Category: ESTA News

Hilton Hawaiian Village, the largest resort complex in Waikiki, is preparing for expansion.

Construction of the 515-room, 36-story Ala Moana Boulevard Tower (AMB Tower) is expected to begin in 2024 or 2025 if permits are granted as planned.

Estimated construction period is about 30 months.  The construction site is a plot next to the Crand Waikikian Tower, the site of the former Japanese-style steakhouse Kobe Restaurant.

The construction cost has not yet been disclosed, but it is expected to be described in the Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIS).

Park Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Hilton Hawaiian Village, said an additional environmental impact report would be published around December.

The total construction cost is 420 million dollars, and there are 418 rooms. When the AMB Tower is built, the entire Hilton Village will expand by approximately 0.5 acres.

According to a report by Star Advertiser, Park Hotels & Resorts purchased the largest section of the site for $5.2 million in 2018.

The Kobe restaurant building was owned by ABC Store affiliates.

It is said that an ABC Mart store is also planned to be in the AMB Tower.

There are various opinions regarding this construction plan.

Waikiki Improvement Association President Rick Egd said in a statement that the construction of the AMB Tower is a process of replacing the current aging building with a state-of-the-art technology that will make the entrance to Waikiki more attractive.

On the other hand, the Waikiki Residents’ Association is said to be opposed to the construction of the AMB Tower for reasons such as population density, increased traffic congestion, and lack of parking.

However, Bob Finley, chairman of the Waikiki Residents’ Association, said that the residents’ association had not yet announced an official position, and explained that there would be more opportunities for residents to review the construction plan.

In addition, it is known that some point out that the right to sunlight is violated or that the sea level rise is insufficient.

Park Hotels & Resorts senior vice president Jonathan Puiz said the AMB Tower will increase Waikiki’s visitor capacity and improve traffic by keeping visitors within the Hilton Village grounds.

Norman Hong, chairman of Group 70 International Inc (G70), a construction company that will be in charge of constructing the AMB tower, said that drainage problems and infrastructure improvements will be implemented in accordance with city and state regulations.

Finley, chairman of the Waikiki Residents Association, explained that Park Hotels & Resorts’ water saving system has the same idea and direction as the Waikiki Residents Association.

In addition, he added that it is true that additional hotels are needed because the short-term rental business regulation strengthening law (Law 22-7) recently entered into force by the city government can increase the demand for accommodation by short-term visitors.

Hawaii Hotel Association (HHA) President Jerry Gibson said the AMB Tower will be able to increase visitor capacity in Waikiki, the heart of the tourism industry, and will be able to mitigate illegal short-term rentals.

While the midterm elections in the United States held on the 8th were generally going smoothly, in some regions, the voting was disrupted due to problems such as malfunctioning machines, CNN broadcast and other American media reported.

In Mercer County, New Jersey, countywide voting machines broke down, causing problems printing and scanning ballots. As a result, voters cast their votes manually rather than using machines.

The counting of the counting results in this county is likely to be delayed due to a breakdown in the voting machine.

The county said in an email to CNN that “may be delayed due to machine failure, but we plan to ensure that all voters can vote.”

In Bell County, Texas, technical problems had caused voting to be delayed by an hour. The clocks of some machines for checking voters were out of sync, making them unavailable at some polling places.

In Maricopa County, Arizona, more than 20 percent of the voting machines are malfunctioning or not working, officials said.

Due to the problem that some machines did not recognize the ballot, the county decided to count the ballot separately after storing it in a locker at the polling place.

In Champaign County, Illinois, the website was hacked and the process of verifying voter information was delayed for a while.

In Louisiana, polling places were moved due to bomb threats.

The state of Louisiana said the polling station was moved to a nearby elementary school after a Cana Discovery School outside New Orleans was threatened.

Earlier, the school was threatened with a bomb attack five days ago, and middle and high school students were evacuated, local police said.

In Westband, Wisconsin, a 38-year-old man was arrested by police after threatening polling workers with a knife and demanding that they “stop voting”.

