“Malia headshot Image”

”Mayor On Primetime”

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris presented his State of the City address on prime time television last night, using the words “sustainable” or “sustainability” at least 14 times [not that there is anything wrong with that, but what does that word mean?].

He also shared his “vision” for Oahu, which came down to ramming his $1 billion Bus Rapid Transit System down the taxpayers’ throats and then finishing the expensive screw job with a tax increase to pay for the bus and the parties he is planning on the beach in Waikiki. He deemed the BRT “HART” probably to rhyme with “BART” like the San Francisco rapid transit. But think about it — what else rhymes with HART? The graffiti already is on the bathroom wall.

He also cited as “on the way” other “high-tech improvements” to TheBus, including a smart card that for “greater efficiency and customer convenience” will be used as a debit card for bus riders. What is so smart about it? Apparently the makers of the system and the mayor think the card is smart because users don’t even have to take the card out of their wallet to have it read. Here is the direct quote from the mayor: “And you won’t even have to take the card out of your purse or wallet when you step aboard. The bus will automatically and electronically debit your card — or read your pass.” This is a disincentive to most people with any common sense. After all, if the card is so smart, it might decide to read off a few credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers and eye retina prints while debiting TheBus card.

The reaction from the Honolulu City Council members to the Mayor’s speech? City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi says she was not really surprised by anything in the mayor’s speech, except his proposal for a tax increase and his plan to cut $100 million in CIP funds.

City Council Zoning Chair Charles Djou also was surprised and dismayed by the tax increase proposal. Both he and Kobayashi said they don’t plan to raise taxes or support the mayor’s proposed $1 billion BRT system. Djou is staunchly against any tax increase, saying it is unfortunate that while state and federal governments are looking for ways to lower taxes and give money back to the nation’s families, the city is planning to take that very same money from the people of Honolulu.

One Hawaii Reporter reader wrote in to say he was “incredulous” at the Mayor’s “evangelical” speech, which he says came across as “cheerleading, with a continued infatuation with grandiose ideas and projects and an “if we build it they will come” attitude.

The reader pointed out the mayor talked about the “finite natural resources” Hawaii has, but didn’t seem to think there are “finite financial resources.”

He says all citizens of Hawaii should ask their lawmakers who propose tax and fee increases: “What specific suggestions do you have to the families of Hawaii that will help them pay for your proposed tax increases and fee hikes? Should he have three jobs instead of two? What food should we do without? What should we sacrifice?” He adds, “Would our legislators consider a pay cut to themselves?”

”Bottle Bill May be Capped”

One of the worst bills passed in the 2002 Legislative session was HB 1256, the bottle bill, which imposed a tax on the sale of beverage containers and put the burden on grocery stores to create and staff mini recycling centers on their property with no government assistance.

Gov. Linda Lingle apparently agrees the bill was a bad bill. She will seek to repeal the bill, offering other ways to take care of Hawaii’s litter and lack of landfill space without taxing people in the state further, including allocating $300,000 to non-profits that organize community cleanup days and $2 million to counties for proper garbage disposal.

While environmentalists and bureaucrats do not agree with Lingle, the business community is relieved. Several of Hawaii’s business leaders called HB 1256 “expensive and punitive to Hawaii businesses,” “untested” and a “financial experiment.”

In a letter to then Gov. Benjamin Cayetano, business leaders pleaded with him to veto the bottle bill, saying it would have a small impact on waste and litter, but put an extra burden on business, mainly food stores, general retailers, hotels, bars and restaurants. That is because businesses are expected to provided the labor, space and equipment for the beverage containers to be returned for refund and for finding someone to collect empty containers and recycle them, regardless of the costs.

The letter was signed by small and large business owners and operators including:

*Paul Kosasa, President, ABC Stores
*Dane Starling, Vice President, Anheuser-Busch, Sales of Hawaii, Inc.
*Charles K. Kawakami, President, Big Save, Inc.
*Dan Whitford, Area Manager, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Hawaii
*Jenai S. Wall, Chairman, Foodland Super Market
*Ed Thompson, Executive Director, Hawaii Food Industry Association
*Burt Okura, President, Hawaiian Sun Products
*Ken Niimura, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Itoen
*Barry Taniguchi, President, KTA Super Stores
*Jane E. Sinnott, Director of Government Affairs, Macy’s
*Ken Simon, President, Menehune Water, Inc.
*Paul E. Smith, President, Pacific Allied Products, Ltd.
*Michael Shibuya, President, Paradise Beverages
*Carol Pregill, Executive Director, Retail Merchants of Hawaii
*Glen Tamura, President, Tamura’s Wahiawa
*Gary Yoshioka, General Manager, The Pepsi Bottling Group – Hawaii
*Roger Godfrey, President, Times Supermarket
*Bob Adams, Vice President, Wal-Mart

”Governor Goes Wild on Bills, Business Reforms”

Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday sent down 168 bills to the state Legislature, a considerable number of which are doing damage control for atrocities done to the business community and those who believe in the free market, competition, less government intervention and all of the amendments in the U.S. Constitution over the last 40 years.

The public can obtain the full text of each bill online at the Hawaii State Legislature’s Web site (https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/) or copies can be requested in person at the Senate/House Print Shop in the basement of the State Capitol.

More on her bills and proposals in the Monday edition of HawaiiReporter.com.

”Republicans Say Democrats in the House Vote Against Open Government”

Republicans say “bipartisanship” failed its first test on the House Floor, Wednesday, as Democrats voted unanimously to prohibit Republican members from serving on a key House committee.

House Rules prohibit Republican membership on the House Review Panel, which has the power to review bill committee referrals. In the past, Democrat leaders have referred Republican bills to multiple committees, a practice that stalled bills from moving forward in the legislative process and often killed the bills.

Republicans say they moved to open the panel to both the Minority as well as Majority members, however, Democrats voted unanimously against the measure, barring Republican members from the committee.

After only a few minutes of debate, House Speaker Calvin Say refused to hear any further comment and called for the vote.

