Top Hits of 2006

2006 is all but gone. I will take a look back at the soon to be expired year, not in terms of news, politics or anything like that. Instead we'll look at some of the music that I thought was pretty good for the year.

The year saw the return of one of my webpages, Mel's Weekly Top 20. It is one of many "personal music chart" sites published by people from all over the world and kept track on sites such as BeyondRadio.com and Top Hits Online. I am a member of the informal chart community.

Each week for most of the year, I published a weekly chart of my favorite current tracks. These include songs that are popular on the radio, others that are not which I found through iTunes or places such as MySpace.com. The main criteria for my chart is that I have to own a copy of each track that makes it to my chart. These are ripped from CDs I bought and owned, tracks purchased from the iTunes Music Store and some downloaded ones from places like MySpace.com and Podsafe Music.com.

More than 120 songs made it to my weekly top 20. Each week's chart was/is kept in a database file. At the end of the year I spent a whole day merging the individual data from each week and compiled them into one large list. I counted the number of songs, peak position of each song, the total number of weeks spent at the peak position and the total number of weeks spent on the chart. I plugged all of this data into my master list, sorted the songs using that criteria and came up with the list, which you can access though this link.

So what was #1? If I ran my own radio station, my #1 song of the year would definitely be by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. "Dani California," the first track off their double Stadium Arcadium album bolted to the #1 position in the early summer of 2006 and stayed there for 6 weeks. It was the song that held on to the #1 spot on the Weekly Top 20 the longest. It also stayed on the Top 20 chart for 18 weeks. Good enough numbers to make it my song of the year... #1 for 2006.

My second most popular song was a 2 year old track that got a ton of radio airplay over the past 18 months. Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" became a radio staple after the track was initially given away by Apple Computer in August of 2005. It is one of the rare Apple freebies that became a bonafide hit. I eventually bought Powter's debut album and like most if not all of the tracks on the album. "Bad Day" went to #1 and stayed there for 3 weeks; it spent 22 total weeks on Mel's Weekly Top 20.

The 3rd most popular song on my Top 100 was Jack Johnson's "Upside Down," a light acoustic song recorded for the animated movie Curious George. Johnson is a Hawaii born singer/songwriter who reached the pinnacle of his craft when the Curious George soundtrack album containing many new songs Johnson penned for the movie reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Top 200 album charts. Quite a milestone for someone from Hawaii.

The Teddybears are probably popular in Europe. I had 2 of their euro-dance numbers chart very high on my Weekly Top 20. Both made it to #1 and stayed for a few weeks each. My favorite of the 2 is "Yours to Keep" which featured a delightful vocal by Nena Cherry. The second was called "Cobrastyle" and was featured on a recent episode of the ABC TV series, Greys' Anatomy. Cool songs both. I found out about them after Apple gave away "Yours to Keep" as one of their weekly iTunes freebies.

Other tracks of note to the Top 100:

The Rosebuds are a North Carolina duo that I found by accident on MySpace.com. Their second album Birds Make Good Neighbors yielded two tracks that made it to my Top 100. I was instantly enamoured to the track "Boxcar" which seems to be their most popular song. The song climbed to #3 on the Top 20 in the spring of 2006 and spent 12 weeks on the chart. I later bought their entire album through the EMusic subscription service. Great album. The song "Outnumbered" made the top 20 in late fall, good enough to place it within the Top 100. The Roesbuds also charted for a very short time with "Shake Our Tree."

Another indie artist that I liked this year was Joe Sibol. He seems to be a master of various musical styles. Two of his most popular, freely downloadable tracks made my top 20. The first was the surf-pop song called "California Blonde." This song would have been right home on top 40 radio of the late 1960s. The second song to make it to the chart was the dance-pop number "Hot Sexy Girls," which of course would have been popular on the dance floor in the 1970s. Yet here it is the first part of the 21st century and both songs are gems in my opinion having been placed my Top 100, itching to be discovered by the masses.

Finally one of the most popular tracks of 2006 has to be Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". The song has been hailed by critics and the populace as sales of their album went through the roof basically on the power of that song. "Crazy" has a very colorful and long history after being released by accident in late 2005. It got initial airplay on the BBC music service in England and took off from there. The song has topped the charts all over the world, even making it to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 this past year. On my chart "Crazy" went to #1 and held the spot for 2 weeks, stayed on the chart long enough to land it in the #10 spot for the year.

I could go on and write about more of the songs. If I were a DJ and had my own radio show, I could spend the night counting down the chart and commenting on each song like how Casey Kasem used to do it on the old American Top 40 radio show of years gone by. That notwithstanding, do check out my Top 100 Chart page.

If you got this far in this commentary all I can say at this point is that you all have a safe and if possible, prosperous New Year.

• LINK: MEL'S TOP 100 HITS OF 2006
• Mel's Weekly Top 20 Music Page

Happy Holidays!

The annual Honolulu Hale (City Hall) Christmas light display is once again up for people to enjoy this holiday season. I found some time in my busy schedule to photograph the annual light and decorations on display. I hope you can find time to be with your family, friends and loved ones. May God Bless you all.

Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season.

More photos at Mel's BuzzNet site.

Another Step Closer to Railroad Hell

Honolulu inched another step closer to railroad hell as the Honolulu City Council picked a "transit alternative" at yesterday's City Council meeting. Of course it was not surprising that the City Council chose "a fixed guideway" system, which eliminated the options in the transit plan that ranged from doing nothing to increased bus service and managed lanes.

So now they have a fixed guideway as the main proposal, but still left the technology possibility open to either a train or busses. The main reason the alternative was chosen is to secure "federal funds" (meaning more of your taxpayer dollars) and show the folks who dish out those funds in Washington D.C. that "Honolulu is serious about mass transit."

Yesterday's decision also vaguely cemented a route from where the guideway will begin and where it will end. Going from west to east Honolulu, the mass transit line will start at Kapolei and travel along a corridor that will take it through Waipahu, possibly Ewa Beach, Salt Lake, the Airport, through Nimitz and Downtown Honolulu and ending up at the University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus with a spur to Waikiki. Shades of the 1992 proposal all over again, except this time it has gone further than before.

All of course to the tune of at least $4.5 to $6 billion to build it. City planners already know that the mass transit will not solve traffic congestion nor will they have enough tax dollars with the current funding scheme to have the entire thing fully built out. Several city politicians are already suggesting more taxes to get the damn thing built.

The General Excise Tax Increase which was authorized through the inaction of our Governor on HB1309 in 2005, will hit the public like a ton of bricks on January 1, 2007. That is only a few days from now, and already the rail supporters want more of our money.

Meanwhile the transit route details will have to be worked out and I am sure many people and businesses will be negatively impacted once the route is finalized and developers start speculating on adjacent properties, thereby driving cost and taxes even higher for nearby property owners and renters. Rail is not going to be cheap and the supporters know it.

All they want to do is build it and take more money away from us. I continually hope that throughout this process, opposition will grow and the project will be stopped before the first nail is driven into the ground.

