Thursday, Nov 18, 2021 - 6 pm via Bluejeans Video Conferencing Meeting Site: Online Only via BlueJeans link https://maui.bluejeans.com/295235670 Meeting will be televised on Akaku: Maui Community Media, Channel 53, and livestreamed on https://mauicounty.legistar.com The information below provided via Email from: Maui County Planning Department - Long Range Division One Main Plaza | 2200 Main St Ste 601, Wailuku, HI 96793 | 808.270.7214 PUBLIC HEARING for the Updated West Maui Community Plan Thursday, November 18, 2021 | 6:00 p.m. BlueJeans Videoconferencing Platform The Maui County Council's Planning and Sustainable Land Use Committee has completed its review of the Draft West Maui Community Plan, and it now heads to the full Council for final review and adoption. A public hearing for the updated plan has been scheduled for Thursday, November 18 - make sure your voice is heard! Meeting details, including how to submit written or oral testimony, can be found in the agenda by clicking the button below: Since the final phase of the West Maui Community Plan Update process is handled by the County Council, please direct any questions about providing testimony to the Office of the County Clerk at (808) 270-7748 or [email protected].
The PSLU's version of the Draft Plan has also been posted on our West Maui Draft Plan Review website. You can review it as as well as previous versions of the Draft Plan via the button below.
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NATIONAL HUNGER & HOMELESS AWARENESS WEEK
Theme: Everybody Needs a Home November 13th – 21th, 2021 Friday, November 12th -- 10:30 Mayor Michael Victorino will be Reading the HHAW Proclamation Councilmember Tasha Kama will be making a Council Certificate presentation o Due to COVID this event is not open to the public
Tuesday, November 16th
o West Maui- Cannery Mall parking lot. Let us focus the signs on homelessness (No Promotional Signs or Banners) feel free to wear your organizational Shirts. This will show the community that we are not promoting our programs but working in unity to alleviate homelessness. Some sign examples: “Homeless Not Helpless” “Homelessness Hurts Everyone!” “Homelessness is Everyone’s Problem! “Imagine a Maui where everyone lives in a home!” “Paradise is when everyone lives in a home!” It can happen to anyone!” Homelessness can happen to anyone!” “Think about the Keiki! “Doing nothing costs something!” “Doing nothing costs too much!” “Got Shelter? “Got Home?” “Homelessness affects YOU! You can affect Homelessness!” Homeless not Helpless! Me Casa es No Casa! Friday November 19th
Questions call: Joyce Kawakami Feed My Sheep (808) 872-9100 Hike Traffic Fines for Profit
The Honolulu City Council wants to raise money for the Honolulu Police Department by adding a surcharge to traffic fines. As KHON2 reports, they say that the money can and should be used to recruit, retain, and equip police officers. It’s definitely a creative idea to raise additional revenue without hiking the property tax. There is a small problem, however. All traffic fines go to the State, not the county, under current law. The City tried to get around the problem before. In the 1990’s, the City passed an ordinance saying that anyone convicted in Honolulu would need to pay a “user fee” of $250 in addition to any monetary or other punishment that the court imposed. That fee was to pay for the costs of prosecution and law enforcement. But our supreme court didn’t buy that story, in a case called State v. Medeiros, 89 Hawaii 361 (1999). Counties don’t have the authority to tax anything other than real property. They can, however, impose user fees. So, if someone wants to visit the city zoo, the City can and does charge an admission fee. Charging a criminal with the costs of law enforcement and prosecution is just and correct, the city said. The court then wondered what kind of services are being supplied to a convicted person that would justify the fee. That would help distinguish the fee from a tax, which the City had no power to impose. Plenty, the City argued. Prosecution and arrest assist the person convicted in preventing further harm to themselves and others, and hopefully, also helps to convince the offender to stop being a lawbreaker and become a productive member of society. Yeah, said the court. It’d be like charging the zoo animals for the service of keeping them caged. We all know what kind of damage a rampaging elephant can do to itself and others. This actually happened in 1994 when an elephant named Tyk got loose and caused havoc before being shot to death by police. So, the argument goes, the Dumbos of this world ought to pull his own weight in connection with the city’s costs to protect him. The court then went on to observe that in George Orwell’s 1984 one of the characters, who had been caught and imprisoned for various crimes, wondered to his jailer whether he was brought to the jail to punish him, or to make him confess. The jailer’s reply: “No! Not merely to extract your confession, nor to punish you. Shall I tell you why we have brought you here? To cure you! To make you sane! Will you understand, Winston, that no one whom we bring to this place ever leaves our hands uncured?” Ultimately, the court found that the $250 charge was a tax, not a user fee, and struck it down. This time, the City Council seems to have learned from that unhappy past. The Council might pass a resolution politely asking the State Legislature to jack up traffic fines and to share the money with the county in which the infraction took place. As to how much, Council Chair Tommy Waters said, “I don’t think they like to be told by the county what they need to do. So I’m asking, I’m asking them to consider it, and we can work on a number as the process goes forward.” State legislators to which KHON2 reached out for comment had nothing to say. Which might have something to do with the fact that all of the legislators in the square building on South Beretania Street need to run for re-election in 2022. In a few short months, the 2022 legislative session will start, and then we will see what fate will come of the request for higher traffic fines. In the meantime, you might want to visit the zoo. Before the admission fee gets hoisted again. |
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