Hawaii

Naka Nathaniel: We Need To Foster A Culture Of Belonging In A Land Of Inequality

Published

2 years ago

August 21, 2024

Press Room

Naka Nathaniel: We Need To Foster A Culture Of Belonging In A Land Of Inequality

After some follows on Instagram in the wake of FestPAC, my feed is full of reels of Maori haka.

I love it.

I admire New Zealand for having a fierce international reputation. Our Pacific ohana in Aotearoa are without peers when it comes to greeting malahini (strangers) and adversaries.

Watching these posts, I was reminded of a previous conversation with a very wise uncle. He said that decades ago, Hawaii had become too welcoming. He said that most cultures prioritize protection first and hospitality second.

Somehow, in Hawaii we had it flipped. Unlike the Maori, we put our dancers out in front and not the warriors.

He said he couldn’t understand it: When a stranger arrives on your shores you should determine if they’re there to invade you and take what you have. Instead, in Hawaii we sidelined our warriors and, to him, were too hospitable.

For too long, it has been easy for visitors to arrive in Hawaii and be welcomed with lei and a mai tai and not the truth of injustices past and present that have left Native Hawaiians sidelined.

As I read through the comments on my column last week about John Oliver succinctly reporting out Hawaiian history and concluding that Hawaii was being run to benefit everyone but Hawaiians, I kept thinking about how we can figure out a better way forward for our discussions.

I don’t want the discussion to be reduced to one of victims versus villains. That just alienates everyone and causes more division.

I want Hawaii to have a culture of belonging.

However, fostering a culture of belonging is tough given the harsh state of inequality here. The trend is for wealthy people to move here and for those with generational ties to Hawaii to move away.

Maori performers from New Zealand, Aotearoa, showcase a traditional dance at FestPAC, where Polynesian representatives gathered in Hawaii to celebrate their individual cultures together. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024)

I was thinking about another conversation I had awhile back with Ualani Davis, a kanaka maoli artist. We were discussing the idea of how to truly foster the notion of Hawaii being welcoming to all who would abide by the aloha spirit.

However, the notion of the welcoming aspect of aloha has been thrown askew by marketing messages.

“The whole monetization of the aloha spirit, they don’t need Hawaiians,” said Davis. “They just need the aloha spirit, and that’s free. You don’t need to pay anyone for aloha spirit, and that’s all they really need to sell Hawaii.”

Extreme inequality is hampering our cohesiveness thanks to the island state’s desirability as a supposed paradise.

We’ve seen it very starkly after the Maui wildfires last year. The haves are able to be patient and wait for a rebound. The have-nots have already left the island.

The haves are prominently displayed on a wall in the Kahalui airport. The “Kamaaina Proud to Call Maui Home” wall is adorned with photos of celebrities and musicians who took their riches and bought property on Maui as a reward for their success.

Unfortunately, the claiming of those rewards has come at the expense of those who grew up alongside those pictured on the accompanying wall celebrating the “Maui Nui Wall of Fame.”

But again, I do not want to alienate anyone with the victims versus villains designation.

The term a “culture of belonging” was popularized in the business world grappling with the racial reckoning in the summer of 2020.

As the Harvard Business Review wrote, “After all, belonging is essential to humans. Psychologists rank our need to belong on par with our need for love. Because the need to belong is universal and fundamental, focusing on it has the power to draw in the whole workforce, even those who might feel excluded from — or threatened by — current DEI conversations. When companies emphasize a culture of belonging, they call everyone in, creating space in the conversation to address our shared humanity and build a bridge to greater empathy and inclusion for the groups that are the most marginalized in the workplace today.”

How can we make that apply in cultures here in Hawaii that are often siloed by inequality?

Starting with knowledge and understanding goes a long way. Being knowledgeable about the history of Hawaii helps. That’s why John Oliver’s history lesson on HBO resonated with so many audiences. His report was entertaining, educational and not laborious.

Should we have a culture that’s more challenging and less automatically welcoming?

I’d vote for being welcoming, but I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts in the comments.

I don’t think we’re in an intractable place when it comes to facing the challenges of inequality here in Hawaii. We have tools at our disposal that we’re only just now starting to understand how to use.

Our state constitution has strong provisions that could help: In this year alone, the Hawaii Supreme Court cited the Spirit of Aloha to rule against unfettered use of the second amendment. The right to a healthful environment also was successfully used by the plaintiffs in the Navahine settlement.

The most powerful tool could be the Law of the Splintered Paddle. The first written law of the Hawaiian kingdom, which provides for the protection of innocent people such as kupuna and keiki, is in the state constitution. I’m very interested to see how smart people in Hawaii could use it to tackle our toughest issues like inequality.

