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Government & Politics

A derelict property in Wahiawā could finally be razed after hundreds of resident complaints about squatters and safety hazards.

A Honolulu City Council committee voted last week to approve a 

 authorizing the City and County of Honolulu to pursue legal action against the owners of a property on Avocado Street in Wahiawā to compel them to demolish it.

The parcel in question is a roughly 9,300-square-foot lot just off of Kamehameha Highway and adjacent to Lake Wilson. According to Honolulu real property tax data, the lot was purchased in 2013 by current owner Angelo S. John, operating as the entity Angelo’s Auto Body and Detailing LLC.

In 2020, the Honolulu Police Department raided an illegal game room on the property, with the Department of the Attorney General later reporting it had seized $10,118 from that raid.

That same year, the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs terminated the LLC. In the years since, the property has fallen into disrepair, becoming a haven for homeless people, drug activity and violence.

On Sunday, a homeless man living on the property was killed by a pack of dogs.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, who represents Wahiawā, issued a statement Thursday assuring constituents that “immediate and long-term action” will be taken to address the property.

Assuming the council passes the resolution — the full council will discuss it on Sept. 3 — Dela Cruz said in his statement that it will “immediately” remove the derelict buildings from the property. Further down the road, he wrote that the state hopes to acquire the property and build a substation for the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement.

“This plan both addresses immediate safety issues and invests in a long-term community benefit,” Dela Cruz said in his statement.

Honolulu Councilman Matt Weyer, who represents Wahiawā announced on Instagram 

 that he has introduced another resolution requesting that the city administration be ready to acquire the land if needed. However, he suggested that the property could be used to expand Honolulu’s Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement homeless relief program.

While the council committee’s discussion of the resolution took place during executive session and was closed to the general public — common practice for any agenda item concerning legal action by the county — dozens of Wahiawā residents submitted letters urging the council to take action to improve the area.

“Frequent scenes of violence and property destruction. Car tires being slashed. Individuals carrying items to harm others. Deaths due to overdose in adjacent areas. Yelling, screaming and intimidation,” wrote Jennifer Koldingnes. “The presence of individuals engaged in illegal activities has created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity in the neighborhood.”

Eric Bartolome, who owns a Muay Thai school on an adjacent property, wrote that the state of 525 Avocado is a clear danger to the children who attend his classes.

“I’ve … asked our keiki to turn away when they had to retrieve two dead bodies who overdosed,” Bartolome wrote. “On another instance, one of my 13-year-old students was propositioned by a woman living in one of the abandoned buildings. I have also had an incident of someone living in that building taking a large knife to the tires of my student’s vehicles.”

State agencies also approved of clearing the property, including the DLNR and the State Council on Developmental Disabilities. The latter’s executive administrator, Daintry Bartoldus, wrote to the council committee that the property “has become a source of fear and distress.”

The Council will vote whether to pass the resolution on Wednesday, Sept. 3.

[{"type":"text","text":"ASD reached out to Dela Cruz and Bartolome for comment."}]

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Screenshot 2025 08 29 at 5 18 19 PM 16x9 2

<title>Derelict Wahiawā property slated for demolition following dog attack</title>

State, county lawmakers urging swift action against decrepit property after homeless man killed by dogs last weekend

Derelict Wahiawā property slated for demolition following dog attack

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

John "Keoni" Sai Keong Kauwe III, who grew up between the Islands and Utah, joined Brigham Young University–Hawaiʻi as its 11th president in July of 2020.

The Molokai High School graduate told Aloha State Daily, “My family on my grandmother's side were some of the very first Hawaiian Latter-day Saints to settle in Lāʻie. So, I have a long family history here on the North Shore.”

He was invited to join BYU-Hawaiʻi by leadership from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the university’s primary sponsor for student tuition. Prior to accepting this role, Kauwe was a biology professor, chair of the Biology Department and dean of Graduate Studies for BYU in Provo, Utah.

“[My wife, Monica, and I] didn't apply for the job, but we were very excited for a several reasons: I had worked with students and faculty here for a few years, and I knew that it was a great place. I knew that the students were awesome. I, of course, had my family heritage here and had been desiring and hoping that my career would bring me back to Hawai’i,” he said. “While this situation didn’t necessarily make sense financially, from an emotional and spiritual perspective, it was clearly what we wanted to do.”

