THE RULING CLASS: We've been fairly merciless with Council Chair Jay Furfaro and his foibles and blunders, not to mention his tendency toward chest-beating blowhardism.
His insistence that his business experience in the tourism industry can be translated and applied to just about any situation has resulted in some real head-scratchers and outright bad results.
But recently, out of the blue, Furfaro has suddenly rectified one of the most blatant violations of the state Sunshine Law- one which, despite our constant whining, sniveling and even letters to the Office of Information Practices (OIP) asking them to intercede, has never been enforced on Kaua`i.
In the late 90's we made it our mission to drag the council- often kicking and screaming- as well as other boards and commissions, into compliance with the simplest of sunshine law provisions.
We joined with then Honolulu Star Bulletin Kaua`i Bureau Chief Anthony Sommer- author of KPD Blue (see left rail)- to request the listing of each specific executive session (ES) on council agendas. At the time, council chairs had always just announced that "we're going into executive session now so please clear the room."
Although the move was at first resisted by then Council Chair Ron Kouchi, it was first instituted by the Police Commission when then new Chair Michael Ching and new Vice Chair Carol Furtado acquiesced, saying they couldn’t believe it had never been done before.
Well soon Kouchi consulted then County Attorney Hartwell Blake, waking him up from his notorious perch under the air conditioner at the back of the council chambers, and finally the specific ES's began to appear routinely on council agendas, starting with ES-1 (we're now up to ES-505).
The Sunshine law provision regarding executive sessions reads
§92-4 Executive meetings. A board may hold an executive meeting closed to the public upon an affirmative vote, taken at an open meeting, of two-thirds of the members present; provided the affirmative vote constitutes a majority of the members to which the board is entitled. A meeting closed to the public shall be limited to matters exempted by section 92-5. The reason for holding such a meeting shall be publicly announced and the vote of each member on the question of holding a meeting closed to the public shall be recorded, and entered into the minutes of the meeting. (emphasis added)
But when we asked Kouchi to take a recorded, roll call vote he failed to respond and when Kaipo Asing took over as chair he continued the tradition despite years of prodding from us before we finally just gave up.
Well lo and behold a few weeks ago our ears and eyes perked up when the council was about to go into executive session and Furfaro asked then County Clerk Peter Nakamura for a roll call vote on each matter. And he's done so for each matter at each meeting since.
But of course for every step forward it's two steps backward for the Kaua`i County Council.
Furfaro is a stickler for the "council rules" which are generally passed by resolution at the inaugural meeting every two years, although they can be amended at any time by reso, as they were this year after a committee examined them.
But although community activist Bruce Pleas made it an issue a few years back, the following extremely important rule has gone back to non-enforcement status under Furfaro.
Rule 12 under Public Hearings states in Section e(4)C states that:
(C) Persons testifying shall clearly state their name, address, whom they represent, and whether they are a registered lobbyist, in compliance with H.R.S. Chapter 97, Lobbyist Law.
Not only is this a council rule but a state law.
Anyone either attending or watching the meeting on TV or on-line knows that this rule is never enforced. Recently during the debate over asking the legislature to close the loopholes in the solar hot water heater requirement for new homes, lobbyists from the Gas Company filed up to testify against the measure. They even flew one in from Honolulu. Not one identified themselves as a lobbyist, nor were they asked.
But Furfaro, who seems to constantly cite the rules, especially when it comes to limiting public testimony, seems to have somehow missed this provision.
Apparently the minotaur giveth, the minotaur taketh away.
Showing posts with label Bruce Pleas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bruce Pleas. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
(PNN) SOURCES SAY MAYOR TO ANNOUNCE “NEW” KEKAHA LANDFILL SITING BY APRIL 15
SOURCES SAY MAYOR TO ANNOUNCE “NEW” KEKAHA LANDFILL SITING BY APRIL 15
(PNN)-- Mayor Bernard Carvalho has told multiple reliable sources that will be announcing the new landfill site on or before April 15 and, according to many, that site is likely to be the one across the highway from the current landfill in Kekaha.
According to reports the previously selected “Umi” site in Kalaheo was “mis-scored” when the fact that it is currently in long term agricultural use by Kaua`i Coffee was not considered and Carvalho has told many community members that he will have an announcement of the new scoring results by April 15.
“Discussions continue in regards to the next steps on the landfill siting. The Mayor is hoping to issue a statement on this matter later this month” according to county spokesperson Mary Daubert who would not confirm the date or the selection of Kekaha..
“Kekaha Mauka” was announced as the site ranked second by a task force earlier this year and a source close to the current process who asked not to be identified told us that it is likely to be the one “selected” on the 15th.
