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UPDATED Friday 7/8/2011 11:51 a.m.

It’s a short week, and the full Honolulu City Council met yesterday, but there’s always something interesting going on at Honolulu Hale.

Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

T-Minus One Hour to General Plan Meeting

5:05 p.m.
If you care what Oahu will look like decades from now, your chance to weigh in on that future starts tonight.

At 6 p.m., the City and County of Honolulu will host a community meeting at the Mission Memorial Auditorium where it will roll out its update process.

Inside Honolulu will be there. Will you?

Rail Contractor Protest Closed To Public

4:50 p.m.
The protests of two losing rail bidders go before an independent hearings officer tomorrow, but you can’t be there.

Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs spokeswoman Cathy Yasuda says the pre-hearing conference scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday is closed to the public. She pointed to of the Hawaii Administrative Rules, which governs procurement issues and says, among other things:

No persons other than the hearings officer, the person requesting the hearing, representatives of the concerned state agency, legal counsel, witnesses, and persons called by the hearings officer to assist the hearings officer in reviewing a request for hearing, shall be present during any hearing or other proceedings conducted by the hearings officer, except with the permission of the hearings officer.

The hearings officer will decide Friday on process questions, and there are lots of them. The main hearing is currently scheduled for Monday, July 18, but that might be changed because Sumitomo and Bombardier have thus far refused to have their cases combined into one, according to Yasuda.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Sumitomo has asked to be an intervener in Bombardier’s case and is also arguing that the protests don’t have to abide by the 45-day rule. Winning rail bidder Ansaldo is objecting to that argument.¹ Due to the complexity of the matter, the state is going to look into whether it should hire a court reporter to keep track of all the testimony and exhibits.

We’ll ask to be allowed to attend future hearings, and will report on the results of tomorrow’s conference when we find out what happens.

What to Read This Morning

10:09 a.m.
There’s lots of good Honolulu news from a variety of local sources today. Here’s what Inside Honolulu is reading:

• Rail project officials meet with Kakaako residents about pre-construction noise ()
• City Rents Downtown Office Space for Rail at $1.4 Million a Year ()
• Man’s dying wish was Waikiki park for kids ()
• Roses By Other Names? Chair Retitles Committees (Civil Beat)

Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu

July 6: Oh Godbey, New City Lawyer in the House; Derailed: Tom Berg Q&A; Steinberger Slams ‘Anti-Synagro’ Resolution; Ag Land Property Tax Bill Heads Back to Committee; New Chair, New Seats; Council Gathers Early to Fete Honorees; Martin, Anderson Ink Op-Ed.

July 5: New State Law Protects County Firefighters, Lifeguards; Federal Highways Rep: City and State Need to Play Nice; Leeward Politicians Push for Bikeway; State Officials in the Hale for Transportation; Ernie Martin’s First Agenda as Chair; No Crime Stats for HPD.

July 1: City Parade to Cost $20K; Furloughs Are Over, Pay Is Up; No Laie Decision At Next Council Meeting; Housing Office Open For Business; HART Kicks Off New Era for Honolulu Rail; Happy New Year!; Martin Tabs Kobayashi as Budget Chair.