Nearly everyone who lives here understands that Hawaii is a unique place, deserving of appreciation and protection that should take priority over selfish and shortsighted interests to acquire and extract. Those selfish and shortsighted interests can serve one well in other places, but in Hawaii, it keeps the islands on a path to being the province of the ultra-wealthy, retirees and the low-wage earners who serve them.

We need to find aloha-driven leaders who can emphasize a common cause, bridge gaps and create belonging. That’s how we can solve our problems.

Source link

Hawaii

Honolulu City Council adopts nearly $5B budget package | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Published

3 hours ago

June 4, 2026

Press Room

Honolulu City Council adopts nearly B budget package | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

In the face of a threatened budget veto by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, the City Council on Wednesday approved a $4.96 billion budget package for fiscal year 2027, which begins
July 1.

On a 6-3 vote, the Council adopted a spending plan that reduces funding and staff for the city’s Office of Economic Revitalization, a move that prompted Blangiardi to warn he’d veto the budget if the agency were dissolved.

The Council approved
Bill 22, a $3.193 billion operating budget that funds city services, employee salaries, police and fire operations, parks, road maintenance and other day-to-day government functions.

In a separate vote, the Council unanimously
approved Bill 23, a $1.77 billion Capital Improvement Program budget that will fund infrastructure projects across Oahu, including investments in roads, public facilities, parks and wastewater systems.

The budget bills now head to the mayor, who has 10 days — excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays — to potentially issue a veto.

The Council’s decision, according to budget documents, will be funded at $991,000 from OER and restores funding for nine full-time positions. That office, currently funded at about $2.2 million and attached to the city Managing Director’s Office, has been staffed largely by more than 20 contract employees rather than permanent civil service workers.

Created in 2020, OER was tasked with promoting economic development and improving quality of life for residents and businesses across Oahu.

The Council’s approved cuts stem largely from an Office of the City Auditor’s scathing audit released in January, which found OER failed to implement several economic development initiatives and lacked transparency in its budgeting and performance reporting.

Prior to Wednesday’s vote on Bill 22, Blangiardi — who submitted his $5.08 billion budget proposal to the Council in March — appeared before the nine-member body and reiterated his opposition to eliminating OER.

“We all know why I’m here,” the mayor told the Council inside a chamber filled with city officials and members of the public before deliberations began. “And also, I’m befuddled by this, I’ll be really honest with you.”

Blangiardi said he’d reviewed the OER audit, but noted that “for me, as a management principle, audits have always been a guideline.

“There’s no question … in your oversight capacity … challenge us operationally … to do something about that,” the mayor said. “And we’re prepared to do that.”

Still, Blangiardi highlighted what he described as OER’s accomplishments, including distributing federal COVID-19 relief funding to small businesses and low-income residents affected by the pandemic.

“And to have no OER resource, it’s not just going to affect the 20 positions, it’s going to affect the thousands of people in their lives,” the mayor said. “So I don’t understand why.”

Blangiardi said that in less than six years, OER had distributed $405 million into the community.

OER’s funding was one aspect of a broader budget debate over how city resources should be allocated.

At the meeting, Andy Kawano, director of the city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services,
expressed concerns
about funding reductions impacting the Honolulu
Police Department, the Department of Planning and Permitting and many other city agencies.

Kawano noted the city’s proposed $5.08 billion budget submitted in March had “not changed materially” under the Council’s version.

“The numbers are really close,” he said. “What has happened, though, is there has been a shifting around of the mayor’s priorities versus yours, Council members, which is fine.”

However, Kawano said $1.8 million was removed from HPD salary funding while the Council added requirements that were not funded under the budget bill.

“I want to be clear about the practical impact of those changes,” HPD interim Police Chief Rade Vanic told the Council later.

“Reducing salary appropriations while adding new spending requirements creates a contradiction: it directs the department to accomplish more while providing fewer resources to do so.”

Likewise, DPP Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna said Council-led cuts to her agency totaled about
$2.2 million, affecting development initiatives, including affordable rental housing projects, as well as the department’s core operations.

But Council members, including Chair Tommy Waters, offered a different perspective on the budget.

Regarding DPP specifically, Waters noted that more than $10 million in previously approved funding lapsed during the
2024-25 fiscal year.

“Couldn’t you use
some of that savings to supplement the $2.2 million that is currently being redirected to other priorities?” he asked.

Takeuchi Apuna replied that about half of the
$10 million consisted of affordable rental housing project grants under Bill 7 that had not yet been
distributed.

“And we will continue to use those funds,” she added.

During discussions though, Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam objected to the operating budget’s elimination of
positions and funding.

