkī? Specifically, what happened to Waikīkī during its greatest period of change that began in the 1950s? Let’s look at these “then & now” comparisons of Waikīkī views to see very clearly how different things look today.

Why did Waikīkī change so much in the last 70 years? The growth of tourism, of course, was responsible. Speaking economically, it’s extremely fortunate that tourism did increase so dramatically during this period as it served to fill in the gap created as large-scale agriculture (sugar and pineapple) either contracted dramatically, or died altogether. These had been the foundation of the economy of the Hawaiian Islands but were outcompeted by other tropical countries, where workers were paid considerably less and thus their agricultural products were cheaper as well. This has been, and continues to be, the reason for the loss of domestic production in the United States and indeed worldwide.

When did Waikīkī's major changes begin? This is easy to pinpoint: it was the year 1955. That was when four new 10-story buildings were completed here; the Waikīkī Biltmore Hotel, the Princess Ka‘iulani Hotel, the Reef Hotel, and the Rosalei apartments. As insignificant as this would seem today, it marked a shift away from downtown as the focus of new construction, as well as starting Honolulu on its vertical growth.

We can also single out the shift in transportation for Waikīkī's increase in density, which was the replacement of cruise ships by airplanes for increasing numbers of tourists after World War II. While air travel grew significantly during the 1950s it was really the introduction of jets that kicked off the explosion. The first jets arrived in Hawai‘i in 1959, cutting hours from the trip from the west coast, carrying far more passengers on each flight compared to propeller planes and — most significantly — reducing air fares. Waikīkī couldn’t help but grow to accommodate all these new people. A major milestone was unexpectedly realized in late 1967 when the one-millionth tourist arrived for that year, ahead of what economists had predicted. There would be no looking back.

A change you might notice in these various pairs of Waikīkī views is the great increase in growing green vegetation today. This has been true in many parts of Honolulu and because trees increase so slowly in size, we don’t notice how large they’ve become until we see an older photo to be able to spot the difference. Kalākaua Avenue has benefitted from more than one improvement project since the 1960s, to where today’s sidewalks are paved with hand-set stones, many with inscriptions in Hawaiian. Shady shower trees along with grass and various shrubs greatly enhance the district’s appearance, and maintenance workers are on the job each day to sweep and clean. Waikīkī creates the biggest part of the income from tourism and its importance in keeping this income steady was recognized years ago — so this necessary work goes on.

By the late 1970s much of Waikīkī looked as it does today, because while more towers have certainly been constructed since then, much of what we know now was in place. Although Waikīkī has been a crowded and densely urbanized district for decades, and has been criticized for that, it must be said that a great many visitors enjoy this vitality and the over-abundance of things to see and do. And even while Waikīkī is undeniably a city of itself, it is still located on the magnificently blue Pacific Ocean, with the Ko‘olau Mountains as one backdrop and Diamond Head as another, with the trade winds often blowing through it. And love it or hate it, we owe our economy to it, and had therefore better make sure it continues to function as smoothly as possible.

1 Kuhio Ave 64 16x9

<title>What happened to Waikīkī?</title>

Back in the Statehood era, you could see Punchbowl from Kalākaua Avenue and Diamond Head from Kūhiō Avenue. ASD history columnist DeSoto Brown pairs then-and-now photos to show the dramatic changes from a low-rise Waikīkī to today's bustling mini-metropolis.

What happened to Waikīkī?

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Business & Tourism

Food & Dining

, which specializes in authentic Japanese yakiniku, is opening on O

, Japan, will be located in Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa.

Aloha State Daily got a preview of what’s to come to the Hawai

i location during a hosted media experience at Yakiniku Haretoke’s Kawagoe eatery.

