A clearer look at Honolulu’s homeless strategy, courtesy of a neighborhood board
Sometimes, to figure out what is really going on, one has to look at alternative sources of information other than the news or even legislative briefings. While all of those can be informative, they are to a point. When it comes to, potentially, actually looking at an issue and seeing what the leaders really say, one source to find that, on occasion, is the Neighborhood Board minutes. This blogger, who ...
Brandon Dela Cruz’s voice lives on
Politics Hawaii with Stan Fichtman would not have existed without its co-founder, Brandon Dela Cruz, who, back in 2016, encouraged me, Stan Fichtman, to take ownership of the politicshawaii.com domain. Since then, the blog has published many pieces, yet Brandon chose to write only one himself. And it will be the only one we will be able to show, as he passed away suddenly on November 10, 2025. Brandon Dela ...
In a Game of Escalation, the Side Without Limits Wins
Over the first weekend of November 2025, a shutdown that had seemed locked in place began to move. Senate Majority Leader John Thune signaled the chamber would remain in session to work toward a deal, and by Sunday night, procedural votes to advance a proposal cleared 60 votes. For many, the shift felt sudden — and welcome. But to this blogger, it quickly raised a question: Why did the standoff ...
The mission and the lawsuit: Elite schools under fire here and abroad
This humble blogger never expected that two schools tied to different chapters of his life — one where he attended in Hong Kong, and one that sits at the heart of Hawaiʻi’s identity — would be fighting lawsuits at the same time. Yet here we are. Hong Kong International School (HKIS), where this blogger spent part of his youth in the early 1990s, and Kamehameha Schools, an institution deeply intertwined ...
When Honolulu chose the airport: A council aide’s view of the decision that changed the Skyline
By now, most readers of this blog have seen either the short snippet or long-form commercials announcing the extension of the Skyline rail system on Oʻahu to the Airport and Middle Street. Along with the ads, a new tagline is being rolled out – “Skyline, always on time.” As an aside, this blogger is seeing that the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit (HART) is finally figuring out how to market ...
