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

Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

10:31 p.m. Tuesday Events

There are three City and County of Honolulu events on the calendar for Tuesday, all at Honolulu Hale.

• At 6:15 a.m., Managing Director Doug Chin and Department of Transportation Services Deputy Director Kainani Kraut will hold a briefing in the courtyard regarding road closures, parking restrictions, traffic flow recommendations, and bus detours.
• At 9 a.m., the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Landfill Site Selection in the Mayor’s Conference Room.
• At 12:30 p.m., the Real Property Tax Advisory Commission in the committee meeting room on the second floor.

7:43 a.m. The County of West Oahu?

Not happy with the services you’re receiving from the county government? Maybe you should start your own.

Honolulu City Council member Tom Berg says he’s working on a resolution to have Leeward Oahu secede from the City and County of Honolulu. He wants to be able to raise taxes and take care of his constituents without having to worry about the rest of the island.

Read the full story here.

7:27 a.m. APEC Press Briefing

Are you ready for APEC.

Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka and Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger joined Managing Director Doug Chin and Mayor Peter Carlisle at an early morning press briefing today to make sure citizens are apprised of road closures, bus route adjustments and refuse pickup schedule changes.

Nothing new, they said, just a reminder.

Carlisle also commented on the shooting in Waikiki and Occupy Honolulu arrests this weekend.

Flip over to Civil Beat‘s APEC Live Blog for more on what was said at the briefing.

Inside Honolulu will remain the best place for Honolulu government news this week, but everything we share here that pertains to APEC this week can also be found — sometimes with greater detail — over at that APEC Live Blog. Add it to your bookmarks.

Until the Fat Lady Sings

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has already received a signed contract and bond paperwork from Ansaldo, and expects to have a completed deal in place before the end of the month.

But Ansaldo’s erstwhile competitors for the design-build-operate-maintain contract aren’t giving up the hunt yet. Both Bombardier and Sumitomo are continuing their pursuits.

Bombardier Vice President Andy Robbins last week sent to Honolulu City Council Budget Committee Chair Ann Kobayashi. Robbins said he “read with great interest” the Civil Beat report that Kobayashi and others on the Council are worried about rail’s long-term operating costs, and pointed out that the operations and maintenance costs proposed by his company were significantly cheaper than those offered by Ansaldo.

Robbins promised that Bombardier — which was disqualified because its offer was conditional — would withdraw both its case in Hawaii appellate court as well as its appeal to the Federal Transit Administration if the Council compels HART to rebid the Core Systems Contract.

Just two days later, Sumitomo Vice President Gino Antoniello sent and to HART Interim Executive Director Toru Hamayasu and the board of directors reiterating Ansaldo’s financial and operational problems.

Antoniello said the city has “strong legal standing to avoid a rebid and change contractors.”

The clock may be slowly ticking down until the moment HART executes its contract with the Italian trainmaker. But this opera won’t be over until the fat lady sings.

Tales From Washington

It was already a few weeks ago that a bevy of local officials were in Washington D.C. celebrating rail’s success and attending the Rail~Volution transit-oriented development conference, and now the travel reports are starting to roll in.

Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board Vice Chair Ivan Lui-Kwan presented his at Thursday’s meeting. Keslie Hui chimed in with his take on some of the TOD success stories the traveling party explored.

Honolulu City Council Transportation Committee Chair Breene Harimoto told Inside Honolulu that he agreed with Lui-Kwan’s and Hui’s assessment of the value of the conference. Both Hui and Harimoto said they were particularly impressed by the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor in Northern Virginia, which has earned some .

Harimoto said he’s still reviewing his notes and photos as he prepares his own travel report for the Council. In the meantime, here’s a scanned copy of the report Lui-Kwan presented to the HART board Thursday.

Where’s Carlisle?

At 6:15 a.m. today, Mayor Peter Carlisle and city officials will hold a briefing regarding city services during APEC week. At 9:30 a.m., Carlisle attends a media preview of the Hawaii Pavilion at the Hawaii Convention Center, Hall 1, Ground Level.

Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu

November 4: Carlisle’s Weekend Sked; News Before Breakfast; Honolulu a Digital City; City’s Energy Consumption; Occupy Honolulu Saturday; City’s Final ORI Plan; From $2,500 To $560 Million; Alternate Sludge Technologies: The Response; Where’s Carlisle?

November 3: Laulani Village Shopping Center Breaks Ground; Two In, Two Out; City Meets HUD Deadline; ‘I Wouldn’t Be Surprised’; Rematch: Caldwell Running For Mayor; ZBA, Finally; HART Meetings This Morning; Where’s Carlisle?

November 2: Homeless Possessions Bill Advances; APEC Reimbursement Reso Adopted; Airport Sheriffs Get Pepperball, Too; Berg’s Rail Charter Amendment Dies; Sign Bill Deferred; ‘An Unsuccessful Third Generation Real Estate Developer’; Lecture From A Freethinker; $37 Million, Please; Missed Deadline?; Berg: Split Up Ewa Beach; Two Days; Kauai Hiking Water Rates, Too; On The Agenda; Today’s Council Honorees; Where’s Carlisle?

November 1: Rod Tam Sentencing Today; Where’s Carlisle?