Upon arrival, Kauwe “inherited a complex situation of how to serve students remotely, how to sustain our students financially, and then how to navigate [Covid-19] itself and the regulations associated with the disease and begin to operate a university again.”

"About 700 students were stuck here. They could not return home because of travel restrictions,” he recalled. “In retrospect, it allowed us to make some changes that would have taken a lot longer if it hadn't been for that Covid reset. We became stronger partners with our community and government.”

He noted that BYU-Hawai’i reopened by Fall 2021 because “we had so much testing and vaccinations in place and were able to manage things – and our students really needed it." 

Our students come from all over the world, and this is a really safe and prosperous place for them. This is a great place to build your future. And so, it was a high priority for us to have our students back on campus.”

Aloha State Daily spoke with Kauwe ahead of the first week of school. Here are a few of his priorities for the school year.

[{"type":"text","text":"Ongoing construction and sustainability projects"}]

The university was founded in 1955 as Church College of Hawaiʻi.

“The main buildings were completed in 1958 and those buildings from 1958 are the ones that were now looking to replace,” Kauwe said. “When building something in 

Lāʻie versus in Waikīkī or the Leeward Coast

, the corrosive nature of the North Shore is significantly worse. Our buildings have held up really well over the past 70 years. But they were in a state of disrepair where we really had no choice but to take everything down and start over."

According to him, The BYU–Hawaiʻi Board of Trustees has invested in more than 300,000 total gross building square footage 

of new construction over the span of five years for five new structures – The David O. McKay Classroom Building, Flag Circle, Aloha Center and McKay Faculty Building.

Other priorities include on-campus housing for single students and those with families. Kauwe said the university

will add housing for 900 to 1,000 single students by January.

“Our purpose there is twofold, and we see that our students are in a better place financially and academically when they live in our home campus housing. We really want to provide that for them, but there's also a chronic shortage of housing on the North Shore,” he said. “We know that if we pull some of our students out of the housing that they're staying in out in the community, that will open up those units for community members and their families. We feel like building more housing here is a win-win for our students and for the community.

More information about campus construction can be found 

“We have solar on top of most of our buildings and parking lots, and 

currently, that provides over one-third of our energy, which has worked quite well,” 

We are in the permitting process for our second phase, which will add significant capacity. In fact, with the support of HECO, we will be creating a micro grid that will be power the Polynesian Cultural Center, the university and the 

 Hawaiʻi Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints completely from our solar grid.”

When asked what the benefits of the partnership and project are, he added, “It gives us stable power. It gives us cheaper power. But it also relieves a significant load for HECO.”

Kauwe noted that pending permit approval, he anticipates it to be completed by next year.

“We are very aware of the needs and goals for the city and state, and we are doing what we can to be meaningful partners and solutions,” he continued. “We know that power production in Hawai

i is a challenge and if we take three massive commercial users of power off the grid, that should allow HECO to provide better services to those who remain on the grid."

Overall, he said, the upgraded facilities are “an investment in the education of Hawai

[{"type":"text","text":"Developing real-life skills through academics, community service"}]

 campus upgrades, Kauwe said leadership has refined its academic offerings.

“That's another serious need here in Hawaiʻi is to educate our workforce, to ensure that the people who were born here and raised here, have the skills and capacity to do meaningful work here and stay here.”

work-study scholarship that prioritizes Hawai

i residents. Students work 19 hours per week at a job on campus or PCC, and they pay back a portion of those resources toward part of their tuition, and then we cover the rest (their tuition, their housing, their food, their health insurance). They're able to have a debt-free bachelor's degree."

Two students share their experience in the documentary 

Students can also participate in a nationwide program, JustServe, which is a catalogue of service projects in the community. The campus has held sport tournaments and currently offers intramural sports and clubs, among other activities. 

Food Fest, celebrating different dishes and cultures from its students from around the globe, will be open to the public on Nov. 8.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Building up faith-filled leaders"}]

i is “to prepare students of Oceania and the Asian Rim to be lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ and leaders in their families, communities, chosen fields, and in building the kingdom of God.”

