The Maui Goodness

We’ve decided to open up posting to Maui Realtors as well as Maui Developers for FREE on our Maui Real Estate and Development Blog!  We will continue posting about Maui real estate, but we now want to offer this site to other Maui Professionals. Already we’ve had Maui Realtor Sherri Vann promote her open house on here with great success.

What you need to do:

1. Email us at the above address in red.  Let us know that you’re serious about writing blog post(s).
2. In the Right Column of this page, at the bottom you’ll see a REGISTER link under Subscribe.  Click.
3. Register.  We will then accept you within 24-48 hours.
4. Write Blog Post(s).

Rules for Writing:

• You may only write about Maui related subjects.  We prefer only Maui Real Estate and Maui Development posts.  These can include a home for sale, new project in development, Maui news, or any other related subject.
• You MAY NOT write solely to promote yourself our your company.  This means the post must have some substance.
• The post must be at least a paragraph long.
• Grammar and Spelling must be checked before submitting.
• The post MAY NOT be duplicate content from another website.
• Only 2 links per post.  These links must be Maui related.
• PHOTOS: They must be saved for web.  We don’t want people posting huge files.

If all of this is done, your post will be accepted and posted.  If not, you will be deleted as a user immediately.

Why are we doing this?

Our site gets over 1,000 visitors per month and growing.  We’ve projected that this site will hit 3,000 in less than a year.  It takes quite a lot of time to promote this site, and we need your help in posting relevant, helpful Maui information.  This is a great way for you to promote your business, real estate, development, or any other Maui subject.  We’re open to any relevant topic.  Please don’t write short, crappy posts; you will be deleted forever.  Mahalo!

Though Governor Linda Lingle never expressly mentioned “Furlough Fridays” in her speech on Friday, she did address the issue of education.  Lingle made it clear that she understands that our system of education is broken and suggested that we concentrate more on the time children are IN classrooms rather than OUT of classrooms.

(QUICK NOTE: Furlough Fridays are days where education is taken away from children in order cut staffing expenses to help the State budget deficit.)

Though we agree that Hawaii education has MAJOR problems, Lingle’s statement, “We need to get more worked up about what happens when they are in school rather than when … they are not in school,” is like saying, “When you have cancer, don’t worry about the fact that your doctor will be around even less to cure you, worry about the cancer!” How exactly does one fix a problem when those closest to it are given less time to fix it?

With a culture that obviously struggles to develop its children to be competitive in our world, wouldn’t you think that keeping teachers employed full-time should remain a priority?  Yes, our deficit is a big problem, but cutting education is the shortest sighted solution one can propose.  In her speech on Friday, Lingle reiterated her proposals to fix our economic woes.  She discussed:

• Programs putting unemployed welfare recipients to work. This sounds great, but in our personal experience, a sizable portion of people on welfare in Hawaii aren’t interested in working.  The idea of compensating employers for hiring welfare recipients is also a good idea in theory, but if an employer NEEDS an employee wouldn’t they have to hire them anyway?  This also seems short-sighted considering that when the program stops, many will go back on welfare because their employer won’t be able to afford keeping them on.

• Tax Credits for construction and Renovation. Island growth is really not a long-term solution either.  We have enormously high occupancy rates and big problems with distribution of scarce resources like water, as well as devastating environmental issues to try and fix before we encourage more construction.

So what is the solution to our economic problems in Hawaii? We feel high-tech industrial growth, long term educational growth, and preparation of  economic down turns will do us better than any other solutions.  Lingle did mention a proposal to set aside 5% of funds when tax revenues are growing.  This is a good idea, but government track records in this area have shown that money set aside often becomes reallocated with time.

The implementation of Furlough Fridays is indicative of Hawaii’s prioritizing education below most other things.  Lingle insinuates that the problem lies IN the classroom and that the problem is quality.  We disagree.  The blame falls everywhere between the parents all the way to the top administrators in the school system, as well as on the heads of legislators.  If administration would let teachers spend more time teaching than testing, if parents took more of an interest in their children’s education and genuinely wanted their kids to be brighter than they are, if government could find better ways to cut from the budget and possibly take federal aid we might see a brighter future in Hawaii.

