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There’s always something interesting going on at Honolulu Hale.

Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

City’s Staggered Terms Stay Staggered

5:15 p.m.
The way the city handles terms on the Honolulu City Council will inevitably leave some constituents represented for three full years by a council member that didn’t appear on that voter’s ballot. And it could even leave a council member living outside of his or her redrawn district.

That’s one of the issues the Council Reapportionment Commission might be have to think about as it redraws the lines.

Council terms are , with some ending after the 2012 election and some two years after that.

In most years, that’s essentially the same set-up as the Hawaii Senate, which also has staggered four-year terms. But while all Senate terms are going to end to make use of new district boundaries for the 2012 election, the city doesn’t end terms early. If a member’s term is scheduled to end after the 2014 election, that seat won’t come up for a vote simply because the district changes with redistricting.

Asked by a commissioner if maintaining those “holdover” districts can be a consideration, Deputy Corporation Counsel Krishna Jayaram said he’d look into the issue and report back.

Pow-Wow Just An Update

5:06 p.m.
Two attendees of the rail gathering at Honolulu Hale today said there’s nothing afoot.

Jeanne Mariani-Belding, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, said in an email that HART was merely giving folks an update on the project.

“As you know, we’re always happy to provide project updates. In fact, we’ve participated in more than 1,000 briefings, presentations and workshops since the project began,” she said. “I also read your speculation about the ad, and the ad was not part of our discussion. HART is not forming any advocacy group or committee.”

Maeda Timson said Go Rail Go requested the meeting “to stay informed and pass on to our communities.”

“As you know, we are excited about how rail is moving forward and community folks ask us questions often about rail,” she emailed. “As I told Civil Beat a month ago we would be stepping up our advocacy as the project moved along.”

Does Military Count: City Edition

4:45 p.m.
It feels like just yesterday that the state’s Reapportionment Commission was wrestling with whether to count non-resident military, college students and felons. That was Tuesday afternoon, and about 24 hours later the city’s own Council Reapportionment Commission started its version of the debate.

Commissioners Kerry Komatsubara and Tito Montes broached the subject, and Deputy Corporation Counsel Krishna Jayaram told him that the city’s panel is not bound by the state’s decision to include everybody. Jayaram said that the basic, unamended Census count would be the “safest from a litigation standpoint” but that the commission could make a policy call to remove certain subsets.

Because the population base is the first thing that needs to be decided before any districts can be drawn, the matter will likely be added to the commission’s next meeting.

Rail Pow-Wow at the Hale

3:03 p.m.
A who’s who of rail proponents has been streaming down from the third floor of Honolulu Hale.

First there was Doug Carlson, a communications consultant for the project. Then came Carrie Okinaga, former corporation counsel and new chair of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board. Rail chief Toru Hamayasu came down, and vocal rail supporter Hannah Miyamoto was seen on the third floor. There may be others that have yet to descend.

UPDATE: Maeda Timson, president of Go Rail Go, and Jeanne Mariani-Belding from HART also came down from the third floor.

It’s not clear if all were in the same meeting or if there’s anything brewing. But it’s possible the project’s loudest proponents are mustering a response to the full-page anti-rail advertisement in the Star-Advertiser this morning (see below).

They’re Talking About Us In Dallas

2:46 p.m.
The rail project is obviously big news here in Honolulu. Apparently, folks in Dallas think it’s interesting, too.

On Monday, Dallas Morning News Assistant Editorial Page Editor Mike Hashimoto penned a column criticizing the proposed Honolulu transit system. Titled “,” the column pointed to and borrowed liberally from Panos Prevedouros‘ recent .

Hashimoto — described (perhaps jokingly) in his as accustomed to being “the only right-wing nut in the room” — said he spent 3rd through 7th grade in Hawaii and never felt the need for train in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Berg Stands By His Man

2:35 p.m.
Republican operative and City Council District 1 Chief of Staff Eric Ryan seems to be escalating his electronic battle with state Rep. Kym Pine.

Council member Tom Berg, Ryan’s boss, just told Inside Honolulu that he’s going to stay out of it, providing the following statement via email:

I do not meddle in the affairs of employees’ personal financial squabbles with third parties and encourage disputes be resolved with mediation or small claims court if necessary. I am not of party to the dispute nor is it applicable to the work at hand I am trying to accomplish for the district and county. I cannot comment on the dispute because I am not involved in this dispute and it does not involve in any way our office at City Hall. The discourse exhibited by both parties in this grievance is not of party to our duties and obligations at City Hall and is a personal conflict between two Ewa Beach residents.

Laie Developer Resigns at Gov’s Request

11:12 a.m.
Elsewhere on Civil Beat this morning is the news that Eric Beaver will step down from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority at the request of Gov. Neil Abercrombie.

Beaver is President and CEO of Hawaii Reserves Inc., the development arm of the Mormon church that is proposing the controversial Envision Laie plan and Marriott hotel in Koolau Loa.

You can read our previous coverage of Laie issues:

• Fight Over Future of Koolau Loa
• Aching for Development, Laie Has Hawaii’s Highest Household Size
• Who Paid for Poll Showing Support for Development?
• Laie Hotel Advances, But Flooding Still A Concern

About Those HART Offices…

11 a.m.
Last week, the conservative Hawaii Reporter website broke the news that the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is spending a cool on office space per year. (We pointed you it to on July 7.)

On Monday, Hawaii News Now did some long division, that the rent comes to more than $100,000 per month. They also talked to “council members” — only Tom Berg appeared on camera — about the HART costs.

So is there anything to this story? In a blog post titled “” Doug Carlson — a paid consultant of the rail project — pointed out that the city’s Rapid Transit Division had been in that space for years before HART existed.

Rail Opponents Pay for Ink

If too much of the news about rail has been positive recently, what are opponents to do if they want to reach the public?

They can pay for advertising, as they did in today’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The plaintiffs in the environmental lawsuit against the city arranged for the spot, and one of them, Cliff Slater, provided it to Inside Honolulu. Here’s what it looks like:

It includes five reasons to oppose the project and also requests monetary donations to the Small Business Hawaii fund that’s paying for the suit.

Where’s Carlisle?

At 10 a.m. this morning, Mayor Peter Carlisle will deliver remarks at a blessing ceremony for the Villages of Moae Ku housing development, behind the Ewa Elementary School and Immaculate Conception Church, according to his public schedule.

On Tap for Today

At 4 p.m. today, the Honolulu City Council redistricting panel will hold its second meeting. Here’s .

At 6 p.m., the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is hosting a on preliminary engineering activities taking place along Farrington Highway. Kiewit, a major contractor, will be co-hosting.

Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu

July 12: (Unnamed) City Official Violated Ethics Code; Ethics Questions Up From Last Year; Prosecutor Kaneshiro Target of Ethics Complaint; Elsewhere on Civil Beat; Carlisle Quiet Today.

July 11: Transparency Site Getting Stale; Hoopili Hearing Set for September; Fire Commission Meeting Today; Carlisle’s Early Start.

July 8: Rail Appeals Opened to Public; Carlisle’s Public Sked; Ethics Panel To Decide on Violations Tuesday; Smoke on the (Waste) Water; Three Oahu Projects in Environmental Notice; County Governments Gather in Honolulu; General Plan Process Under Way.

July 7: T-Minus One Hour to General Plan Meeting; Rail Contractor Protest Closed To Public; What to Read This Morning.

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.