Representative Lynn Finnegan, R-Moanalua, says “

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris presented his State of the City address on prime time television last night, using the words “sustainable” or “sustainability” at least 14 times [not that there is anything wrong with that, but what does that word mean?]. He also shared his “vision” for Oahu, which came down to ramming his $1 billion Bus Rapid Transit System down the taxpayers’ throats and then finishing the expensive screw job with a tax increase to pay for the bus and the parties he is planning on the beach in Waikiki. He deemed the BRT “HART” probably to rhyme with “BART” like the San Francisco rapid transit. But think about it — what else rhymes with HART? The graffiti already is on the bathroom wall. He also cited as “on the way” other “high-tech improvements” to TheBus, including a smart card that for “greater efficiency and customer convenience” will be used as a debit card for bus riders. What is so smart about it? Apparently the makers of the system and the mayor think the card is smart because users don’t even have to take the card out of their wallet to have it read. Here is the direct quote from the mayor: “And you won’t even have to take the card out of your purse or wallet when you step aboard. The bus will automatically and electronically debit your card — or read your pass.” This is a disincentive to most people with any common sense. After all, if the card is so smart, it might decide to read off a few credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers and eye retina prints while debiting TheBus card. The reaction from the Honolulu City Council members to the Mayor’s speech? City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi says she was not really surprised by anything in the mayor’s speech, except his proposal for a tax increase and his plan to cut $100 million in CIP funds. City Council Zoning Chair Charles Djou also was surprised and dismayed by the tax increase proposal. Both he and Kobayashi said they don’t plan to raise taxes or support the mayor’s proposed $1 billion BRT system. Djou is staunchly against any tax increase, saying it is unfortunate that while state and federal governments are looking for ways to lower taxes and give money back to the nation’s families, the city is planning to take that very same money from the people of Honolulu. One Hawaii Reporter reader wrote in to say he was “incredulous” at the Mayor’s “evangelical” speech, which he says came across as “cheerleading, with a continued infatuation with grandiose ideas and projects and an “if we build it they will come” attitude. The reader pointed out the mayor talked about the “finite natural resources” Hawaii has, but didn’t seem to think there are “finite financial resources.” He says all citizens of Hawaii should ask their lawmakers who propose tax and fee increases: “What specific suggestions do you have to the families of Hawaii that will help them pay for your proposed tax increases and fee hikes? Should he have three jobs instead of two? What food should we do without? What should we sacrifice?” He adds, “Would our legislators consider a pay cut to themselves?” ‘Bottle Bill May be Capped’ One of the worst bills passed in the 2002 Legislative session was HB 1256, the bottle bill, which imposed a tax on the sale of beverage containers and put the burden on grocery stores to create and staff mini recycling centers on their property with no government assistance. Gov. Linda Lingle apparently agrees the bill was a bad bill. She will seek to repeal the bill, offering other ways to take care of Hawaii’s litter and lack of landfill space without taxing people in the state further, including allocating $300,000 to non-profits that organize community cleanup days and $2 million to counties for proper garbage disposal. While environmentalists and bureaucrats do not agree with Lingle, the business community is relieved. Several of Hawaii’s business leaders called HB 1256 “expensive and punitive to Hawaii businesses,” “untested” and a “financial experiment.” In a letter to then Gov. Benjamin Cayetano, business leaders pleaded with him to veto the bottle bill, saying it would have a small impact on waste and litter, but put an extra burden on business, mainly food stores, general retailers, hotels, bars and restaurants. That is because businesses are expected to provided the labor, space and equipment for the beverage containers to be returned for refund and for finding someone to collect empty containers and recycle them, regardless of the costs. The letter was signed by small and large business owners and operators including: *Paul Kosasa, President, ABC Stores *Dane Starling, Vice President, Anheuser-Busch, Sales of Hawaii, Inc. *Charles K. Kawakami, President, Big Save, Inc. *Dan Whitford, Area Manager, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Hawaii *Jenai S. Wall, Chairman, Foodland Super Market *Ed Thompson, Executive Director, Hawaii Food Industry Association *Burt Okura, President, Hawaiian Sun Products *Ken Niimura, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Itoen *Barry Taniguchi, President, KTA Super Stores *Jane E. Sinnott, Director of Government Affairs, Macy’s *Ken Simon, President, Menehune Water, Inc. *Paul E. Smith, President, Pacific Allied Products, Ltd. *Michael Shibuya, President, Paradise Beverages *Carol Pregill, Executive Director, Retail Merchants of Hawaii *Glen Tamura, President, Tamura’s Wahiawa *Gary Yoshioka, General Manager, The Pepsi Bottling Group – Hawaii *Roger Godfrey, President, Times Supermarket *Bob Adams, Vice President, Wal-Mart ‘Governor Goes Wild on Bills, Business Reforms’ Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday sent down 168 bills to the state Legislature, a considerable number of which are doing damage control for atrocities done to the business community and those who believe in the free market, competition, less government intervention and all of the amendments in the U.S. Constitution over the last 40 years. The public can obtain the full text of each bill online at the Hawaii State Legislature’s Web site (https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/) or copies can be requested in person at the Senate/House Print Shop in the basement of the State Capitol. More on her bills and proposals in the Monday edition of HawaiiReporter.com. ‘Republicans Say Democrats in the House Vote Against Open Government’ Republicans say “bipartisanship” failed its first test on the House Floor, Wednesday, as Democrats voted unanimously to prohibit Republican members from serving on a key House committee. House Rules prohibit Republican membership on the House Review Panel, which has the power to review bill committee referrals. In the past, Democrat leaders have referred Republican bills to multiple committees, a practice that stalled bills from moving forward in the legislative process and often killed the bills. Republicans say they moved to open the panel to both the Minority as well as Majority members, however, Democrats voted unanimously against the measure, barring Republican members from the committee. After only a few minutes of debate, House Speaker Calvin Say refused to hear any further comment and called for the vote. Representative Lynn Finnegan, R-Moanalua, says “? democracy took a slap in the face.” While Rep. Mark Moses, R-Kapolei, turned the tables on the Democrats saying “just two days after celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s march toward freedom for oppressed minorities, we once again find the Majority party in the house discriminating against the elected Minority.” Rep. Bud Stonebraker, R-Hawaii Kai, called the exclusion a move to “bound and gag” nearly a third of Hawaii. The Republicans in the House point out the move by Democrats comes just a day after Gov. Lingle’s call for partnership for honest government and a week after Speaker Say’s Opening Day remarks, which emphasized a need to work together. ‘Taxpayer Protection Caucus Forms to Encourage No New Taxes’ Grover Norquist, president of the Americans for Tax Reform based in Washington D.C., contacted Sen. Sam Slom, R-Hawaii Kai, to form a Taxpayer Protection Caucus in the state Legislature. The caucus welcomes any lawmaker who signed the Americans for Tax Reform Pledge, which says the person who signed it will not raise taxes or propose, introduce or support legislation that raises taxes. Slom signed it as did his co-chair in the House of Representatives Lynn Finnegan, R-Aiea. They are recruiting into the caucus those Hawaii lawmakers who signed the no tax pledge sent out by ATR and distributed by Dick Rowland of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Gov. Linda Lingle, who met with Norquist while he was in Hawaii just prior to her election, signed the pledge, as did around 20 percent of the state Legislature currently in office. See https://www.atr.org for more information. Hawaii is the first state to create such a caucus. Slom says those legislators who break the pledge will be no longer allowed in the caucus and the caucus will publicize the lawmaker’s violation. ‘New Hero or Scoundrel Voting Feature a Hit’ Sen. Cal Kawamoto, D-Waipahu, was the first legislator to be put on an unofficial trial as a hero or scoundrel for his proposals to raise Hawaii’s gasoline taxes by 2 cents to fund a rapid transit or light rail system. Hawaii’s gasoline taxes already are the highest in the nation. Ironically, Kawamoto signed a pledge with the Americans for Tax Reform that says he will not introduce, support or vote for a tax increase. Breaking his pledge did not sit too well with HawaiiReporter.com readers. The results ?- 155 people voted Kawamoto a scoundrel, while 11 people voted him as a hero. Then Gov. Linda Lingle was put on trial for her controversial education reform proposals offered in her state of the state address. Gov. Linda Lingle wants to give parents of children in public schools more choice in education, saying the current system is not working. She wants charter schools to receive funding equal to that of their sister public schools (now the funding is around half and principals don’t know their budget until after the school year is over, making it nearly impossible to budget properly. The governor also wants to break up Hawaii’s centralized school system (Hawaii is the only state with a single statewide centralized system) into multiple districts, so control of the schools can go back to the communities they are based in rather than remain with the state. She is asking the proposal be put on the general election ballots of the 2004 election so the people can decide. Finally, Lingle wants to free public school principals from any ties to the public teachers’ union, saying they need to be independent to accomplish their job. Out of 117 people who voted yesterday, 106 say Lingle is a hero for her reform proposals while 11 people voted her a scoundrel. Whether those 11 voters who voted Lingle a scoundrel are the same who voted Kawamoto a hero is a mystery that will never likely be solved. If you have a hero or scoundrel in mind, send your nomination to tips@HawaiiReporter.com ‘NFIB Members Voice Top Concerns in Business Poll’ Bette Tatum, president of the National Federation of Independent Business in Hawaii, says her 5,500 members in Hawaii believe the increasing cost of healthcare, taxes and workers’ comp are the top three most important issues as business owners and operators. Tatum says while her members are still concerned about Hawaii’s business climate, 70 percent already report they believe the business climate is getting better in Hawaii and none of them used the word “hostile” to describe the state government as they did in the past. “There is a whole new attitude in the business community,” Tatum says.

Mayor Jeremy Harris’ State of the City speech started out like a scene in the motion picture StarTrek. The only thing missing was the dramatic music:

“Eight years ago, I pledged to undertake a crusade. A crusade to establish Honolulu as the most livable City in the world [what does he mean by that anyway?]. Our first goal was to enhance the quality of life on Oahu. Through the hard work of thousands of community leaders and our city team — we’ve done just that.”

[Dadaaaa.]