Yakiniku Haretoke is unique because it will be the only restaurant in Hawaiʻi to serve Joshu wagyu, which is raised exclusively in Japan’s Gunma prefecture. Joshu wagyu is a rare breed, according to chef Masanori Tsuda, who will be the executive chef at Yakiniku Haretoke Hawai

Tsuda is currently one of the chefs at Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery, and he explains that Joshu wagyu is known for its lean meat and fine marbling. He notes that Joshu wagyu will be available in Hawaiʻi through an exclusive direct purchase-and-ship relationship with Gunma.

“We will buy the whole cow and break down everything (from nose to tail) to serve every cut; that’s the restaurant concept,” he explains. “Joshu wagyu has a lighter taste, but still has that umami flavor. Some Japanese wagyu is super fatty and has a strong flavor; after eating one bite, that’s enough. But Joshu wagyu is easy to eat.”

“Joshu wagyu is a good balance of fat and meat,” adds Rika Tsuda, current manager at Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery. Tsuda will be a restaurant manager at Yakiniku Haretoke Hawai

Yakiniku Haretoke’s Kawagoe location opened in 2023. The restaurant name stems from bringing the extraordinary (“hare”) and the everyday rhythms of life (“ke”) together; the eatery is designed to be a place to celebrate special occasions, but also provide a welcoming atmosphere for everyday dining. The Kawagoe eatery seats around 48 guests — including seating in its private room — and the Hawai

i restaurant can seat around 65 individuals, according to Masanori.

The Hawaiʻi restaurant’s menu will be similar to the one in Kawagoe, he notes, but the Honolulu location will feature locally sourced vegetables. Like the Kawagoe location, the Honolulu restaurant will have pre-set course menus, as well as a la carte options. (At the time of our interview, the menu for the Honolulu restaurant had not been finalized.)

The Kawagoe location offers two pre-set course menus — the Haretoke course, and the Harenohi course, according to Rika.

“Both courses include special cuts (of meat), but Harenohi is more expensive,” she says. “It also includes seafood and meats like marbled sirloin with grated radish.”

Yakiniku Haretoke Kawagoe’s a la carte menu includes tri tip, flap meat, seared marbled short rib yaki-shabu with grated daikon ponzu, premium beef loin (served yaki-shabu style, with Tsukimi egg yolk sauce), short ribs, filet mignon, wagyu beef tongue with salt, and more. Everything is hand-cut and served for diners to grill, according to Masanori.

“There are so many yakiniku places now; we have to make ours special,” he says.

He explains that cutting the whole cow is a process; he likens it to a high-grade Michelin star sushi chef breaking down a fish. He trims the fat off the meat before breaking each piece down further.

“The yakiniku style is different here; he (Masanori) has to learn the special cuts of the cow,” Rika explains.

Rika says her favorite cut is the premium beef loin, which is served yaki-shabu style. It’s lightly grilled and served with Tsukimi egg yolk sauce.

“It’s a thinly sliced cut, so you just put it on the iron plate for a few seconds and you dip it in the egg yolk to enhance the umami flavor,” she says. “It’s sukiyaki-style; it will be popular in Hawaiʻi.

“For the egg sauce, we are going to use Japan eggs in Hawai

i — it will be very fresh eggs,” she adds. “We actually sell eggs imported from Japan at Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery.”

“Everybody likes kalbi, and the yaki-shabu is the most popular (option) at the Kawagoe location,” Masanori adds. He says his favorite from Yakiniku Haretoke Kawagoe’s menu is shinshin, a rare, tender cut near the tri-tip.

At the Kawagoe eatery, the meats are served with two sauces; one features a soy garlic base, while the other is made with fresh lemon. The staff will give recommendations for pairing the sauces with various cuts of meat; for example, Masanori recommends dipping shihshin in the shoyu sauce, while the wagyu beef tongue pairs well with the lemon sauce.

Other a la carte options include seafood (prawns, squid and scallops), vegetables (grilled shiitake mushrooms), appetizers like assorted kimchi, and soups, including a comforting beef bone broth.

Yakiniku Haretoke will also feature a hand-selected sake list designed to complement each cut of beef.

i currently has a food truck — which is parked at Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery — that is participating in events across O

ahu to promote the new restaurant. The truck was recently at the Lotte Championship presented by Hoakalei, where it showcased its Joshu wagyu beef yakiniku bowl.

