The Councilman, the Crime Boss, and the “Hostage” Trees

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Tree at Joe Lukela park claimed by Mike Miske

Now that Trevor Ozawa is again a candidate running to take back his former seat on the Honolulu City Council, voters should examine his past misuse of his political position to benefit the late racketeering boss Mike Miske.

As a voter in his district, I haven’t forgotten how Ozawa—who served on the council from 2014 to 2018—aggressively used his legislative power to muscle the Department of Parks and Recreation into giving Miske special treatment.

In a nutshell

In 2016, Miske took over a tree in a park along Maunalua Bay in Hawaii Kai and wrapped it tightly with lights. The city Department of Parks and Recreation eventually received complaints and directed Miske to remove the lights. He belatedly complied, but wanted to repeat the tree lighting in 2017 over the department’s objections.

Miske turned to the Honolulu City Council member from his district, Trevor Ozawa, who became his rather enthusiastic advocate, eventually resorting to legislative threats and insider political muscle to get Miske what he wanted. Ozawa successfully forced the city to approve Miske’s lights despite substantive opposition from the parks department that cited the danger to tree health, the administrative problems posed by privatizing park trees, the precedent affecting 200,000 other trees, and the placement of bright lights along the shoreline, which posed a threat to seabirds and appeared to violate environmental laws.
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Makua: The Captive Valley

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Back in 1983, I was digging into records at the State Archives and depositories for sources of information about how the military had accumulated so much land on Oahu and throughout the state.

A local newspaper, Ka Huliau, published my story on the history of military control of Makua Valley in its May-June 1983 issue.

Ka Huliau or “The Turning Point” was a left leaning, underground, independent newspaper printed by Hawaii Education for Social Progress, Inc..Published in the 1980s (presumably from 1982-1986) Ka Huliau self-identified as “An independent newspaper focusing on Hawaii and Pacific issues.” These issues included labor strikes, nuclear proliferation, socialism and others primarily in the context of their effect on Hawaiians and other Islanders.

I asked Google for the people behind Hawaii Education for Social Progress, and it identied several key players: The primary editors and staff members associated with the organization and publication included Roland Kotani, Grace Kotani, Cindy Broch, Gary Takiyama, John Witeck, and Lucy Witeck. Roland Kotani was appointed to the Hawaii House of Reprentatives by then Gov. John Waihee in 1987, and ran unopposed for the same seat in the 1988 election.

In a tragic turn of events, Roland Kotani was found bludgeoned to death in his home in July 1989. Grace Kotani, his estranged wife, agreed to be interviewed by HPD with her attorney present, and confessed to the killing. She then asked to use the restroom, killed herself with a handgun hidden in her purse.

The scan below is of mediocre quality, done many years ago, but I hope you’ll be able to read the article despite the quality issues.

Getting poi ready to eat

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Now that I’ve figured out the delivery days that Taro Brand poi arrives at our nearby Times Supermarket and at Foodland in Aina Haina, I’m figuring out how to keep the refrigerator stocked.

I took this photo after adding two bags fresh bags yesterday (Friday), delivery day at Times.

The two bags at the top are easily identified as the fresh poi by their color, a dark gray. I’ll leave these on the kitchen counter at room temperature for a week or so, or until needed. I’m not sure of the right word. Leaving them out to ripen?

The third bag, closest to the camera, has been out at room temperature since Thursday of the prior week, and is ready to empty into a bowl, add water if necessary, and refrigerate until the next meal. Note this poi’s reddish color, indicating some fermentation has been taking place and it’s likely to be nice and tart. In other words, ready to eat!

I’ve been eating poi in place of rice and potato, although I still cook those for Meda. And I’ve been eating a couple of bags per week in the expectation that poi is going to improve my gut health and deliver needed nutrition.

I have always preferred sour poi since small kid time. So do many of my Hawaiian friends. That was the reason that I bristled years ago at Honolulu Magazine’s “Sour Poi Awards” given to the tongue-in-cheek awards that “poke fun at the dumb, the daft, and the deranged local news, political gaffes, and wacky mishaps that occurred over the previous twelve months.” It struck me as an admission of a subtle anti-Hawaiian bias or, perhaps, simple ignorance of the fact that sour poi is the preference of many in the islands. Unfortunate, but true.

The Chemo Chronicles: It is what it is….

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I received a text from another reporter offering an election-related tip if I could report on it.

He asked: “You still mess with kind of stuff?”

In the past, I would have welcomed such a tip because, having been vetted at least in part by another good reporter, it would be more reliable than most unsolicited tips that come my way.

But, at this point, I had to temper my response. Sadly, I sent this reply explaining, in somewhat vague terms, my situation, and why I’m not able to handle it at this time.

I do mess with these things from time to time, but circumstances are constraining me right now. I’ve just finished Round 1 of chemotherapy and immunotherapy for a cancer in my gut, Round 2 starts next week. It’s taxing my energy and attention, prompting me to put most worldly issues on the back burner for a while. So although I’m interested, I likely won’t be able to report on it right at this moment. I am sorry to be somewhat unavailable right now, but it is what it is.

I would like to be able to continue on as I would have BC (Before Cancer), but that’s not realistic.

It’s tough because things like this involve tinkering with psychological scaffolding that has been holding up my own self-image as well as my public persona, which have been taking a bit hit.

Reporting on a potential story like this is more involved, and is harder work, than blogging about my own private medical journey with an occasional appearance of other real world issues.

I’ve learned to be at least somewhat realistic about what I can do, and what I can’t. So a short “no thank you” seemed like the appropriate response in this case.