Now, try to tame ‘monster houses’

Bill 79, the crackdown on “monster houses,” is now an ordinance without the mayor’s signature; the unanimous 9-0 vote from the City Council made it veto-proof. It’s undeniably a good move by the city’s policymakers to keep single-family homes from morphing into unofficial apartment buildings and swamping streets and utilities.

But can the Department of Planning and Permitting, where permits tend to bog down, manage the new rules? We’ll see if the building industry is justifiably worried.

Modern times bring timeshare, layoffs

Layoff plans were announced last week for nearly 80 employees at The Modern Honolulu — about 30 percent of the full-service staff — as Las Vegas-based Diamond Resorts, which bought hotel in April 2018, intends to convert the property into a timeshare resort. Given the industry trend to step up automation and lower labor costs, such plans are not all that surprising. In response, Local 5, representing workers at the hotel, has filed unfair federal labor charges, asserting the union had not been adequately informed of the layoffs.

Here’s hoping for resolution without a picket line.