4. TRUSTEE ROWENA AKANA
December 2012 Ka Wai Ola Column
Aloha, Trustee Donald Cataluna
It is with great trepidation that I bid a fond Aloha to my friend and
fellow trustee Donald Cataluna, who has been a strong voice for his
beneficiaries on the islands of Kauai and Niihau for many years.
Don is known for his passion for protecting native rights and his deep
compassion for our beneficiaries in need. He is credited with stopping
NASA from constructing a massive building alongside their telescopes on
sacred Mauna Kea and saving the Salt Ponds in Lihue as well as many
other projects.
Don has been a true leader whose main focus has been to protect
our trust assets while working tirelessly in our beneficiaries’ best interest.
I will miss him.
OHA Election
My congratulations go out to Dan Ahuna, our newly elected Trustee
for the islands of Kauai and Niihau and to Maui Trustee Carmen “Hulu”
Lindsey, Hawaii Island Trustee Robert K. Lindsey Jr., and Molokai & Lanai
Trustee Colette Machado, on their re-election. I look forward to working
with all of them over the next two years to better the conditions of Native
Hawaiians.
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5. OHA’s “money pit” now at $28,128,000.00 and growing
When the Board of Trustees authorized the purchase of the Gentry
Pacific Design Center this past summer for $21,370,000.00, I was one of
several Trustees with serious concerns about the purchase. There were
just too many “unknowns” about the property and I personally felt very
uncomfortable with the purchase. For example:
• The Gentry Pacific Design Center is 80-years-old and its electrical
system is outdated;
• The enormous cost and resulting disruption of relocating OHA staff to
the Design Center; and
• The cost of changing the Design Center into an office building.
As I feared the costs associated with the Gentry Pacific Design
Center, which is now referred to as the “Corporate Office Building” or
“COB” are skyrocketing to nearly $30 million.
On November 1, 2012, the Board of Trustees authorized nearly $7,000,000
in expenditures:
(1) Up to $663,000.00 in essential costs relating to:
a. Tenant Improvement Allowances – $400,000/year for up to
20,000 of the leasable square footage which will be leased or
renewed through June 30, 2013; and
b. Immediate Due Diligence Projects – $263,000, including the
replacement of a 23-year-old fire alarm system ($100,000)
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6. (2) Up to $6,095,000.00 in design and construction and non-OHA tenant
relocation costs relating to OHA’s relocation to COB; and
(3) “Secondary Repairs” – It should be noted that OHA still has to pay for
repairs totaling an estimated $404,000 beginning in year three,
mainly to repaint the building exterior ($110,000) and to replace the
single-ply roofing membrane ($250,000).
As I have said before, it makes absolutely no sense that OHA is
spending a great deal of money to purchase and renovate an 80-year-old
Design Center full of existing tenants instead of using the $28,128,000 to
build a brand new state-of-the-art office building on land we already own.
My preferred location for a new OHA Headquarters is on the Kakaako
Makai settlement properties that we recently received from the State. The
Kakaako waterfront is an excellent place for economic development and a
permanent home for OHA’s headquarters.
Is anyone listening? If you are interested in why OHA would spend
all this money on an old building that was not for sale, please call
(594-1857) or write to Trustee Oswald Stender.
Have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Interested in Hawaiian issues & OHA? Please visit my website at
www.rowenaakana.org for more information or e-mail me at rowenaa@oha.org.
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7. TRUSTEE ROWENA AKANA
December 2012 Ka Wai Ola Column – PRINTED (Edited) VERSION
Aloha, Trustee Donald Cataluna
It is with great trepidation that I bid a fond Aloha to my friend and
fellow trustee Donald Cataluna, who has been a strong voice for his
beneficiaries on the islands of Kauai and Niihau for many years.
Don is known for his passion for protecting native rights and his deep
compassion for our beneficiaries in need. He is credited with stopping
NASA from constructing a massive building alongside their telescopes on
sacred Mauna Kea and saving the Salt Ponds in Lihue as well as many
other projects.
Don has been a true leader whose main focus has been to protect
our trust assets while working tirelessly in our beneficiaries’ best interest.
I will miss him.
OHA Election
My congratulations go out to Dan Ahuna, our newly elected Trustee
for the islands of Kauai and Niihau and to Maui Trustee Carmen “Hulu”
Lindsey, Hawaii Island Trustee Robert K. Lindsey Jr., and Molokai & Lanai
Trustee Colette Machado, on their re-election. I look forward to working
with all of them over the next two years to better the conditions of Native
Hawaiians.
Page 1 of 3

8. I am optimistic about the future. With the election of two new
trustees, Dan Ahuna and Hulu Lindsey to the OHA board, I am hopeful that
our board will look to the future and not the past. I will be progressive in
their future decision making.
Have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Interested in Hawaiian issues & OHA? Please visit my website at
www.rowenaakana.org for more information or e-mail me at rowenaa@oha.org.
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