Are teachers to blame? Surely some teachers in Hawaii shouldn’t be teaching, but for the most part teachers are NOT the reason for our lagging behind most of the country (and the world) in educating our children properly.  The problem is that education is not a priority in Hawaii when it should be #1.  Our spiraling cycle of education continues to build on an already poorly educated culture.  Much of this is due to our citizens already being poorly educated and not seeing the value in it.

Not only would an emphasis in education be helpful to us economically in the long term, but socially we believe the islands would become healthier.  In that, we mean with more understanding of other cultures, higher levels of confidence and income, and a broader more developed economic share of the world’s production and innovation could alleviate some of the ignorance and racial tension that is so prevalent in Hawaii today.

This editorial is just one view point from one of our writers.  Quotation and information was found through the Maui News.  Mahalo for your reporting!

The island of Lanai is likely moving into a new phase of housing development.  The county has proposed a project for over 400 new homes in a $23 million affordable housing development to be completed over the next 17 years.

The housing development would be built over 73 acres behind Lanai High School and the Elementary.  Along with the housing, area would be set aside for more empty lots as well as 2 parks and a full community center.

The county will be looking to process the project on a fast track set up to allow exemptions from community plan amendments and change-of-zoning processes.  Being affordable housing will allow it to move faster through the system for approval.

But with anything in Maui County, even if everything goes perfectly, we won’t see construction of new homes anytime in the near future.  Everything takes 100 times as long to process and complete in the state of Hawaii.  That’s probably why most of Hawaii is still beautiful.

You may also be interested in rading about the Lanai Wind Farm.  If you want to learn more about new projects in Maui, Check out Maui Real Estate Development.

Maui Pineapple Company, operated by Maui Land & Pineapple Company, will end all pineapple production in Maui, Hawaii. Warren Haruki, the Chairman and Interim CEO of ML&P, said that since 2002, Maui Pineapple Company (MPC) has lost $115 million in the businesses as well as $20 million they’d invested in a new fresh packing facility. They’ve been working for a year at making it profitable again but to no avail.

100’s of employees will be laid off as a century old business is shut down. Many are worried about what will happen with the 2,000 acres used in the ceased pineapple operations. Though ML&P has expressed that it will be used for other agricultural products, only time will tell whether it’s really sold for commercial and residential property.

This marks the end of an iconic industry that runs deep in many local families’ roots. With sugarcane also suffering, it’s not difficult to imagine what might happen to all of Maui eventually. Let’s hope we can keep the central valley green a little longer.

We’ve traveled on Island Air many times, which is our fault.  They often have the lower prices, and that’s what sucks us in.  Never again will any of us fly between any Hawaiian Islands with Island Air.

HISTORY

In the past, we’ve flown with Island Air and incurred long delays lasting up to 6 hours!  If you’re deciding between another carrier and Island Air, you will probably get there faster with a stop over and 1 hour layover than with a direct flight on Island Air.

RECENT EXPERIENCE

Our flight to Kauai was delayed by 2 hours without notice.  I mean, no one told us anything and instead had us sit and wait with no idea of what was going on.  Then, on our flight back to Maui, we arrived at the ticket check in counter to find a sign saying our flight was cancelled and that no one could check us in for an hour and 20 minutes.  We sat and waited and couldn’t go into the airport till we had a boarding pass.  Finally, we got checked in and got to our gate with no one there.  25 minutes after our flight was supposed to leave, a message over the intercom explained that our flight was delayed by over 4 HOURS!  Meanwhile, other flights with Island Air to Maui continued to board in front of us throughout the day.

We spoke with a supervisor (a major ordeal to obtain an audience with, but we had the time.)  The only solution he came up with was to buy a ticket with a rival airline!  Yes, it’s true!  The supervisor of Island Air told us if we really need to get to Maui in a timely manner, we should consider buying a ticket with another airline.

We also overheard a TSA employee mention that most locals know to use Hawaiian Airlines because of their punctuality.  He said, “It’s worth the extra few bucks to make sure you get there.”  So our day concluded with over 6 hours of delays and cancellations.

THE FUTURE

It pains us to watch Hawaii businesses go out of business in these harsh economic times, but if Island Air dies, (with a smile) I’ll chalk it up as Economic Darwinism.