In Johns Creek, Georgia, it was revealed on social media shortly after voting began that a mother and child who worked as a polling station worker had participated in a raid on the Capitol on January 6 last year, and authorities suspended their work and sent them out of the polling station.

In Beaumont, Texas, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP) sued and a court ordered a ban on voting because polling station workers made it harder to identify black voters and stood right behind them while they voted. did.

The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the most contested sites for the U.S. Senate, also decided to go through a verification process this morning to prevent voters from voting twice.

The process, which compares the vote-by-mail ballot with the on-site voter roster at the polling place to ensure that the voter is not voting twice, could delay counting, US media reported.

Previously, a Republican group had filed a lawsuit alleging that Philadelphia reduced the verification process and increased the likelihood of double voting, but the court dismissed it.

Additionally, in Lucerne County, Pennsylvania, voting was delayed until 10 p.m. as ballots could not be printed due to insufficient ballots.

In North Carolina and Georgia, some polling places opened late and extended deadlines.

The US State Department condemned North Korea’s first launch of a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) near South Korea’s territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea for the first time since division as a “reckless decision.”

“The United States condemns North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile and its reckless decision to launch a missile beyond the de facto maritime boundary,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to Yonhap News Agency. It is a violation of the resolution and threatens the peace and stability of the region.”

“The United States continues to pursue sincere and consistent dialogue with North Korea, but North Korea refuses to engage,” he said.

“The United States will work closely with its allies and partners to limit North Korea’s illegal weapons development and security threats in the region,” he added.

The Indo-Pacific Command, which oversees U.S. Forces Korea, also issued a statement saying, “We are aware of North Korean missile launches and are in close discussions with our allies and partners.” It shows the reckless decisions of the

Earlier, North Korea fired about 25 missiles in a row on four occasions, including a short-range ballistic missile launched south of the NLL in the East Sea.

State Department spokeswoman Ned Price said at a press briefing in the afternoon that “worries about the possibility of further provocations by North Korea have not subsided.”

“There will be additional costs and consequences, and North Korea will face global condemnation,” Price said. did,” he explained.

White House National Security Council (NSC) Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby also reaffirmed the U.S. government’s position at a briefing, saying, “We condemn North Korea’s reckless decision to launch a missile into South Korea’s waters, in fact, south of the maritime border.”

“It does not change that we want to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with North Korea without preconditions,” he said. It was altitude.

“In a situation where diplomatic progress is impossible, we will maintain a high military readiness posture,” Kirby said.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln and Foreign Minister Park Jin strongly condemned North Korea’s missile launches and expressed their deep concern over the escalation of provocations in a separate call after North Korea’s series of missile launches.

In the phone call, Secretary Blincol reaffirmed that the defense promise to South Korea was ironclad and stressed the need for the international community to unite to hold North Korea accountable for its continued provocations, Price said.

“Through a visit to Asia during the G20 summit later this month, Secretary Blincoln will have the opportunity to hold bilateral and trilateral consultations on threats from South Korea, Japan and North Korea,” Price added.

“We will continue to emphasize the importance of the triangular alliance with South Korea and Japan to jointly respond to key North Korean challenges,” he said. emphasized.

A warning has been issued that a so-called ‘Triple+Pandemic’ could come in the United States this winter, in which Corona 19, the flu, and the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) all spread all at once.

The New York Times reported on the 23rd that as quarantine rules loosened, flu and RSV are spreading rapidly, and new mutations of COVID-19 are also appearing.

The New York Times reported that the flu, which usually starts in October, is spreading earlier than usual.

In fact, as of the 8th, the influenza infection rate in the United States was 3%, but in some southeastern regions it exceeded 10%. In New York, the flu started earlier than usual.

According to the State Department of Health, there were 596 confirmed flu cases in New York State in the month of September, nearly quadrupling from 150 a year earlier.

The spread of RSV, which has symptoms like COVID-19 or flu, is also rapid.

In some states, such as Massachusetts and Illinois, a red flag came in as the capacity of pediatric beds was insufficient due to a surge in RSV patients. In the United States, RSV kills approximately 14,000 people over the age of 65 and up to 300 children under the age of 5 each year.

