Paper Trail Shows Important HART Rail Construction Reviews Rushed and Falsified
by John Bond, Kanehili Cultural Hui
National Park Service rated Hawaii SHPD under Pua Aiu, William Aila, WORST SHPO in the United States
The National Park Service rated Hawaii SHPD under Pua Aiu, William Aila and Neil Abercrombie consistently the WORST SHPO in the United States, year after year constantly on the verge of being completely SHUT DOWN and taken over by NPS.
During the FTA HART Rail project all Hawaii State Historic Preservation Division decisions about historic cultural sites, TCP's, etc were all made by the rail construction project management with their own employees imbedded in Hawaii SHPD to decide which if any locations would be considered for National Register eligibility and which would not in the interests of rail construction, not the preservation law, ethics or or any other considerations.
Hawaii SHPD was there to be a puppet and rubber stamp for HART Rail as dictated by high level politicians, The entire "historic preservation" process was just a rigged con job.
Leadership Troubles Plague Hawaii’s
Historic Preservation Division
It's too bad no one was listening because Pua Aiu just cost us millions. The Supreme Court yesterday said in the rail decision "In the instant case, the SHPD failed to follow its own rules when it concurred in the rail project prior to the completion of an archaeological inventory survey for the entire project." You don't follow your own rules unless your incompetent which has now been proven.
"The Legislature gave the agency $625,000 to hire staff but SHPD said it couldn't find qualified people so it spent much of the money — $400,000 — on iPads and 4-wheel-drive vehicles and for a consultant to hire the temporary permitting staff."
After contacting Sen. Jill Tokuda in 2007 about the problems I encountered at the State’s Historic Preservation Division, she stated “We are very much aware of the issues surrounding SHPD and share your concerns about the divisions ability to carry out its mission. As such, we had a number of very direct questions for Laura Thielen during her confirmation hearing, and received her commitment to follow up on a number of things regarding SHPD. In addition, our committees will be looking closely at what short and long term changes need to be made in regards to SHPD, the process for dealing with remains, and the qualifications for the SHPO and SHPD staff.”
When nothing continued to be done, community members met with the National Park Service in 2009 with great hope that under threat of losing a million dollars in annual funding and certification the Administration, the DLNR and SHPD would finally take corrective action.
In 2010, we asked the Legislature and specifically Rep. Sharon Har as vice chair of the House Committee on Water, Land and Ocean Resources for an audit of SHPD (HCR 50). However, Rep. Har claimed that an “audit is not the appropriate solution at this time because it will not actually fix the problems which we all know exist” and instead supported a study on the feasibility of transferring jurisdiction over the coordination of the evaluation and management of burial sites from SHPD to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
In 2012, nothing has changed except money thrown at the problem with no results. Change must be made, starting with the firing of Pua Aiu and her cronies.
When nothing continued to be done, community members met with the National Park Service in 2009 with great hope that under threat of losing a million dollars in annual funding and certification the Administration, the DLNR and SHPD would finally take corrective action.
In 2010, we asked the Legislature and specifically Rep. Sharon Har as vice chair of the House Committee on Water, Land and Ocean Resources for an audit of SHPD (HCR 50). However, Rep. Har claimed that an “audit is not the appropriate solution at this time because it will not actually fix the problems which we all know exist” and instead supported a study on the feasibility of transferring jurisdiction over the coordination of the evaluation and management of burial sites from SHPD to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
In 2012, nothing has changed except money thrown at the problem with no results. Change must be made, starting with the firing of Pua Aiu and her cronies.
Three major contracts for Oahu rail project linked to same firm
Today in 2020 Parsons Brinkerhoff, AECOM and other big HART construction players are owned by a mega corporation called WSP based in Canada.
The 2012 letters concerning Honouliuli TCPs, Po'ohilo, Leina a ka uhane which were all faked to create a determination of "no effect" - Hawaii SHPD rubber stamp puppet of the rail contractors and politicians.
Only Kanehili Cultural Hui actually researched and knew all of the issues and preservation law and could see what a total lying SHAM this whole process really was. Even Federal Judge Tashima ruled in favor of Kanehili Cultural Hui (which was not an actual party to the Slater Cayetano lawsuit in 2012) but again almost no one understood the significance of this and that FTA HART-City was NOT following the laws and just lying to expedite rail construction.
HART, Hawaii SHPD and FTA dismissed their own contracted TCP surveys and instead agreed to LIE and FALSIFY a determination in order to rush rail construction forward, ultimately costing much more lost time and money because of their corruption. Even HART just recently admitted that the entire West Side - West Oahu Farrington Highway section was a huge rush job that actually cost lots of money in change orders and reconstruction makeovers.
Federal Judge Tashima ruled that HART LOST in court and did NOT identify all of the Traditional Cultural Places/Properties along the rail route that Kanehili Cultural Hui had extensively documented and presented to FTA, HART-City and Hawaii SHPD.
FTA and HART Rail Misrepresent The True Ewa Honouliuli Native Hawaiian Spirit Pathway
FTA and HART Decide Sacred Hawaiian Spirit World Starts At End Of East Kapolei Rail Station
https://honouliuli.blogspot.com/2015/01/leina-ka-uhane-wahi-pana.html
What is a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP)?