“We have built new police and fire stations, [even though the police station in Hawaii Kai just got canned after years of planning] expanded our police force [even though they are leaving in droves to North America where they are paid better], and increased the number of firefighters. And we are now the safest City of its size in the U.S. with the lowest rate of violent crime [but the thieves will take everything you own without a second thought, which is why we have the highest property crime in the nation. How safe is that?]. Our fire department is one of only a few in the nation to receive national accreditation. Our bus system has been rated the best in North America [Rah rah –

Mayor Jeremy Harris’ State of the City speech started out like a scene in the motion picture StarTrek. The only thing missing was the dramatic music: “Eight years ago, I pledged to undertake a crusade. A crusade to establish Honolulu as the most livable City in the world [what does he mean by that anyway?]. Our first goal was to enhance the quality of life on Oahu. Through the hard work of thousands of community leaders and our city team — we’ve done just that.” [Dadaaaa.] “We have built new police and fire stations, [even though the police station in Hawaii Kai just got canned after years of planning] expanded our police force [even though they are leaving in droves to North America where they are paid better], and increased the number of firefighters. And we are now the safest City of its size in the U.S. with the lowest rate of violent crime [but the thieves will take everything you own without a second thought, which is why we have the highest property crime in the nation. How safe is that?]. Our fire department is one of only a few in the nation to receive national accreditation. Our bus system has been rated the best in North America [Rah rah -? If TheBus is so great, why doesn’t the mayor and his cabinet members ride TheBus?]. We’ve helped build a better economy by rebuilding Waikiki and bringing back local families [is he talking about those parties again that he keeps holding on Waikiki beach at a cost of more than $1 million paid for by thousands of taxpayers who never attend?]. We’ve expanded our sports tourism industry with the construction of our soccer and baseball complexes in Waipio and Central Oahu [some of the contractors are now under investigation for alleged kickbacks to the mayor’s campaign]. And through our Environmental Summits and the development of our Asia-Pacific Urban Institute, we’ve started to diversify our economy into knowledge-based industries by establishing Honolulu as an international leader in environmental science and technology [what the heck does this mean?]. And we’ve democratized City government [well, what were we before, Communist?] through the process known as Community Vision — inviting people to help make the decisions that impact their neighborhoods [actually, many of the 19 visioning teams are comprised of people who work for the mayor and not “regular citizens.” Or some people were named as being part of a visioning team, but they did not even know it. And the visioning teams have cost the taxpayers more than $152 million over the last four years with little but architectural plans and a really hideous and expensive canoe halau to show for it.] I’m enormously proud of our progress in these areas. Our second crusade sought to protect and preserve the environment, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Since 1994, we’ve budgeted almost $1 billion for upgrades to our wastewater system [but not spent it on sewer repairs and instead drained the sewer fund to balance the budget]. We have increased recycling by 66 percent. We’ve increased park space by 28 percent, and planted over 18,000 trees in our City [he chopped down many trees too that he didn’t like and many others died that he planted because no one is caring for them]. We’ve transformed a deteriorating Hanauma Bay into a world-class nature-learning center [the fish and visitors might disagree], and we’ve adopted Sustainable Community Plans [liberal speak for control and property rights violations] that establish hard and fast urban growth boundaries. We’ve been able to accomplish all these goals because of our success in our third crusade, which was to achieve smarter more efficient government [what were the first and second crusades again?]. We reorganized City government and cut the number of departments. We reduced the number of government employees by more than 8 percent [but raised the number of people we contracted with the city by leaps and bounds]. We cut CIP [maybe this year to come, but not before unless it was a shell game]. And by doing such things as automating refuse pick-up, privatizing city services, and implementing e-commerce, we have been able to increase services, while at the same time, dramatically lowering property taxes [depends on who you ask about property taxes. Some people report their property assessments have gone up as much as 80 percent this year without doing anything to their property]. In fact, since 1994, we’ve given property taxpayers $348 million of property tax relief; and we are running our City this year with property tax revenues $49 million lower than they were back in 1994. [If that is true, it is because the Japanese real estate bubble burst and Hawaii’s real estate values dropped.] As a result of these initiatives and others, we have been nationally recognized as having the best City Web site in the country [good Web designers can work wonders], being the No.1 City in the nation for use of technology in the delivery of government services, and for being one of the 10 best managed cities in the United States. [What was the criteria for that award? Must be how many parties we threw and how many new parks we opened, not fiscal accountability or safety or sanitation.] Proud as I am of how far we’ve come in the last 9 years, this is no time to rest on past accomplishments. Tonight, I renew my commitment of service to the people of Honolulu. And I ask for your support and partnership in tackling the important work that lies ahead [here comes the Star Trek music again or is it the theme from Jaws?]. We stand this evening on the threshold of a new beginning for our island [he is using Lingle speak]. A time of change. A singular moment when extraordinary opportunities are within our reach, if only we have the courage and vision to seize them. Waikiki can become a pedestrian oasis [is that a disease?] of natural beauty and Hawaiian culture [the city already has spent millions in Waikiki to the detriment of other communities that are falling apart]. Our downtown can be a vibrant waterfront City with waterfront dining, shops, and bike paths, if the traffic is diverted through a Harbor tunnel. Aiea, Pearl City and Waipahu can be transformed into beautiful waterfront towns by relocating the warehouses and strip commercial that currently block those communities from the sea [it is called stealing from property owners through condemnation]. We can protect our open space and produce more of the food we consume by reestablishing an agricultural industry [it is called subsidizing -? we do it well]. We can redo the Barbers Point plan, and working with President Dobelle, we can make Kapolei a vital university town [got to get rid of the fish smell, the 3,000 stray cats and the rows of homeless first]. We can become a center for environmental and biotechnology and export our knowledge instead of just importing tourists, providing our children with professional jobs as scientists, engineers and doctors [what does this have to do with the government? Kids can become what they want with initiative]. Our island can be the international model for sustainability [there is that liberal speak again]. Our City can shine among the great cosmopolitan cities of the world. The only thing that limits our horizon is the boldness of our vision [what is he smoking?]. The only thing that limits our potential is our discord. We can achieve greatness if we can achieve unity [sounds like he is warming up to spring his light rail and tax increase on unsuspecting listeners]. If we work in partnership, all our dreams can be realized [he means if we do what he wants, we can realize his dreams]. Those who criticize creativity and promote discord must not win [that means anyone who questions him is badddddd]. We must have a higher purpose — we must aspire to more than the failure of our opponents. We must aspire to the success of our society [warming up]. The challenges we face are too urgent. Nothing must stand in the way of our City’s quest to reach its fullest potential. So tonight I call upon citizens and colleagues, both in and out of government, to join me in renouncing petty, partisan politics. I pled
