Sunday, November 23, 2008

Catch-up on some local things

Katy Rose of Kauai has been writing some good stuff on this recently, including the following post on her blog, Breaking the Spell: Superferry: John Lehman's Foot Soldiers Unite! You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Dignity!

Just before Halloween, and again within the past week, Go! Airline has been offering deeply discounted inter-island airfares, seemingly timed with the start-up of Mokulele Air's inter-island jet service. In the notice that Go! sent out via e-mail, one-way inter-island airfares are $49. In addition to taking on Mokulele, that is also competition for HSF at a time when HSF is showing signs of commercial weakness. Go! has an e-mail list for these notices that one can subscribe to at:
http://www.iflygo.com/. Here's a quote from their most recent marketing effort:

"go! Home for the Holidays!
Dear Valued Customer,
Happy Holidays from go! go! from $49* this holiday season. In celebration of the holidays this year, go! is offering $49* one-way fares for travel between November 17 and December 31, 2008. If you intend to travel before the New Year, be sure to visit
www.iflygo.com now because these great deals will go fast. Tickets must be purchased by Wednesday, November 19, 2008. Our goal has always been to bring friends and families together by providing the best service at the lowest possible cost."

Today, the Honolulu Advertiser had a belated article on the JHSV, republished from Air Force Times:
Alabama shipyard wins high-speed ship contract. I think it is noteworthly that they did not have one of their own reporters write this article, and even though the article mentions Austal won the contract, the old file photo picture that the Advertiser put next to the article is of an Incat HSV rather than the Austal rendering of JHSV-1, the Austal rendering of which looks a lot more like something that readers of the Advertiser would recognize.

Dick Mayer sent out an e-mail today titled "Shouldn't this require an Environmental Review?" for the CZM permit on the proposed Kahului Harbor Pier 2c Ferry Barge Mooring Modifications. The notice dated October 23, 2008, says the deadline for comments was November 6, 2008...(sorry too late) :

OEQC October 23, 2008
The Environmental Notice COASTAL ZONE NOTICES
Bottom of Page 7 to Page 8
http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/sites/EnvNotice

Federal Consistency Reviews The Hawai`i Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program has received the following federal actions to review for consistency with the CZM objectives and policies in Chapter 205A, HRS. This public notice is being provided in accordance with section 306(d) (14) of the National Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended...

Kahului Commercial Harbor
Pier 2C Mooring Modification, Maui

...Proposed Action: Modify the existing mooring system at Pier 2C, Kahului
Commercial Harbor, which supports ferry operations. The existing
soft-line mooring system is proposed to be modified to include a mooring
chain to connect Pier 2C to the outward side of the Manaiakalani Barge
and three anchor chains to steady the barge during loading and unloading
operations. During ferry operations, the modified mooring system would draw
the barge against the pier using a winching system. When not in operation,
the mooring line will be slackened and the barge will be held in-place by the
anchors. Currently a tugboat runs continuously during loading and unloading
operations to steady the barge. The modified mooring system would
eliminate the need for the tugboat. Comments Due: November 6, 2008


Also,
Ian Lind noticed the following state procurement document requesting a waiver on this matter: http://hawaii.gov/spo2/exempt103d/attachments/form07767.pdf


Aloha, Brad

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