Barbara Abe, Your Hawaii Kai Realtor

The Makeke o Maunalua Farmers' Market has a new name, but its mission remains to serve as the weekly community social for East Oahu residents to support local farmers.  Opened a month ago in the parking lot of Kaiser High, it is now called the Hawaii Kai Farmers Market and has a definite community focus.In addition to fruits and ...

Private schools in the Islands are feeling the economic pinch just as are public schools.  Unfortunately, Holy Trinity School, in Kuli'ou'ou, just a minute from the boundary of Hawaii Kai, will close June 7.  The school has tried for years unsuccessfully to make ends meet, after being an institution in our part of the island ...

Organized by Malama Maunalua, a community group dedicated to the conservation and restoration of the part of Oahu stretching, mauka and makai, from Black Point in Kahala to Koko Head in Hawaii Kai, students are removing destructive invasive plants - leather mudweed - from Maunalua Bay. “When you walk around out here, you see it’s ...

Residents and many who follow the news of Hawaii can't have missed learning of the state's budget woes, manifested in teacher furloughs and state library cut backs. I'm pleased to write that our Honolulu Board of Realtors has given a $10,000 grant to the Friends of the Library of Hawai'i in an effort to keep local libraries ...

Pierre Omidyar, eBay founder and Kahala resident and philanthropist, is planning to launch a local online news service, focused on public interest and civic issues affecting Hawaii's communities. The venture, scheduled to go live early next year, will present original, in-depth reporting and analysis of local issues in Hawaii.  The news ...

With the City Council's passage Tuesday of Bill 09-51, owners of property on O'ahu who don't live on their land — including most residential and commercial landlords — are probably in for some major tax hikes. Those increases, the critics say, will be passed on to everyone. Deputy Budget Director Mark Oto said it's ...

About a dozen farmers lease 87 acres of ag land from Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate in the back of the Kamilo Nui Valley.   The valley is the largest and last parcel of open, undeveloped land in east Honolulu, and the lush productive region also serves as a watershed area to control flood waters coming down the valley to ...

A developer is trying to proceed with a long-delayed condominium project in Hawai'i Kai, Hale Alii, but an affordable housing contribution has yet to be negotiated with the city, and some cultural preservationists claim that ancient Hawaiian artifacts on the site are in danger of being destroyed.  Hale Alii Development LLC hopes to break ...

You've read in my blogs previously about the strong opposition in Hawaii Kai to the shark tours proposed earlier this year in Maunalua Bay.  After hearings around the island, with many residents opposed to any shark tours anywhere, the Honolulu City Council introduced a bill to ban shark tour operations.  Bill 67 calls for ...

While the city says it is installing 179 new street lights to replace 59 lights along Lunalilo Home Road, both to upgrade an aging street lighting system, as well as for safety reasons, the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board has asked that the project be halted until officials could explain why so many lights are needed. Collins Lam, deputy director ...