Inside Honolulu: Dec. 2
There’s always something interesting going on at Honolulu Hale.
Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.
3:49 p.m. Carlisle’s Public Sked
Here’s where you can find Mayor Peter Carlisle over the next seven days:
Saturday, December 3rd
- 9:00 am鈥擬ayor Carlisle rides in the 49th Annual Kaneohe Christmas Parade. Windward Mall to Castle High School.
- 6:00 pm鈥擬ayor Carlisle participates in the opening night Tree Lighting Ceremony for the 27th Annual Honolulu City Lights celebration. Honolulu Hale.
Sunday, December 4th
- 10:00 am鈥擬ayor Carlisle rides in the 37th Annual Street Bikers United Hawaii Toy Run Parade. Ala Moana Park to Kapiolani Community College.
- 12:30 pm鈥擬ayor Carlisle visits the 12th Annual Gingerbread Family Festival. Neal Blaisdell Center.
- 4:00 pm鈥擬ayor Carlisle rides in the annual Pearl City Christmas Parade. Hookiekie Street to Pearl City Shopping Center.
- 5:30 pm鈥擬ayor Carlisle delivers remarks at the Honolulu Zoological Society鈥檚 鈥淭ropical Zoolites鈥 event. Honolulu Zoo.
Monday, December 5th
- 8:00 am鈥擬ayor Carlisle addresses a Construction Financial Management Association meeting. Pacific Club.
- 5:30 pm鈥擬ayor Carlisle is a guest at the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii鈥檚 鈥淎n Evening to WINE down and WIND Up鈥 event. Ruth鈥檚 Chris Steak House.
Tuesday, December 6th
- 10:30 am鈥擬ayor Carlisle delivers remarks at the Catholic Charities Hawaii Building Hope Celebration. Clarence T.C. Ching Campus.
Wednesday, December 7th
- 7:45 am鈥擬ayor Carlisle attends the 70th Anniversary Pearl Harbor Day Commemoration. World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, Pearl Harbor Visitor Center.
- 5:00 pm鈥擬ayor Carlisle delivers remarks at the 70th Anniversary Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade opening ceremony. Fort DeRussy. Parade proceeds at 6:00 pm to the Waikiki Shell.
Thursday, December 8th
- 10:00 am鈥擬ayor Carlisle visits the HGEA Oahu Chapter Retirees Annual Christmas Party. Pagoda Restaurant International Ballroom.
Friday, December 9th
- 9:00 am鈥擬ayor Carlisle delivers remarks at the Hawaii Fire Chiefs Association Conference. JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa.
2:56 p.m. Council, Mayor Receive HART Budget
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has sent its proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget to both the Honolulu City Council and Mayor Peter Carlisle.
It includes $491.6 million for capital expenditures and $22.9 million for operations. In his , Rail chief Toru Hamayasu said HART won’t spend any general fund money but will be requesting a bond float during the fiscal year.
HART, as you’ll remember, is semi-autonomous. The mayor and Council disagreed over their respective roles in designing the inaugural HART budget. It’ll be interesting to see how the process plays out this time around.
2:10 p.m. Judge: Kawaiahao Church Can’t Build
Breaking news from the Kawaiahao Church lawsuit in court today.
A judge has granted opponents’ request for a preliminary injunction, and has ordered the church to not pour any concrete, compact any soil or do any construction on its multi-purpose building until the cemetery on that spot no longer exists.
In a written statement, Kahu Curt Kekuna said, “We will comply with the court’s decision and continue to work with the appropriate state agencies.”
Read the order here:
1:43 p.m. One-Sided ‘Showdown’
Did you hear? There’s going to be a “showdown” next week to finally hash out all disagreements over the controversial Honolulu rail project.
Just one small problem: Only one side is going to show up.
Anti-rail Honolulu City Council member Tom Berg organized the “town hall meeting” for this coming Tuesday, and promotes it in , sent today.
“We have reserved the Mission Memorial Auditorium next to Honolulu Hale to be the site for the big showdown that is to feature pro and con rail enthusiasts sitting side-by-side to go head-to -head for Questions & Answers with the public in attendance,” Berg writes.
But here’s the list of confirmed panelists:
- University of Hawaii Civil Engineering professor Panos Prevedouros
- Hawaii Sen. Sam Slom
- Light-rail-promoting architect Scott Foster
- Hawaii Geographic Society’s Dennis Callan
- Monorail-favoring Gig Greenwood
- Urban Magnetic Levitation-favoring Frank Genadio
Here are the list of folks who declined:
- Mayor Peter Carlisle
- Go-Rail-Go
- Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation interim Executive Director/CEO Toru Hamayasu
- Rep. Kym Pine
- Rep. Sharon Har
- Rep. Rida Cabanilla
- Sen. Mike Gabbard
- Sen. Will Espero
Former Gov. Ben Cayetano and city Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka have yet to RSVP, Berg said.
12:58 p.m. 1,168 Signatures
that would determine the future of the Waianae Coast is certainly a hot topic.
So hot, in fact, that more than 1,000 have signed onto that criticizes the current incarnation of the Waianae Sustainable Communities Plan and instead supports “a truly sustainable plan for the Waianae Coast.”
“We support maintaining Wai鈥檃nae as a rural community and agricultural center for O鈥檃hu. That is why we oppose the industrialization of our agricultural lands, including the industrial park proposed for the Tropic Lands parcel in Lualualei Valley,” the petition states. “We urge the City and County of Honolulu to adopt the Wai鈥檃nae Community Sustainability Plan Update without any industrial zones on agricultural land in Wai鈥檃nae.”
The petition was put together by The Concerned Elders of Waianae, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance and other groups. It has 1,168 signatures.