Kauwe said students have dedicated church congregations, where they go to “worship with other students and young adults their age."

Academically, every student must complete 14 credits of a religious education core to graduate.

“Beyond that, our faculty and staff are committed to ensuring that all of their teaching, leadership and mentoring, integrates the importance of faith in our student

 lives, or what grounds them from a moral and spiritual perspective.”

Devotionals take place on Tuesdays at 11 a.m., with a variety of speakers, and are meditated on throughout the week, he said.

ASD asked Kauwe, “What do you want students to leave BYU Hawai

“Our purpose is that our students will be disciples of Jesus Christ. What that means is that they understand the teachings of Jesus Christ, and they practice them in ways that bless their own lives and the lives of others. We also have the purpose of them living and leading in Asia and the Pacific. So, we really want our students to have their hearts and their minds focused on 

how do I build the community that brought me up?

“For me personally, I spend a lot of time with the students. I live on campus, eat with them in the dining hall, and I see them as I'm loading my surfboards or throwing the football with my kids. I spend a lot of time just understanding who they are and what they're going through."

He said his advice to his younger self, or at least right now to his oldest son, who is 18, is: “Ask for help.”

“When I reflect on my life, on the university that I lead, and what I hope that each student will do, I look at this campus and I've got 150 amazing faculty. I've got 300-plus amazing employees. We have counseling professionals at a higher ratio than most universities in the world. We have an academic support team that's fantastic, we have extensive tutoring resources. We have our church communities, we have our student clubs, we have our student athletic activities. We have so many resources to support every aspect of our students' lives and the missing ingredient most often, is a student just recognizing it's OK to reach out to an academic advisor and say, ʻI feel like I'm drowning my classes, what can I do?’ … I think just realizing people were not alone and there are far more resources available to us than we generally take advantage of.”

“One of the important things about faith is that it does create such a powerful sense of worth and belonging. It connects people in ways where they start to feel like they can ask for help because of that shared value system. That's something, again, that we try to do the best we can to cultivate here.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Show and tell from the president"}]

Of the items displayed in Kauwe's office, the most surprising item he pulled off the shelf was perhaps the smallest.

His late father’s PCC name tag from “1975 or something,” he said with a smile.   

“And that's a picture of my dad, who passed away a couple months after I started this job, but he went to school here when it was the Church College of Hawaiʻi."

Other items included a Siapo, or tapa cloth from Samoa, a basketball signed by Golden State Warriors players, 

preserved fish bones and a fish lure. "I have a hobby of doing marine and fish genomics, but I do it in rigorous scientific way," he said. "I've published several papers in that field, and these are some of the fish that I have caught for my science and then also preserved.

“I am a biologist by training and Ph.D. human geneticist. My entire career up until now was therapeutic development and Alzheimer's disease. That hat is the pharmaceutical company that I co-founded and that I'm still on the board of. It's called 

. Halia is the Hawaiian word for fond memories. And so, it's our goal to preserve memory through our therapeutics. That bottle is an experimental drug that's currently in human trials that I helped invent.

Last, is a LEGO set of a Japanese garden, with Grogu (from the Star Wars Disney+ original television series "The Mandalorian") as its caretaker.

“I served a mission for the church in Japan and my kids got me that LEGO set and told me I had to keep it in my office.”

For more information about the university, visit 

BYU Kauwe

<title>3 things on BYU-Hawaiʻi president’s mind for the first week of school</title>

John “Keoni” Kauwe, president of Brigham Young University of Hawaiʻi since July 2020, discusses ongoing construction and sustainability projects, as well upcoming events and community outreaches in Lāʻie. He also shares how faith creates a powerful sense of worth, belonging and connection for students and faculty — and even shows us around his office bookshelf.

3 things on BYU-Hawaiʻi president’s mind for the first week of school

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

Winning came almost immediately for University of Hawai‘i women's volleyball head coach Robyn Ah Mow, but it didn't happen all at once.

After the retirement of former NCAA all-time wins leader Dave Shoji, Ah Mow was chosen as the program's head coach in 2017. She made her head coaching debut for her alma mater on Aug. 25, 2017 against Marquette, a five-set loss for the Rainbow Wahine. Following the match, Ah Mow held the team for a late practice. 