ge my administration’s constructive cooperation in working with Gov. Lingle, the Legislature, and with our new City Council [he means everyone should do it his way or they are being petty and partisan]. A year ago I spoke of our vision to make Oahu a sustainable [there is that liberal speak again] island — a place where precious resources are recycled, energy efficient transportation systems link safe and clean communities, and a diversified economy provides stable jobs for our people. Less than two weeks ago, more than a thousand citizens came together with City, State and University leaders. We discussed island-wide sustainability in five key areas: economy, transportation, land use, energy and natural resources. Over the next 10 months, we will work in partnership with the University of Hawaii, the City Council and the community to put in place an action plan to achieve that goal. Tonight, I’ll outline some of the critical choices our city is making to set the stage for our sustainable future [does he realize he uses the word sustainability 14 times in a 27 minute speech?]. Let’s look first at our Economy. For our City to be sustainable [see], we must have a sustainable [what does this mean anyway?] economy. The City’s recent revitalization of Waikiki was designed to make our visitor industry more sustainable [huh?]. Today we see a glimmer of what Waikiki is destined to become — a beautiful place to live and visit — a Hawaiian place, rich in culture and history [like he knows about anything Hawaiian — come on — he might know about Bon Dancing thanks to his wife, but not hula or Hawaiian culture]. But much more needs to be done if we are to fully realize Waikiki’s potential [he wants lots more money for his friends who are developers and political contributors in Waikiki]. Therefore, in the coming year, in partnership with the residents and the WIA, we will begin implementing the Livable Waikiki Plan by making major pedestrian improvements to Kuhio Avenue and by landscaping the Mauka-Makai avenues of Waikiki [doesn’t every mayor redo Waikiki to suit his ego?]. And once the dredging has been completed by the State [and all of the dead bodies have been identified and reburied and mysteries in Hawaii have been solved], we will begin transforming the Ala Wai Canal into one of Waikiki’s most precious resources [instead of a putrid pit of muck and staff germs]. I envision this valuable waterway becoming the center for outrigger canoe activities, as well as a place where residents and visitors can enjoy small boats, take part in cultural activities such as Toro Nagashi, or simply enjoy beautifully landscaped bike paths along the water’s edge [already done with the muck]. I look forward to working in partnership with the Waikiki community to make this vision a reality. And to encourage the appropriate redevelopment of rundown areas of Waikiki, we’ll work with the community to revise the Waikiki Special Design District Guidelines [it is called condemnation -? the mayor loves that word]. For the tourism component of our economy to be sustainable [no seriously, what does this mean?], tourism must enhance, not ruin the natural environment and the Hawaiian culture people come here to experience. Therefore, to protect our economy for the long run and to make our visitor industry more sustainable [please tell me], I propose that each year we invest 10 percent of our Hotel Room Tax receipts in environmental and cultural enhancement programs [does he mean more fake waterfalls and more fake rocks?]. We must give back to this special place [like the contractors give back to his campaign after they get city contracts]. Sports tourism is another area that offers tremendous promise for the sustainable [ah] growth and diversification of our local economy. Using the City’s Waipio Soccer Complex, the AYSO National Tournament brought more than $8 million into our economy last year [show me the money]. This year, the United States Youth Soccer Association’s tournament, and the U.S. Soccer Federation’s National Veteran’s Cup will bring in over $10 million [good, then don’t raise our taxes]. Our Central Oahu Regional Park, is attracting international and national visitors to our island. Three Korean professional baseball teams train at our baseball facilities. Next month, the 20 court tennis complex will open and host the USTA National Junior Tennis Championships, and serve as the home court for the University of Hawaii Women’s Tennis Team. This year our new softball complex will host three Western Regional Tournaments, and three Junior Olympic Tournaments, attracting both national and international teams. These successes in sports tourism are part of a broad strategy to market the City’s facilities to an international field of athletic organizations. This week I introduced an ordinance to the City Council allowing us to generate revenue from the use of our parks for commercial events. We will also seek proposals to privatize the maintenance and other selected operations at our sports facilities. Our true economic destiny is to be a center for knowledge based industries for the Asia Pacific region. We have developed the Asia-Pacific Urban Institute and established the Mayor’s Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit to position our City as a world leader in environmental affairs and urban technology. This summer Honolulu will host the third Mayors’ Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit with the support of the Asian Development Bank. In the space of just a few years, this prestigious gathering of urban leaders and environmental experts has brought international acclaim to our City as a center for highly specialized knowledge about urban environmental challenges and solutions. [Great — all we need is more bureaucrats in town at more strip clubs or parties with really friendly hostesses talking about their sustainability.] As a result of these initiatives, I am happy to announce that the United Nation’s sanctioned World Trade University has selected Honolulu as the site for its Pacific location and is developing its programs with HPU [oh no, please no]. The World Trade University will also utilize the City’s Asia-Pacific Urban Institute to conduct executive seminars for Asian leaders [more liberal speak floods to the state]. Land Use Respect for the land is one of our core values [unless it is owned privately — in which case the city can seize it for whatever it wants]. In order to protect our open space, keep the country, country and stop the spread of urban sprawl, we have developed sustainable [ha] community plans and established urban growth boundaries [oh dear]. But to truly protect our important agricultural lands, I will urge the new City Council to pass Bill 36, to keep 87,000 acres of these lands in agriculture in perpetuity. With the demise of plantations, tens of thousands of acres of our prime agriculture lands in Central Oahu lay fallow. Our challenge now is to get these lands into productive agricultural use. The first step is to get the land into the hands of farmers. So in the coming weeks, I will meet with the large landowners of these fallow acres to encourage them to provide long-term leases to farmers. Farmers who are willing to make the land productive once again. For diversified agriculture to be successful, the land must have affordable water. Therefore, this year we will provide additional upgrades to our Wahiawa wastewater treatment plant so that this clean recycled water, as well as the water in Lake Wilson, can be used to irrigate a variety of new crops. Nothing can cripple an economy and erode the quality of life more than traffic congestion [here comes the BRT song]. To improve the livability of our urban core, we need to improve mobility in our urban core. Therefore, this year, after years of planning, we will move forward with the construction of our Iwilei/downtown to Waikiki transit system. Dubbed “The Hart of Honolulu,” it can be operational in two and a half years. [Is the HART like the failing and heavily subsidized BART transit system in San Francisco?] But, we also need to move forward on a regional transportation system for the co
mmute between Leeward, Central Oahu and downtown [more HART coming]. We simply waste too much time in traffic jams. Time better spent with family [Let’s see the mayor get on the HART every day instead of in his fancy car.] Therefore, we’ll work with the City Council, the Governor, and the Legislature to create a political consensus for a regional transportation system to ease that commute. But we must move quickly, 32 years have been spent on studies [all that showed the system would not work] it’s time for action. And continuing to rely on fossil fuels for transportation simply isn’t sustainable [this apparently has many meanings]. We need to use technologies that don’t produce air pollution and greenhouse gases, and that don’t rely on foreign oil [or hot air]. My goal is to transform our award-winning bus system into the first fuel cell powered fleet in the world. [Why do we try everything first with our taxpayer dollars and then wonder why no other state or country follows?] This technology promises to transform our world, and Honolulu will be one of the cities leading the way [you betch ya]. Other high-tech improvements to our transit system are also on the way. For greater efficiency and customer convenience, we will implement smart card technology for the Bus. You will soon be able to buy a smart card that could be used as a bus debit card, or as an annual pass or monthly pass. And you won’t even have to take the card out of your purse or wallet when you step aboard. The bus will automatically and electronically debit your card — or read your pass [now that is really scary. Does it read retinas and see what color underwear you are wearing too?] And this year’s Transportation improvements will extend to bikes, as well as buses, as we use our Bike Fund to implement our Bike Master Plan. For decades, we have become more and more energy dependent, and much of that dependence was linked to imported oil. We need to become more sustainable [yes] in this area by reducing our energy demand and increasing our use of renewable resources. Last year, I signed a new City Energy Code into law, mandating energy efficiency in all new construction. That change is projected to save over 300 million dollars in energy costs over two decades. But, we can do better, and I will work with the City Council to update the code and save even more. One of our goals is to reduce the demand for energy in City facilities by 50 percent by the year 2010 [aren’t there term limits for mayors?]