Bankruptcy and ancient Native Hawaiian Burials

I recently wrote in a blog entry that I tend to provide links to the Honolulu Star Bulletin more frequently that the Honolulu Advertiser because after a while the Honolulu Advertiser limits access to their articles if it is older than 2 months which is different than how the Star Bulletin handles back issues. While doing a google search however, I found a relevant 1-year old article from the Advertiser that ties in nicely with this blog entry.

Both Pacific Business News and the Honolulu Star Bulletin report that General Growth Properties Inc. is having financial troubles. Pacific Business News provides that, "Last week, General Growth Properties reported a quarterly loss of $15.4 million, suspended its shareholder dividend and said it would halt plans for any new construction or development."
The Star Bulletin reported "General Growth, beset by falling funds from operations and plagued by a tightening global credit market that's making it difficult for companies to obtain financing, is trying to sell off properties and cut costs to weather the rocky economic climate."

General Growth Properties is relevant to burials because one of its development projects unearthed many ancient Native Hawaiian burials.

A May 2, 2007 Honolulu Advertiser article explained that more than 45 sets of ancient Native Hawaiian remains were found at the Ward-area project site; and the future home of a Whole-Foods store. Originally 11 sets of human remains were found. Then later, and supposedly to the "surprise" of General Growth, 36 more Native Hawaiian ancient remains were found in the same area. Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners expressed concern as to the culturally and spiritually insensitive treatment of these unearthed burials. Attorney Moses Haia is reported in the article as wanting the human remains stay in the place in which they were found.

Honolulu Magazine also has a 2007 article on the Ward burials issue also, titled Bones of Contention.  The article appears to be quite thorough and more lengthy that the previously cited Honolulu Advertiser article. Unlike the Honolulu Advertiser article, Honolulu Magazine is more critical. Honolulu Magazine reported that, under state law, SHPD is tasked with protecting vestiges of Hawaii’s past. Its staff is supposed to review proposed projects for potential harm to historic sites and burials. If a site could be affected, SHPD is supposed to require the developer to hire an archaeologist to survey the property before any construction begins and make sure the survey is done right. That way, the developer can redesign the project while it’s still being planned, as opposed to being built.

This never happened at the Ward Village Shops.

The articles are a year or more old and since the disturbance of those buried remains, construction has resumed. It's interesting now to see what will come of General Growth Properties given its current financial situation. Will the corporation have to discontinue its development efforts because of its inability to refinance? Will General Growth have to resort to selling its property at Ward? Neither article discusses the burials issue as it relates to General Growth so you may be reading it here first. This is definitely something to keep an out for. 

Below is a map of the area and the other a picture of the site.  The map comes from the Honolulu Advertiser and the photo comes from Honolulu Magazine

And the Speaker stays . . .

Pacific Business News reports today that Representative Calvin Say maintains his position as Speaker of the House. The Star Bulletin previously reported that there were other Democratic Representatives who sought to challenge Say's leadership. What relevance does Calvin Say have to the Native Hawaiian community? Let's take a look at it.

The ceded lands case on appeal at the Supreme Court of The United States (SCOTUS) for some reason is not getting the attention it probably should. It's not clear exactly why. Rice v. Cayetano, from my recollection received a lot of attention. The only thing I remember reading about this ceded lands case so far is: the State's decision to appeal to SCOTUS (in April), SCOTUS's decision on October 1 to hear the case, and then two very brief editorials in both the Honolulu Advertiser (10/3/08) and the Honolulu Star Bulletin (10/6/08). Other than these pieces of information from the media, I don't recall anything else being reported much. In addition to not agreeing with the authors of the two editorials, I did not think the editorials demonstrated a thorough understanding of the case. I reached this conclusion because the Advertiser failed to realize in its editorial the impact the sale of ceded lands would have on fair negotiations, an issue our highest state court contemplated. Additionally, the Star Bulletin, in its editorial, only focused on Public Law 103-150 (federal law) when our State court actually examined and discussed at length, important State of Hawai'i law and applied that state law to the case.

The Hawai'i Supreme Court on January 31, 2008, ruled that the State could not sell ceded lands before resolving the "un-relinquished claims" of Native Hawaiians to ceded lands. In other words, the Hawai'i Supreme Court place a moratorium on the sale of ceded lands until claims have been resolved. Before this issue went to the court there was no legislative moratorium on ceded lands. Or was there?