The End For Tower Records

It was Tower Records' last hurrah in Honolulu. All CDs were advertised at 99¢ each but when customers got to the checkout line, they were 50¢ each. Very slim pickins, but at this price I bought 8 CDs to the tune of about $4.16. Not the huge blowout sale that I had expected 2 months ago when Tower announced their bankruptcy, but hey.... not a bad deal today for CDs that normally cost more than $16.99 each. It was a slow burn to oblivion for this once mighty chain store. Today all of Tower Records' locations in Hawaii -- Honolulu Keeaumoku, Kahala Mall and Pearl Kai are closed for good, victim of changing times, big boxes and digital downloads. It was a good run and old timers will definitely miss it. Aloha.

Click here for more photos.
Article: Tower Records Sounds Final Note, StarBulletin.com
Discussion Topic at HawaiiThreads.com: Tower Records is Getting Liquidated
Earlier Posting: The Closing of Tower Records, Oct. 30, 2006

Island Air Cuts Back

Island Air announced a major cut to its operations yesterday in an effort to curb costs as a result of the ongoing fare war in the interisland airline market. Several interisland routes, 65 employees and two aircraft will be cut from island Air's operation effective yesterday (December 1).

Mesa Airlines' Go! is being blamed as the cause for Island Air's cut in operations. Island Air's CEO Rob Mauracher stated, "It is no secret that the market has become unstable with the addition of go!, These were tough but necessary decisions required to ensure our prosperity moving forward."

Island Air operates exclusively in the interisland market and is the smallest of the 3 incumbent airlines which include Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines. The firm flies Dash 8 turboprop aircraft and specializes in flying to Hawaii's smaller airports such as those on Molokai, Lanai and Kapalua on Maui. Several of their route cutbacks include the Kapalua flights.

Island Air did not match the discount prices that Go! initiated which ranged from $39 one way to as low as $19 one way. The airline had ambitious plans for expansion this year, but that was all postponed after Go! entered the marketplace. Island Air went so far as to acquire new aircraft and change their corporate identity and colors. They were once a subsidiary of Aloha Airlines and originally started as Princeville Airlines in the 1980s.

I was hoping that someday Island Air would grow big enough to start offering regular service to Hawaii Island's Waimea-Kohala Airport (Kamuela / MUE).

Additional Links:

• Island Air says go! to blame for layoffs, Honolulu Advertiser, Dec. 2, 2006
• Island Air lays off 65 employees, breaking news, StarBulletin.com, 12-1-06
• Island Air lays off 65, cuts routes, Pacific Business News, 12-1-06
• Island Air website
  

Photo credit: Hawaii State Department of Transportation, Airports division

Visitor Count Dips After Earthquake

It is reported today that visitor arrivals last month took a dip after the big earthquake on October 15.

"It appears that the Oct. 15 earthquakes in Hawaii shook up visitor traffic for the month, according to state figures released yesterday. Total arrivals dropped to 569,473 last month, down 4.2 percent compared with October 2005, while visitor days declined 5 percent and spending slipped 0.4 percent, the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism said in its monthly report."

I am quite certain that news from the quake certainly made visitors change their mind about coming to Honolulu. The rock group Blue October used the quake as an excuse to cancel a concert in Honolulu only days before it was scheduled to happen.

News reports flew around the world about the October 15 earthquake. People on the mainland knew more about the quake from sketchy TV reports and internet news feeds. Most Hawaii residents could not get TV news and internet due to the all day power outages.

My brother told me that the October 15 earthquake, from his vantage point in Las Vegas was like following the events of 9-11. He spent all day watching the TV news and getting reports off the net.

It remains to be seen if the earthquake and tremors since then will have a long term impact on tourism.

Photo caption: Tourists at Waikiki Beach.

Airline Christmas Gifts

The latest salvo in the ongoing airfare war revolves around Christmas tickets and gift cards. Yesterday Aloha Airlines sent out a press release announcing a Christmas gift ticket promotion:

"$120 Inter-island Gift Ticket (Coach Class): Round-trip Coach travel between any two destinations in Hawaii on flights operated by Aloha Airlines. Travel is valid on any day. There are no black-out dates."

That turns out to be $60 each way interisland. Aloha is also offering tickets for mainland travel too.

With the current discount pricing at around $29 to $39 one-way for interisland, Aloha's $60 OW offer is too high for travel where current prices are lower.

In today's StarBulletin, an article also states that Hawaiian Airlines is jumping into the gift foray with their own offer for both interisland and mainland travel. Theire offer differs in the fact that Hawaiian is selling "Gift Cards" instead of tickets. The prices for their gift cards range from $50 to $100 each and can be applied to both interisland or overseas tickets. Hawaiian's gift cards have no expiration date.

Perhaps buying into one of these may be something good to get as a hedge against a time when prices do climb, possibly next year. Of course there is no guarantee that all of the interisland airlines will still be flying next year if Go!'s presence and predatory marketing plan turns out to be true, running Aloha or Hawaiian out of business.

It will be interesting to see if Go! offers something that undercuts both Aloha and Hawaiian's gift offers.

Photo caption: Aloha Airlines classic 737-200 taxis into Honolulu Airport terminal.

Merry Christmas from Hawaii Kai

The annual Hawaii Kai Christmas Parade sponsored by the Hawaii Kai Lions Club featured a bevy of bands, beauty queens, community marchers, decorated vehicles and politicans. The parade was held under "sunnily hot" and clear skies as it meandered down Lunalilo Home Road toward the Koko Marina Shopping Center. I managed to capture some of the moments with the photos posted here and to my BuzzNet site. Enjoy!





Select these thumbnails to see more than 22 photos at my BuzzNet site.

I Flew "Go!"

I flew on Mesa Air's "Go!" airline between Hilo and Honolulu today. Go! has cultivated a reputation of being the state's "cutthroat discount" airline, offering fares as low as $19 one-way between major island destinations. I was lucky enough to secure 4 $19 tickets this holiday season on Go!, Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines. I used 2 of the tickets this week on Aloha and Go.

Flying on Go! is pleasant like any other jet airline serving interisland destinations. Go's Bombardier CRJ 200 regional jets are smaller than Hawaiian's Boeing 717 and Aloha Air's Boeing 737-200. The CRJ 200 carries 50 passengers. The plane was about 80% filled. There was an empty seat next to me in row 11R. Seating is "open" meaning first come, first serve. Not much of a scramble as you are not dealing with many passengers on the smaller plane.

Take off from Hilo was smooth, the jet climbed in the usual way and made a hard left shortly after take-off to put it on course for Honolulu. In flight service consists of the one flight attendant walking down the aisle and taking orders for various soft and alcoholic drinks available for purchase on their menu. No complimentary fruit punch like Hawaiian or Aloha. I passed on the drinks, which were all served before we reached Maui. The flight is short.

Like the other carriers, Go! has an inflight magazine, a printed drink menu and the required emergency procedures card in the pocket of each seat. The inflight mag was interesting to me as they had some information on the history of Mesa Airlines, flight routes throughout the USA, and a small section on CRJ 200.