. Good building design and the right materials can also bring us closer to energy independence. As new City facilities are planned, we will apply new environmental design standards, and we will provide all developers with green building guidelines. And we will use our federally funded Rehab Loan Program to bring solar water heating to low and moderate income families in a public-private partnership with Hawaiian Electric and the Hawaii Solar Industry Association. And this year, 60 percent of our maintenance diesel-powered fleet will use biodiesel fuel, made from recycled vegetable oil [funny that is what Saddam Hussein says too]. This reduces our fossil fuel diesel demand by 20 percent. As island people, we understand well the reality of finite natural resources. If we are to make our island more sustainable [yikes], we have to change from a pattern of consumption and waste to one of conservation and reuse. Recycling is an important part of the City’s quest for sustainability [ok, maybe there are more than 14 times he uses this word]. In 1994, the City recycled no bio-solids at all. Last year we recycled ten tons per day in a composting partnership with the U.S. Navy. Our goal is to increase that by another 20 tons per day by 2006 through another public-private partnership. This new recycling plant at Sand Island will be under construction this year [next to the sewer plant that is under a federal consent decree]. Back in 1994 we recycled 300,000 tons of municipal solid waste. Today we are recycling 500,000 tons per year, or 33 percent of our waste. An impressive increase, but we can do more. While many of our residents recycle their refuse at our school recycling centers, most do not. Therefore, to significantly increase household recycling, I’m pleased to announce that this year, we will initiate a program for monthly door-to-door curbside recycling and a twice a month automated pick-up of recyclable green waste. These services will be in addition to our regular twice a week refuse pick up [best news yet, even though folks who use the recycle services will have to pay an additional fee for it]. Most of the refuse that can’t be recycled is now turned into electricity at H-Power. At the City Council’s request, we are just completing a study to determine if other new technologies, such as plasma torch, could be used to dispose of our non-recyclables and generate energy. Within two weeks, we will issue a Request for Proposals to the private sector to provide a full service contract to finance, design, construct and operate a facility using cutting edge technology such as this to handle our waste [just about 7 years too late]. We will also issue a Request for Proposals for other private companies that want to become tenants at the City’s new recycling technology park, processing our municipal solid waste into marketable products. All of these initiatives are designed to eliminate the continual need for municipal solid waste landfills [the bottom line is the landfill is filled to capacity, even with extension after extension]. In the last 9 years, we have budgeted over $942 million dollars for wastewater system upgrades. In the coming year, we will budget nearly $100 million in additional funds to continue these improvements [budgeting is one thing, spending the money wisely in the right areas is another]. This year, as in year’s past, we have a budget challenge to meet. This is not unfamiliar territory for this administration. And this year, as in year’s past, I will submit a balanced budget to the City Council. Each year between 1994 and 2002, real property values — the foundation of our revenue — plummeted. Each year we faced huge budget shortfalls. To offset those drops, we rolled up our sleeves [don’t they wear aloha shirts], reorganized government to make it more efficient, reduced our workforce by leveraging technology, formed public-private partnerships and held the line on spending [now that depends on who you ask]. Our goal was to keep taxes low [or to make people think they are low] and to keep money in people’s pockets [now that is a down right lie]. And that’s what we’ve done. Here are the facts about our City finances: *Considering inflation, our City operating budget this year is almost exactly what it was 9 years ago [that is because the city borrow money to the point where it is near 20 percent of the annual budget ?- the limit for borrowing]; *Since 1995, our City construction budget has on average been $100 million dollars a year less than the budgets during the first half of the 1990’s [that is because money is borrowed from bonds and because in the early 1990s, Ewa Villages and other city projects were under construction]; *We are running the City today with 8 percent fewer government employees than it took to run the City in 1994 [more people than ever are contracted with the city]; *We have provided real property taxpayers on this island with $348 million dollars in property tax reductions since 1994 [that goes with a decrease in property values]; And property taxes this year are $49 million dollars lower than they were in 1994; *Since 1994, we have shown great fiscal restraint. We did not spend over $1.1 billion dollars of operating and capital money that was appropriated by the various City Councils for expenditure [that is not what the Council says]; *Because of our good financial management, we have earned an AA bond rating from the National Bond Raters — putting us in the top 15 percent of the best American Cities. [It is tough to get a bond rating lowered when taxpayers can be taxed more to make up the debt, but the city’s rating did drop, according
to Council Budget Chair Ann Kobayashi.] And we’ve been rated nationally as one of America’s 10 Best Managed Cities; *Despite having less revenue, we have increased City services in almost every sector — more Police, more Firefighters, more Parks, more refuse service, more buses, more Satellite City Halls; *Not only have we expanded services, but we’ve done it with excellence — winning national acclaim in almost every area. Am I proud of our City team for these amazing accomplishments — you bet I am. [Here is the catch] As these facts attest, Honolulu doesn’t have a spending problem — we have a declining revenue problem [that is not what the council members say]. Obviously, we can’t continue in perpetuity to provide more services to a growing population with less taxes than we took in 9 years ago [sounds like a tax increase is coming]. Therefore, for the 2004 FY budget, we will propose modest increases in property tax rates, but we will still strive to keep property tax revenues below what they were in 1994 [whew, he talked real fast over this one]. I’ll also submit a 2004 CIP budget that is over $100 million dollars smaller than the current budget [construction buddies will not be happy about that]. We are looking well beyond the fiscal year ahead. We want to develop reliable sources of revenue for the long-term, more efficiencies in operations, and a framework that fairly distributes the cost of services to those who benefit — both resident and visitor. While I’ll unveil our complete plan for fiscal sustainability [hmm] in March, I would like to briefly touch on several of its major components now. The first is to eliminate unnecessary programs. Four years ago, we decided the City should not be in the housing business, and we eliminated the Housing Department. However, today the City still owns and manages over 1,200 rental housing units. I propose that the City sell these units to appropriate non-profits and eligible owner occupants, and retire the $120 million dollars of long-term debt associated with this housing [first good idea he’s had]. The second component of the plan is to privatize more City services [hooray]. Currently over $230 million of the City’s annual budget is privatized. I believe we can save money by privatizing additional services. Therefore, I will be proposing the privatization of the Waikiki Shell, the Blaisdell Arena, the Honolulu Zoo, and the maintenance of the Pali Golf Course, as well as the maintenance of certain parks. President Dobelle has advanced an exciting idea to transform the arena into a San Francisco type exploratorium [that sounds very expensive]. A third component of the Plan is to maximize the return on City assets and facilities. Changes include bulk marketing of tee times that now go unused at our less popular golf courses, and expanding golf course food concessions into full restaurant operations. And we will pursue a partnership with HPU’s Ocean and Marine Science Program for evening use of our Education Center at Hanauma Bay. These are just few of the initiatives we will propose in the coming weeks. But in order to provide for true fiscal sustainability [so noted], we need to realign the boundaries of responsibility and authority between the City and the State. We must have control over our own finances. To help achieve this, last week we presented a package of bills to the State legislature. Once enacted, they will provide our City with true financial home rule and the ability to achieve financial sustainability [yea]. Tonight it’s been my honor to talk with you — to share Honolulu’s triumphs, to sketch possibilities for the future and to thank you for your many contributions to our great city. It’s a privilege to be your mayor, and I’m especially proud of all we’ve done together. We’ve made remarkable progress, and I look forward to our achievements yet to come. Together we can take our vision to another level, to look beyond the short-term horizon and the daily problems that confront us to broader, more important issues. It has been said that the quality of life is not just about the place where we live, but about how we live. And so tonight I ask that you join me as we forge new partnerships and long-term commitments. Commitments that will leave our children a cleaner, more beautiful and vibrant city — a place of greater hope and opportunity. This is the time to put our differences aside. This is the time for all to come together and focus on our future. This is the time to answer your community’s call. Thank you and good evening. [Congratulations, if you made it all the way through this speech, you must have sustainability.]

