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Kalihi tenants urged to work together after fatal stabbing
Resident Eleanor Puahikolia (left) and Leva Alualu are emotional during the service. - Photo by Dennis Oda (Star Advertiser)
The state will hold a meeting with Mayor Wright residents
Honolulu Star Advertiser
February 1st, 2012
By Rosemarie Bernardo
Tenants of Mayor Wright Homes need to work together to create a stronger and safer community, a board member of the tenants association said in the wake of Friday’s fatal stabbing of a Mililani man who was visiting the Kalihi public housing complex.
“Where do we go from here as residents?” Marleen Lafaele, secretary of the Mayor Wright Tenants Association, said during a prayer vigil Tuesday. “For anything to change, we need to come together as one.”
Lafaele was among about 30 people, including Mayor Wright tenants as well as clergy from the Faith Action for Community Equity group, who participated in the vigil, which was held to pray for change in the community.
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Mayor Wright residents come together for prayer vigil
KHON2
January 31st, 2012
By Olena Heu
Residents living in Mayor Wright homes say its time to take back their community and make it a safe place to live again.
The call to action is sparked after another life is lost right outside their front doors.
These women sing a song of hope and faith to stop the violence at mayor wright homes in Kalihi.
“We pray that you god of life would bring out of violence death new life,” says Rev. Kerry Grogan.
Residents and clergy held a prayer vigil Tuesday morning to bring harmony to a community that’s been torn a part after a fatal stabbing last week.
33 year-old Benjamin Rekis died friday night after a fight on property.
The suspect, a resident at mayor wright housing, was released and the case dropped because prosecutors believe he acted in self defense.
“Hopefully he can bring the peace over here,” says Virgil Amoroso, Family of the Living God.
The pastors from differing faiths, from across the island, united to make one community whole again.
“We are one family that has faced tragedy and let us heal together and build together,” says Nite Kristoph, resident.
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Mayor Wrights Tenants & FACE Clergy pray
January 31st, 2012
Mayor Wright Tenants together with FACE Clergy from across the island gathered today to build community in the wake of tragedy and loss.
“We are a strong and proud community, but we have been portrayed as violent people. We are gathering with the faith community to pray for change”, says Gloria Castro, who serves on the tenant association board.
45 tenants and clergy gathered in front of the Mayor Wright Housing Office to pray for hope and community in a place that has been portrayed as violence.
“Where do we go from here as residents? For anything to change, we need to come together as one”, said Marlene Lafaele, tenant association board secretary.
“We have a deep belief in community, and know that most people in Mayor Wright hold to this belief. We cannot let a couple bad actors represent the whole”, Reverend Alan Mark, statewide president of FACE.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Community Worship Service
Aloha FACE and Community members.
St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church will be hosting a Community Worship Service on Monday, January 16th from 6:30 pm. It will be a service that will celebrate the life and work of a civil rights and social justice leader that helped to change the world.
Saint Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church
720 N. King Street
6:30 pm
*Clergy are encouraged to come in full vestment.
Please contact Jun Yang at 294-8387 for any questions.
FACE Releases Nation-Wide Study on Jobs
October 4th, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONFERENCE: Today May 10th @ 11:00am Sun-Yat Sen Statue, Beretania St & Nuuanu River
Today, October 4, at 11:00 a.m., FACE will rally at the Sun Yat Sen statue in Chinatown to demand job creation through infrastructure investments.
FACE members will also release the results of a first-ever national study ranking California’s success among all 50 states in expanding job access for women and minorities through job training in highway construction. The Transportation Equity Network study, “The Road to Good Jobs: Making Training Work,” makes the case that job creation efforts will expand opportunity by opening the construction field to those hit hardest by the recession.
FACE members will demonstrate the importance of Honolulu rail project and will urge the state and city to begin construction immediately. Members will also speak about the need to create jobs for Hawaii’s workers by investing in infrastructure.
The event will take place simultaneously with similar rallies in 23 U.S. cities held by members of the Transportation Equity Network.
For a look at the report, please contact local leader or organizer—Jun Yang at 808 294- 8387 or Stephen Boykewich, stephen@transportationequity.org, Mob. 718-791-9162.
WHO: Faith Action for Community Equity
WHAT: Rally for job creation through infrastructure, and report release on
WHEN: Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 11:00 a.m.
WHERE: Sun Yat Sen Statue in Chinatown, next to the Cultural plaza
CONTACTS: Jun Yang, 808 294- 8387 or Bob Nakata – 808 295 1316
Stephen Boykewich, stephen@transportationequity.org, Mob. 718-791-9162
***
Writing down mortgages could create jobs in Hawaii
Pacific Business News
August 18th, 2011
Janis L. Magin
A new report says that Hawaii’s economy could gain nearly 3,300 jobs and get an annual stimulus of $223 million if banks wrote down every underwater mortgage in Hawaii.
A mortgage is underwater if its amount is higher than what a home is currently worth. You could also call it upside down.
Either way, it means that someone is paying more for his or her house than they could sell it for.
