APEC 2011 Hawaii — LIVE BLOG ARCHIVE – Nov. 7
Editor’s note: Civil Beat is live blogging APEC 24/7. This is an archive of the blog’s first day, Monday Nov. 7. Click here to read the live blog.
Monday was a hectic day, from a press conference at Honolulu Hale at 6:15 a.m. to the arrests of 22 protesters at Iolani Palace.
Posted by on at 8:15PM HST (14 seconds ago)
The Associated Press is in Honolulu.
Posted by on at 7:42PM HST (33 minutes ago)
Honolulu police are arresting about 20 protesters who refused to leave the palace grounds when asked.
Posted by on at 6:59PM HST (1 hour ago)
FBI and Honolulu Police Department officers removed a suspicious package from the University of Hawaii at Manoa near the biomedical sciences building.
The safe removal came about an hour and a half after authorities shut down the intersection of Maile Way and East-West Road. J. Martin, an officer with HPD, told Civil Beat that the FBI had to get involved in helping assess the risk of the package.
Read a complete story about the bomb scare.
— Katherine Poythress
Posted by on at 6:37PM HST (1 hour ago)
A group of protesters is outside Iolani Palace Monday night. It appears that they’re headed to a showdown with Honolulu police and Department of Land and Natural Resources security officials. The state has decided to close Iolani Palace for the entire APEC conference, until Nov. 15.
Posted by on at 6:07PM HST (17 minutes ago)
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra canceled a plan to attend an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group meeting later this week because of the nation’s flood crisis.
Posted by on at 5:51PM HST (33 minutes ago)
Don’t be fooled by a clever copycat tweets and web postings.
The Twitter handle, , closely resembles the real one, . The website URLs are also deceitfully similar: (fake) and (real).
Whoever is behind the fake Twitter account and site appears to be having fun with it. The website is modeled after the real one, but the posts — which riff off of real events happening on the ground here — are satirical. Its latest “press release” satirizes the Waikiki shooting.
Read the full story.
—Katherine Poythress
Posted by on at 5:47PM HST (38 minutes ago)
Police and DLNR security have rolled up to Iolani Palace and the protesters have been told that they’ll be arrested if they stay on the palace grounds. There are about two dozen protesters there who say they’re not leaving.
The protesters are with a Native Hawaiian sovereignty group who say the U.S. doesn’t have the right to host APEC here this week.
— Nanea Kalani
Posted by on at 5:37PM HST (47 minutes ago)
Honolulu police officers are checking out four suspicious packages at UH Manoa.
About 15 police officers, two SWAT cars, six other marked and unmarked police cars and two fire trucks have gathered at the intersection of Maile Way and East-West Road.
A band of police officers on bicycles have just arrived, too.
They’re investigating the packages, officials say. They shut down the road 15 minutes ago and say it may be another 45 minutes.
There are about a dozen spectators gathered around. A lot of people can’t get to their cars, which are caught in a lot behind the security zone.
— Katherine Poythress
Posted by on at 5:30PM HST (55 minutes ago)
Tweeted by
Posted by on at 5:22PM HST (1 hour ago)
So much for showing off Hawaii’s historical treasures during APEC.
The state is locking the gates at ‘Iolani Palace, closing the grounds to the public for a week “for the protection of the area and for the safety and welfare of persons and property,” according to a statement by the Hawaii Attorney General. The palace grounds will be closed today at 5 p.m. and will not reopen until Nov. 15 at 6 a.m.
“This is part of the state’s effort to secure and protect several critical state areas during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit,” according the attorney general.
The AG isn’t saying so explicitly, but it’s a fair assumption that the closure was prompted by today’s APEC-related protest at Iolani Palace by a Hawaiian Sovereignty Group.
The AG’s release alludes to “people currently on the palace grounds” who will be allowed to “remove their possessions and leave the premises. State personnel will be available to assist as necessary.”
Read the full story.
— Sara Lin
Posted by on at 4:44PM HST (1 hour ago)
Civil Beat community host Dan Zelikman talks about how the Waikiki shooting death of a 23-year-old Kailua man makes him feel about APEC. Accused of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Kollin Elderts is Christopher Reedy, 27, a State Department special agent with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security here for APEC.