While Mesa / Go has been subject of continued criticism from employees of Hawaii's other interisland carriers, almost all of the personnel I saw working for Go! are Hawaii locals. The baggage handlers and ticket counter people were young ladies, some of "manly proportions" hired more than likely to handle the small load of bags that are loaded and unloaded to each plane. The flight attendant was also "local" with the cockpit crew the typical young mainland pilot types. The ground crew in Honolulu were mostly another group of locals. In all Mesa / Go! has added employment opportunities for people in our community where there probably wouldn't be any if they were not here.

Of course what can you say about the ticket prices? Go! has been instrumental in bringing interisland ticket prices down... very low. Since beginning interisland service in June, Go! has offered one-way ticket prices ranging from $19 to $29 to the standard $39, which is a far cry from the "low" $79 prices the incumbent carriers were charging last year. Go! and the other carriers who have been forced to match the low prices are not making money.

It was reported this week that Mesa Air's 4th quarter earnings "tumbled 68.3 percent due to pilot training expenses and maintenance costs". Go's load factor for interisland travel has leveled off to a less than 60%. Mesa Air management blame the drop on Hawaiian and Aloha adding more interisland capacity.

No matter what the economic picture is for the airlines, consumers will do good to take advantage of the current low prices now before one or more of the interisland carriers go out of business and prices climb again. For now I am enjoying the ride.

More photos of Go's CRJ 200 (click on each image to see a larger version; courtesy of my BuzzNet site).







These shots were taken shortly after deplaning in Honolulu at the Interisland Commuter Terminal.




Taken in-flight aboard the CRJ 200 regional jet. 2-abreast seating on each side.

Additonal Link:

• HawaiiThreads.com Discussion on Interisland Air War
• Go!'s website
  

5.0 Earthquake Today

The Big Island was hit by another moderate to strong earthquake today. Initial reports show that the trembler, located near the same place as the one on October 15 registered at 5.0 on the Richter Scale.

I am spending most of this Thanksgiving week on the Big Island of Hawaii, staying at my folks place in Honokaa. We definitely felt the earthquake this morning. It was a long rolling one which to me felt like a magnitude 4 shake. The house shook for about 35 seconds. The noise an earthquake makes is quite eerie as the house creeks and vibrates.

I was on the phone this morning talking to my friend in Hilo for about 40 minutes when the quake hit. I told him we're having an earthquake. For about 25 seconds I kept on asking whether or not he was feeling it. Negative was his reply until the quake was nearly over here. Then he reported the shaking over the phone.

I guess it is the norm for a rolling quake that is centered on the other side of the island to "slowly" make its presence known on the other side of the island. If the quake was centered in the usual Volcano area, he would certainly have felt it first before we did 40 miles north of Hilo in Honokaa.

So far no major damage is reported, but some landslides may have occurred along the Hamakua Coast according to sketchy transmissions that I am getting on an emergency scanner that we have here. An update to this post will be made later today.

Additional Links:

• Recent Earthquakes in Hawaii (current EQ info expires in 2 weeks)
• November 23 Earthquake Discussion @ HawaiiThreads.com
• Honolulu Advertiser.com: Breaking News
• Civil Defense Audio @ Hawaii Island Grown blog
  

Graphic above taken from USGS website on recent earthquakes in Hawaii.

Changes at the Hawaii State Senate

The big news coming out of the big square building on Beretania Street yesterday was the naming of Senator Colleen Hanabusa as the new Senate President. She succeeds outgoing Senate President Robert Bunda who had led the Senate since the year 2000.

Senator Hanabusa should be a fairly good President, but I don't think some of her key supporters in the high profile Ways & Means and Judiciary/Labor committees were the best choices she could have made. More so they were probably political choices vs. that of sensible ones. A president has to do what she has to do to earn the power and keep it.

The new Ways & Means (WAM) chair is Senator Rosalyn Baker from Maui, who as chair in other committees kept a lid on what people could say in committee hearings. I suspect the WAM hearings to not be as open and cordial as it was when Senator Brian Taniguchi was in charge.

The combining of Judiciary and Labor is a bad idea. Both committees in and of themselves often offer long agendas. Logistically a combined Judiciary/Labor hearing could end up taking all day to do. With Senator Clayton Hee in charge everyone who goes to these hearings better expect to be grilled and lectured to at times as was the case when Mr. Hee was in charge of the Higher Education committee. Prospective judges nominated by the Lingle administration will have a difficult time getting through a Judiciary hearing. Probably payback for the defeat of Constitutional amendment question #3 (repeal the 70 year old age restriction on State Judges).

The 5-member Senate Minority will remain the same with Senator Fred Hemmings continuing as Minority Leader and Senator Paul Whalen promoted to Minority Floor Leader, a position recently departed Senator Bob Hogue once had.

Over in the State House, Speaker Calvin Say managed to hold on to his post after a small group of Democrats tried to install Rep. Sylvia Luke as speaker. Certainly that little group will be relegated to positions near the 8-member Republican minority in that body. Continuing on as House Minority Leader will be Rep. Lynn Finnegan. The House Minority will be comprised of 7 women and 1 guy, newly re-elected Rep. Gene Ward from Hawaii Kai.

More Information at These Links:

• Hanabusa Takes Over as Senate President, by Richard Borrecca, StarBulletin.com
• Senate Shake Up.... by Malia Zimmerman, HawaiiReporter.com
• State Senate Has New Leader, by Derrick DePledge, Honolulu Advertiser
• Hawaii State Legislature: State Senate Pages
• Hawaii State Legislature: State House Pages

Worst Case Scenario

I hope none of us will ever see a day like this. On the eve of the one month mark since the October 15 earthquake , I decided to embed this National Geographic Video to this blog. The clip is titled "Ultimate Tsunami" and presents a hypothetical worst case scenario where a massive eruption and landslide on the West side of the Big Island of Hawaii triggers the ultimate tsunami. The computer generated clip shows a gigantic wave, taller than Diamond Head rushing into Honolulu and destroying everything in its path, all the way up to Mililani.

Few would surive such a massive wave, much less the huge earthquake that would trigger the landslide. Funny how the video doesn't mention that. Certainly a huge landslide and eruption of Mauna Loa would trigger a quake larger than the 6.7 we had last month.

Once a wave like this happens we have almost no time to move more than a million people away from the coastline and up to the few high elevations left on Oahu. The traffic jam just trying to get out will be impossible to navigate. Many lives will be lost.

Just something to think about and visualize here.

A better video link at the National Geographic Website

Consequences of the 2006 Election

The people have spoken. They lashed out against the Republican party on a nationwide basis. Both houses of Congress have fallen into the hands of the Democrats. President George W. Bush has officially been declared a "lame duck". Good reason here because it will be very difficult for him to advance his agenda with the Democrats in control of Congress. The only good thing is that Democrat control is slim. The Dems have a 51 to 49 majority in the U.S. Senate and a 229 to 195 majority in the U.S. House. They may not have enough votes to override presidential vetoes. Hopefully the President will not be timid and yield his veto pen more often than he did in the past to stop bad legislation.

I expect a lot of bad legislation will be introduced in Congress for at least the next 2 years. That will start with efforts to "cut and run" from the Iraq War, increasing the minimum wage and advancing the agenda to bring on socialized medicine. Tax increases are sure to follow.