Here in Hawaii, there are 22,403 mortgages in that situation, according to the report released by a national campaign called The New Bottom Line, a coalition of community, faith-based and labor groups, including Hawaii’s Faith Action for Community Equity, or FACE Hawaii.
Fannie Mae Skirts Landmark Hawaii Foreclosure Law
Honolulu Civil Beat
June 15th, 2011
By Robert Brown
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae has found a way around what some consider the nation’s strongest foreclosure law.
Fannie, a government controlled mortgage finance company, which operates in the secondary mortgage market, announced this week the company will convert all of its new and pending non-judicial foreclosures in Hawaii to judicial foreclosures effective immediately — essentially allowing them to skirt Hawaii’s new law.
“Our announcement is consistent with Hawaii law and was made in response to recent Hawaii legislation,” Andrew Wilson, a Fannie spokesman told Civil Beat in an email. “The judicial foreclosure process allows homeowners to raise any challenges to the foreclosure in court. Fannie continues to encourage homeowners to reach out as early as possible to their servicers to pursue modifications and other foreclosure prevention solutions.”
In May, Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed Act 48, a measure requiring lenders to meet face-to-face with homeowners for mediation before foreclosing on a property. Additionally, the bill places a moratorium on all new non-judicial foreclosure actions until July 1, 2012, for foreclosures covered under Part 1 of the state statute governing foreclosures, and requires lenders to prove they actually have the authority to foreclose on a property.
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Foreclosures might swamp isle courts
Fannie Mae eschews a quicker, nonjudicial process in response to a new Hawaii law
Honolulu Star Advertiser
June 15th, 2011
By Andrew Gomes
One of the nation’s biggest owners of home mortgages has made a move that could add to an already overburdened Hawaii court system’s caseload.
Fannie Mae, a publicly owned company created and overseen by the federal government, recently instructed companies that handle foreclosures for its loans to file all new Hawaii foreclosures in court.
Fannie Mae also told the firms known as loan servicers to cancel any pending nonjudicial Hawaii foreclosures and restart them in court.
Fannie Mae took the steps in response to Hawaii’s new foreclosure law enacted last month. Critics are concerned Fannie Mae might be attempting to sidestep the main intent of the law, which was to engage mediators to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
The vast majority of residential foreclosures in Hawaii in recent years have been conducted out of court through a nonjudicial process because it was quicker and cheaper than going through court.
The law was changed in part because the nonjudicial foreclosures left borrowers with little opportunity to contest repossessions even in cases where they believed a lender was improperly taking their home.
The new law, Act 48, gives qualified owner-occupants of Hawaii homes the option of having a dispute resolution professional assist with foreclosure mitigation in front of a lender representative before a foreclosure sale can proceed.
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Foreclosure Mediation Information
Do you need FREE, quality help applying for a LOAN MODIFICATION?
Call Hawaiian Community Assets on Maui at 808-760-5100.
On Oahu: 808-587-7886
Are you interested in using the new MANDATORY MEDIATION LAW?
The mediation program is expected to be up and running October 1st, 2011. Until it is, there is a halt to any new foreclosures. A very useful summary of the program, along with options and information for all homeowner situations, is available at:
http://hawaii.gov/dcca/oah/mfdr/mortagage-foreclosure-dispute-resolution-mfdr-program
or
http://tiny.cc/gbgr6
Are you are ALREADY in foreclosure RIGHT NOW?
You may convert from a non-judicial foreclosure to a judicial foreclosure. This will allow you to go before a judge to hear your case BEFORE the foreclosure is allowed to proceed. If you choose to convert, you must complete the conversion by August 15, 2011. You may want a lawyer for this process, or contact the Legal Aid Society. You can get started on your foreclosure conversion petition at:
http://www.courts.state.hi.us/docs/court_rules/pdf/2011_rcp_temp_adopt_ada.pdf
or
http://tiny.cc/zm3gm
Do you feel that your lender has used FRAUD or DECEPTION in the way they pursued your family in foreclosure?
Submit a written complaint to the Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection at:
http://hawaii.gov/dcca/ocp/consumer_complaint/complaint-form-web-2009.pdf
or
http://tiny.cc/27p0j
SA Editorial-Don’t rob TheBus to pay for rail
Honolulu Star Advertiser
May 18th, 2011
Editorial
The city needs to make sure Honolulu is sending the right message about rail financing in the next critical months before federal officials make the final call on Uncle Sam’s share for the project.
And that message should not be: We might need to siphon off money from a popular bus service to make this new project work.
Fortunately, the authorities planning the $5.3 billion rail project have backed away from that message somewhat in its latest financial plan, though not far enough. City officials insist that there’s only a “very low probability” that bus funds would ever be needed. But it has found alternatives to even this fallback option and should promote these as the preferred choice.
The issue raised eyebrows among top Federal Transit Administration officials when they reviewed the original financial plan, first issued about two years ago. In February, FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff called for a more robust plan, underscoring his doubts about a city proposal to tap $300 million in federal funds intended for bus system planning.
“The issue of whether they’ll use federal bus funding, when we see proposals like that we evaluate whether maintaining the very important bus service is viable into the future,” Rogoff said at the time.
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