Inside Honolulu: July 28
There’s always something interesting going on at Honolulu Hale.
Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.
10:23 a.m. HART Might Be Land Developer
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is in the train-running business, but it might end up doing some land development, too.
Interim Director Toru Hamayasu told the HART board’s Transit-Oriented Development Committee that while it’s the agency’s intent to only purchase the “bare minimum” amount of land necessary to build the transit stations, some adjacent landowners are telling the city they’d prefer to sell their whole parcel rather than just part of it.
If the city agrees, HART could end up with some of the valuable land immediately surrounding stations. That would make the transit authority a potential player in the development process that the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting is spearheading.
Of course, the city government was already one of the major landholders near the rail stations.
9:47 a.m. Fasi Back at Honolulu Hale
Longtime Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi spent much of his political life at Honolulu Hale, and now a plaque honoring him will get to stay there permanently.
Today at 3 p.m., a copy of a Honolulu Marathon Hall of Fame plaque feting Fasi will be presented to Mayor Peter Carlisle, the city announced this morning.
After Fasi’s death last year, officials discovered Fasi was the true founder of the Honolulu Marathon, and Fasi was inducted into the race’s Hall of Fame in December.
9:14 a.m. Rail Technical Specs Investigated
The day’s first witness at the Sumitomo rail appeal is Charles Elms, who’s telling Senior Hearings Officer David Karlen the various ways in which Ansaldo‘s proposal is noncompliant with the city’s plans.
The shortcomings highlighted by Elms are technical in nature. He says Ansaldo failed to meet the required 90-minute round-trip time, line capacity and turnback headways. He also said Ansaldo’s system wouldn’t be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act as it features a 30-millimeter (1.2-inch) gap between the platform and the train floor will force wheelchair users to go in backwards.
Elms is Sumitomo’s final expert witness. The hearing will break at 10 a.m. and resume at 12 p.m.
8:24 a.m. Berg Reso Would Loosen Quorum Rules
Back in June, Council member Tom Berg was right in the middle of a discussion of playground equipment in parks and was about to have another discussion about the Department of Community Services when his Parks Committee lost quorum.
After consulting with the experts, Berg told attendees he had to cut the meeting short as he couldn’t even hear discussion-only agenda items without a quorum of voting members.
The District 1 member wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again, so last week he introduced . The reso gives committee chairs the power to temporarily transform a second non-voting member into a voting member for the purposes of gaining a quorum. (Chairs already have the power to do that for one non-voting member at a time.)
The reso is already on for Tuesday’s meeting of the Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee.
Who said government moves slowly?
Fire, Emergency Services Departments To Discuss Merger
Among the items on for the Safety, Economic Development and Government Affairs Committee next week is this small discussion item:
- BRIEFING BY THE HONOLULU FIRE DEPARTMENT ON THE STATUS OF THE PROPOSED MERGER BETWEEN THE HONOLULU FIRE DEPARTMENT AND THE HONOLULU EMERGENCY SERVICES DEPARTMENT.
It’s not immediately clear to Inside Honolulu what the impacts — both financial and operational — would be. It’s something we’ll be asking as the issue approaches.
UPW Threatens APEC Strike
Good story last night from our partners at KITV as Keoki Kerr got a hold of the offer from the city to the United Public Workers.
A source who sat in on one of UPW’s meetings also told Keoki that the union — whose members collect garbage and maintain facilities, among other things — might threaten to go on strike just as APEC is bringing international visitors to our shores.
Read the .
Sumitomo Hearing Continues
Two of the three expert witnesses on Sumitomo‘s list finished yesterday. The third will start this morning at 8 a.m., after which the appealing rail bidder will question city officials that handled the procurement process that ultimately ended with Ansaldo as the awardee.
Senior Hearings Officer David Karlen said the case will break for two hours, from 10 a.m. until noon, while a separate, unrelated appeal demands his attention. It’ll pick up again at 12 p.m. and go until “whenever.”
There’s no hearing on Friday, but the case is likely to continue into next week. Read Civil Beat‘s story about the first day of the evidentiary hearing here.
Where’s Carlisle?
Mayor Peter Carlisle has no events on his public schedule for today.
Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu
July 27: City Debates Population Base, Delays Decision; City Responds to Rail Critic … In Dallas; Three Committee Agendas Posted; Berg’s Other Firing; Reapportionment Commission To Meet; Sumitomo Appeal Today (Seriously); Where’s Carlisle?
July 26: Honolulu Water Still Cheap; Sumitomo Hearing Postponed; Sierra Club Is In; Police OT Case Back In Court; Sumitomo Appeal Gets Rolling Today; Where’s Carlisle?
July 25: Wife of “Dog the Bounty Hunter” a Carlisle Backer; Kaneshiro’s Small-Kine Fundraiser; Eric Ryan Is a Crook?; Slush Fund for Ansaldo Parent?; Mayor Rakes In Campaign Cash; Where’s Carlisle?
July 22: Carlisle’s Public Sked; City Seeking Hackers (just kidding); Honolulu’s Locked-Down Freeways; Disposing Needles on Kauai; Bombardier Mulling Options; Where’s Carlisle?
July 21: Carlisle Out Of Town; Horner Rails Against LEED Costs; $1.3M in Rent for HART? Hamayasu on the Defensive; Head-Hunting Costs Money; Ready to Strike Again; A Third Rail Lawsuit To Watch?; Natatorium Re-Opens … In California; HART Meets Today (Twice); Where’s Carlisle?
July 20: Sumitomo Speaks; Water Rates Going Up, Up, Up; Sumitomo Rail Protest Still Alive; The Release; Carlisle: Sludge To Honouliuli; Martin: I Could Be Mayor; Sewage Sludge Presser at 10; Police Commission, Behind Closed Doors; Sumitomo’s Turn; Where’s Carlisle?
July 19: Koa Ridge Hits a Roadblock; City Pleased With DCCA Decision; Landfill Site Search Expands; Fact-Finding Rail Trips Cost $11,000; State Denies Bombardier Appeal; Open That Kimono; Rail a Rare Open Appeal Hearing; Where’s Carlisle?
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.