Mayor Jeremy Harris’ State of the City speech started out like a scene in the motion picture StarTrek. The only thing missing was the dramatic music: “Eight years ago, I pledged to undertake a crusade. A crusade to establish Honolulu as the most livable City in the world [what does he mean by that anyway?]. Our first goal was to enhance the quality of life on Oahu. Through the hard work of thousands of community leaders and our city team — we’ve done just that.” [Dadaaaa.] “We have built new police and fire stations, [even though the police station in Hawaii Kai just got canned after years of planning] expanded our police force [even though they are leaving in droves to North America where they are paid better], and increased the number of firefighters. And we are now the safest City of its size in the U.S. with the lowest rate of violent crime [but the thieves will take everything you own without a second thought, which is why we have the highest property crime in the nation. How safe is that?]. Our fire department is one of only a few in the nation to receive national accreditation. Our bus system has been rated the best in North America [Rah rah -? If TheBus is so great, why doesn’t the mayor and his cabinet members ride TheBus?]. We’ve helped build a better economy by rebuilding Waikiki and bringing back local families [is he talking about those parties again that he keeps holding on Waikiki beach at a cost of more than $1 million paid for by thousands of taxpayers who never attend?]. We’ve expanded our sports tourism industry with the construction of our soccer and baseball complexes in Waipio and Central Oahu [some of the contractors are now under investigation for alleged kickbacks to the mayor’s campaign]. And through our Environmental Summits and the development of our Asia-Pacific Urban Institute, we’ve started to diversify our economy into knowledge-based industries by establishing Honolulu as an international leader in environmental science and technology [what the heck does this mean?]. And we’ve democratized City government [well, what were we before, Communist?] through the process known as Community Vision — inviting people to help make the decisions that impact their neighborhoods [actually, many of the 19 visioning teams are comprised of people who work for the mayor and not “regular citizens.” Or some people were named as being part of a visioning team, but they did not even know it. And the visioning teams have cost the taxpayers more than $152 million over the last four years with little but architectural plans and a really hideous and expensive canoe halau to show for it.] I’m enormously proud of our progress in these areas. Our second crusade sought to protect and preserve the environment, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Since 1994, we’ve budgeted almost $1 billion for upgrades to our wastewater system [but not spent it on sewer repairs and instead drained the sewer fund to balance the budget]. We have increased recycling by 66 percent. We’ve increased park space by 28 percent, and planted over 18,000 trees in our City [he chopped down many trees too that he didn’t like and many others died that he planted because no one is caring for them]. We’ve transformed a deteriorating Hanauma Bay into a world-class nature-learning center [the fish and visitors might disagree], and we’ve adopted Sustainable Community Plans [liberal speak for control and property rights violations] that establish hard and fast urban growth boundaries. We’ve been able to accomplish all these goals because of our success in our third crusade, which was to achieve smarter more efficient government [what were the first and second crusades again?]. We reorganized City government and cut the number of departments. We reduced the number of government employees by more than 8 percent [but raised the number of people we contracted with the city by leaps and bounds]. We cut CIP [maybe this year to come, but not before unless it was a shell game]. And by doing such things as automating refuse pick-up, privatizing city services, and implementing e-commerce, we have been able to increase services, while at the same time, dramatically lowering property taxes [depends on who you ask about property taxes. Some people report their property assessments have gone up as much as 80 percent this year without doing anything to their property]. In fact, since 1994, we’ve given property taxpayers $348 million of property tax relief; and we are running our City this year with property tax revenues $49 million lower than they were back in 1994. [If that is true, it is because the Japanese real estate bubble burst and Hawaii’s real estate values dropped.] As a result of these initiatives and others, we have been nationally recognized as having the best City Web site in the country [good Web designers can work wonders], being the No.1 City in the nation for use of technology in the delivery of government services, and for being one of the 10 best managed cities in the United States. [What was the criteria for that award? Must be how many parties we threw and how many new parks we opened, not fiscal accountability or safety or sanitation.] Proud as I am of how far we’ve come in the last 9 years, this is no time to rest on past accomplishments. Tonight, I renew my commitment of service to the people of Honolulu. And I ask for your support and partnership in tackling the important work that lies ahead [here comes the Star Trek music again or is it the theme from Jaws?]. We stand this evening on the threshold of a new beginning for our island [he is using Lingle speak]. A time of change. A singular moment when extraordinary opportunities are within our reach, if only we have the courage and vision to seize them. Waikiki can become a pedestrian oasis [is that a disease?] of natural beauty and Hawaiian culture [the city already has spent millions in Waikiki to the detriment of other communities that are falling apart]. Our downtown can be a vibrant waterfront City with waterfront dining, shops, and bike paths, if the traffic is diverted through a Harbor tunnel. Aiea, Pearl City and Waipahu can be transformed into beautiful waterfront towns by relocating the warehouses and strip commercial that currently block those communities from the sea [it is called stealing from property owners through condemnation]. We can protect our open space and produce more of the food we consume by reestablishing an agricultural industry [it is called subsidizing -? we do it well]. We can redo the Barbers Point plan, and working with President Dobelle, we can make Kapolei a vital university town [got to get rid of the fish smell, the 3,000 stray cats and the rows of homeless first]. We can become a center for environmental and biotechnology and export our knowledge instead of just importing tourists, providing our children with professional jobs as scientists, engineers and doctors [what does this have to do with the government? Kids can become what they want with initiative]. Our island can be the international model for sustainability [there is that liberal speak again]. Our City can shine among the great cosmopolitan cities of the world. The only thing that limits our horizon is the boldness of our vision [what is he smoking?]. The only thing that limits our potential is our discord. We can achieve greatness if we can achieve unity [sounds like he is warming up to spring his light rail and tax increase on unsuspecting listeners]. If we work in partnership, all our dreams can be realized [he means if we do what he wants, we can realize his dreams]. Those who criticize creativity and promote discord must not win [that means anyone who questions him is badddddd]. We must have a higher purpose — we must aspire to more than the failure of our opponents. We must aspire to the success of our society [warming up]. The challenges we face are too urgent. Nothing must stand in the way of our City’s quest to reach its fullest potential. So tonight I call upon citizens and colleagues, both in and out of government, to join me in renouncing petty, partisan politics. I pledge my administration’s constructive cooperation in working with Gov. Lingle, the Legislature, and with our new City Council [he means everyone should do it his way or they are being petty and partisan]. A year ago I spoke of our vision to make Oahu a sustainable [there is that liberal speak again] island — a place where precious resources are recycled, energy efficient transportation systems link safe and clean communities, and a diversified economy provides stable jobs for our people. Less than two weeks ago, more than a thousand citizens came together with City, State and University leaders. We discussed island-wide sustainability in five key areas: economy, transportation, land use, energy and natural resources. Over the next 10 months, we will work in partnership with the University of Hawaii, the City Council and the community to put in place an action plan to achieve that goal. Tonight, I’ll outline some of the critical choices our city is making to set the stage for our sustainable future [does he realize he uses the word sustainability 14 times in a 27 minute speech?]. Let’s look first at our Economy. For our City to be sustainable [see], we must have a sustainable [what does this mean anyway?] economy. The City’s recent revitalization of Waikiki was designed to make our visitor industry more sustainable [huh?]. Today we see a glimmer of what Waikiki is destined to become — a beautiful place to live and visit — a Hawaiian place, rich in culture and history [like he knows about anything Hawaiian — come on — he might know about Bon Dancing thanks to his wife, but not hula or Hawaiian culture]. But much more needs to be done if we are to fully realize Waikiki’s potential [he wants lots more money for his friends who are developers and political contributors in Waikiki]. Therefore, in the coming year, in partnership with the residents and the WIA, we will begin implementing the Livable Waikiki Plan by making major pedestrian improvements to Kuhio Avenue and by landscaping the Mauka-Makai avenues of Waikiki [doesn’t every mayor redo Waikiki to suit his ego?]. And once the dredging has been completed by the State [and all of the dead bodies have been identified and reburied and mysteries in Hawaii have been solved], we will begin transforming the Ala Wai Canal into one of Waikiki’s most precious resources [instead of a putrid pit of muck and staff germs]. I envision this valuable waterway becoming the center for outrigger canoe activities, as well as a place where residents and visitors can enjoy small boats, take part in cultural activities such as Toro Nagashi, or simply enjoy beautifully landscaped bike paths along the water’s edge [already done with the muck]. I look forward to working in partnership with the Waikiki community to make this vision a reality. And to encourage the appropriate redevelopment of rundown areas of Waikiki, we’ll work with the community to revise the Waikiki Special Design District Guidelines [it is called condemnation -? the mayor loves that word]. For the tourism component of our economy to be sustainable [no seriously, what does this mean?], tourism must enhance, not ruin the natural environment and the Hawaiian culture people come here to experience. Therefore, to protect our economy for the long run and to make our visitor industry more sustainable [please tell me], I propose that each year we invest 10 percent of our Hotel Room Tax receipts in environmental and cultural enhancement programs [does he mean more fake waterfalls and more fake rocks?]. We must give back to this special place [like the contractors give back to his campaign after they get city contracts]. Sports tourism is another area that offers tremendous promise for the sustainable [ah] growth and diversification of our local economy. Using the City’s Waipio Soccer Complex, the AYSO National Tournament brought more than $8 million into our economy last year [show me the money]. This year, the United States Youth Soccer Association’s tournament, and the U.S. Soccer Federation’s National Veteran’s Cup will bring in over $10 million [good, then don’t raise our taxes]. Our Central Oahu Regional Park, is attracting international and national visitors to our island. Three Korean professional baseball teams train at our baseball facilities. Next month, the 20 court tennis complex will open and host the USTA National Junior Tennis Championships, and serve as the home court for the University of Hawaii Women’s Tennis Team. This year our new softball complex will host three Western Regional Tournaments, and three Junior Olympic Tournaments, attracting both national and international teams. These successes in sports tourism are part of a broad strategy to market the City’s facilities to an international field of athletic organizations. This week I introduced an ordinance to the City Council allowing us to generate revenue from the use of our parks for commercial events. We will also seek proposals to privatize the maintenance and other selected operations at our sports facilities. Our true economic destiny is to be a center for knowledge based industries for the Asia Pacific region. We have developed the Asia-Pacific Urban Institute and established the Mayor’s Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit to position our City as a world leader in environmental affairs and urban technology. This summer Honolulu will host the third Mayors’ Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit with the support of the Asian Development Bank. In the space of just a few years, this prestigious gathering of urban leaders and environmental experts has brought international acclaim to our City as a center for highly specialized knowledge about urban environmental challenges and solutions. [Great — all we need is more bureaucrats in town at more strip clubs or parties with really friendly hostesses talking about their sustainability.] As a result of these initiatives, I am happy to announce that the United Nation’s sanctioned World Trade University has selected Honolulu as the site for its Pacific location and is developing its programs with HPU [oh no, please no]. The World Trade University will also utilize the City’s Asia-Pacific Urban Institute to conduct executive seminars for Asian leaders [more liberal speak floods to the state]. Land Use Respect for the land is one of our core values [unless it is owned privately — in which case the