The consequences for Hawaii is the high probability that our all Democrat Congressional delegation will get to chair some very high profile committees. Already the scuttlebutt coming from Senators Daniel Akaka, Daniel Inouye and U.S. Congressman Neil Abercrombie is that they will try to get more money to Hawaii to fund projects like the proposed rail system. The possibility of the Akaka Bill passing in the next 2 years is higher than it ever was.

Abercrombie was caught on TV yelling as usual about building the rail out to Waikiki, Koolina and Mililani. He is scary but even worst the possibility of this thing going out to all of these places with the costs skyrocketing into the 10s of billions dollars.

Our wallets are doomed. Democrats are known for hiking taxes and taking more of our money to use somewhere else. It is too scary.

Lastly this note of hopeful optimism comes from radio commentator Rush Limbaugh:

Republicanism lost. Conservatism was nowhere to be found other than on the Democrat side of the aisle. Now, there are a number of theories that are running out there on what caused all this to happen. The political environment was terrible; the public deeply unhappy with the fact that the Republican Congress got too comfortable in power and that the conservativism that was known to exist in the House Republicans just vanished, in many cases died. The public is unhappy with the war, but they're unhappy and because they don't see the progress or the result that they want. There wasn't any big move toward liberalism on national security issues. There wasn't any big move on liberalism when it comes to gay marriage or affirmative action. Affirmative action lost in Michigan.

We'll see what happens in the next 2 years.

Vote "No" on Charter Amendment #8

City Charter Amendment #8 will put on-street parking in jeopardy. As stated on the ballot for this coming Tuesday's election, Charter Amendment #8 states:

"Should one of the priorities of the Department of Transportation Services be to make Honolulu a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly city, and should the powers, duties, and functions of the Director of Transportation Services include bikeway systems?"

Sounds nice and eco friendly yes. Who hates increased pedestrian and bicycle access? Supposed to be good huh? Not if the access takes away on-street parking that motorists, residents and businesses rely on.

Examples of on-street parking taken away in lieu of creating greater pedestrian or bicycle access can be found in a block long segment of Young Street near the Honolulu Academy of Arts Linekona Building. There used to be two sides of on-street parking. A few years ago Mayor Jeremy Harris had the parking spaces removed to create not one but two lanes of bikeways. A whole row of parking spaces were eliminated for the makai bike path. Parking on the mauka side was reduced to accommodate another bike lane.

Hardly anyone uses the bike lanes and motorists now have a harder time finding on-street parking in that area.

Another example is the infamous Ala Wai Boulevard beautification project. Many parking spaces along the mauka side of the Ala Wai which residents and visitors to Waikiki depended on were taken away and reduced in great numbers. In place is a new bikeway and several palm tree islands. Where is a motorist to park?

Many years ago, motorists could park along Kalakaua Ave. Not anymore. The roadway was reduced from 4 or 5 lanes down to the present 3 lanes near the beach in the name of beautification and pedestrian access. Great for pedestrians, bad for motorists who get caught in gridlock, especially when a lane is taken up by idle busses or delivery trucks. Next thing you know the city will want to take away another lane to put in a bike path.

This kind of sweeping mandate should never be made into part of our City Charter. Good planning demands that amenities like bike lanes and increased pedestrian access be incorporated on a case by case basis and never at the expense of on-street public parking for motorists. Think about this the next time you are driving around in circles looking for a parking space.

Vote "No" on Charter Amendment #8.

Photos: On-street parking near Iolani Palace. Will more bike lanes take away our parking spaces? Below: This is the area of Young Street near the Honolulu Academy of Arts' Linekona Building. Not too long ago there used to be on-street parking on the right side of this street.

Stop The Tax Increase

I got an email today from a friend to encourage concerned citizens who oppose the $6 billion rail project and the new increase to the General Excise tax to fund its construction, to notify our council persons and the Mayor Mufi Hannemann to stop the madness. Here is that message:

"It is up to the city council to determine if our city will take on the burden of trying to build a rail system. This will increase our taxes forever, and it appears that it will never pay for itself. If you are opposed, please take a moment or two, make phone calls, send emails. Let all of the council people listed below hear from you. Even though you don't live in their district, if enough noise is heard from the community on this issue, perhaps it won't go forward.

Here are the email addresses for our City Council: Phone numbers:

Todd Apo tapo@honolulu.gov 547-7001

Romy Cachola rcachola@honolulu.gov 547-7007

Donovan Dela Cruz dmdelacruz@honolulu.gov 547-7002

Charles Djou cdjou@honolulu.gov 547-7004

Nestor Garcia ngarcia@honolulu.gov 547-7009

Ann Kobayashi akobayashi@honolulu.gov 547-7005

Barbara Marshall bmarshall@honolulu.gov 547-7003

Gary Okino gokino@honolulu.gov 547-7008

Rod Tam rtam@honolulu.gov 547-7006

If you choose to send a fax, request that it go to each council member.

The FAX number is: 523-4220

Also include a fax to the Mayor: fax # 527-5552 phone # 523-4141"

If you are reading this from the neighbor islands, let me remind you to also call, fax and email the Honolulu City Council and Mayor Hannemann. Remember YOU will be paying more taxes for OUR RAIL and won't be getting any single benefit out of it. Why should neighbor island residents have to pay for a rail system they will never use? Doesn't make sense.

Another reminder is if you haven't joined, sign up to be a member of HonoluluTraffic.com if you oppose the rail project and the new tax. Lastly the new tax will take more from your wallet in 57 days on January 1. Happy New Year???

No No No Yes Yes!

1. No 2. No 3. No 4. Yes 5. Yes

Those are the numbers and responses you should make when considering the five Hawaii State Constitutional Amendment questions being presented to voters this year. Here they are as appearing on Small Business Hawaii's website:

1. Shall the governor be required to select board of regents candidates from a pool of qualified candidates screened and proposed by a candidate advisory council for the board of regents of the University of Hawaii as provided by law?

SBH Position: NO. This measure would further dilute the powers of the Governor and not insure the best candidates would be nominated. The current process works well. The advisory panel is political and not independent.

2. Shall the Constitution be amended to provide for a salary commission to review and recommend salaries for justices, judges, state legislators, the governor, the lieutenant governor, the administrative director of the State, state department heads or executive officers of the executive departments, and the deputies or assistants to department heads of the executive departments, excluding the superintendent of education and the president of the University of Hawaii?

SBH Position: NO. Salary Commissions are a back door way of always raising the salaries of public officials without public input, debate or vote. Even the legislature doesn’t get to vote (except “no”) on the proposed increases. Many on salary commissions are former legislators or political appointees.

3. Shall the mandatory retirement age of seventy for all state court justices and judges be repealed?

SBH Position: NO. This is a blatant attempt to (1) limit the power of Governor Lingle to reform the Judiciary; (2) protect two current judges (among the worst) Chief Justice Ronald Moon (involved up to his eyebrows in the “broken trust” scandal) and James Burns, who are set to retire. Both knew going in that 70 was the retirement age. Most states have such a provision. it is constitutional. However, if we were to remove any age requirement, it should be done prospectively for the next appointees. (3) This would be another barrier to entry to younger, qualified, independent judge candidates, while protecting the old boys.