The Hawaiʻi location’s hours and prices are still to be determined, but the restaurant is expected to open for lunch and dinner. For updates, follow the biz on 

Yakiniku Haretoke chef 101826

<title>Yakiniku Haretoke is opening in Honolulu</title>

The Japanese yakiniku restaurant’s original location is in Kawagoe, Japan. Yakiniku Haretoke — expected to open this winter in the Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa — will be the only restaurant in Hawaiʻi to serve Joshu wagyu, which is raised exclusively in Japan’s Gunma prefecture. Aloha State Daily got a preview of what’s to come for the Honolulu restaurant by visiting the Kawagoe location.

Yakiniku Haretoke is opening in Honolulu

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

As you’re driving towards Wai‘anae, there are spots on the H-1 freeway that allow glimpses of the wide expanse of the ‘Ewa Plain, famous for its dry, flat landscape filled with homes and businesses. Within the ‘Ewa moku (district) is the largest ahupua‘a (land division) on O‘ahu that extends from the Wai‘anae mountains to the sea, called Honouliuli. Although it may seem like the area was once uninhabitable, the reality is quite the opposite.

For generations, Hawaiians used every available resource not only to survive, but to thrive on the rugged plain. The coastal plain contained limestone and coral formations, including natural depressions where soil accumulated. Freshwater moved through the area both above ground, in streams, and underground through the porous limestone and its network of cavities and passages.

The rich soil and fresh springs provided the elements needed for agriculture, including the special kāī koi kalo renowned for making exceptional poi. It was so highly regarded that accounts describe people traveling to ʻEwa just to taste it, and being so impressed that they wanted to stay.

Along the coast, people fished and gathered other marine resources. The waters off ʻEwa were once famous for their abundance of limu. Oneʻula, along the Honouliuli coast, was known as Hale o Limu, or the House of Limu, where extensive beds of seaweed grew along the reefs. Among the limu gathered there was limu manauea, prized as food and remembered by kūpuna as especially abundant in ʻEwa. My wife fondly remembers her grandparents, who lived in ʻEwa, fishing and gathering limu from the shore for dinner.

The name Oneʻula is often interpreted as “red sand,” although other sources may consider it as “blood sand” or “royal sand.” Archaeological records have identified settlement areas with features suggesting people lived and worked there for generations. Among the items found were house platforms, trails, garden plots, and burial sites.

By the late 19th century, the landscape began changing on a massive scale. The discovery of artesian water beneath the ʻEwa Plain in 1879 made it possible to irrigate land that had previously been difficult to farm on an industrial scale. Sugar cane fields spread across the plain, eventually covering thousands of acres. What had once been a landscape of Hawaiian villages, agricultural fields, trails, wetlands, and coastal resources became a vast plantation landscape of cane fields, irrigation ditches, roads, rail lines, and plantation communities.

For much of the 20th century, if you traveled through this part of ʻEwa, sugar cane was the landscape. The fields stretched across the plain, and the rhythms of life were tied to the plantation and its crops. But the sugar era eventually came to an end.

In 1988, the land that would become Ocean Pointe was purchased for development, beginning another major transformation of the area. Over the following years, former agricultural land was gradually converted into residential neighborhoods, streets, schools, parks, and the community we know today as Ocean Pointe.

It is easy to look around Ocean Pointe now and see only a modern suburban community. The community is still young, but beneath the buildings, houses, and pavement is a much older story. In particular, the ‘Ewa Plain is considered to be within the broad expanse of Kaupe‘a, the gathering place for wandering spirits who did not make it to their final ancestral realm. There are also mo‘olelo about the menehune and the huaka‘i pō, or night marchers.

