Year in Review: 2018 forever shaped Hawaii Island

KAILUA-KONA — We watched the island burn and said goodbye to an officer felled in the line of duty.

For a while, the vog made it seem like we couldn’t breathe — or at least not very well.

We saw new political faces usher in, including a Kona doctor who took the lieutenant governor’s seat. We solemnly watched as a former mayor Billy Kenoi broke the news he was gravely ill — and broke a piece of the island’s heart with it. And, we gawked with befuddlement as a county councilor stopped doing her job, citing potential war crimes violations as her reason.

It was a year that saw progress — a new highway, a needed, new law — but 2018 will go in the books as a catastrophic one. It was a year of devastation, a year whose impacts will be felt and scars will be visible on the island for years to come.

1. Kilauea’s eruption

The wounds from the May 3 Kilauea eruption are still exposed and the fallout is still uncertain.

After fissure 8 retreated and lava no longer seared the Puna landscape, 700 homes had been destroyed and Kapoho Bay had been filled. Hawaii County plans to ask the state for $140 million in relief funds this legislative season, but the economic impacts are surely greater than that. Ag losses alone hit $30 million, while $5 million worth of taxable property melted from the county’s books. Roads and parks, meanwhile, still need rebuilding.

The eruption lasted until early September, but brought out the island’s best during that time, too. The grassroots nonprofit Pu’uhonua o Puna helped raised thousands of dollars and items in relief for displaced residents, as did countless other groups and individuals. The devastation turned out to be a platform that highlighted neighbors helping neighbors. But destruction was truly left in its wake.

2. Eruption’s economic fallout

The Jaggar Museum in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park closed for good and businesses in Volcano town and Pahoa haven’t been the same since. But the impacts have been felt everywhere. In July, Jack’s Tour’s, Inc. closed after 50 years in business, and tourism numbers have been down for six straight months. When cruise ships stopped porting during May and June in Hilo and Kailua bays, shops, restaurants and retailers felt an immediate hit — as much as $175,000 per missed weekly port.

Meanwhile, the number of out-of state arrivals to the Big Island dropped by 10 percent from November 2017 to November 2018, from over 136,000 to 123,000. During the same time period, visitor expenditures dropped 18 percent, from $189 million to $154 million.

The island’s main industry just hasn’t been the same, and there’s no telling if or when it will pick back up.

3. Vog dang it

While West Hawaii didn’t see any of the lava, it suffered from choking vog.

Sulfur dioxide — SO2, the key ingredient in the thick, barely breathable gunk — and particulate matter levels were off the charts compared to pre-eruption days on the leeward side. Air quality levels on the monitoring websites during the spring frequently hit orange and red, which signified “unhealthy for sensitive groups” and plain old “unhealthy,” respectively.

Stores started carrying every remedy imaginable — for a price, of course — and residents seemed more agitated the longer the thick air hung around.

Frustrated residents sounded off on state officials during public meetings on Kona’s air quality, though officials couldn’t do anything about an erupting volcano save promise to present their emissions data to the public more clearly.

Then, one day, the eruption stopped and by mid September, Kona was experiencing its clearest air in decades.

4. Officer killed

More than a thousand people, including police officers and first responders from across Hawaii and beyond, paid their final respects Aug. 4 in Hilo to fallen Hawaii Police Department Officer Bronson Kaliloa.

Kaliloa, a married father of three, was gunned down by Justin Waiki July 17 in Mountain View, which triggered an islandwide manhunt for the suspect. The search for Waiki ended a few days after Kaliloa’s death when police got into a shootout with Waiki, who was found concealed in the back of a vehicle on South Point Road.

Seven people suspected of aiding Waiki’s run are facing various charges.

“I’m certain there won’t be a day that goes by that we won’t remember how Bronson touched our lives, all of us,” said County of Hawaii Police Chief Paul Ferreira. “But we need to let it happen and know that we will get through this. Sure, pain will be there, but we can conquer it by the fact that Bronson will always be with us in our hearts.”

5. Taxes, fees raised

Big Islanders should be prepared to pay more for just about everything in 2019.

Five county taxes and fees have been recently hiked or are in the process of being raised. That includes property taxes, which were raised in 2017 on all classes of properties with the exception of homeowner and affordable rental.

The county has increased its share of gasoline taxes each of the past four years, with the pain at the pump going up from 19 t0 23 cents per gallon in 2019, and annual vehicle safety check stickers up $5.81 each. Water bills are up an average of 8 percent for residential users, and the county plans to increase sewer fees 44 percent in 2019.

In addition, the county will assess a quarter-cent surcharge on state general excise tax starting Jan. 1, meaning you’ll pay an extra 4.25 cents per dollar for retail goods and services.