4. Shall the Constitution of the State of Hawaii be amended to provide that in continuous sexual assault crimes against minors younger than fourteen years of age, the legislature may define:
(1) What behavior constitutes a continuing course of conduct; and (2) What constitutes the jury unanimity that is required for a conviction?

SBH Position: YES. The public and even the legislature overwhelmingly supports this change (and did so previously). Only sexual predators and some defense attorneys (and ACLU) oppose this protection for young children.

5. Shall the State be authorized to issue special purpose revenue bonds and use the proceeds from the bonds to assist agricultural enterprises serving important agricultural lands?

SBH Position: YES. The state already authorizes Special Purpose Revenue Bonds (SPRBs) for a narrow set of public purposes (education, energy, health, etc.) the state has no liability for the bonds but the agency gets a tax break and lower interest rate. Agriculture is a legitimate purpose for SPRBs.

The important thing to know of these is that you should not leave them blank. A blank vote is counted as a "no" vote on State Constitutional Amendment and City Charter Amendment questions. Of course a "no" vote combined with blank votes for items #1, 2 & 3 will certainly help!

Rail System Cost Higher Today

An article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin says additional costs to rail system pushes price up to $4.2 billion for the "short" 20 mile system. The added cost are for "capital costs including expanded bus systems". The mayor's report cost taxpayers $10 million.

Surely the cost to build the rail system will be closer and probably go beyond the $6 billion mark as published recently by the folks at HonoluluTraffic.com.

Rail is something the City & County of Honolulu cannot afford. It is something the taxpayers of Hawaii should not pay for (including neighbor island residents who will be hit by the additional GE Tax).

• Short Rail System to Cost $4.2B
• Full Cost of Rail Proposal is Staggering $6 Billion
• Total Cost of Rail Transit
• Rail! 'It's Now or Never' Mayor Says
• Lingle Says No New Taxes For Higher Transit Cost
  

Again: Do we need it? Can we afford it? Can we maintain it?

61 Days Until Hawaii is Hit With Higher Taxes

As 2006 comes to a close, let me remind you that there are only 61 days in which to do business in Hawaii at the present General Excise Tax rate of 4.16%. On January 1, 2007 the Hawaii State General Excise Tax will increase to 4.5 and up to 4.712%. The massive tax increase is a result of HB 1309 passing out of the State Legislature in 2005 that allowed the counties to levy a tax increase on top of the General Excise tax to fund transit projects.

Governor Linda Lingle allowed the bill to become law on July 11, 2005 without her signature, on the promise that the Counties would administer the collection of the additional tax. That did not happen.

Instead the Hawaii State Department of Taxation was given the additional task to collect the tax, only to pass it on to the county that the tax will "benefit," namely the City & County of Honolulu.

The real tax burden of course will lie with all of the firms and individuals doing business in the City & County of Honolulu as well as those neighbor island businesses that engage in transactions with firms on Oahu. This pretty much means just about everyone. In the end, consumers are the ones who will be hit the most in the pocket with the tax increase. Neighbor islanders will pay and not get a penny of benefit from money that is taken away to fund Mayor Mufi Hannemann's train.

The Mufi train is another step closer to realization as Mayor Hannemann announced his preference for rail as the only alternative to Oahu's traffic problem. The estimated cost according to his administration lies somewhere between $3.6 and $4.6 billion. Read that folks... BILLION!

I often think of Mayor's Hannemann campaign statement: “Do we need it? Can we afford it? Can we maintain it?” The answer to all 3 questions in regards to rail is a resounding NO!

There are many reasons why a rail system should not be built for Honolulu. You can read more about this at the HonoluluTraffic.com website.

The Hawaii State Department of Taxation website has everything you need to know on the tax increase. You can read about it at this link: General Excise Tax Surcharge (a fancy name for the new tax).

If you want to lash out at the politicians who voted for the tax increase, consider voting against the following legislators who all voted YES on HB 1309 which became law as Act 247.

State Senate: Baker, Bunda, Chun-Oakland, English, Espero, Fukunaga, Hanabusa, Hee, Hooser, Ige, Ihara, Inouye, Kanno, Kim, Kokobun, Menor, Nishihara, Sakamoto, Taniguchi

State House: Abinsay, Arakaki, Cabanilla, Caldwell, Chang, Ching, Evans, Hale, Herkes, Ito, Kahikina, Kanoho, Karamatsu, Kawakami, Lee, Magaoay, Morita, Nakasone, Oshiro B., Oshiro M., Say, Schatz, Shimbukuro, Sonson, Souki, Takai, Takamine, Takumi, Tsuji, Yamane, Yamashita

Legislators whose names are listed in red are up for re-election. Some were unopposed and elected in the primary election. Kanno retired from the Senate. House members listed in black retired or ran for another office.

Think about those legislators and your wallets when you vote this year. Do they deserve to be in office again after raising your taxes and cost of living?

Finally if you are planning to buy a big ticket item such as real estate, a new vehicle, computer, HDTV or anything else, do it before January 1. After that you pay more. This is also a good time to stock up on staples such as non-perishable food and drink, toilet paper, rice, paper towels, office supplies and much more. Everything purchased on or from the island of Oahu including rentals will all be subject to the higher tax.

Halloween Joy at Next Step Shelter

I spent the early evening hours of this past Saturday (October 28) at the State's Next Step Homeless Shelter in Kakaako. HawaiiReporter.com with help from Small Business Hawaii threw a Halloween Birthday Party for the children whose families reside at the recently created facility.

It was great to see the children enjoy the activities that were provided by the volunteers of HawaiiReporter & SBH as well as a Girl Scout troop who were there at the same time. After looking at the many photos I shot that night, you can see it in their eyes, that the children are happy to have an activity provided for them despite the economic situation that they are in. It makes anyone feel good to see little children just be children and enjoy the moment of the occasion.

Among the activities held that night included face painting, pumpkin painting, crafts (put on by the Girl Scouts), costume design (masks and some costume clothing were provided) and an air jumper set up outside. The kids loved em all including the jumper and of course the always popular eating! Big Mike and his wife Julia Allen from MacMouse.com provided free popcorn. The kids enjoyed a birthday cake and various snack foods that were distributed in little goodie bags.



Homelessness is a huge and always growing problem in Hawaii. Some of the factors contributing to Hawaii's homeless problem include lack of affordable housing (rentals and home ownership), the high cost of living and high taxes, and probably for some, drug abuse and other personal problems.

The Next Step Shelter is the current home for several families trying to make ends meet. The place seems to be nicely set up and is probably filled to capacity. Fortunately there are other homeless shelters set up to help other families and single people. The State just opened a new facility at the former Barber's Point Naval Station in Kalaeloa on Leeward Oahu. Some homeless people choose to stay on the street while many others cannot help themselves due to drug abuse and mental disabilities.

Hawaii's social service organizations are always spread thin providing many services for the homeless community. Many people in Hawaii are about a paycheck away from falling into the ranks of the homeless.

The Closing of Tower Records

The entire Tower Records chain consisting of 89 stores nationwide announced bankruptcy liquidation 3 weeks ago. All stores are now in having their final liquidation sale. CDs and DVDs are 25 to 30% off their regular, high retail prices. It is quite funny that prices of previous bargain bin CDs have risen before the closeout discounts took effect. People are waiting for deeper percentage cuts, though some artists and sections are already selling out.

