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Neal Blaisdell Center Arena.
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The Blaisdell Center complex opened in 1964 as the Honolulu International Center. Like many public buildings, the center has fallen victim to age and deferred maintenance, so now the city has big plans to remodel and upgrade the facility. Lots of ideas are on the table. Among them: enclosing the Blaisdell Arena in glass, a new exhibition hall, a remodeled Concert Hall, and extending Victoria Street to Kapiolani Boulevard. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
These are “preliminary concepts,” so now’s a good time to get in on the ground floor. You can participate in a public workshop at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Blaisdell Center’s Hawaii Suites to see what’s being considered, and to offer your opinions on how your money should be spent.
Low-income earners get a tax break
The state has taken a step toward easing the cost-of-living burden on poor families by enacting — after many years of false starts — the earned income tax credit. Even now, lawmakers are taking care by making EITC non-refundable — meaning that the credit reduces what an individual or household owes in taxes, if any, but does not result in an immediate cash payment. Still, the EITC is long overdue.
Refundable credits have more impact, giving a poor wage earner more spending power and infuses money back into the economy. Still, according to an Internal Revenue Service website on the federal credit, an estimated 21-28 percent of EITC claims are paid in error, whether via fraud or innocent mistake by the filer.