Well, no there was no moratorium passed in the legislature. But there were two bills introduced into both the state Senate and the House of Representatives. According to the State Legislature website, in 2007 Representative Calvin Say, "BY REQUEST" introduced HB1197 that is described as, "prohibit[ing] the department of land and natural resources from selling, exchanging, or otherwise alienating lands contained in the public land trust without the consent of the board of trustees of the office of Hawaiian affairs."

As Representative Calvin Say maintains his leadership over the State Of Hawai'i House of Representatives, it will be interesting to see what his position, as Speaker of the House, on the ceded lands case will be and if he will try to introduce similar legislation again that would place a moratorium on the sale of ceded lands until the unrelinquished claims of Native Hawaiians to those lands have been resolved.

Federal Money?

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin has an editorial on the so-called "status" of Hawai'i. While it may not appear relevant to Native Hawaiian issues at first, it very well might be. The editorial focuses on one of the most senior Senators, Daniel Inouye, and his position as the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. The Senate Appropriations Committee has been described as the most powerful senate committee. Reviews of different news articles suggest that Senator Inouye is expected to bring more federal funding to Hawai'i, possibly to existing and new programs designed to benefit Native Hawaiians. Congressman Neil Abercrombie has previously also pointed out that having a Hawai'i-born President in office may also prove to be beneficial to Hawai'i.

You may be wondering if we have a bias towards the Honolulu Star-Bulletin over the Honolulu Advertiser. There really is no bias other than the mere fact that Honolulu Star-Bulletin doesn't make people purchase old articles and the Honolulu Advertiser does. If we were to regularly place links to the Honolulu Advertiser website, after about two months, those links would be dead links. By citing to the Star Bulletin, we don't expect those links to die anytime soon.

Archiving, Kahana Evictions, Ceded Lands case

Happy Aloha Friday,

So yesterday Ka Huli Ao had its first live-streaming event and we still have more updates not only about Ka Huli Ao but also more general news.

ARCHIVES
A number of Hawai'i residents often visit the State Archives for research. Unfortunately, the archives is only open Monday through Friday from 9am until 4pm. Ka Huli Ao has embarked on an effort to make archived documents more easily available. Ka Huli Ao Post-JD fellow Keith Johnston, a 2008 William S. Richardson School of Law graduate, with Professor Leina'ala Seeger are working on the effort to make Hawaiian Kingdom era documents more available to the public.

KAHANA EVICTIONS
There are updates regarding Kahana. The Honolulu Star Bulletin reports in a headline that, "Kahana dispute goes to court, Legislature." The timing of the evictions have been criticized as being horrible. The United States is experience what has been described as the toughest economic times since the "Great Depression." Throughout the continental United States, home foreclosures have increased substantially, and as has been the case for a number of years, in Hawai'i the housing market is displacing Hawaii residents including the aboriginal portion of the islands' population. Both the Honolulu Star Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser have, over the past few years, reported on a number of stories on the increasing number of homeless people in our island home. Many observers are saying that, with these facts as a context, the worst time to evict any family is right now.

Senator Hanabusa, at Maoli Thursday suggested that the only fix to this Kahana issue is a legislative fix. If you click on the Part 2 video Senator Hanabusa explains how the State Legislature might fix the issue when the legislature reconvenes in January. Senator Hanabusa asks of Laura Theilan (Director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources) that the people expect to know "why she needed to do this (evict the Kahana families)? Why now? What prompted her to do this?"

Going back to the Star Bulletin article, the "Families facing eviction from Kahana Valley filed a lawsuit against the state yesterday, asking a circuit judge to force the state to halt evictions because it is violating their rights. Hours after the suit was filed, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced it had stayed evictions of six families until the upcoming legislative session."

CEDED LANDS CASE
No real update as all parties are preparing briefs for the Supreme Court of the United States. However, Professor Melody MacKenzie, at Maoli Thursday, invited all that were in attendance to her Native Hawaiian Rights class on Monday at 3:25pm. Prof. MacKenzie will be hosting a guest speaker, William Meheula, an attorney representing Hawaiian individuals who oppose the sale of ceded lands before the un-relinquished rights of Native Hawaiians have been resolved . Mr. Meheula is expected to talk about the case.

It can be seen in the Part 2 video also that a question was asked that led to a discussion regarding the ceded lands case. Colin Kippen, who ran for Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee this year, was present at Maoli Thursday. Trustee Haunani Apoliona was also in attendance. At the start of Part 2, Colin Kippen asks a question about federal recognition and the need for its passage, but cautioned about the "watered-down" version of the originally proposed bill. Senator Hanabusa, while speaking to Mr. Kippen's concern, directed the discussion to the importance of the State of Hawai'i v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs case dealing with ceded lands now on appeal at the Supreme Court of the United States. In summary, Senator Hanabusa emphasized the importance of the community organizing and persuading Governor Lingle to withdraw the appeal. I highly recommend checking out the video clips from yesterday's Maoli Thursday to listen to the discussion.