Billionaire David Murdock has plans to build over 200 wind turbines near Polihua Beach on the island of Lanai, Hawaii.  The power generated by the windfarm would be sent by underwater cables to the island of Oahu, our most populated island.  In this move, Murdock would recoup some of his losses from his struggling Lanai resorts as well as provide Oahu with a large amount of much needed renewable energy.

As with any change to the islands, residents and visitors are complaining about Castle & Cooke’s building of these windmills.  It seems that with any change, for good or bad, people become restless and upset.  But when you look at the project rationally and objectively,  it benefits everyone affected.

• Lanai Residents – Jobs will be made and the island will prosper with additional revenues.
• Maui County – Maui and Hawaii’s goal of using 70 percent green energy by 2030 will come closer to completion.
• Honolulu, Oahu – Honolulu will become less dependent on foreign oil and coal for their power needs.
• David Murdock and the Castle & Cooke Company – The new profits will make up for their disastrous losses over the years.
• Hawaii Visitors – The resorts of Lanai will remain open and Lanai will continue to have ferry services.

With time, our islands need to change.  It’s a sad thing that the Lanai is no longer accurately called the Pineapple Isle.  But as the world becomes smaller and the economies of each nation become further intertwined, the only way to survive is to acclimate and grow with the changes.  In light of all the bad decisions effecting Hawaii (overdevelopment, pollution, loss of Aloha), we believe that this is one of the better moves by a large corporation.

Tommy Bahama’s Tropical Cafe in Wailea, South Maui, threw one of the best parties of the year to start off the Maui Film Festival. On Wednesday the 17th of June, 2009, this notoriously fun party attracted all kinds of celebrities, vacationers, and local Maui residents.

Some of the celebrities that enjoyed the warm night were Eddie Murphy, Justin Chambers of Grey’s Anatomy, and the director of Cash Crop, Adam Ross.

With a full bar (including an Ice Bar) and some delicious Pupus (appetizers) all at the low price of $50 for admission, it’s easy to see why this event was so popular.  Some of the delicious Pupus included crab claws, jumbo shrimp, mussels, chili orange chicken, Thai peanut beef, rosemary lamb chops, and caviar on toast.

Plenty of specialty cocktails were made with Tommy Bahama’s signature rums being poured through the ice sculpture. Stella Artois sponsored the event with tasty beer flowing from multiple taps around the restaurant.  Along with great drinks, we enjoyed some incredible live music on the patio.

Adding to the romance and excitement we’re a couple of Cirque du Soleil style performers on stilts walking around with masks and wings.Overall this was the best value and the most fun of the many parties surrounding the events at the Maui Film Festival in 2009.  We’ll be here again next year to share more pictures and news.

Thank you Natalie Brown for allowing us to use your photos.  See more of these photos at Tommy Bahama Maui. Mahalo!

After many difficulties, the Hawaii Superferry has finally been put to rest… for now.

The Hawaii Supreme Court struck down a new law that allowed the Alakai to run operations in Hawaii waters without an official Environmental Impact Report (EIS.)

The Hawaii Superferry ran its last voyage between Maui and Oahu on Thursday March 19th, 2009.  236 employees were laid off, and no future Hawaii service can be expected without an EIS. The Alakai, which ran for over a year and booked over 250,000 round-trip voyages in that time, will be leased for commercial use outside of Hawaiian Waters or by the US military. Hawaii Superferry President and Chief Executive Tom Fargo has hopes that his vision of an interisland ferry system can be met in the future by his organization, though the possibility of this happening is doubtful at best.

Concerns for the environment as well as danger to our visiting Humpback Whales has raised concerns particularly with both Kauai and Maui residents.  Protests and legal action have ensued from environmental groups after the state exempted the Hawaii Superferry from having any type of environmental review in 2005.  Controversy has grown seeing that the State had dealing with the Hawaii Superferry as far as investments.

From the beginning, the Hawaii Superferry has been a Maui Lawyers dream situation.  This will continue to be litigated over for years if the owners feel like putting the time into it.  Though it looks like they’re going to pursue other ways of making money.  The way things have been going, we can’t blame them.