The old brick and mortar Tower Records stores are victims of file sharing, digital music download stores (iTunes) and big box, discount retailers such as WalMart, Best Buy and Circuit City. This series of photos were taken at Hawaii's oldest Tower Records store on the corner of Keeaumoku and Makaloa Streets in Honolulu. I've been shopping at Tower Records for more than 20 years. The closing of this venerable institution will certainly be the end of an era for every music fan in Hawaii and around the world. Aloha Tower Records.

E-Waste Day

My Macintosh Plus

It was E-Waste day at the University of Hawaii today. This day was set aside by the U.H., the State Department of Education and Apple Computer. The public had a chance to get rid of their e-waste and not worry about sending it off to the landfill. Supposedly the e-waste collected will be shipped off to the mainland or somewhere, and have their components recycled.

It was a good opportunity for me to get rid of some of my household clutter. Among the items that I finally got around to letting go were the following:

• Macintosh II computer - I got this a few years ago for free, used it very minimally. Removed the hard drive before I let it go.
• Macintosh Centris 650 - After the internal CD ROM drive died, this became a problem child and project computer that I never finished. Today I decided to let it go. Took out the hard drive before this former Quadra went. It was a good computer that ran System 7.5.3. Spent a lot of time playing Sim City II on it. The main reason why these 2 old 680x0 Macs were let go is that I have no monitors for them now. The last Apple monitor I had died last year and I let that go at the last Comp USA recycling drive.
• Sony Betmax VCR - I bought this for $300 back in 1984; used it for 10 years until a belt broke. It sat in storage ever since and today was the day for it to go. Beta you were better! Aloha.
• Yamanaha DVD player - This thing was an el cheapo that I only bought 3 years ago, and it died after 2 years. Hardly got any use from it; $70 invested and lost on this guy.
• Sony CD Player - My last single play, CD only component died last year. Had it since 1991. Today it went.
• Assorted other stuff - older syquest cartridge drives, modems, wires, a FRED unit, and other stuff also went.

Now I have more room. Next I need to get rid of some of my old books and perhaps my "newer" old computers such as my Powercenter 150 and Power Mac 9500. I also have perfectly fine Mac SE and Mac Plus computers lying around. Anyone interested in buying these? I may sell them for a song. Email me.

And now the political spin: There is talk that some people would like to see a computer recycling tax be levied upon the consumers of Hawaii for every computer or TV they purchase. This is a bad, bad idea. Hawaii already has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation. We are already being taxed for way too many consumer transactions. The general excise tax is going to rise on January 1. Do we need a computer tax or as proponents would like to refer to it, a "computer recycling fee"? No!

Volunteer and corporate efforts such as today's E-Waste day are great ideas and should be implemented more often. A mandatory new tax is not. It will only add to the cost of living and doing business in Hawaii.

HECO Hearing

A public hearing was held on Monday (Oct. 23) at the Hawaii State Capitol auditorium on the subject of the island wide power failure that hit Hawaii Electric Company (HECO) on the day of the October 15 earthquake. HECO officials talked about the power outage that resulted from the earthquake that knocked power out on three islands -- Hawaii, Maui and Oahu. They also took some questions and criticisms from members of the public who were in attendance.

A couple of things to note is that if you lived closer to the power plant, your electricity was restored sooner than if you lived farther away. This was the case on October 15 as areas such as Pearl City and Aiea were activated before places that were farther away from the power generation plants.

HECO admitted that they had problems communicating with the media and public. One of the odd statements a spokesman made was that they tried with no avail to fax information out to media outlets. Faxing information? Hello, most people did not have any power! They ended up hand carrying some of those faxes to the media and presumably government locations.

Additional Links:

• Advocate Seeks Probe to Power Failures
• Dozens Grill HECO on Power Outage

Photo caption: Composite of people attending hearing at capitol auditorium, a grabshot of the actual HECO control room on Oct. 15 and a power grid map taken from their Power Point presentation.

Earthquake Aftermath - One Week Later

It has been a complete week since we were hit by a destructive earthquake that was felt nearly statewide. Damage reports and estimates continue to sprial upward, especially for everyone on the Big Island. It is quite possible that after all the damage is tallied the total will surpass the $100 million mark.

Several significant structures and places suffered heavy damage on the Big island of Hawaii. These include the historic Hulihee Palace and the Mokuaikaua Church, both in Kailua Kona. Further north in Kohala, a historic old stone smokestack was completely destroyed by the earthquake. The more than 100 year old structure simply collapsed. Much of a 150 year old church in North Kohala also sustained heavy damage. The cost to repair it has been put at nearly $3 million on the high end.

Elsewhere on the Big Island, Kawaihae Harbor, a major freight transit port for West Hawaii sustained major damage to its piers. The state was lucky enough to repair one of the piers in an effort to get freight moving again instead of forcing ships to go into Hilo and trucking the freight around the island back to Kona. Still serious work and upgrades will have to be made to that harbor in order to bring it back to full capacity.

Two Big Island hospitals, several schools, roads and bridges were also damaged. It will cost taxpayers a lot of money to have all of these public facilities fixed. Hopefully with the President declaring Hawaii a disaster area, the funds will come in to not only fix public facilities but also many private homes and businesses that may have also suffered quake damage.

On Oahu it was reported that historic Iolani Palace in Downtown Honolulu's Capitol District sustained some damage. Otherwise the biggest concern for Oahu residents have been the lack of electricity for most of last Sunday and the flow of timely information to the public shortly after the earthquake.

The Governor will be putting together a committee to study the communications problem and report on any solutions. A public hearing will be held tomorrow at the Hawaii State Capitol with the Public Utilities Commission and Hawaiian Electric to go over the power problems. The electric company is to issue a report before the end of the year.

Photo caption: Historic Iolani Palace is lit in this file photo that I shot in 2004.

Worst Places to Be Caught in during an Earthquake

Map from the USGS which tracks recent earthquakes of the last 2 weeks.

I've been a little jittery since last Sunday's earthquake, especially in my own home which is an older, multi-story condominium located in Honolulu. Last weeks tremblor produced a violent shake which I surely thought would have brought our building down at the time.

The day after the quake I spoke to the building manager. He tried to assure me that after they inspected the building, there were no structural cracks or damage. The main thing he was looking for were breakages in the plumbing. Luckily none occurred.

He also told me that it would take a 7.0 or greater to bring this structure down. Considering we were hit with a 6.7 jolt last week, it was quite possible that we were probably near to collapse. Of course with the epicenter being 153 miles away off the coast of the Big Island, I have to assume that by the time the shaking reached us, that 6.7 was more like a 6.0. Regardless it was very un-nerving.

Today I have some uneasiness about being in my own home. Fear in your own home is not a good thing. Perhaps I should move.