Posted by on at 3:48PM HST (2 hours ago)
Sen. Daniel K. Inouye is asking Honolulu to be “respectful and considerate” this week after the shooting death of a Kailua man by a federal agent who is in town for APEC. He issued the following statement this afternoon:
“I recently learned of the tragic passing of Kollin Elderts. My thoughts and prayers are with his family during this sad and difficult time. I am confident that the Honolulu Police Department will handle this matter properly to ensure that justice is served, and that our community will be respectful and considerate of both the Elderts family and the national and international spotlight which is upon our beloved Hawaii this week.”
—Sara Lin
Posted by on at 1:25PM HST (5 hours ago)
Looks like that gas leak in Waikiki has been fixed.
HPD sent out an saying Beachwalk Lane is now open.
Posted by on at 12:11PM HST (6 hours ago)
From the we-need-this-like-a-hole-in-the-head files, a Waikiki street is closed due to a “possible small gas leak.”
The Honolulu Police Department just put outabout the closure, which covers the section of Beachwalk Lane between Kalakaua Avenue and Kalia Road.
The Gas Company is checking it out.
— Michael Levine
Posted by on at 11:25AM HST (7 hours ago)
Officials from other Hawaii counties are at the Hawaii Convention Center trying to drum up business.
Oahu terms itself “Hawaii’s Economic Hub.” The Big Island was offering free samples of coffee and macadamia nuts. Kauai was represented by Mayor Bernard Carvalho and others, who said they’re hoping to use APEC to promote tourism on the Garden Isle.
Kauai Office of Economic Development Director George Costa said he tried to start sending invitations and care packages to foreign delegates a year ago, but was told by the U.S. State Department that it couldn’t share the list of invitees because of security concerns.
Costa said the plan is now to meet delegates face-to-face this week in Honolulu and provide them packages put together by the Kauai Chamber of Commerce and businesses in the Kauai visitor industry. If they enjoy their time on Kauai, the thinking goes, those delegates will go back and tell their countrymen about it.
Even if that’s a hit-and-miss proposition, Costa said Kauai is already benefiting from APEC. Visitors who either couldn’t get a hotel this week in Waikiki or were warned to stay away are instead venturing out to the neighbor islands. Costa said occupancy rates are up this week on Kauai.
— Michael Levine
Posted by on at 11:23AM HST (7 hours ago)
It’s only Monday morning and the Hawaii Convention Center is already packed with newsmakers — albeit all of them local.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Mayor Peter Carlisle and the largest collection of state lawmakers in one place since the end of the legislative session. They were hanging out on the first floor, taking in all the exhibits conference attendees will get to enjoy this week and beyond.
Each county had its own promotional booth, and technology entrepreneurs capitalized on the all the hubbub to grab some attention.
Science, Engineering Exposition — innovative Technologies, better known as SEE-IT, unveiled its 12,000-square-foot exhibit that features 19 local organizations. There were clean energy companies, engineering and robotics educators and more.
SEE-IT will be in that space for 16 months, but some folks are more transient. APEC gets rolling Tuesday and wraps up Sunday.
— Michael Levine
Posted by on at 11:18AM HST (7 hours ago)
About two dozen people associated with Aupuni O Ko Hawaii Pae Aina/Hawaiian Kingdom Government camped out on Iolani Palace grounds Sunday night.
But the palace opened for normal visiting hours Monday morning.
The group’s elected “head of state,” Mo’i Wahine Mahealani, said it was an unplanned campout that followed a social meeting of about 70 people earlier in the day.
“We took our heirs and we enjoyed a camp out on our seat of government land — because it belongs to us,” she told Civil Beat Monday morning. “There was no protest.”
She said the group had placed bicycle locks on the 15 gates surrounding the palace grounds around 11 p.m. Sunday for the safety of young children and elderly kupuna.
Sixty cease-and-desist letters were sent to Hawaii state and Honolulu city government officials and departments last week, she said, including the governor, mayor and Honolulu Police Department. A letter also was sent to the nonprofit Friends of Iolani Palace, which operates the palace.
Letters also were sent to the 21 member nations of the APEC conference meeting in Hawaii this week.
“Are we in agreement of this APEC? Absolutely not,” Mahealani said. “They are breaking international law — you’re on sovereign land.”
She said the group will be there again Tuesday.
—Nanea Kalani
Posted by on at 11:01AM HST (7 hours ago)
APEC week has barely begun, and China is already criticizing U.S. goals for the conference.