Another strain that has much better immune evasion ability than the Corona 19 Omicron BA.5 strain is heralding a pandemic this winter.

Medical experts warn that each disease does not cause serious symptoms, but if they become epidemics at the same time, the number of infected people will increase and put pressure on medical capacity.

Experts say that the COVID-19 and flu vaccines do not provide 100% protection against infection, but they are still the best defense.

Meanwhile, new data released by the CDC last week showed that 10 counties in upstate New York had high levels of COVID-19 infection. This number reached a whopping 20% ​​of counties classified as high in the country.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that it has identified the cause of the seaplane crash that took the lives of all 10 people on board off the coast of Whitby Island last month. requested to be banned.

NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendi said the most important thing for now is to ensure that the DHC-3 ‘Otter’ turboprop seaplane, which is the accident model, does not cause the same tragedy in the future due to the same cause. described as work.

Chairman Homendi said that when experts inspected the wreckage of the salvaged plane, it was found that an important part of the horizontal tail wing, which controls the plane’s altitude, had fallen off. said to have concluded.

She added that there was a possibility that there was a problem with the maintenance of the plane, saying that several people have seen the plane, which had lost its horizontal tail function, plummeted at great speed, and was thrown into the sea.

She urged all airlines that own Otter aircraft not to operate them until safety has been confirmed.

Seattle-based Kenmore Airlines, which owns 10 Otter aircraft, said it had detected a vulnerability in the aircraft and had already completed safety checks last week, and said service had not been disrupted.

The DHC-3 Otter aircraft that caused the accident is one of a total of 466 manufactured by De Havilland Canada from the 1950s to 1967, owned by Renton-based Friday Harbor Seaplanes. There are currently 65 of these aging planes in service in the United States and 160 around the world.

Friday Harbor Seaplanes have transported tourists and commuters from Renton’s Lake Washington shores to San Wan Island and Canada on these planes.

Meanwhile, the FAA said that it is in close contact with the Canadian Ministry of Transport, which approved the Otter model, and that it will take appropriate measures based on the actions of the Canadian authorities and the maintenance rules of the Otter model manufacturer.

The Hawaii District Court is expected to demand that the Honolulu city government suspend the 90-day minimum short-term rental (vacation rental) bill.

On October 13, Judge Derek Watson issued a preliminary order banning the enforcement of the city’s Ordinance 22-7, which was due to take effect on October 23 this year.

Decree 22-7 (Proposition 41) contains the content to increase the current minimum number of short-term rentals of 30 days to 90 days.

In other words, once the law goes into effect, vacation rentals can only be operated for guests staying for more than 90 days.

The ruling is the result of a lawsuit filed in June by the Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Association (HILSTRA), a nonprofit organization in response to the city government’s ordinance.

HILSTRA maintains that Act 22-7 is unconstitutional because it violates the vested rights of property owners, such as ownership and rental, and violates state zoning laws.

In an email interview with Star Advertiser, HILSTRA President Andrea Grigore expressed his displeasure with the Hawaii District Court’s ruling, stating that Decree 22-7 was flawed from the start.

After the enforcement of Decree 22-7, the city government has set a grace period until April 21 next year so that vacation rental companies can make the necessary preparations to comply with the rules.

However, HILSTRA countered that even with a grace period, it could not provide sufficient relief for many jobs that depend on real estate rentals, such as cleaning, landscaping, real estate management, and reservation agency.

He also emphasized that millions of dollars are being generated from accommodation tax and general consumption tax from workers in this field.

Honolulu City Mayor Rick Blangiad expressed disappointment at the unconstitutional ruling, saying that the 90-day minimum limit was a way to curb illegal short-term rentals.

But Mayor Blangiade, who soon said he respected the court’s ruling, promised to study more closely what the city government could do to protect residential areas.

Dana Viola, director of the city government’s Office of Corporate Advisory (DCC), added that while the current 30-day minimum limit policy will be strongly implemented, what can be done legally to regulate illegal short-term rentals will be considered.