Post-Maoli Thursday

Beyond Election 2008: What's at Stake for Native Hawaiians was another great Ka Huli Ao event.

This was our first attempt at live-streaming an event. We experienced some glitches in the beginning and in the middle. Unfortunately, during the streaming the web browser crashed and we needed to re-start our computer. So, all in all, we missed the first few minutes in the live stream and then there was a break in the video. I wasn't sure if the questions from the audience were being picked up by the video camera's microphone, so I wrote those questions on the streaming video for viewers to read.

Despite these technical issues, I'd like to share a comment however, that was sent to us via e-mail,

The sound was excellent, the picture was relatively excellent, and the typing of the questions was very helpful, eventhough, I could here the questions being asked.

Overall, it was a very excellent and helpful tool to give access for those of us who couldnt physically be there in the room. Access to discussions like this is sorely lacking in our communities and this is one way you all have provided for that void. Although we have got Public Access Stations like Olelo, it always shows the discussions days, weeks, or even months later. This was right now and it let us get updated right now.

your reminders, even up to the minute, were essential for me, especially because I have 1000 things to do in a day. mahalo.

Amy Wiecking from the Law School office called us also and shared that she received positive comments about our live-stream also.

We have available here the two videos for readers to watch. Unfortunately I can't confirm that the quality of the video is as good as the live stream.

Beyond Election 2008 - Part 1



Beyond Election 2008 - Part 2
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We can be visited on Facebook (and Twitter) where you can stay updated with Ka Huli Ao.

We encourage all readers to check out our blog here daily for updates.

LIVE-STREAMING - Beyond Election 2008: What's at Stake for Native Hawaiians

Any and all comments, opinions, questions, etc., made by any person(s) on this live-streaming broadcast are not representative of the comments, opinions or questions of Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, the William S. Richardson School of Law, or the University of Hawai'i.

To watch the video, click on the "play" arrow on the screen below.
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Maoli Thursday, Elections, Kahana, and Moot Court

MAOLI THURSDAY
Tomorrow, November, 6, we will be having our third Maoli Thursday event of the school year. This will be a special Maoli Thursday given the recent election results. For those unable to attend this month's Maoli Thursday, we will be live-streaming the event here on our blog.

The event is titled, "Beyond Election 2008: What's at stake for Native Hawaiians?"

We have two featured guests:
- Hawai'i State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa
- Esther Kia'aina, Land Asset Manager for Kamehameha Schools and Chief of Staff to Congressman Ed Case.

Our guests and audience will engage in a discussion on how elections at the county, state & federal levels will impact both our island communities and Native Hawaiians.

ELECTIONSBarack Obama is the new President of the United States. In our local elections, it turns out that all the incumbent Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustees will retain their seats; Robert Linsdey, Donald Cataluna, Colette Machado and Haunani Apoliona.

Billy Kenoi, a Native Hawaiian and a graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law is now the Mayor of Hawai'i County.

KAHANA
The Honolulu Advertiser is reporting that the six families in Kahana, that faced eviction, will not be evicted while the 2009 Hawai'i legislature considers how to deal with the issue.

We can expect to see some legislation specifically addressing Kahana.

NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN LAW STUDENTS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION
The University of Colorado and Denver University Native American Law Students Association chapters released this year's moot court problem. It's available here

Hawai'i and Native Hawaiian law students might be particularly interested in this problem as the "record below" cites to Doe v. Kamehameha Schools case.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs Elections

Tomorrow is elections day nationwide but in Hawai'i there are a few political seats up for election that directly impact the Native Hawaiian community.

According to information from a State of Hawai'i government website, there are four (4) Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee positions up for election. We've provided links to each named candidate (except for Donald Cataluna who is running un-opposed) for you to click on to learn more about each candidate.

OHA Trustee Island of Hawai'i:
1.) Lindsey, Bob
2.) Meyers, William

OHA Trustee Island of Kaua'i:
1.) Cataluna, Donald

OHA Trustee Island of Moloka'i:
1.) Machado, Colette
2.) Purdy, Waipa


OHA Trustee No Island Residency Required [At-Large]:
1.) Apoliona, Haunani
2.) Honda, Helene
3.) Kippen, Colin
4.) Nalua'i, Sol

For each individual race, there is an incumbent. After tomorrow we will see if there are any changes in trustees.