"I think I took them to (UH-Mānoa's) Gym 1 after we lost. I never did it again, guys," Ah Mow joked to local media during a recent session. "But that shows like, yeah, I just hate losing. I hate losing, and I want our team to be better. But right now, I just think about our (current) team and what we have to do."

The Rainbow Wahine lost all three of their matches at home that weekend but went on to have a 20-8 season, including a 14-2 mark in Big West Conference play. 

Under Ah Mow, the Rainbow Wahine have continued to be the gold standard in the Big West as it prepares to 

join the Mountain West Conference in 2026

. The 'Bows have appeared in 31 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including all seven of Ah Mow's full seasons at the helm. The only exception was the 2021 spring season, a season the Big West opted out of. 

In 2025, the Rainbow Wahine have an equal balance of 

. Standards remain high for the Rainbow Wahine, who begin their 2025 season at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Stan Sheriff Center against Marquette, the same team Ah Mow debuted against. Friday's match against the Golden Eagles wraps up the first day of the 

Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic, which also features Utah State and San Diego.

"I feel like this year's team is a little bit gelled together, a lot more than last year's team, more goal-driven and dialed versus individual stuff," Ah Mow said when asked to compare the 2025 team against a 2024 squad that won the Big West Tournament but got swept in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against TCU. "Everybody is for the team."

Ah Mow's resume as a former star player for Hawai‘i includes two first-team All-America honors and a silver medal as Team USA's starting setter in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Her playing career alone has earned the reverence of her players, but as a coach, Ah Mow's ability to keep things real with her players has earned her their love. 

"I love Coach Rob," Hawai‘i standout middle blocker Miliana Sylvester said. "I'm super, super thankful that I got to play for her through the recruiting process. I didn't really see myself playing for anyone else, playing for anyone as decorated as her, and I think that she's created great middle blockers throughout her career, so we're very close. We talk a lot. I'm always looking to her for advice, not just in volleyball, but as a role model off the court as well."

Sylvester had the opportunity to coach with Ah Mow on the club circuit during the spring and found herself able to relate to her on an even deeper level.

"That was special. It was great. I think I learned a lot. My game grew a lot, and my IQ grew a lot," Sylvester said. "I'm like, OK, maybe you're right. Sometimes like being on the coaching side, OK, I see what you see."

Added junior outside hitter Tali Hakas: "I love coach. I love the way she pushes me and the girls. It's just about knowing stuff about yourself that you didn't know you had, or pushing those limits that sometimes other coaches are not comfortable doing. I think that with Coach Rob, she's going to show you that you can do it. You just need to believe that you can. We have fast tempo practices, so we got to keep up. It's about effort. It's about having confidence in yourself."

Robyn Ah Mow 082825

<title>Led by head coach Robyn Ah Mow, UH women's volleyball set for new season</title>

Ah Mow and the Rainbow Wahine will begin the 2025 season on Friday against Marquette at 7 p.m.

Led by head coach Robyn Ah Mow, UH women's volleyball set for new season

After a special meeting on Aug. 13 that was highlighted by the announcement of 

, the Stadium Authority met for its regular monthly meeting on Thursday morning. 

The swift meeting included brief updates from University of Hawai‘i athletics director 

, as well as an announcement in Stadium Authority membership, with Moanalua High School Athletics director Joel Kawachi replacing 

New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED) program director David Harris spoke in the meeting, giving an update on where things stand towards building a new stadium. As previously stated, construction will not begin until demolition is complete. Although initial 

projections had demolition beginning at the end of August

, the new target is sometime in September or October. 

NASED secured the two permits it needed from the City and County of Honolulu, a process that Stadium Authority chair Eric Fujimoto says was smooth by all accounts. 

Early 2026 is the new projected date for when steel from the current Aloha Stadium will begin to get taken down. Dismantling was the key word mentioned by Fujimoto, with the current Aloha Stadium set to go down piece by piece. 

 will organize fencing around the stadium during the demolition process and put up materials such as dust screens. 

A pair of documents between NASED and AHDP that served as the basis for the special meeting earlier in the month are "currently under administrative review for signature," Fujimoto said, and are expected to be signed in the coming days. One is the stadium and operation agreement itself, while the other is a 30-year stadium ground lease agreement. 