Days before President Hu Jintao heads to Hawaii for the international summit, a Chinese foreign minister told reporters on Monday that U.S. goals of establishing regional free trade and an environmental policy at the APEC summit are useful — but too ambitious for some developing nations.
Hu is set to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama at the summit. The United States hopes to persuade China and other APEC countries to agree on a deal to lower tariffs on environmental goods, such as wind turbines and solar panels.
Read the complete story at .
Posted by on at 10:39AM HST (7 hours ago)
The contra-flow lanes on Kapiolani Boulevard will be discontinued beginning this afternoon. They’ll be up again in time for the Monday morning commute on Nov.14, according to the City Department of Transportation.
City officials say it’s best to avoid Kapiolani Boulevard while APEC is going on.
Posted by on at 9:30AM HST (9 hours ago)
Civil Beat’s Washington, D.C., reporter Adrienne LaFrance confirmed this morning that the special U.S. State Department agent charged in the shooting death of a Kailua man at a Waikiki McDonald’s was in Honolulu for APEC.
Read the complete story.
Posted by on at 9:25AM HST (9 hours ago)
Occupy Honolulu protester on Sunday night sends a message in chalk to APEC delegates on the sidewalk outside the Hawaii Convention Center.
Read an article with a slideshow about Day 2 of Occupy Honolulu.
Posted by on at 9:21AM HST (9 hours ago)
Mayor Peter Carlisle called the shooting this weekend in Waikiki in which a 23-year-old Honolulu man died and a federal agent was arrested for his murder “unfortunate.”
Asked if the shooting mars the start of APEC, Carlisle said, “It’s unfortunate this occurred, not just because of APEC’s presence but because it occurred at all.”
He referred questions about the shooting to the Honolulu Police Department and the prosecutor’s office, saying it’s an ongoing investigation.
Carlisle also deferred questions about the Occupy Honolulu arrests this weekend at Thomas Square.
“That’s a police function and we’re updated on what’s going on,” Carlisle said, adding that he concurs with the police that safety is a main concern.
“They have the authority to enforce the police powers of the state and the City and County,” he said when asked if HPD needs his approval before making mass arrests.
After the press conference, Carlisle told Civil Beat that he knows from his experience as the city’s prosecutor that the police and prosecutor don’t like when the mayor gets involved in law enforcement operations. But he acknowledged that APEC and political protests specifically pose a unique situation.
—Michael Levine
Posted by on at 7:19AM HST (11 hours ago)
With APEC week now officially under way, the city is reminding residents of changes in their daily routines.
At an early morning press conference at Honolulu Hale, Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka and Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger joined Managing Director Doug Chin and Mayor Peter Carlisle in laying out plans for this week.
The plans haven’t changed, but the officials said they wanted to reiterate them for those citizens who haven’t been paying close attention. Yoshioka focused on the closures and limits over the next few days — particularly near the Hawaii Convention Center — that might affect residents’ commutes. The closures will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
“Please have patience and drive with aloha,” he said.
Steinberger said bulky item pickup will be suspended in Waikiki on Saturday, and that the landfill will be closed Sunday. He raised the possibility of moving 6 a.m. trash pickup to 4:30 a.m. should traffic make that necessary. But he said his department will put out an announcement if that decision is made later this week.
The city will hold another briefing at 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, according to spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy.
—Michael Levine
Posted by on at 7:16AM HST (11 hours ago)
With APEC week now officially under way, the city is reminding residents of changes in their daily routines.
At an early morning press conference at Honolulu Hale, Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka and Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger joined Managing Director Doug Chin and Mayor Peter Carlisle in laying out plans for this week.
The plans haven’t changed, but the officials said they wanted to reiterate them for those citizens who haven’t been paying close attention. Yoshioka focused on the closures and limits over the next few days — particularly near the Hawaii Convention Center — that might affect residents’ commutes. The closures will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
“Please have patience and drive with aloha,” he said.
Steinberger said bulky item pickup will be suspended in Waikiki on Saturday, and that the landfill will be closed Sunday. He raised the possibility of moving 6 a.m. trash pickup to 4:30 a.m. should traffic make that necessary. But he said his department will put out an announcement if that decision is made later this week.
The city will hold another briefing at 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, according to spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy.
—Michael Levine
Posted by on at 7:16AM HST (11 hours ago)
Posted by on at 5:28PM HST (1 day ago)