The ruling is “very significant” for the industry as it provides a way for short-term rentals to continue operating for guests who are staying for more than 30 days and less than 90 days.

North Shore real estate broker, Chun James, said he strongly opposes illegal short-term rentals, but said the city’s 90-day limit was excessive.

Honolulu’s Illegal Short-Term Rentals Vacation rental business has been the subject of heated debate over the past few years over displaced residents’ rights violations.

Illegal leasing reduces the availability of long-term rentals by deteriorating the atmosphere of residential areas, causing shortages of parking spaces and overcrowding.

Tourism industry groups such as the American Hotel and Accommodation Association (AHLA), Tourism Authority (HTA), Hawaii Hotels Association (HHA), and the Hawaii Accommodation and Tourism Association (HLTA), as well as local groups such as Thousand Friends and Save O’Ahu Neighborhood has expressed concerns about illegal short-term rental business.

Save O’ahu Neighborhood Director Larry Bartley expressed disappointment with the court’s decision and said he would continue to fight to curb illegal short-term rentals.

HTA chief executive John DePrice warned that the court’s decision could weaken the city’s ability to manage visitors and would pay more attention to crackdown on illegal short-term rentals.

Chuck Prantis, spokesman for local group Keepit Kailua, said that Act 22-7 is necessary because illegal short-term rentals are currently being practiced all over Oahu.

He also warned that residential areas in Kailua could be overrun with skyscrapers like Waikiki if he failed to properly control illegal short-term rentals.

As the Korean government lifted the duty to perform the first-day PCR test on the first day of entry, all entry-related COVID-19 testing measures were eliminated after two years and nine months, and as the dollar strengthened, the demand for travel to Korea by Koreans surged. are doing as a result, air ticket prices are on the rise.

According to the Korean Air website on the 18th, the price of a round-trip ticket from Washington to Korea until November, which is the off-season, was over $2,600, and the airfare for December had already exceeded $3,000.

Economy class tickets departing from Washington on December 16th are already sold out, and if you depart on December 19th and return on January 7th next year, the economy class airfare will be $3,300, up about 25% from the $2,500 level before Corona 19. During the same period, Prestige seats are being sold for around $12,000 round-trip. If you use a foreign flag to make one stopover, it will cost $2,622 for a departure from Washington on December 12 and an arrival on January 7, next year.

Shin Seung-cheol, CEO of Top Travel Agency, said, “The removal of PCR tests and the high exchange rate are attracting many people who have been delaying their visit to Korea.

However, while the number of Koreans in Washington area who are thinking about going to Korea has increased ahead of the peak season for winter vacation in December, they are hesitant because of the skyrocketing airfare.

K, who lives in Centerville, Virginia, said, “I am raising children, so I can only go to Korea during vacation, but there is no sign that the airfare is going to drop.” He said, “I don’t know why airfare is only continuing to rise, even though airfare has become expensive, and now it operates every day, and gas prices have come down, and the dollar is strong.”

An official of the national airline said, “The recovery of all routes to the Americas, including the Washington route, is only 70% of the previous level.

The U.S. authorities are also on alert as the Ebola virus, a type for which a vaccine has not yet been developed, is spreading in Uganda in East Africa.

Reuters reported on the 6th that U.S. health officials will start testing visitors who have been to Uganda within the last 21 days after reports of infected or suspected cases of Ebola virus in Uganda.

From next week, visitors from Uganda will be tested for Ebola at five major US airports, including JKF New York, Newark, Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare, and Washington Dulles Airport.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has yet to report any suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola but is urging health care workers to be vigilant about the possibility of an outbreak.

“It is important to have detailed travel histories of patients suspected of Ebola, especially those who have been in Uganda-affected areas,” the CDC said.

It is reported that about 140 Uganda visitors arrive to the United States each day. Of these, 62% are entering the country through five airports.

Ebola testing applies to all passengers, including Americans.

In Uganda, the virus has been spreading, with at least 30 deaths since the Ebola outbreak on the 20th of last month. The virus identified in Uganda is said to be the ‘Sudanese subtype’ for which a vaccine has not yet been developed among the five Ebola subtypes.

