Koloa Marketplace lease litigation

Anybody remember the monkey pod tree kerfuffle? The Garden Island this morning reports that a pair of lessees, including the anchor, of Koloa Marketplace - the site of that drama - have filed suit "in state circuit court claiming a breach of their lease agreements and requesting to be unbound from The Shops project." The suit is unrelated to the trees. (For those who are not aware, some trees were culled out of a monkey pod grove to accommodate the development). According the the GI, the plaintiffs are citing long delay in development, among other reasons.

Where burial facts and burial laws collide

An ongoing burial debate in Honolulu points out an interesting gap (or overlap?) between two bodies (sorry) of state burial law - .

Construction at Kawaiaha'o Church, which stopped two years ago after disturbing 69 sets of human remains, is set to resume.
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However, not everyone is supportive, and one lawsuit challenging the treatment of disturbed burials is pending.

Resumption of work largely hinged on state officials making a distinction between unmarked Christian burials of native Hawaiians in a cemetery and traditional native Hawaiian burials, typically in secret locations.

Kawaiaha'o officials contended that its burial discoveries were exempt from the state's native Hawaiian burial law because the remains were Christian burials of native Hawaiians in coffins on the grounds of a church cemetery.
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The church initially applied for a disinterment permit from the Health Department. But the department said it needed names, dates of death and other information for all those to be disinterred, according to church officials.

Identities of burials under and around the Likeke Hall site were not in any records, so the church instead filed an archaeological monitoring plan approved by the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The church did not believe it was subject to the native Hawaiian burial law administered by SHPD because of an exemption provided for cemeteries, but it decided to proceed under SHPD oversight so construction could begin.

"We were sort of caught between a rock and a hard place," said Dawn Chang, a cultural consultant working with the church.

Critics of the church's approach said Kawaiaha'o should be subject to burial law requirements, which would make it more complicated for the church to disinter and relocate remains while making it easier for potential descendants to contest disinterments.

Meanwhile, here's an update to the L.A. burial controversy I mention in an earlier post. It nicely illustrates the difficulties that often accompany these situations.

The site where they were discovered was once the city's first Catholic cemetery — and until the bones' unearthing, church officials thought all remains had been moved to a different site a very long time ago. Now they are angry at La Plaza officials. So are Native American groups and others who believe their ancestors were buried there.
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La Plaza's organizers have now halted excavation in the area where the bones were found. But that was after bones from as many as 100 bodies were unearthed and removed, say activists and scientists monitoring the excavations.
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La Plaza officials say they followed all the laws related to excavation of cemeteries and historic sites...
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"Regardless of what the law is, you go out and do more," [Rene] Vellanoweth [an archaeologist and chairman of anthropology at Cal State Los Angeles] said. "You do the right thing."

One side says they are acting legally. Another says that's not good enough.

I'm not sure how the Catholic Church defends its position. It thought it had already relocated all the burials, so now it's mad at La Plaza for doing what the church thought it had already done?

Update: In keeping with the burial theme, Inversecondemnation.com has a recent post on the apparent resolution of claims against Chicago which "is seeking to take cemetery and move the graves in order to expand O'Hare airport."

A bill for an act...

...related to ferries!

Brad Parsons forwarded me a link to this House Bill creating a Hawaii state ferry system authority, which

At a minimum,...shall operate one high speed passenger and vehicular ferry vessel, with a minimum capacity of four hundred passengers and           hundred vehicles, capable of operating at thirty knots or more, for the carriage of passengers and property between the major islands, and other small vessels, as needed, for service to the between the islands of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai and other routes.

The purposes section of the bill states

While the Hawaii superferry operation had its shortcomings, a rocky start, and questionable financial forecast, it proved to be a very successful mode of transportation, for both persons and property, between the islands of Maui and Oahu. It was the missing link in the transportation system between the islands that is so essential for the health, safety, and well- being of the people of Hawaii.

The purpose of this measure is to establish the Hawaii state ferry system to provide that necessary and essential additional missing link for the carriage of persons and property between the islands of the State.

Another reminder that our burial issues are not unique

Native American Remains Won’t Halt LA Center Construction

Officials with a Mexican-American cultural center being built in downtown Los Angeles plan to meet with representatives of the Roman Catholic archdiocese and Indian leaders over concerns that human remains unearthed during construction are being disturbed.
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The state Native American Heritage Commission, meanwhile, has asked for a halt to work because of fears that Indian remains were being mishandled at the site

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