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Pine helps Friendship Bible Church Start Construction of New Building

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Pastor Reid praying with contractor and architect before starting construction.

 

 

Councilmember Pine is available to help community members when they need assistance or help locating a City service.

 

Pastor James Reid of Friendship Bible Church in Ewa Beach recently reached out because he was having difficulty securing the final signatures needed for the church’s building permit.   Everything seemed in order, but for some unknown reason the permit was being held up and Pastor Reid was having difficulty connecting with the right office to find out where the problem was.

 

Councilmember Pine was able to directly connect Pastor Reid with the right department.  The last signature was received for the building permit and Councilmember Pine is happy to report that Friendship Bible Church was able to begin construction in May.

 

Councilmember Pine is working diligently to help constituents when they need assistance with city services.  For assistance, fill out the “Request Help With a City Service” form on our home page, and we will work with you to improve the quality of life on the Leeward Coast.

 

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Mayor Caldwell and Councilmember Pine join Leeward Keiki to rededicate Makaha Community Park

Parks are a gathering place for families, organizations and community groups to meet, recreate and enjoy. As your councilmember, one of Councilmember Pine’s ongoing goals is to keep the parks in our district safe and clean for our community by ensuring our Parks Department has the funding it needs for ongoing maintenance and new capital construction projects, encouraging communities to be good stewards of our parks, and creating a new Adopt-a-Park program to make it easier for communities to create and participate in park adoption projects.

Recently, Councilmember Pine spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon on the Leeward Coast at Makaha Community Park renovating the park bathroom, providing new play equipment and planting ti leaves on the park grounds. This event kicked off the next phase of her ongoing commitment to revitalize Leeward Coast parks and transform the community.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell joined to help plant ti leaves and showed his support for our efforts at the Makaha Community Park Rededication as he delivered a message of civic pride and community duty to be good stewards of our recreation resources.

It’s amazing to see what can be achieved when volunteers come together to revive their community. In partnership with the Department of Parks and Recreation, Laborers International 368, Grace Pacific Maintenance Solutions, the Pacific Links Foundation, PBR and Associates, Hawaii Electrical Workers and the Active Hawaii Foundation, the community combined efforts to clean-up, paint, and refurbish the heavily-used park. Volunteers helped to restore the park’s comfort station with fresh paint and the Microguard protective coating that resists graffiti and staining, and install new lights for safety. Meanwhile, the Parks Department replaced all fixtures, sinks and toilets and community members participated in a park clean-up, painted benches and removed graffiti from the park grounds. The before and after results are profound, and provide a fresh new outlook to the park.

 

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Volunteers from Laborers Local 368 and the community painting the park comfort station.

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After completing all the work in the morning, volunteers gathered together to participate in a beautiful and inspiring rededication ceremony led by Reverend Kahu Steven Costa.   Dipping a ti leaf into salt water in his koa bowl, Kahu Costa sprinkled salt water to all corners of the park, blessing the grounds and drawing forth positive energy. Meanwhile, students from neighboring Makaha Elementary School also helped to breathe fresh life into this park by symbolically planting ti leaf cuttings near the park’s entrance. The ceremony concluded as Councilmember Pine joined community leaders, volunteers and Makaha’s keiki, untying a maile lei and commemorating a new beginning for this park.

The Makaha Community Park Rededication was touching and demonstrated what can happen when volunteers and the City come together to transform our community.

In addition to this project, Councilmember Pine is working hard to bring bathrooms to Puu O Hulu Community Park in Maili and build new bathrooms at One`ula Beach Park.

With the help of community volunteers, we can transform all of our Leeward parks into safe and clean environments for our keiki. If you would like to know more about how to get involved in a park restoration, please feel free to contact Councilmember Pine’s office via e-mail: kmpine@honolulu.gov, or telephone (808) 768-5001.  It is absolutely fulfilling to give back to our community, and transforming our parks is a great way to do so.

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H-POWER to Cut Use of Waimanalo Gulch Landfill

City officials announced the opening of a new sludge receiving station today at the City’s H-Power waste-to-energy plant in Campbell Industrial Park.  The new machine will take sludge and waste products and convert them into fuel.

 

According to the Department of Environmental Services, the Honolulu Program of Waste Energy Recovery (H-POWER) processes over 600,000 tons of waste annually, and has the capacity to produce up to 10% of Oahu’s electricity.  H-POWER began operation in 1990 and today, coverts nearly 2,000 tons of waste per day, creating enough electricity to power 60,000 homes.

 

The City’s new sludge receiving station will reduce 40,000 pounds of waste that enters the land fills per year, putting less dependence on the Waimanalo Gulch land fill.  The addition of the receiving station ensures that less material is going into the landfill and sets the city on a course to eliminating the need for a landfill in my district.