Intra-state bankruptcy rates are on the rise for the first time in 16 months.

Hawaii had 106 bankruptcies in August 2022, up 21.8% from the same month last year. The number of bankruptcies was double digits for 13 consecutive months until July, but it changed to triple digits from August.

Greg Dunn, an attorney who runs a bankruptcy law firm in Honolulu, said that as the government’s stimulus package ended, the likelihood of financially struggling households going bankrupt increased.

Blake Goodman, an attorney at another bankruptcy law firm, said that more debt collection lawsuits are being reported in the summer than at the beginning of the year, suggesting that creditors who have endured the pandemic are showing the limits of their patience.

Goodman also predicted that the number of bankruptcies could rise by 2023.

The two lawyers pointed to high inflation (inflation) as the cause of the increase in the number of bankruptcies.

Higher inflation rates increase the financial burden, which in turn adversely affects debt repayment.

In August, the number of Chapter 7, the most common form of bankruptcy, was 68, up 11.5% from 61 in the same month last year.

Chapter 13 bankruptcies, which allow people with regular income sources to plan tax amortization on creditors over three to five years, rose 34.6%, from 26 in August last year to 35 this year.

There were three Chapter 11 bankruptcies in August last year, but none this year, related to corporate restructuring.

Looking at the increase in the number of bankruptcies by county in August this year compared to August 2021, Honolulu increased from 62 to 86, and Kauai increased from three to four.

Hawaii County dropped from nine to six, and Maui from 13 to 10.

Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport (MSP) in Minnesota was rated as the best airport in terms of user satisfaction among the largest airports in North America with more than 33 million annual passengers. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) ranked third among the super-large airports in terms of satisfaction.

In the ‘2022 North American Major Airport Passenger Satisfaction’ evaluation released on the 22nd by J.D. Power, a marketing information service provider, MSP received 800 out of 1,000 points, taking the first place among 19 super-large airports.

J.D. Power interpreted the effects of extension and renovation promoted by MSP since last year as being reflected in the evaluation results this year. It also showed a smooth operation,” he said.

San Francisco International Airport was in second place (796 points), Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (791 points) in tied third, JFK International Airport in New York (791 points), and Las Vegas Harry Reed International Airport (790 points) in fifth place.

On the other hand, Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey (719 points) had the lowest disgrace. In addition, Chicago O’Hare International Airport (751 points), LAX (753 points), Boston Logan International Airport (754 points), and Toronto Pearson International Airport (755 points) belonged to the bottom.

J.D. Power analyzed that the number of global air travelers recovered to 91% of the pre-pandemic level, but flight reductions due to a shortage of manpower, flight cancellations, fare increases, crowded office buildings, and service restrictions significantly reduced customer satisfaction. As a result, the average score of North American airports recorded 777 points, 25 points lower than last year (802 points).

In this survey, 58% of those who said that “airport terminals are uncomfortably crowded” were almost in line with 59% in 2019, before the pandemic. The number of people who answered “the price of food and beverages at the airport was too expensive to purchase” was 24%, up from 20% last year.

J.D. Power Travel Information Officer Michael Taylor interprets the combination of recovering travel demand, manpower shortages and rising prices, resulting in extremely crowded airports and annoying passengers.

In the ranking of 27 major airports (10 million to 32.9 million passengers per year), Tampa International Airport (846 points) ranked first, followed by Orange County’s John Wayne Airport (826 points) and Dallas Lovefield Airport (825 points). On the other hand, Philadelphia International Airport (729 points) ranked last.

Indianapolis International Airport (842 points) ranked first among 17 medium-sized airports (4.5 million to 9.9 million passengers per year), followed by Pittsburgh International Airport (839 points) in second place and Jacksonville International Airport (826 points) in third place. The lowest was Burbank Airport (763 points).

J.D. Power announces annual rankings by collecting customer satisfaction based on six items: airport terminal facilities, flight take-off and landing times, baggage handling, security screening, check-in procedures, food and beverage, and retail services.