Now whenever I am doing certain things in my building the thought about an earthquake frequently crosses my mind. The most vulnerable times for me to be caught in a big earthquake while inside my building are as follows:

• In the elevator: This is probably the worst place to be caught, especially if the power goes out and if the building decides to fall. I don't know if elevator shafts are stronger than the rest of the building. Just the thought of being trapped in an elevator is very disheartening.
• In the shower: Taking a shower leaves anyone in a vulnerable position. You are wet and have no clothes on. Earthquake hits, you have to get out quickly. Drying off and putting on clothes will probably eat away at valuable seconds or minutes that you need to safely get out. The thought of running out naked is not very good.
• On the toilet: Doing your business at #2. Do you wipe or run?
• Egress to and from parking garage: There are a couple of dark areas in our parking garage. The thought of the building collapsing on me while in the car is not comforting. Plus our entry gates are electric. If I were close enough and the things did not open, I think I would try to ram them down. Worst is probably getting caught behind another vehicle whose driver may freeze in panic.

One of the things I have in mind to do besides possibly thinking of a move, is to check the City & County or State building codes. I wonder how strict they were in terms of earthquake protection they are for buildings constructed in the 1960s and 70s.

Many of Honolulu's multi-story condominiums and hotels were built in the boom years of the 1960s and 70s. I learned that the earthquake codes were updated in 1988. Buildings made after that are built to a higher standard. This is something worth looking into and a possible topic for a future posting.

EARTHQUAKE! - Part 3

I arrived at Hawaii Kai around 11:45. The drive over was uneventful. Freeway traffic was light. Traffic began to tighten up after passing several inactive stop lights along Kalanianaole Highway at several intersecting streets. I arrived at Sam's. This is where I spent the rest of the powerless day.

One of the new TV shows that I started watching this season is "Jericho." The story takes place in this mid-western town shortly after a series of nuclear blasts annihilates the rest of civilization. The citizens of Jericho live in isolation, mostly with no power, outside contact and help.

The afternoon in Hawaii Kai kind of reminded me of living in Jericho. Most of the entire island if not the state felt isolated in the minutes and hours after the earthquake. We had an islandwide power outage. Nothing worked. No TV. No computers. No internet. No fast food. No movies. Nothing.

I stayed overnight in Hawaii Kai. Spent most of the day talking, wondering when the power would return and trying to get a hold of my folks on the Big Island of Hawaii. We had a barbecue, cruised around the Hawaii Kai community, even took some photos of people standing in line at the few stores that were open and still letting customers in.

The power came back at 11:30 that night. It was already bed time. Who cared? The electricity on the island of Oahu was not fully restored until Monday afternoon.

It is now four days since the earthquake.

The political fallout is beginning as various people and entities debate what was done wrong and right. One of the early complaints have been the lack of timely information. People are complaining that the media did not have any information minutes after the quake.

Since power was off, most people could not get TV. While I was not aware of it at the time, I later learned that KITV Channel 4 was on for most of the day, broadcasting information from the newsroom with back-up power over the internet through their website The HawaiiChannel.com. Great, people on the mainland and around the world were able to get the latest news and images through the webcast. With no electricity, most people on Oahu and elsewhere in the state could not get the internet.

On Sunday mornings, most radio stations run public service and pre-recorded, automated programs. KSSK AM & FM broke into their programming about 20 minutes after the quake. I remember hearing their mid-day personality, Kathy With a K broadcast the first snippets of information on KSSK before the station resumed the public affairs show. It was not until about 8 AM that Michael W. Perry and Larry Price were on the air, that KSSK started to broadcast emergency programming through the rest of the day. Once they started, they received "kudos" for the live emergency broadcast. I thought they did a good job too.

Several other stations made it back to the air including Cox Radio's KRTR which I did catch later in the day.

Some government officials are now criticizing the timely flow of information. Governor Linda Lingle will be convening a task force to look into how communications could improve for the next major emergency. There is even talk of the state setting up its own radio station for emergency broadcasting.

The current damage estimates are climbing past the $75 million mark. The Big Island of Hawaii, sustained the brunt of the damage. Several major highways have damaged bridges. Travel may be compromised.

The Kawaihae Harbor, which services the west side of the island with incoming and outgoing freight was heavily damaged as giant concrete piers cracked and shifted, hindering the safe loading of containerized cargo. The state is responding by trying to make some quick fixes to bring the facility back up to as near normal condition as it was before the earthquake.

I eventually reached my folks via telephone on the day of the quake in the late afternoon. They all had a very frightful experience with the violent shaking. I have spoken to them several times since. My mom relayed her experience of being caught in the kitchen area and watching the entire house shake, rattle and roll. She said that there were all kinds of frightening sounds as the windows rattled, cupboards opened and many items spilled out and crashed to the floor below. She mentioned that several cups, glasses and plates were broken. When I asked about heirloom china that she had from the "tutus", she stated that none had broken. I know some of these items were in a display case, but I think she had them taped or tacked somehow to the case many years ago in anticipation of preventing them from breaking during a quake.

We have a stone wall that goes around our Honokaa property on the Big Island. My mom, dad and sister told me this old wall sustained some major damage in our back yard. Sad. I remember many years ago helping my Dad build this wall. Hopefully FEMA can come through and my folks will be able to get some funds to repair the damage. My dad tells me that a wooden fence will probably be put in its place.

Despite the damage, the best news is that everyone is OK. And that is good.

News about the damage, causes and the growing cost to fix everything up will continue for the weeks to come. Hawaii has come through fairly well despite the severity of this disaster. Hopefully we will be resilient enough to fully recover in a few months.

Photo captions: Top photo, batteries and ice were sold out at the Hawaii Kai Safeway on the day of the earthquake. Below, people waiting in line to get into the Hawaii Kai Safeway store.

EARTHQUAKE! - Part 2

It rained Sunday morning. I sat in my car for a few minutes in the parking lot at Washington Intermediate School in Honolulu. The rain poured over my car as I sat watching the droplets accumulate on the windows, at the same time thinking of what I would be doing next. I had just survived a big earthquake and a severe aftershock more than 40 minutes ago. What to do next?

I reached for my Sony transistor radio and scanned the dial for any station broadcasting information. Honolulu has about 30 radio stations on the dial, and most of them were not on the air, a result of the islandwide power outage caused by the earthquake. However Clear Channel radio's KSSK was on the air playing a pre-recorded public affairs program that morning. Upon hearing only that I wondered where the emergency information was.

I flipped to the VHF dial on my set and tuned into the NOAA weather service frequency. I was quite surprised to hear some kind of 2-way exchange between emergency workers on the air instead of the normal pre-taped weather forecast. This was interesting. I listened for a few minutes and learned that the earthquake was centered offshore near the Big Island of Hawaii. At that early hour it was stated to be at 6.3 on the Richter scale.

While listening to that broadcast, I thought to myself, I need water. I have 4 gallons of distilled water and an empty 4 gallon container to store more water. Unfortunately they were back at my apartment, and I had no intention of returning. I decided water should be a top priority just in case the power would stay off for a long time. Water is a basic necessity of life. I had some empty plastic water bottles in my car that I intended to redeem and get my 5¢ deposit back. Luckily I never found time to do that, and proceeded to retrieve those bottles from the back of my car. Got them and walked to the school area and filled them up at the water fountain. The water pressure was still strong despite having no power at the school. I managed to fill the 4 small bottles that were in my car.