People approach us all the time about strange things happening in their Ocean Pointe homes. One family described small footprints that appeared on their walls and ceiling. Another mentioned strange noises, like things moving around in their daughter’s closet. One man said that during the two years he and his girlfriend lived in their Ocean Pointe home, they’ve had their feet pulled while they were sleeping, seen shadows where no one was standing, had a strange mark that looked like blood appear on their wall, and found a small handprint, like that of a child, but they don’t have any children. Another woman talked about how she panicked one night after feeling like someone tugged on her leg, even though her husband was sleeping and there was no one else in the room.

Around 2014, we received an email from a family living in Ocean Pointe. They were having spiritual trouble in their home and mentioned it to their neighbor, who suggested the family contact us.

One morning, while the wife and son were in their rooms, they heard a ruckus downstairs that sounded like the dog tearing up the Christmas tree. But when they got to the loft area overlooking the living room, they saw their Christmas tree spinning around. The wife clarified that they didn’t have a rotating stand; it was just a simple tree stand with the long screws that held the tree still. Yet, there it was, spinning around.

The husband said that in their upstairs bedroom, they would find the dresser drawers open, with all the clothes strewn about. In the two sons’ bedroom, they claimed they had weird feelings to the point where it felt like someone was sitting on them, pinning them both to their beds. The daughter said her bedroom had a strong presence and that she never felt alone there, as if someone wasn’t just watching her but literally judging her every move. One son even had deep scratch marks on the back of his calf, but he had no memory of how he got them. His calf just started burning, and when he looked, he saw the scratches.

Our team then went to the home and conducted our investigation while the family waited at a nearby fast food place. As I walked into the living room behind our team, an orb of light floated past me. One of my team members also saw it, right there, plain as day. The family had security cameras set up in their house and were watching from their phone when they, too, saw the same orb of light.

After some discussion and a blessing, the family said they still felt that their house was haunted, but it was much less stressful than before. Knowing the history of the area in which they lived allowed them to be better prepared, both psychologically and spiritually.

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Ocean Pointe Community Ctr

<title>Wandering Spirits in an ‘Ewa Neighborhood</title>

Before the suburbs and before sugar, the ‘Ewa plain had a thriving Native Hawaiian community and was renowned for its poi. It was also within the region known as Kaupe‘a, the gathering place for wandering spirits ... who perhaps wander there still.

Wandering Spirits in an ‘Ewa Neighborhood

WEB square crop Hayley Lehman Headshot RGZ1636

Haley Lehman

Government & Politics

The County of Hawaiʻi announced Tuesday afternoon that it reached a “tentative agreement” to purchase the Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Park for $1.46 million, weeks after 

 with the landowner ended without an agreement and the County lost access to the park.

Mayor Kimo Alameda stated in a news release that he met with landowner to find a resolution.

“As a result of these direct conversations, we reached a compromise that preserves Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Park for future generations while honoring the landowner’s own interests and concerns,” Alameda stated. “Protecting Punaluʻu requires both parties – the County and landowner – to work together, and I look forward to continuing to build this partnership for the benefit of our community.”

The purchase would occur through Hawaiʻi County’s Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission (PONC) program. The County offered to purchase the property for $1.46 million earlier this year, but Black Sand Beach LLC declined to sell the property at the time.

According to the news release, the County agreed to maintain an approximately quarter-mile section of Nīnole Loop Road, a portion owned by Black Sand Beach LLC, that connects the park with the County-owned section of the road, in an effort to reduce traffic on the private road and in exchange for Black Sand Beach allowing the public to access that segment.

Alameda said in a video on social media that visitors would enter the park from the Hilo side of Nīnole Loop Road using the County road and Black Sand Beach LLC would build gates around its portion of the road. Parking in the County-owned parking lot at the beach would remain free, and Black Sand Beach LLC would offer paid parking for visitors and tour buses on its property.

Hawaiʻi County leased the land from successive landowners since 1954. The park remains closed to the public until the purchase is completed or a temporary lease agreement is reached. The county maintained a parking area, restrooms, a pavilion, a campground and grills at Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Park until the lease ended on Aug. 29.

