Inside Honolulu: August 15
There’s always something interesting going on at Honolulu Hale.
Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.
2:33 p.m. Missouri Company Gets Sewer Contracts
Missouri-based Insituform has been awarded two City and County of Honolulu sewer contracts together worth $9.9 million to fix about 1.3 miles of pipeline.
That’s according to Pacific Business News, which picked up the information from the St. Louis Business Journal.
Read it .
1:38 p.m. Landfill Selection Meetings Postponed
From a city press release:
The Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Landfill Site Selection (MACLFSS) meetings scheduled August 16 and August 26 have been postponed.
The consultant, R.M. Towill Corporation, was asked at the last meeting by the Committee to investigate potential landfill sites within Oahu’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) Line and No Pass Zone. This postponement is in accordance with an agreement made by the Committee early on in the proceedings not to convene meetings if all needed information was not available such that the gatherings would be less productive.
The investigation of landfill sites within the UIC Line and No Pass Zone requires the consultant to contact and coordinate between a number of governmental agencies, including but not limited to the Board of Water Supply, the Solid Waste and Safe Drinking Water branches of the State Department of Health (DOH), and the State Commission on Water Resource Management.
Multiple factors must also be considered and analyzed, including private as well as public water and well resources. These factors concern whether the land at issue is: in the State Conservation District; considered prime agricultural land; within a parcel of sufficient size to be utilized for a landfill; located next to already developed areas; and, located within proximity to DOH designated “impaired” State waters.
Once the required data is collected and the research is completed, a meeting will be scheduled where the Commission will be fully informed.
1:30 p.m. Bombardier Appeals to FTA, Court
Read the full story here.
Busy Weekend for Rail
Weekends are usually pretty quiet for government here in Hawaii, but there were two major developments since Friday’s edition of Inside Honolulu — both related to rail.
Randy Roth, a University of Hawaii law professor and one of the plaintiffs in the environmental lawsuit against the rail project, shared his thoughts about the federal response to that lawsuit. Read Adrienne LaFrance‘s story about the latest developments and what might come next here.
On top of that, the state hearings officer issued his opinion rejecting Sumitomo‘s appeal of the city’s decision to award the billion-dollar design-build-operate-maintain contract to Ansaldo. That’s an important procedural hurdle cleared, though Sumitomo now has 10 days to decide if it wants to take its case to court.
The other losing bidder, Bombardier, was denied earlier this month and will have to decide on a court challenge this week.
The contract appeal and environmental lawsuit are two of the biggest stumbling blocks remaining for the project, we’ve had big news on both of them in the last couple days — and it’s only Monday morning.
Questions for Yoshioka
Tomorrow, Department of Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka will be at Civil Beat‘s Kaimuki headquarters, taking your questions as part of our Newsmaker series.
For Yoshioka’s bio, a few sample questions and more information about how to participate, check out our primer and share it with your friends:
Newsmaker: Talk Live With Honolulu Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka
Ethics Commission Today
The Honolulu Ethics Commission is set to meet at 11:30 a.m. today. Here’s .
Where’s Carlisle?
At 8:30 a.m. this morning, Mayor Peter Carlisle will deliver remarks at the Association of Government Accountants/American Society of Military Components Governmental Professional Development Conference at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, according to his public schedule.
Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu
August 12: Feds’ Rail Lawsuit Response; Carlisle’s Public Sked; Council Agenda Published; Cabinet Gathers; Moku on HUD Meeting; Transportation Newsmaker; Where’s Carlisle?
August 11: Horner Lays It Down; Mayor’s Math Problem; Capitol Moat Sewage; Council Chair on Commissioner’s Ethics Violation; HART Finance Committee to Meet; Where’s Carlisle?
August 10: Vacation Rentals Argument Not Over Yet; Quintal Retires, Quietly; Packed Auditorium; Beat the School Jam; Vacation Rentals on Planning Commission Agenda; Morning Reading; Where’s Carlisle?
August 9: Ethics Agenda Out; EPA Fines Pest Control Co.; Regulating B&Bs Not So Easy; Where’s Carlisle?
August 8: Bombardier on Appeal; Carlisle In Da Hale; Where’s City Oversight?; Police Department Names Names; Carlisle on Japan, in Video; Where’s Carlisle?
August 5: 6:51 p.m. Carlisle in Japan, in Photos; Bombardier Officially Rejected; Ansaldo Enlisted to Fix San Fran’s Light Rail Cars; Traffic Ticket Quota; Carlisle’s Public Sked; Ansaldo Honolulu “Pleased” With Finmeccanica Restructuring; Waianae’s Clean Water Award; Chair Garcia’s Checklist; Where’s Carlisle?
August 4: Congestion Tolls in Honolulu … Someday; HART Here, HART There; Zoning Appeals Board Appointments Advance; Committee Moves Sign Bill Forward; Moratorium Lifted on New Sewer Connections in Waimanalo; Free Speech vs. Open Space; Today’s Committees; Where’s Carlisle?
August 3: Board Defends Rate Hike; Appointee Asked About Water Rates; Tow Trucking Debated; Seniors, Disabled Ask for Help; ORI Discussion Coming Soon; Today’s Committees; Fewer Golfers, More Money; Chang’s Public Service; Where’s Carlisle?
August 2: Case Closed, Not Decided; City Rests, Ansaldo Satisfied; City Witness Rebuts Sumitomo; Ireland, Silva Like Merger; Talking Merger; No Competition for Carlisle; Berg: GOP “Party of the Skin Heads”; Today’s Committees; Want Train? Get Brains; Where’s Carlisle?
August 1: Across the Street?; Waipahu Board Backs Hoopili; Executive Session?; Ansaldo Responds; Rail Appeal Continues, With Questions Churning About Ansaldo; Sewage Spill in Kailua; Where’s Carlisle?