city can seize it for whatever it wants]. In order to protect our open space, keep the country, country and stop the spread of urban sprawl, we have developed sustainable [ha] community plans and established urban growth boundaries [oh dear]. But to truly protect our important agricultural lands, I will urge the new City Council to pass Bill 36, to keep 87,000 acres of these lands in agriculture in perpetuity. With the demise of plantations, tens of thousands of acres of our prime agriculture lands in Central Oahu lay fallow. Our challenge now is to get these lands into productive agricultural use. The first step is to get the land into the hands of farmers. So in the coming weeks, I will meet with the large landowners of these fallow acres to encourage them to provide long-term leases to farmers. Farmers who are willing to make the land productive once again. For diversified agriculture to be successful, the land must have affordable water. Therefore, this year we will provide additional upgrades to our Wahiawa wastewater treatment plant so that this clean recycled water, as well as the water in Lake Wilson, can be used to irrigate a variety of new crops. Nothing can cripple an economy and erode the quality of life more than traffic congestion [here comes the BRT song]. To improve the livability of our urban core, we need to improve mobility in our urban core. Therefore, this year, after years of planning, we will move forward with the construction of our Iwilei/downtown to Waikiki transit system. Dubbed “The Hart of Honolulu,” it can be operational in two and a half years. [Is the HART like the failing and heavily subsidized BART transit system in San Francisco?] But, we also need to move forward on a regional transportation system for the commute between Leeward, Central Oahu and downtown [more HART coming]. We simply waste too much time in traffic jams. Time better spent with family [Let’s see the mayor get on the HART every day instead of in his fancy car.] Therefore, we’ll work with the City Council, the Governor, and the Legislature to create a political consensus for a regional transportation system to ease that commute. But we must move quickly, 32 years have been spent on studies [all that showed the system would not work] it’s time for action. And continuing to rely on fossil fuels for transportation simply isn’t sustainable [this apparently has many meanings]. We need to use technologies that don’t produce air pollution and greenhouse gases, and that don’t rely on foreign oil [or hot air]. My goal is to transform our award-winning bus system into the first fuel cell powered fleet in the world. [Why do we try everything first with our taxpayer dollars and then wonder why no other state or country follows?] This technology promises to transform our world, and Honolulu will be one of the cities leading the way [you betch ya]. Other high-tech improvements to our transit system are also on the way. For greater efficiency and customer convenience, we will implement smart card technology for the Bus. You will soon be able to buy a smart card that could be used as a bus debit card, or as an annual pass or monthly pass. And you won’t even have to take the card out of your purse or wallet when you step aboard. The bus will automatically and electronically debit your card — or read your pass [now that is really scary. Does it read retinas and see what color underwear you are wearing too?] And this year’s Transportation improvements will extend to bikes, as well as buses, as we use our Bike Fund to implement our Bike Master Plan. For decades, we have become more and more energy dependent, and much of that dependence was linked to imported oil. We need to become more sustainable [yes] in this area by reducing our energy demand and increasing our use of renewable resources. Last year, I signed a new City Energy Code into law, mandating energy efficiency in all new construction. That change is projected to save over 300 million dollars in energy costs over two decades. But, we can do better, and I will work with the City Council to update the code and save even more. One of our goals is to reduce the demand for energy in City facilities by 50 percent by the year 2010 [aren’t there term limits for mayors?]. Good building design and the right materials can also bring us closer to energy independence. As new City facilities are planned, we will apply new environmental design standards, and we will provide all developers with green building guidelines. And we will use our federally funded Rehab Loan Program to bring solar water heating to low and moderate income families in a public-private partnership with Hawaiian Electric and the Hawaii Solar Industry Association. And this year, 60 percent of our maintenance diesel-powered fleet will use biodiesel fuel, made from recycled vegetable oil [funny that is what Saddam Hussein says too]. This reduces our fossil fuel diesel demand by 20 percent. As island people, we understand well the reality of finite natural resources. If we are to make our island more sustainable [yikes], we have to change from a pattern of consumption and waste to one of conservation and reuse. Recycling is an important part of the City’s quest for sustainability [ok, maybe there are more than 14 times he uses this word]. In 1994, the City recycled no bio-solids at all. Last year we recycled ten tons per day in a composting partnership with the U.S. Navy. Our goal is to increase that by another 20 tons per day by 2006 through another public-private partnership. This new recycling plant at Sand Island will be under construction this year [next to the sewer plant that is under a federal consent decree]. Back in 1994 we recycled 300,000 tons of municipal solid waste. Today we are recycling 500,000 tons per year, or 33 percent of our waste. An impressive increase, but we can do more. While many of our residents recycle their refuse at our school recycling centers, most do not. Therefore, to significantly increase household recycling, I’m pleased to announce that this year, we will initiate a program for monthly door-to-door curbside recycling and a twice a month automated pick-up of recyclable green waste. These services will be in addition to our regular twice a week refuse pick up [best news yet, even though folks who use the recycle services will have to pay an additional fee for it]. Most of the refuse that can’t be recycled is now turned into electricity at H-Power. At the City Council’s request, we are just completing a study to determine if other new technologies, such as plasma torch, could be used to dispose of our non-recyclables and generate energy. Within two weeks, we will issue a Request for Proposals to the private sector to provide a full service contract to finance, design, construct and operate a facility using cutting edge technology such as this to handle our waste [just about 7 years too late]. We will also issue a Request for Proposals for other private companies that want to become tenants at the City’s new recycling technology park, processing our municipal solid waste into marketable products. All of these initiatives are designed to eliminate the continual need for municipal solid waste landfills [the bottom line is the landfill is filled to capacity, even with extension after extension]. In the last 9 years, we have budgeted over $942 million dollars for wastewater system upgrades. In the coming year, we will budget nearly $100 million in additional funds to continue these improvements [budgeting is one thing, spending the money wisely in the right areas is another]. This year, as in year’s past, we have a budget challenge to meet. This is not unfamiliar territory for this administration. And this year, as in year’s past, I will submit a balanced budget to the City Council. Each year between 1994 and 2002, real property values — the foundation of our revenue — plummeted. Each year we faced huge budget shortfalls. To offset those drops, we rolled up our sleeves [don’t they wear aloha shirts], reorganized government to make it more efficient, reduced our workforce by leveraging technology, formed public-private partnerships and held the line on spending [now that depends on who you ask]. Our goal was to keep taxes low [or to make people think they are low] and to keep money in people’s pockets [now that is a down right lie]. And that’s what we’ve done. Here are the facts about our City finances: *Considering inflation, our City operating budget this year is almost exactly what it was 9 years ago [that is because the city borrow money to the point where it is near 20 percent of the annual budget ?- the limit for borrowing]; *Since 1995, our City construction budget has on average been $100 million dollars a year less than the budgets during the first half of the 1990’s [that is because money is borrowed from bonds and because in the early 1990s, Ewa Villages and other city projects were under construction]; *We are running the City today with 8 percent fewer government employees than it took to run the City in 1994 [more people than ever are contracted with the city]; *We have provided real property taxpayers on this island with $348 million dollars in property tax reductions since 1994 [that goes with a decrease in property values]; And property taxes this year are $49 million dollars lower than they were in 1994; *Since 1994, we have shown great fiscal restraint. We did not spend over $1.1 billion dollars of operating and capital money that was appropriated by the various City Councils for expenditure [that is not what the Council says]; *Because of our good financial management, we have earned an AA bond rating from the National Bond Raters — putting us in the top 15 percent of the best American Cities. [It is tough to get a bond rating lowered when taxpayers can be taxed more to make up the debt, but the city’s rating did drop, according to Council Budget Chair Ann Kobayashi.] And we’ve been rated nationally as one of America’s 10 Best Managed Cities; *Despite having less revenue, we have increased City services in almost every sector — more Police, more Firefighters, more Parks, more refuse service, more buses, more Satellite City Halls; *Not only have we expanded services, but we’ve done it with excellence — winning national acclaim in almost every area. Am I proud of our City team for these amazing accomplishments — you bet I am. [Here is the catch] As these facts attest, Honolulu doesn’t have a spending problem — we have a declining revenue problem [that is not what the council members say]. Obviously, we can’t continue in perpetuity to provide more services to a growing population with less taxes than we took in 9 years ago [sounds like a tax increase is coming]. Therefore, for the 2004 FY budget, we will propose modest increases in property tax rates, but we will still strive to keep property tax revenues below what they were in 1994 [whew, he talked real fast over this one]. I’ll also submit a 2004 CIP budget that is over $100 million dollars smaller than the current budget [construction buddies will not be happy about that]. We are looking well beyond the fiscal year ahead. We want to develop reliable sources of revenue for the long-term, more efficiencies in operations, and a framework that fairly distributes the cost of services to those who benefit — both resident and visitor. While I’ll unveil our complete plan for fiscal sustainability [hmm] in March, I would like to briefly touch on several of its major components now. The first is to eliminate unnecessary programs. Four years ago, we decided the City should not be in the housing business, and we eliminated the Housing Department. However, today the City still owns and manages over 1,200 rental housing units. I propose that the City sell these units to appropriate non-profits and eligible owner occupants, and retire the $120 million dollars of long-term debt associated with this housing [first good idea he’s had]. The second component of the plan is to privatize more City services [hooray]. Currently over $230 million of the City’s annual budget is privatized. I believe we can save money by privatizing additional services. Therefore, I will be proposing the privatization of the Waikiki Shell, the Blaisdell Arena, the Honolulu Zoo, and the maintenance of the Pali Golf Course, as well as the maintenance of certain parks. President Dobelle has advanced an exciting idea to transform the arena into a San Francisco type exploratorium [that sounds very expensive]. A third component of the Plan is to maximize the return on City assets and facilities. Changes include bulk marketing of tee times that now go unused at our less popular golf courses, and expanding golf course food concessions into full restaurant operations. And we will pursue a partnership with HPU’s Ocean and Marine Science Program for evening use of our Education Center at Hanauma Bay. These are just few of the initiatives we will propose in the coming weeks. But in order to provide for true fiscal sustainability [so noted], we need to realign the boundaries of responsibility and authority between the City and the State. We must have control over our own finances. To help achieve this, last week we presented a package of bills to the State legislature. Once enacted, they will provide our City with true financial home rule and the ability to achieve financial sustainability [yea]. Tonight it’s been my honor to talk with you — to share Honolulu’s triumphs, to sketch possibilities for the future and to thank you for your many contributions to our great city. It’s a privilege to be your mayor, and I’m especially proud of all we’ve done together. We’ve made remarkable progress, and I look forward to our achievements yet to come. Together we can take our vision to another level, to look beyond the short-term horizon and the daily problems that confront us to broader, more important issues. It has been said that the quality of life is not just about the place where we live, but about how we live. And so tonight I ask that you join me as we forge new partnerships and long-term commitments. Commitments that will leave our children a cleaner, more beautiful and vibrant city — a place of greater hope and opportunity. This is the time to put our differences aside. This is the time for all to come together and focus on our future. This is the time to answer your community’s call. Thank you and good evening. [Congratulations, if you made it all the way through this speech, you must have sustainability.]

