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

Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

5:30 p.m. Art In Transit

Pacific Business News is that a resolution to be considered Thursday afternoon would set aside up to $75 million for artwork to be incorporated into the rail system.

was introduced by Honolulu City Council Budget Chair Ann Kobayashi.

It wouldn’t actually dedicate any funds, but the reso would instead urge the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation to spend between $7.5 and $75 million of the $1.5 billion in federal funds coming to the city on artwork to “improve the appearance and safety of a transit facility, give vibrancy to its public spaces, and make patrons feel welcome.”

2:19 p.m. Honoring Filipino Vets

Sometimes, the federal government needs a nudge.

The Honolulu City Council‘s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee today advanced two resolutions encouraging Congress and President Barack Obama to take two actions that will benefit Filipino-American veterans of World War II.

Resolutions and would, respectively, urge support for the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act and expedite payment of war benefits to Filipino veterans.

Committee Chair Romy Cachola, who was born and raised in the Philippines and said his father fought in World War II, thanked Hawaii’s congressional delegation for its support but said federal action is long overdue.

A handful of Filipino veterans attended the committee meeting and were applauded by the council members for their service.

1:05 p.m. You Talk Too Much

The afternoon calendar is about to get started, but first Honolulu City Council members get a bathroom break. They won’t have any longer than that for lunch because the Committee on Parks and Cultural Affairs, which started at 10:30 a.m., just finished its business.

As he moved his papers to the head of the table, Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee Chair Romy Cachola just upbraided Parks Committee Chair Tom Berg for allowing his meeting to run long — again. Berg said he’ll try to keep his agenda short in the future, but Cachola has an alternate explanation for why Berg’s committee consistently takes a long time:

“You talk too much, that’s why.”

Too bad that won’t be in the official meeting minutes.

10:24 a.m. Star-Spangled Banner

There’s nothing wrong with a little patriotism.

Department of Information Technology Director Gordon Bruce is sporting a red, white and blue tie today, complete with stars and stripes. He just testified on that would allow the Honolulu Police Department to install surveillance cameras in advance of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November.

Asked afterward if the tie choice was a statement of support for America, Bruce said he woke up this morning and put it on knowing he’d be testifying alongside brave officers of HPD.

The Committee on Safety, Economic Development and Government Affairs has some concerns about privacy, but moved the matter out for public hearing next month.

9:42 a.m. ‘Harebrained’ Idea Nixed

Last year, Mayor Peter Carlisle said federal rules requiring local governments replace their street signs were “harebrained.” Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation has backed off and nixed the regulations.

Read the full story over at .

9:34 a.m. Tulsi Announcement Today

Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced he’s running for the Second Congressional District, so current Honolulu City Council member Tulsi Gabbard now has an opponent in the race.

Not one to take big news sitting down, Gabbard has arranged her own announcement for this morning. At 11 a.m., she’ll be over at Sun Yat-Sen Park at the corner of Bethel and Hotel Streets to reveal endorsements by “several” unions, according to an announcement from her campaign.

FALSE: Ten Stories High

Civil Beat has now reached a conclusion on a second Fact Check stemming from rail opponents’ Honolulu Star-Advertiser op-ed last week. The verdict is in, and the claim that some stations will be 10 stories high has been determined false.

Read the full Fact Check here.

One of the piece’s authors, Cliff Slater said that the sentence was a typo, and that it referred to a future potential spur that would place a third-level platform at Ala Moana. A further claim that stations would be like “aircraft carriers in the sky” did not hold up to scrutiny.

There are five more Fact Checks currently in progress. We’ll be updating them throughout the week.

Three Committees Today, And More

Three Honolulu City Council Committees will meet today, and Inside Honolulu will be there. Here are the agendas:

• 9 a.m. —
• 10:30 a.m. —
• 1 p.m. —

After those wrap up, some might want to cross Punchbowl Street for another meeting. Former City Council Chair Donovan Dela Cruz, now head of the Hawaii Senate Committee on Water, Land and Housing, is holding a to “discuss ideas on mixed use development in the urban core and main streets, ways of constructing density in the urban core to minimize sprawl, and mixed use development regarding transit stations.”

Read testimony from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation .

Where’s Carlisle?

At 10 a.m., Mayor Peter Carlisle attends the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command ground-breaking ceremony on Kuntz Avenue at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu

August 29: September Is Sewage Month; Rail Media Blitz; I’m Peter, Not Mufi; Seven Fact Checks; Where’s Carlisle?

August 26: Carlisle’s Public Sked; PBN Now Anti-Rail; Code for America Picks Honolulu; Wednesday Meetings, Too; Tuesday Council Committee Agendas Out; Just In Case; Where’s Carlisle?

August 25: Senator to HART: ‘We’re Counting On You’; Inouye at HART Today; Mayor Catches Some Waves; Vacation Rental Plan In Limbo; Where’s Carlisle?

August 24: Rail Opponents Ask For Investigation; Gun Rights Group Sues HPD; Council Redistricting Today; Tales From Japan; Transient Accommodations Fight Continues; Where’s Carlisle?

August 23: Sumitomo Won’t Appeal; Honolulu’s Newest Apps; Three Added to Cabinet; Next Enterprise Services Director: Keoki Miyamoto; Search and Rescue; Queen of Waikiki Turns 110; Where’s Carlisle?

August 22: Anti-Rail Op-Ed, or Editorial?; Water Board Public Hearing Today; HUD Secretary Hawaii-Bound; Where’s Carlisle?

August 18: Carlisle’s Public Sked; Statehood Day; No Car, No Problem; HART ‘Comforted’ By Sumitomo Ruling; HART Meets Today; Pay Your Taxes; Where’s Carlisle?

August 17: Council Advances Campaign Sign Rules; $1 Million Settlement Approved; Mililani Senior Development Gets OK; Laie Hotel Deferred One Month; ‘You Got Shafted, I Got Shafted’; Council To Defer Laie Hotel Vote; HART to Ansaldo: Prove You Can Handle It; Council Sends Ag Property Tax Bill To Mayor; Godbey Confirmed As Corp Counsel; The ‘Million-Dollar Baby Toe’; Police Commission Agenda; HUD Not Happy With City’s ORI Report; Council Meeting Today; Sewage Trucking Begins; Where’s Carlisle?

August 16: Corp Counsel on Bombardier Suit; Bombardier’s Lawsuit; Tam Sentencing Delayed Again; Feds To Pay For Kolekole Pass Repair; Ethics Panel Waits on Travel Gift Policy; Rod Tam Sentencing; Newsmaker Interview Today; Where’s Carlisle?

August 15: Missouri Company Gets Sewer Contracts; Landfill Selection Meetings Postponed; Bombardier Appeals to FTA, Court; Busy Weekend for Rail; Questions for Yoshioka; Ethics Commission Today; Where’s Carlisle?

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?