Next on my agenda was food. I am rudimentarily prepared for a hurricane with non-perishable canned foods stored at my apartment. There was no food in my car.

Near Washington Intermediate School is a Zippy's Restaurant. I proceeded to take a short walk there. For some reason I took my radio with me, which by this time KSSK was broadcasting emergency updates from various callers around the state with personalities Michael W. Perry and Larry Price in control. Things on that station were now going as expected. They were in emergency broadcast mode.

At Zippys', they were selling stuff from their bento stand and the bakery area. The line was short, and I ended up buying 4 glazed doughnuts. All purchases this day would be cash only. Credit cards did not work at most vendors since they need electricity to be processed through the conmputerized card readers. Fortunately I had about $60 cash in my wallet and I knew I could stretch that for a few days if necessary, assuming that vendors would not price gouge their customers.

Since I have no cell phone, I decided to use the pay phone at Zippys. A local call to my friend in Hawaii Kai did not go through. Even though the payphone had a dialtone, it would not take any coins. The coin portion is probably powered by electricity and it did not activate. Fine. Since there was a dialtone I decided to try calling my parents on the Big island of Hawaii using my WalMart calling card.

Dialing the 800 number proved to be successful. However after entering my card information, I was told by the computer voice on the other side that the minutes on my card had expired. It gave me the option of buying more minutes. This was an emergency situation and I needed to call. So I bought $11 of extra minutes on the card. I thought it was quite weird that I could carry out this automated transaction at a phone booth while most of everything else electronic in the city was non-functional. I got my minutes. Lesson learned, be sure to take a calling card and credit card plus cash while you are out there.

Calling the Big Island at 9:30 that morning proved futile. After the calling card service accepted the numbers I dialed routing the call to the destination in Honokaa yielded either a rapid busy signal or a computerized reply that service was not available. Not expected since that island took the brunt of the tremor and the electricity and phone were probably out.

Went back to the car, sat and listened to the radio until the weather cleared up. Nearly 3 hours had now passed since the earthquake started. I decided to leave Washington School and drove back to my building. I found street parking and went to the lobby. I needed to use a restroom and fortunately someone had the first floor facility open. Sitting in the empty lobby was a Korean lady and her 2 small children. I talked to them for a few minutes and learned that they were residents of the building. The children were frightened by the shaking and did not want to return to their apartment. I don't blame them. Getting stuck in a high rise during a major earthquake is very unsettling.



After a few moments of brief conversation I walked over to the Don Quijote store not very far away from the building. The place was packed with people. The outside food court area was filled with many people who were either standing in line waiting at windows of the few vendors who stayed open. Many others were seated at the tables just talking about the morning's events. I filled some of my apartment neighbors in with the information I knew after listening to the radio. No one waiting outside the store had a radio while I was briefly there.



The main store was darkened but not closed. Store management were letting customers in a few at a time and escorted them around the store to shop for non-perishables. The line was quite long outside of the store. I took a few pictures but decided not to join in the line.

After that I walked away, talking briefly to a taxi driver waiting outside the store. He told me that this was the first time he ever felt an earthquake. I briefly told him about my earthquake experiences of the past on the Big Island of Hawaii.



Afterward I took a short walk around the block, shot a few pictures before returning to the area outside my apartment building. At this point it was already 11:20. I found another telephone booth and this time making a local pay call worked. I called my friend in Hawaii Kai and he said to come over to his place. I tried calling my folks on the Big Island but still could not get through.

EARTHQUAKE!

As many know by now, Hawaii was hit by the biggest earthquake in at least 20 years.

Earthquakes are common in Hawaii, especially on or near the Big Island of Hawaii. Over the years the Big Island has been hit by several major earthquakes including the ones I felt and survived on that island in 1973 and 1975. Those two earthquakes were measured at 6.2 and 7.2 on the Richter Scale. Needless to say they were events that bring bad memories back everytime I get caught in another one.

On Sunday morning, October 15 Hawaii was victim to a strong 6.7 earthquake and 6.0 aftershock minutes later. Unlike the earthquakes I felt on the Big Island, this one occurred in my Honolulu home located in a high rise building in the Ala Moana area.

The day started normally. I woke up at 5, hopped on the computer as always... checked email, a few websites and moved on with the production of the Small Business News print edition for next month. Around 6:40 that morning I decided I was hungry and wanted to go out to get a quick bite to eat. Took a shower, got dressed and prepared to leave.

I was just about ready to go out the door when the first trembler hit. It started off as a dull roar and quickly grew in strength, shaking my little apartment back and forth, rattling stuff on the shelves, and windows. I was frightened. I live alone. I cried out to myself "No! No! No!" I had been in big ones before and this one seemed to be the worst. The violent shaking subsided, and I hurriedly tried to gather stuff up. I called my friend Sam in Hawaii Kai and asked if they felt the earthquake. Surely they did I was told. I expressed my thoughts on the possibility of leaving the premises. He told me to do just that.

Now I am not entirely clear on this since everything happened so quickly. A few minutes after the first quake hit, the second one came with a large but shorter burst. The building once again jumped up and down for a few seconds. I remember running out of my end of hall apartment and headed to the outside balcony near the stairwell. The shaking stopped.

I went back into my apartment, hastily grabbed my stuff which consisted of my Macintosh iBook laptop computer, the mouse, power supply, my Canon 300D digital camera and its bag of accessories, my iPod Shuffle, a large flashlight, Sony portable radio, and an extra set of clothes. Probably not all of the ideal things I should be taking with me in an emergency situation! I ran down the hallway and decided to use the other stairwell of our building which opens up to the outside. The one nearest my unit is enclosed and the thought of being trapped in that, in the dark on the possibility of a complete building collapse was far from comforting.

Passing by some of my neighbors in the long hallway, I quickly told them it may be a good idea to leave the premises. I scrambled down the far stairwell before reaching the parking garage level where my car is parked. I quickly opened the trunk of the car and dumped the stuff in there except for the radio and the small pouch with my iPod Shuffle and tiny Sony U30 digital camera in it. I was not sure if the electric run roll up gates at the bottom of our parking garage was in the "up" position. I yelled at some people across the street asking if roll up doors were opened. They somewhat told me "no".

I then decided to go down the last flight of stairs to the 1st floor of the parking level. Since the stairs is a fire escape, once you close the door behind yon on the ground level, it locks. I was smart enough to know this and just left the door open with my body. A few people were hanging around the door area. I saw the taxi driver guy who lives in my building and asked if he knew the roll-up was open. He said it was and pointed ar a car that was leaving. That was all I needed to know. I clumsily scrambled back up the dark 3 floor stairwell and got into my car.

Hoping that another strong aftershock would not hit as I was driving out of the parking garage, I made a hasty retreat out of the building with my car. In a moment I was on the street. This was about 20 minutes after the quake had occurred.

Once on the street and asked myself where should I go? In those early morning minutes my common sense told me to get out any area where a tall building could fall on me. I decided to make a short drive to Washington Intermediate School, a location that I know mostly as the polling place for my voting district. I was there in a very short time, pulled into the parking lot and stopped my car.