BUSINESS BRIEFS
Vacation rental fines up 143 percent
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Fines for illegal rentals to vacationers on O'ahu have soared 143 percent this year after the city hiked its daily fine and received more complaints about the noise and traffic from tourists vacationing in their neighborhoods.
This year, the city has fined 19 property owners a total of $429,000 for renting properties for less than 30 days without the proper permits.
Last year, only five people were fined a total of $3,000, according to the city's Department of Planning and Permitting.
Many owners of illegal vacation rentals advertise their homes on the Internet to potential visitors from the Mainland, said Michael Friedel, code compliance chief for the city.
NEW WIND FARM ON LINE IN HAWI
The Hawai'i Electric Light Co. announced that a third wind farm has been brought on line to help provide power for the Big Island.
The new Hawi Renewable Development wind farm in North Kohala is capable of generating up to 10.56 megawatts of electricity for the island's power grid, enough to meet the needs of more than 1,200 homes, HELCO said.
The $16 million wind farm at Upolu Point consists of 16 turbines standing 200 feet tall.
HELCO already operates the Lalamilo wind farm and buys electricity from a private wind farm at South Point.
The Big Island is getting more than 22 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources, the company said.
FOREIGN TRADE DEFICIT DECLINES
WASHINGTON — The deficit in the broadest measure of foreign trade narrowed sharply in the first three months of this year after setting an all-time high at the end of 2005.
America's current-account trade deficit fell to $208.7 billion in the January-March quarter, down 6.5 percent from a record $223.1 billion deficit set in the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.
The improvement exceeded expectations although it still left the quarterly deficit at the second highest level on record and the equivalent of 6.4 percent of the total U.S. economy — down from 7 percent in the fourth quarter.
FORD TO UPGRADE MEXICAN PLANTS
DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor Co., seeking to clear up confusion about its future in Mexico, announced plans yesterday to invest in plants in that country as part of the company's North American turnaround effort.
Ford said it will upgrade Ford of Mexico's two existing assembly plants in Cuautitlan and Hermosillo and its engine plant in Chihuahua.
Details will be announced during the next several years as the improvements take place.