Those retail goods are likely going up, as well. Matson, the largest shipper of goods to the islands, increased its fuel surcharge from 27.3 percent in 2017 to 38.5 percent in 2018, an increase of 41 percent.

Tipping fees for commercial rubbish haulers went up a whopping 27 percent in 2018 and will increase a modest 2 percent in 2019.

And electricity went up about 7.4 percent in 2018, with Hawaii Electric Light Co. requesting an additional 3.4 percent rate hike.

6. Higway project finally complete

Ahh, that collective sigh of relief is the Kona community exhaling and loosening its grip on thousands of steering wheels.

Three years after breaking ground, officials in August celebrated completion of phase 2 of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening project, which added an additional lane each of north- and southbound traffic on a stretch of the highway that covers a little more than 5 miles between Kealakehe Parkway and Keahole Airport Road.

The first phase widened about 2.6 miles of road between Henry Street and Kealakehe Parkway.

When the project broke ground in 2015, estimates put the cost of the project at around $90 million. By the end, the final price tag was more than $30 million over that and the extended construction timeline made driving excruciating for countless commuters.

In addition to widening part of the highway from two to four lanes, the project also resulted in six new signalized intersections and 4.5 miles of new water lines. It also resulted in a new sewer system to move water from regional developments to the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant and an R-1 line to return treated water.

7. False missile alert

It’s hard to imagine it’s only been one year.

On Jan. 13, a confused state employee sent out a false ballistic missile alert across Hawaii over television, radio, and cellphones.

The alert stated that there was an incoming ballistic missile threat to Hawaii, advised residents to seek shelter, and concluded that it wasn’t a drill.

A second message, sent 38 minutes later, described the first as a false alarm. State officials blamed a miscommunication during a drill at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency for the first message.

Now famous images of residents scurrying around in panic looped across television sets as the news quickly went national. In quiet Kona, panic wasn’t as evident. People did call police and show up at the station, but the streets seemed as relaxed as most any other Saturday morning.

Gov. David Ige publicly apologized for the erroneous alert and the Federal Communications Commission and the Hawaii House of Representatives launched investigations into the incident, leading to the resignation of the state’s emergency management administrator. The employee was fired, but claimed in interviews he was doing what he was trained to do, and the fault was with the system.

8. Ige wins re-election, and Green joins him at the top

Gov. David Ige won re-election comfortably this year, despite what most political experts projected to be a hotly contested race. Early polls and predictions favored challenger, former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, to topple Ige. But in the end, the incumbent cruised to a comfortable 7-point victory and will serve another four years before he’s term-limited.

Joining Ige at the top of Hawaii’s executive branch as Lt. Gov. is former state senator Josh Green. A longtime physician who represented West Hawaii Island’s 3rd District in the House, Green’s message about taking aggressive, novel approaches to the issues of housing and homelessness plaguing all islands resonated with voters. Green and Ige both indicated that in his new position, Green will be empowered to tackle these sprawling issues with more influence and autonomy than has been afforded those who previously held the position.

On the local level, Dru Kanuha gave up his Kona County Council seat to win a state Senate one. Rebecca Shute Villegas won the vacant council seat, and former state Rep. David Tarnas unseated incumbent Cindy Evans up north. Councilwoman Jen Ruggles baffled nearly everyone when she stopped participating in her elected duties, citing a concern she could be committing war crimes against the Kingdom of Hawaii by doing so. Her about-face happened near the end of her first and only term, so the soap box didn’t remain too long in the public square.

9. TMT

On Oct. 30, the Hawaii Supreme Court voted 4-1 in favor of granting a Conservation District Use Permit to allow the next-generation Thirty Meter Telescope to be built on Maunakea.

A month later, the high court voted down two motions to reconsider that decision.

Scott Ishikawa, a spokesman for TMT International Observatory, said the organization is working to fulfill pre-construction requirements set by the permit issued by the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

He said a resumption in construction would take “at least several months.”

Some opponents of the project have said they plan to try to block construction. Protesters, who call themselves “protectors,” repeatedly blocked construction vehicles in 2015 before the high court overturned the original permit because of due process issues.

BLNR issued another permit in 2017 after a lengthy contested case hearing, which led to another appeal to the Supreme Court.

10. Vacation rental bill

The County Council in late November passed on a 6-1 vote a bill regulating short-term vacation rentals on Hawaii Island.

The final measure, passed in November, was the culmination of seven drafts and extensive community input over a two-year period.

It’s now up to the Planning Department to formulate the rules which, when drafted, will face a public hearing. Those rules are expected to be finalized by April 1.

Hawaii County becomes the last in the state to regulate short-term rentals in residential neighborhood.

“This must be controlled because of the disturbance of a lifestyle,” Mayor Harry Kim said in favor of the measure. “Vacation rental is a business. It’s not a good or bad business, it’s just a business. … This is good where it is controlled.”