O'ahu Population Is On The Rise...Slowly

According to a new study just out, the island of O'ahu will add nearly 33,000 people by 2025, with forecasts based on U.S. Census Bureau population data. I'm hoping that I am included in that number!

The projected growth rate of Honolulu and surrounding suburbs ranks 201 among 250 U.S. metropolitan areas studied by bizjournals.

Honolulu is expected to grow 3.6% from its 2005 population of 899,673 to a 2025 population of 932,587, an increase of 32,914 residents, according to the report.

What's also interesting - The Big Island is expected to grow even faster. The Hilo area ranked 37 out of 250 U.S. metro cities with a projected growth rate of 43% by 2025. The Big Island is expected to grow from 164,462 residents in 2005 to 235,367 in 2025.

To read more about this study and to see where your city ranks in population growth, visit the bizjournals website.

The Bento Box

The Honolulu Advertiser has this really cute comic in the paper and online every Saturday called Bento Box. It is written by Deb Aoki and I just love it. I have put the May 9 edition of the comic on my blog to give you an example, and this one is very relevant to me as it relates to Ala Moana Center and the constant changes that take place there! Thanks to the Advertiser for the comic. Its a little hard to see on the screen so click on the picture to enlarge if you can't read the full text.

Want to be Happy - Go Live in Hawaii

Great article out today listing the top US States in a poll that rated such variables as mental, physical and economic health. Hawaii came in at number 2 on the list, with West Virginia claiming the 50th spot. Read the full article here. What can I say, except that I think Hawaii should really be in the top spot! With a landscape and lifestyle like this, what's not to like?

My Love Affair with RSS Feeds

I have known about RSS feeds for some time now, but I really haven't been using them as much as I should. RSS, or real simple syndication, is a web feed that automatically generates updated content and sends it to you as it happens. This is great when you don't have time to go to all your favorite websites and sift through everything, which is what I had been doing for too long. I am starting to add my favorite and most relevant websites to my list of RSS feeds at work now (I also have a separate list for personal sites), so that I can keep in touch with what's going on in Hawaii. Most recently I added the feed for Pacific Business News (Honolulu), so I am getting all the latest business headlines delivered straight to my inbox. A lot has happened in Hawaii this week so here are my top 5 news stories for for the week, from the Pacific Business News RSS Feed:

1. Hotel room rates in Hawaii plunged 12.5 percent to average $180 a night for the week ending Feb. 28.

2. The NFL Pro Bowl will return to Honolulu in 2011 and 2012.

3. Target’s first two Hawaii stores opened Wednesday.

4. The recently formed Hawaii Tourism Association has changed its acronym to reduce confusion with another HTA, the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

5. Only half as many condominiums sold on Oahu in February compared to a year ago, and the number of single-family home sales fell by a fifth.