12:34 p.m. Wednesday Agenda Posted
for Wednesday’s full Honolulu City Council has been posted.
As expected, it includes a final vote on the controversial bill that would allow the city to confiscate personal items left or kept on public spaces like sidewalks and parks.
Also up for a final vote is that would regulate the number and size of political signs on private property. There’s a that would tweak the way the rules work, but the thrust would remain the same.
12:15 p.m. Council Members San Francisco-Bound
The Honolulu City Council isn’t satisfied with the existing Synagro pellet-producing digester at the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, so they’re going to look at other technologies. Personally.
An Aiea-based company called HRP 56 has given the Council valued at $7,685 that will cover airfare, hotel, meals and a car rental for four Council members to inspect a biogas-to-electricity system in San Francisco.
Because having four Council members travel together without the public present would otherwise violate the Sunshine Law, they’re a “permitted interaction group” that will produce a report when the trip is over.
The PIG will include Ikaika Anderson, Romy Cachola, Stanley Chang and Ann Kobayashi and the trip will take place sometime between Jan. 13 and Jan. 24.
11:51 a.m. Rail Just Garbage?
The Honolulu rail project is supposed to benefit Leeward residents, but some see it only as garbage.
In fact, anti-rail Honolulu City Council member Tom Berg wants the city to pay his community for hosting the debris generated from construction of the system.
Berg on Thursday introduced a pair of resolutions 鈥 addressed to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and to Mayor Peter Carlisle 鈥 asking for $1 million or more for Nanakuli, which is home to the PVT construction landfill.
The city already provides money for a “community benefits package” for the Leeward Coast because it hosts the island’s only public landfill.
11:28 a.m. State to City: Fix Your Sewage Plant
The big environmental news this week was that the Environmental Protection Agency said the city violated the Clean Water Act when it released garbage-laden rainwater from Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill into the ocean in December 2010 and January 2011.
There’s more bad news.
The Hawaii Department of Health had told the city that an operation and maintenance inspection of the Waimanalo Wastewater Treatment Plant (not to be confused with the landfill) found a system in need of repair and a nine-year-old backlog with dozens of outstanding work orders.
That’s revealed in dated Nov. 16 and received by the city two days later.
“The digester sludge heater, waste gas system and exhaust system are in need of overhaul,” state Environmental Management Division Chief Stuart Yamada told city Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger. “The digester tank was reportedly last cleaned and overhauled in the early 1980’s.”
The state gave the facility a rating of “conditional acceptance” and told the city to produce a corrective action plan within 60 days.
10:59 a.m. Get Down And Give Me Twenty
The city produces lots of documents. Bills and resolutions are among the most well-known, but there are also contracts and communications between government agencies.
Inside Honolulu peruses those documents regularly, and this morning stumbled on the the Department of Corporation Counsel closed during the third quarter of 2011. Most are pretty dry; things like foreclosures and administrative appeals.
But one caught our eye: a class-action grievance filed by four major public sector employee unions against the city for the use of “paramilitary disciplinary techniques.” Does that mean waterboarding or other torture methods? What’s going on here?
We went down to circuit court to find out. The case file was hundreds and hundreds of pages thick, and alleged collective bargaining violations of many stripes and colors. The “paramilitary disciplinary” issue was that the Department of Emergency Services was punishing EMT trainees by forcing them to do pushups.
In one case cited in the file, a trainee arrived for class missing his name tag. As punishment 鈥 and to emphasize teamwork 鈥 all of his fellow trainees were forced to do 20 pushups while he counted to 20.
That’s not to be confused with the requirement that all EMTs be in sound physical condition. This wasn’t training, it was punishment, and it sounds pretty juvenile and not very professional.
In the end, it got the city in trouble.
9:45 a.m. Mufi Gives Back To The City
It wasn’t so long ago that Mufi Hannemann was the big man on campus at Honolulu Hale.
He’s since left to run for governor, and now he’s working in the tourism industry, but he hasn’t forgotten his friends at city hall.
The city last month received a generous gift from Former Mayor Mufi in his capacity as secretary of the Hawaii Hotel Industry Foundation. He’s offered the Honolulu Police Department $5,000 for a Segway stand-up scooter for patrol in the Chinatown area, Ala Moana Beach Park, and special events, and another $5,000 to translate safety and informational messages that will be displayed on the MTAC (Multimedia Technology Assisting Cops) public monitor at the Waikiki Substation.
Earlier this week, the Honolulu City Council introduced to accept those gifts.
8:18 a.m. Caldwell On The March
Former Acting Mayor Kirk Caldwell still isn’t ready to make an official announcement about his new campaign for his old job, but he’s taking steps toward another run.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser revealed last night on its Political Radar blog that Caldwell will march in a Christmas parade this weekend, and that one supporter is asking others to march with him.
Jonn Serikawa wrote this in an email:
Aloha Caldwell Supporters,
Our favorite Mayoral candidate will be participating in the 49th Annual Kaneohe Christmas Parade this Saturday, December 3rd @ 9:00 a.m. We are looking for 8 more volunteers to march with Kirk.
Read the rest of the email and the newspaper’s blog post here:
Read Civil Beat’s Nov. 3 article about Caldwell’s candidacy here: Caldwell Raising Money For Carlisle Rematch
Where’s Carlisle?
Mayor Peter Carlisle has no events on his public schedule for today.
Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu
Dec. 1: Inouye a ‘Realist’ On Rail Funding; Harimoto, Berg Clash; Running For Cover; Toru ‘Surprised’ By Outdoor Circle; 165,000 Fasteners; More Bad News From Italy; What About Mediation?; HART In Kapolei; Property Tax Meeting Today; Where’s Carlisle?