According to “Place Names of Hawaiʻi” by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert and Esther T. Mookini, Punaluʻu is an ancient surfing area that was home to a village and heiau. The area is 

 for its unique sand, iconic Hawaiian species like spinner dolphins, green sea turtles, hawksbill sea turtles, recreational activities including fishing and snorkeling as well as freshwater springs and heiau.

Black Sand Beach LLC, owned by Eva Liu and managed by Kaʻū Valley LLC, purchased the property in May 2020, according to public records. According to LinkedIn, Liu is based in Menlo Park, California and refers to herself as founder of the Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Stewardship Initiative.

Liu also owns Punaluʻu Water and Sanitation, which has been criticized as customers remain without water service following Hurricane Lala. The Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission is hosting a 

 Monday to address concerns over service disruptions.

Colin Sakumoto, an attorney for Black Sand Beach LLC, declined Aloha State Daily’s request for comment on Wednesday.

Sakumoto told Aloha State Daily by email on Aug. 28 that the company would extend a 10-year conservation easement over Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Park at no cost to the County, but Hawaiʻi County officials said that they had not received a written proposal for an easement from Black Sand Beach LLC at the time. 

This isn’t the first time the County has explored purchasing Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Park after proposals for development.

For example, the County proposed purchasing 150 acres from SM Properties in 2007 after Sea Mountain Five proposed to develop the 

 did not have money available to purchase or maintain the land and the developer would not sell.

Then Councilmember Bob Jacobson, of Kaʻū, said that the purchase would prevent the shoreline from being sold to commercial developers and protect the shoreline as a nesting area for hawksbill turtles and a habitat for green sea turtles.

PONC recommended the acquisition of Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Park and adjacent lands, including the Nīnole Springs and Pond, in its

 in 2006 to protect natural, cultural and historic resources, maintain existing access for recreational activities and subsistence fishing, and to expand and enhance County beach park facilities.

Liu’s Black Sand Beach LLC had proposed building 225 residential and vacation rentals at Punaluʻu Villages. The project 

 after Black Sand Beach LLC defaulted on a $3.4 million mortgage.

Punaluu Black Sand Beach Park

<title>Hawaiʻi County to buy Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Park</title>

Hawaiʻi County announced plans to purchase the Punalu‘u Black Sand Beach Park six weeks after the County lost access to the land in August.

Hawaiʻi County to buy Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Park

City and County of Honolulu voters will vote on 20 questions proposed to amend the city’s governing document in the November general election. Here’s a look at what’s on the ballot and how the process works.

The City and County of Honolulu Mayor and City Council appoints 13 people to the Honolulu Charter Commission every 10 years to recommend and review proposals to the city charter. This year set a record, with the commission receiving 295 proposals by their November 2025 deadline. The last commission received 162 proposals between 2015-2016, 20 of which made it to the voters’ ballots.

On the ballot this year for Oʻahu voters will be questions about food security funding, the preamble to the City’s charter, cultural stewardship, a LGBTQIA+ commission, ranked-choice voting, immigration policy, affordable housing, the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund, government modernization, civic participation and government ethics. 

Voters can take a look at the questions, present situations and how the Charter will change if proposals pass on the 

. A question with a majority of “yes” votes will change the charter and a question with a majority of “no” votes will not change the charter.

Most proposals came from individuals. Of the 20 questions that will be on the ballot, eight came from Oʻahu residents, four were supported by organizations including Hawaiʻi FoodBank, Housing Now! and Hawaiʻi Data Collective, three were proposed by Councilmembers Tyler Dos Santos-Tam and Ester KiaʻĀina, and five stemmed from city departments.

The most popular topic among the 295 proposals was city budget and finance. Other topics proposed by residents, organizations and city departments revolved around public safety, transportation and environment.

The Honolulu Charter Commission will hold a series of community meetings across the island starting Monday, Sept. 28, to inform voters on charter amendments.

Daily Smile: Friday, Oct. 23, 2026

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