“There has been a lot of drama on this, and I really do believe that a better pathway is possible,” he said. “But here we are today with a budget that’s balanced on the backs
of city employees whose positions will be cut in OER.

“And if we start cutting positions in OER, there’s nothing to stop us from cutting other live bodies in other departments as well,” Dos Santos-Tam added. “We have before us a budget that’s balanced on cuts to HPD, a critical public safety agency.”

Ultimately, Dos Santos-Tam, Matt Weyer and
Augie Tulba voted against Bill 22.

Waters, along with the rest of the Council, supported the revised budget.

“You know, the Council budget is forward-looking, it’s fiscally responsible, it’s transparent and intentional,” Waters said. “It reduces spending below the mayor’s proposal without reducing city services.

“We respect the administration’s work in preparing its initial budget proposal and commend the mayor for presenting a budget that slows the growth of government,” he said. “But the Council has a responsibility to review, question, adjust and improve what was initially presented. Our job is not to simply act as a rubber stamp for the mayor.

Waters also said that for years, “hundreds of millions of dollars that the Council appropriated simply went unspent and lapsed quietly with little public discussion.” He added the Council’s “tightened budget” would reduce “paper vacancies” within city departments
including the more than 460 sworn-officer vacancies at HPD.

In a written statement
issued after the meeting, Waters said “this budget restores and expands support for public safety and justice, including additional prosecutorial capacity and victim and witness services” that includes
10 funded prosecutor
positions.

“It also strengthens emergency preparedness through investments in emergency management staffing, disaster resilience, flood mitigation, stream maintenance and drainage infrastructure,” he said.

Source link

Hawaii

Gov. Green responds to lawsuit challenging Hawaiian Homes program | Maui Now

Published

13 hours ago

June 4, 2026

Press Room

Gov. Green responds to lawsuit challenging Hawaiian Homes program | Maui Now

Department of Hawaiian Homelands. Photo Courtesy: DHHL

Gov. Josh Green today issued a statement regarding a federal lawsuit challenging the eligibility requirements within the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.

“The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was established to address the historic dispossession of Native Hawaiians and reflects a longstanding commitment to them by both the federal government and the state of Hawaiʻi,” said Green.

“This lawsuit threatens that commitment. I have directed the Department of the Attorney General to vigorously defend the Hawaiian Homes program. We will fight this lawsuit with everything we have,” he said.

The lawsuit was filed by Eric Ryan, an Oʻahu resident who is not Native Hawaiian and tried to apply for a lease, but was denied due to the 50% Native Hawaiian blood quantum requirement, according to Hawaiʻi News Now and court documents published at Courthouse News Service.

The Class Action Complaint argues that the “explicitly ancestry-based requirement” establishes a “permanent government mandate for state officials to engage in outright racial discrimination, perpetuates stereotypes, and limits housing opportunities for most Hawai‘i residents. The blood-quantum requirement thus violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the complaint alleges.

Green said the administration “stands firmly with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the thousands of Native Hawaiian beneficiaries who rely on this program and its promise for future generations.”

Attorney General Anne Lopez also issued a statement saying the state of Hawaiʻi has both a legal and moral obligation to uphold the commitments embodied in the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.

“This lawsuit seeks to dismantle a program that has provided opportunities, stability and hope to generations of Native Hawaiian beneficiaries,” said Lopez.

Solicitor General Kalikoʻonālani Fernandes, who has extensive experience handling complex constitutional litigation on behalf of the state, will lead the legal team in defending the state against the challenge.

“We are prepared to vigorously defend the Hawaiian Homes program and the promises it represents,” said Lopez.

Under the Green administration, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has accelerated the delivery of homestead opportunities and expanded pathways to homeownership for Native Hawaiian beneficiaries.

In 2025 alone, DHHL offered more than 2,500 lease awards and continues to advance major housing projects, including Hale Mōʻiliʻili on Oʻahu, which will provide 278 affordable rental units for beneficiaries.

“These efforts reflect the administration’s commitment to reducing wait times, strengthening Native Hawaiian communities and fulfilling the promise of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act,” according to the governor’s announcement.

Source link

Hawaii

Bystander video shows damage after concrete falls at Ala Moana Center

Published

23 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Bystander video shows damage after concrete falls at Ala Moana Center

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Concrete fell from the exterior of an Ala Moana Center parking structure Monday afternoon near the Kapiolani Boulevard exit, damaging a vehicle.

No injuries were reported.

Security blocked an exit lane as debris scattered across the roadway. Ala Moana Center said they are grateful no one was hurt, and the lane will remain closed while structural engineers and construction professionals assess the damage and make repairs.

Source link