Another pair of documents that make up the four documents that need to be signed between NASED and AHDP are the 

master development agreement and reciprocal easement agreements for the Hālawa lot, as AHDP still plans to build a surrounding entertainment district surrounding the stadium. Fujimoto says NASED and AHDP continue to meet weekly.

"The one thing that I've been very supportive of is the collaboration that's been in the room to get us to this point," Fujimoto said. "All stakeholders involved have been so collaborative. ... The momentum that's being built is pretty exciting. AHDP has been very conscious of the importance of demolition, as proven by the teamwork that we've done with the city to get permitting done in a pretty efficient manner

"We have one or two dedicated permitting people to continue on with future requests. Materials have been ordered. Pretty significant (materials) are currently on island now, the dust screens and all of this mitigation. Things will start to go up September and October. That's what I feel is just psychologically, a huge win for the community."

Aloha Stadium Jan. 2025

<title>Timeline pushed back for Aloha Stadium demolition</title>

Initial projections had demolition taking 10 months. That timeline is now closer to a year.

Timeline pushed back for Aloha Stadium demolition

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

“Sharing Aloha,” a 95-minute documentary that tells the stories of student workers at the Polynesian Cultural Center, is set to hit theaters across Hawaiʻi and on the Mainland on Friday, Aug. 29.

The documentary follows the stories of several student workers who share their culture with tourists and kamaʻāina as part of PCC’s programs. Featured students include dancers and performers, who take the stage in the “Hā: Breath of Life” show, at the end of each night the center is open.

“My team and I are deeply connected to the dancers,” said Blair Treu, its producer and director, in a written statement. “This film is a celebration of culture, resilience and the power of community.”

“Sharing Aloha” premiered to about 200 guests, including some of the students featured in the documentary and their families, on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at Consolidated Theatres at Ward with Titan Luxe.

Polynesian Cultural Center is a 42-acre attraction that educates visitors about six island cultures:  Hawaiʻi, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti and Aotearoa. It has hosted millions of visitors since its opening in 1963. Revenue from the cultural center supports daily operations and the education of student employees attending Brigham Young University – Hawaiʻi.

“Sharing Aloha”

<title>“Sharing Aloha” in theaters Aug. 29</title>

The documentary features a behind-the-scenes look at life for students who work at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Several of the featured students are part of PCC’s signature show, “Hā: Breath of Life.”

“Sharing Aloha” in theaters Aug. 29

In what was unquestionably the defensive play of the season for the University of Hawai‘i football season thus far, safety Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen says he was just acting on instinct. 

With six minutes left and Stanford driving deep in Hawai‘i territory, Mendiola-Jensen swooped in and got vertical to intercept a Ben Gulbranson pass attempt, allowing the Rainbow Warriors to win 23-20 on consecutive field goal drives rather than let Stanford build an insurmountable two-possession lead late.

"Coach told me to just let it rip. Play aggressive. I saw my feet, and kind of went blank for a little bit and ended up making a play," Mendiola-Jensen said following a recent team practice. "But at the end of the day, I feel like it was an all-around effort. I think we all made big plays."

Hawai‘i's Week 0 victory over Stanford turned out to serve as the ultimate showcase for the Rainbow Warrior program. The 'Bows and Cardinal were the only college game being shown at the time of Kansei Matsuzawa's game-winning field goal, only adding to the national exposure that the CBS broadcast provided. 

Viewers across the college football world became enamored with 

's story, as well as the powerful right leg of 

. The grit of quarterback Micah Alejado, who 

gutted out the second half on an injured ankle

On Monday, the Rainbow Warriors swept the Mountain West's weekly awards despite conference counterparts UNLV and Fresno State also taking the field over the weekend. Alejado was named the Offensive Player of the Week, while Matsuzawa was named the Special Teams Player of the Week. 

Meanwhile, Mendiola-Jensen was named the Defensive Player of the Week after logging four tackles, one interception and two pass breakups, one of which was a dropped potential pick-6. Pro Football Focus, which specializes in football analytics, gave Mendiola-Jensen a game grade of 90.0 against Stanford, the highest grade for an FBS player in Week 0. 

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