Dick Rowland Image ‘Shoots (News, Views and Quotes)’ – Life Extension Magazine Lauds FDAREVIEW.ORG FDAReview.org — the Independent Institute’s extensive Web site critiquing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — was favorably reviewed in the August issue of LIFE EXTENSION, a monthly magazine devoted to health and longevity. “The cost in terms of human suffering and economic loss that stems from the FDA’s failed policies is too high,” the article begins. “That’s why [Independent Institute research fellow] Daniel Klein, Ph.D. and [Independent Institute research director] Alex Tabarrok, Ph.D. decided to pool their knowledge and develop a website (www.FDAReview.org) that provides a meticulous dissection of the FDA’s multiple troubles. “After pouring over academic and medical literature on FDA policy for years,” the article continues, “Drs. Klein and Tabarrok could reach only one conclusion: ‘The FDA greatly increases the costs of drug development and the time it takes to bring a drug to market. The net effect is loss of health and life.’ The website, they hope, will help to present the facts, inconsistencies, injustices, and help advance the public debate on FDA reform. It traces federal drug regulation back a century, details the steps involved in drug development and approval, presents an evaluation of the costs and benefits of FDA policy. Klein and Tabarrok also size up the major plans for FDA reform, and offer their own solutions for getting out of the current quagmire of misguided policies bred by what they deem excessive caution.” LIFE EXTENSION’s article also reveals an insight by Daniel Klein that should cause FDA bureaucrats to think twice: “‘The FDA was established in a fitful series of ill-considered responses to highly-publicized tragic events, particularly the sulfa tragedy in 1937 and the thalidomide disaster. Let’s accept, for the sake of argument, that the FDA has helped to avoid some tragedies of this sort,’ says Klein. ‘Nevertheless, you still have to do the grisly math. How many lives have been lost because the FDA delayed a life-saving drug? How many lives have been lost because FDA regulation made it unprofitable to develop a new life-saving drug? How many lives have been lost because the FDA refused to allow advertisers to make scientifically supportable health claims? When you do the grisly math it isn’t even a close call. The FDA is a major health catastrophe.'” For the full article, “New Website Speaks Out on FDA’s Unhealthy Policies,” by Angela Pirisi (LIFE EXTENSION Magazine, August 2002). Click here for the FDA Review Web site: https://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink4-33-1.html – Examining How Contracts Work Traditional economics focuses on supply and demand. But the new institutional economics studies how people arrange their affairs; how they create institutions — including legal sanctions, social norms and organizational structures — to govern their relationships; how those institutions spur or hinder economic growth; and how those institutions improve through trial and error. Central to this new discipline is an understanding of contracts — how they developed and how they work. How is it, for example, that people can lend money to complete strangers far away and be certain they will eventually get their money back? Initially, in the Middle Ages, enforcement of such contracts was through the community responsibility system — in which every member of a community was liable for every other member’s debts. This system was eventually abandoned in favor of another which rested on creditors evaluating borrowers by using indicators of their individual merits. New research focuses on how traffickers finance long-term, long-distance moves by poor illegal immigrants from, say, China to the U.S. or Europe — and how the trafficker is repaid, even though such contracts are no longer enforceable. The illegal status of the new arrivals actually helps to enforce the contract to repay — since they don’t want to be found out and deported. This example illustrates that when the rule of law is absent or imperfect, people find other ways to make contracts workable. Source: Virginia Postrel, “Economic Scene: Even Without Law, Contracts Have a Way of Being Enforced,” New York Times, October 10, 2002. For text, see: https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/10/business/10SCEN.html For more on Economics and the Economy https://www.ncpa.org/iss/eco/ Above article is quoted from www.ncpa.org Daily Policy Digest Oct. 10, 2002 ‘Roots (Food for Thought)’ Together With IJ, I Fought for My Kids Future By Roberta Kitchen When I heard the news, a sense of relief washed over me. For five years, I’ve fought for the right to educate my children as I choose. Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court vindicated that right, ruling that the Cleveland school choice program that allows my daughter a chance at a good education is constitutional. These are worries I never thought would be mine. When a family friend living on the streets strung out on drugs and alcohol asked me to take in her three children, I did. A few years later, two more babies arrived. Seemingly overnight I had become a single mother of five, and I had to find a way to educate them, to give them a chance to break the cycle of poverty and despair into which they had been born. I didn’t take the kids just to lose them. The public schools in the Collinwood section of Cleveland, infested with drugs and crime, were not an answer, although I’ve tried them. Tiffany, my eldest, was promoted to the sixth grade, despite not being able to read. There are strict quotas for promoting children in the public schools, I was told. People say to be patient, the system will get better. But which of my babies am I supposed to sacrifice, because it won’t be in time for them? With five children, money was a barrier to escaping the public schools. I went from private school to private school, asking about tuition assistance and everything else. I became a beggar for my children. I took on a second job, but without enough time to care for my children, I was forced to quit. I offered my clerical skills in exchange for reduced tuition, anything to get my kids into a good school. It was the lowest point of my whole life. When Toshika, my youngest, won a tuition voucher through Cleveland’s new school choice program, I could finally breathe a little easier. In her six years at St. John Nottingham, a Lutheran school, she has always been on the honor or merit roll, the teachers know her, and she is happy. I never fully explained to her the legal challenges facing the program that pays her tuition, or that a single Supreme Court decision could mean we would have to find her a new school. It would have broken her heart. So I did what I could to defend the program, working with the Institute for Justice to tell my story to the media, hoping that the people who make decisions would listen to parents’ voices. I’ve given more than 75 interviews and appeared on network television and in papers from Maine to Hawaii. Columnist George Will and writers for The Wall Street Journal and USA Today have interviewed me. I’ve spoken at rallies and press conferences and even to President Bush. If at any point I had quit, giving in to exhaustion, I would have felt that I let my children and the children of Cleveland down. I’ve lived in Cleveland all these years and, with rare exception, I haven’t met anyone here who stood up for us. I had to go all the way to Washington to the Institute for Justice to find hearts that really care. God’s got people all over the place, and I feel indebted to these kind people who have helped me win for my children not just a choice, but a chance. Above article is quoted from Institute for Justice, Liberty & Law, August 2002 @ www.ij.org. ‘Evergreen (Today’s Quote)’ “When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about how much he spends and how he spends it. When a man spends his own money to buy something for someone else, he is still very careful about how much he spends, but somewhat less what he spends it on. When a man spends someone else’s money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about what he buys, but doesn’t care at all how much he spends. And when a man spends someone else’s money on someone else, he doesn’t care how much he spends or what he spends it on. And that’s government for you.” -Milton Friedman, May 9, 2002 ”See Web site” https://www.grassrootinstitute.org ”for further information. Join its efforts at “Nurturing the rights and responsibilities of the individual in a civil society. …” or email or call Grassroot of Hawaii Institute President Richard O. Rowland at mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com or (808) 487-4959.”