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Mayor Caldwell to Support Revitalizing City Parks

Today, Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced a major new park initiative during his third State of the City speech.  The initiative, E Paka Kakou, or “parks together” will be a city partnership with community organizations to step up and revitalize parks.

 

“This parks initiative works hand-in-hand with the Adopt a Park Bill – Bill 58. Together, these will ease the process for groups wishing to adopt and make major capital contributions to our parks. We are looking forward to working with Mayor Caldwell in the upcoming budget process to see our proposals succeed,” said Councilmember Kymberly Marcos Pine.

 

Councilmember Pine introduced Bill 58 on September 29th, 2014. If passed, the bill will create a more transparent and clearly defined process for park adoptions, donations and capital improvements, making it easier for organizations to improving specific parks in their communities.

 

Mayor Kirk Caldwell also revealed that $2 million in the fiscal 2016 budget will be dedicated to making improvements at park comfort stations.  According to Caldwell, these funds will be used to refurbish 24 restrooms at parks and 16 sets of existing playground apparatus throughout the island.

 

The Department of Parks and Recreation will be installing Microguard, a protective coating that is graffiti and rot resistant, on 24 comfort stations, throughout the next year beginning with Asing Park, in Ewa Beach.

 

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Councilmember Pine and Mayor Caldwell Dedicate New Ewa Park

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The City hosted a park dedication ceremony on Monday, December 15, 2014 at 10:30 a.m. at the long awaited new District Park in ‘Ewa at the corner of Keone‘ula Boulevard and Ft. Weaver Road.  The park’s official address is 91-201 Kaimele Place.

 

Over ten years in the making, the park open with improvements including basketball courts, volleyball courts, a baseball field, comfort station, and a parking lot with over one hundred stalls.

 

The improvements were gifted to the city by developer Haseko totaling over $5 million dollars.

 

“I am very excited to see the families in our community enjoy this much needed and anticipated new park. Our children are able to have their little league practice and play games immediately in the park because of the generous giving of our community partner.  The park will impact our community for years to come,” said Councilmember Pine.

 

“We are very happy to give this beautiful park to the community to enjoy for years to come.  This new park is a great example of a public private partnership benefiting O‘ahu residents. With millions of dollars of improvements by Haseko, the developer of homes in the area, and with the assistance of the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, we are pleased to open this new park that ‘Ewa families will enjoy for years to come. I thank Councilmember Kymberly Pine for bringing this project to the finish line so we are able to open the park now,” said Tom Sagawa.

 

The opening of the new park comes at a critical time for the ‘Ewa Community. The James Campbell High School athletic field will close for repairs this month. With a shortage of playing fields in the area, athletic programs were scrambling to find a place to hold practice had the park not opened this month.

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Adopt-a-Park

Is there a park in your neighborhood that needs a little extra help? Get involved through the City’s Adopt-A-Park program and help us create a world-class park. Hoa Paka, the City’s Adopt-a-Park program is based on the premise that citizens make a difference in ensuring that their community park, keiki’s playground, beach or natural area is clean, safe and well maintained. By adopting a park in our community, you can change the way your park looks and operates, and will carry the will have pride knowing that you care enough about your park or beach to make a personal commitment to improve and protect it.

 

There are 33 parks on the Leeward Coast ready to be adopted and cared for. I invite your community organization, business, or family to consider participating in our initiative to participate in this wonderful program.

 

If your organization would like to get involved and would like more information on the Hoa Paka program, please contact me at 768-5001 or kmpine@honolulu.gov.

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Hawaii Kai Sludge Illegally Dumped in Waianae

Responding to community concerns that tons of sludge is being dredged from the Hawaii Kai Marina and dumped in Waianae, Councilmember Kymberly Marcos Pine is demanding that the Hawaii Kai Community Association remove all of the debris and return it to holding areas in Hawaii Kai.

 

The City has cited SER Trucking, which was hired to truck and store the materials, for not having a proper grading permit. However, Councilmember Pine does not believe this is enough to stop the potentially illegal dumping.

 

“I will make sure that I do everything in my power, including exploring all legislative options to stop this private marina from dumping its sludge in our community and ensure that this unchecked dumping never happens again,” Councilmember Pine said.

 

Waianae residents are upset that the sludge is being dumped in their community and expressed their concerns. Responding to the community, Robert Clark, president of the Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association referred to Waianae residents’ concerns as “total ignorance,” saying, “if they were aware of what that material was, they would say please let me have more of it,”  (Hawaii News Now).

 

Councilmember Pine also responded to Mr. Robert Clark’s statements today, saying “I take great offense to Mr. Clark’s statement and demand that he apologize to the people of Waianae for his comments. The people of Waianae are smart innovative citizens who care deeply about their ‘aina.”

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