Barbara Abe, Your Hawaii Kai Realtor

The Department of Education has approved a plan to redraw Hawaii Kai attendance boundaries to boost enrollment at Koko Head Elementary by about 150 students.  The DOE had proposed closing either Koko Head or Kamiloiki.  After public opposition to closing either of the high-performing schools, the DOE suggested redrawing the boundaries ...

After initially intending to close either Kamiloiki or Koko Head Elementary schools, the School Board has proposed to change the Hawaii Kai attendance areas in order to boost enrollment at the 2 schools.  The idea won widespread support at a public meeting of the Board of Education. The plan would redraw boundaries that determine ...

Two of the most home owner-friendly provisions of the new tax law are: Deductions for private mortgage insurance: The agreement extends through 2011 a provision allowing home owners to deduct mortgage insurance premiums. To qualify for the full deduction, homeowners must have an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less. Taxpayers with AGI ...

Getting Hawaii's best teachers and principals to work at the state's lowest-performing schools is a key element of the Race to the Top national contest, designed to lift student achievement.  Nearly $19 million in federal funds, a quarter of the $75 million Hawaii won, will go toward turning around the lowest-achieving schools. The ...

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 ...