BY DENNIS HOLLIER Photo: iStock “When I look back on it,” says John D., the former executive director of a small but prominent nonprofit in Honolulu, “the board of directors just really didn’t understand what their role was.” He pauses for a moment, his face assuming a pained expression. “In some cases, they made…
Category: Hawaii Business
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The High Cost of Affordable Housing
BY DENNIS HOLLIER Makani Maeva, Hawaii director for the VitusGroup, knows from experience that the financing for an affordable housing project can change dramatically before it is finished. Photo: Rae Huo “Building affordable housing is complicated,” says Makani Maeva. She should know. As Hawaii director for the VitusGroup, an affordable-housing developer,…
Hawaiian Electric Transformers
BY DENNIS HOLLIER From left: Lynne Unemori, Darcy Endo-Omoto, Tayne Sekimura and Dave Waller Photos: Rae Huo “You can’t run an operational company like this without leadership that’s experienced in operational issues,” says Robbie Alm, executive vice president for Hawaiian Electric Co. “That’s not me. That was never going to be me.”…
Building Wealth: A broker’s guide to real estate investment
BY DENNIS HOLLIER So you want to be a real estate tycoon? (27) 1 Bedroom Units $3,9750,000 (FS) Photo: Kevin BlitzSo, you want to be a real estate tycoon? If there’s one thing we’ve learned from two years of stagnation in Hawaii’s real estate market, it’s that there’s more to investing than simply…
The Billion Dollar Gamble: State Investment
BY DENNIS HOLLIER Photo: istockphoto.com What a difference a billion dollars makes. Until recently, the state treasury – officially, the Treasury Management Branch of the Financial Administration Division of the Department of Budget and Finance – has operated in relative obscurity. With its staff of seven or eight employees, the treasury acts as cash manager…
Using Lasers to Measure the Wind
BY DENNIS HOLLIER Chris SullivanProgram Manager and senior Aerospace Engineer Photo: Kevin Blitz, Oceanit Idea Engineers used to rely on meteorological towers to measure wind speed. But “met towers” only give you data for one location; they don’t tell you anything about wind velocities around a valley or along a ridge. Wind 3D, a product being…
Roadblocks on the Road to Hawaii’s Smart Grid
BY DENNIS HOLLIER The Kaheawa wind farm is not being fully used because of limitations imposed by an aging power grid on Maui. Photo: David Croxford High on a ridge overlooking Maalaea Bay, a small group of students from the Horizons Academy scramble out of vans into the vast open space at the top of…
School Procurement Scandals
BY DENNIS HOLLIER “It’s OK as long as it’s for the children,” says Marion Higa. Photo: Kevin Blitz“It’s OK as long as it’s for the children,” says Marion Higa. The state auditor smiles wanly to show she’s being sarcastic while commenting on her office’s two-part 2009 audit of procurement at the Department of Education. That’s…
Hawaii Procurement Wastes $200 Million
For most people, government is simply the sum of the services it provides: security and safety, for example, in the form of police and fire departments; education, in the form of schools and libraries; and transportation, in the form of roads, harbors and airports. Citizens can measure their government by how effectively it provides those…
“Smart Growth” in Hawaii
BY DENNIS HOLLIER Land-use planning, more than any other public policy, shapes the way you live. It’s responsible for your 60-to-90-minute commute from Kapolei or Hawaii Kai. It’s why you live in a three-bedroom, two-bath home with a two-car garage. It’s what influences you to work downtown, shop in Kakaako and spend your weekends playing…