Inside Honolulu: July 19
There’s always something interesting going on at Honolulu Hale.
Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.
Koa Ridge Hits a Roadblock
5:56 p.m.
The Sierra Club scored a major victory on Tuesday against Castle and Cooke‘s plans to develop 5,000 homes between Waipio and Mililani.
A Circuit Court judge that the Koa Ridge project’s approval in October by the state Land Use Commission was invalid.
City Pleased With DCCA Decision
5:30 p.m.
Representatives for losing bidder Bombardier and winning bidder Ansaldo were mum after the decision this morning at the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
The city was more than happy to take a small victory lap, even with another battle on the docket for tomorrow.
In a press release put out late this afternoon, titled “CITY PREVAILS IN STATE REVIEW OF BID PROTEST,” Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation chief Toru Hamayasu said HART is “pleased” with the ruling.
鈥淚t reinforces the fact that our procurement process was done properly and in accordance with state law,鈥 he said.
Landfill Site Search Expands
2:34 p.m.
Rather than narrowing down its search, the group tasked with picking a location for a new Oahu landfill is broadening it.
That’s the scoop from this morning’s meeting of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Landfill Site Selection. Read Sophie Cocke‘s story for the details.
Fact-Finding Rail Trips Cost $11,000
2:24 p.m.
Back in April, two members of the Honolulu City Council and their aides jetted off to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Copenhagen on a fact-finding mission to delve into the work of design-build-operate-maintain contract awardee Ansaldo. The tab for taxpayers: $11,000.
The expenditure reports are now on the city’s website, on the final page of each of the four documents linked below. Here are the totals, which include airfare, hotel and meals:
- Council member Ernie Martin (San Francisco, Los Angeles) 鈥
- Martin senior advisor Kimberly Rebellia (San Francisco, Los Angeles) 鈥
- Council member Breene Harimoto (San Francisco, Copenhagen) 鈥
- Harimoto senior advisor Frank Streed (San Francisco, Copenhagen) 鈥
Combine the four and the total is $11,112.54. Considering the report filed by Martin and Harimoto revealed little about Ansaldo’s problems, is that a good use of city resources?
State Denies Bombardier Appeal
12:16 p.m.
Bombardier‘s day in court turned out to be a short one. The would-be rail contractor’s appeal was quickly thrown out by the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs hearings officer Tuesday morning.
The ruling from David Karlen won’t be official until it’s written and filed, but he told the parties after about two hours of argument that Bombardier didn’t heed warnings that it would be disqualified for being nonresponsive.
Karlen denied Bombardier’s motion for summary judgment and granted motions from both the city and from winning rail bidder Ansaldo. That means there won’t be any further hearings, unless Bombardier decides to take the matter to circuit court.
Tomorrow, Sumitomo starts its appeals process.
Full story coming soon.
Open That Kimono
From elsewhere on Civil Beat this morning, neither ORI Anuenue Hale nor Honolulu Hale will share the documents the nonprofit submitted last week to try to prevent the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from seizing about $8 million in possibly misused funds.
Read the full story here.
Rail a Rare Open Appeal Hearing
This morning is the beginning of the appellate process for the two rejected bidders that wanted to build and operate the city’s rail cars. Bombardier‘s motion for summary judgment will begin at 9 a.m. today at the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Office of Administrative Hearings, and Inside Honolulu will be there. Sumitomo will follow tomorrow.
In anticipation of today’s hearing, Inside Honolulu asked DCCA spokeswoman Cathy Yasuda to explain how rare it is for these types of procurement appeal hearings to be open to the public.
Q: Roughly how many different proceedings end up before OAH on an annual basis?
A: Total cases filed with OAH, excluding special education cases (emphasis Yasuda’s), were 261 in fiscal 2010 and 351 in fiscal 2011.
Q: How many of those are open to the public?
A: All proceedings are open to the public except those that must be held privately pursuant to law which include: (1) special education proceedings; (2) appeals of denials of mortgage originator license applications; and (3) procurement protests under the Department of Accounting and General Services’ (DAGS) administrative rules unless otherwise ordered by the hearings officer. In all proceedings, personal information, such as home addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, etc., is kept confidential pursuant to Hawaii law.
Q: Roughly how many procurement appeals end up before OAH on an annual basis?
A: In 2009, there were 28 cases, 2010 had 8 cases, and 2011 had only 7 cases because Act 175 SLH 2009 made protests more difficult. (Act 175 expired on 6/30/2011.)
Q: How many are open to the public?
A: OAH does not keep statistics on this issue because each case is determined on its own merits.
Where’s Carlisle?
No public events on the mayor’s sked today.
Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu
July 18: City Files Rail Lawsuit Response; UPDATE: Tom Berg, Also a Crook; Martin’s Campaign Treasurer a Convicted Coke Dealer; City Wants More Time at Landfill; Then There Were Two; Eric Ryan: Tom Berg Is A Crook?; Berg “Pissed” but Ryan “In Play”; Food for Conflict Thoughts; HART Ready to Buy Parcels; Bike Battle Still Brewing; City Response to Rail Lawsuit Due Today; Weekend Shakeup at the Hale; Where’s Carlisle?
July 15: HART Board to Meet Next Week; ORI Plan Due Today; Kym Pine Website Launch Delayed By “Major” News; Mayor’s Public Sked; Tulsi Pulls In $20K; Where’s Carlisle?
July 14: Zoning Board Appointees On Track; Neighborhood Board Battle Brewing; HPD Not Alone in Lack of Self-Tracking; Where’s Carlisle?
July 13: City’s Staggered Terms Stay Staggered; Pow-Wow Just An Update; Does Military Count: City Edition; Rail Pow-Wow at the Hale; They’re Talking About Us In Dallas; Berg Stands By His Man; Laie Developer Resigns at Gov’s Request; About Those HART Offices…; Rail Opponents Pay for Ink; Where’s Carlisle?; On Tap for Today.
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.