But anyone who thinks that the Kekaha community will be up in arms over environmental justice concerns had better think again.
“I don’t really have any objections” community leader Bruce Pleas told PNN “ as long as the ‘host community benefit (HCB)’ is sufficient and the community buys in”.
Although he thinks that there could be some new more innovative ways to deal with the current and new site he doesn’t think most of the people of Kekaha will object since they have already bought into the concept of being paid by the county for hosting the current landfill.
But that presumes problems with the current HCB can be resolved.
Under a current program the county has set up a HCB Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) which is deciding what to do with $650,000 plus another $80,000 in yearly monies designed to compensate the town for the last 57 years of hosting, the first the “dump” and later, the “sanitary landfill”.
The problem is that the money is still under county control according to a source close to the advisory group who asked not to be identified because it is “too controversial a topic and it will take skill and time to assess the broad range of perspectives, attitudes, and feelings emanating from the community of Kekaha”.
The original amount of $650,000.00 which the County Council approved has not yet been "received" by the community, our source told us.
“That amount is in the Solid Waste department of the County of Kauai. The additional amount of $80,000.00 is also with the Solid Waste department. Presumably, an amount will be allocated annually to the community when the landfill is sited, until such time when the County of Kauai decides that no Host Community Benefit Fund will be awarded.”
How the money will be distributed and how the final decision on how to use it will be made remains problematic, with the HCB CAC wanting to make sure that the community gets to make the final decision and the administration wanting to retain final say over how the money is spent.
“As matters now stand... (a)t the last (CAC) meeting, it was decided that some recommendations would be made in writing to the Mayor for the Mayor's consideration as to whether the recommendations should be implemented. At that meeting, also, a formal request was submitted by the community organization to have the HCB Fund allocation awarded directly to the organization to hold in behalf of the community with the understanding that the HCB Fund CANNOT be expended by the community organization without the approval of the community in determining as to how that fund should be expended.” our source said in an email.
If that issue can be resolved the question remains as to whether the community will buy into hosting the new landfill without some guarantees over how much more money they will receive, how the money will be distributed and their ability to determine how the money will be spent.
For his part Pleas wonders whether there isn’t another more innovative way to use the existing footprint.
Places on the mainland have been “mining” their old dumps that contain mostly metals, glass and other recyclable items after all the organic waste has decomposed, he said.
If that were done to the 36 acre closed “phase 1”- using the in-use “cells B and C” for the “mined” non-recyclable materials- we’d have not just have a huge area for a “new” landfill site but could have all of our prior solid waste placed over currently required “liners” to insure against leakage into the water table and ocean, Pleas said.
But that would require implementation of a “zero waste” program which the county council recently nixed in approving a coordinated solid waste approach contained in the latest iteration of the county-funded R.W Beck study.
Also dealing with all the toxic materials- which any long time Kekaha resident will attest were dumped there over the years, especially by the nearby navy base- could make such a project problematic.
The county has grappled with siting a new landfill since at least 1988 when then-mayoral-candidate JoAnn Yukimura called the lack of landfill space a “crisis” that needed immediate attention.
-----
Another long weekend a’comn’. Be back Monday.
(PNN)-- Mayor Bernard Carvalho has told multiple reliable sources that will be announcing the new landfill site on or before April 15 and, according to many, that site is likely to be the one across the highway from the current landfill in Kekaha.
According to reports the previously selected “Umi” site in Kalaheo was “mis-scored” when the fact that it is currently in long term agricultural use by Kaua`i Coffee was not considered and Carvalho has told many community members that he will have an announcement of the new scoring results by April 15.
“Discussions continue in regards to the next steps on the landfill siting. The Mayor is hoping to issue a statement on this matter later this month” according to county spokesperson Mary Daubert who would not confirm the date or the selection of Kekaha..
“Kekaha Mauka” was announced as the site ranked second by a task force earlier this year and a source close to the current process who asked not to be identified told us that it is likely to be the one “selected” on the 15th.
But anyone who thinks that the Kekaha community will be up in arms over environmental justice concerns had better think again.
“I don’t really have any objections” community leader Bruce Pleas told PNN “ as long as the ‘host community benefit (HCB)’ is sufficient and the community buys in”.
Although he thinks that there could be some new more innovative ways to deal with the current and new site he doesn’t think most of the people of Kekaha will object since they have already bought into the concept of being paid by the county for hosting the current landfill.
But that presumes problems with the current HCB can be resolved.
Under a current program the county has set up a HCB Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) which is deciding what to do with $650,000 plus another $80,000 in yearly monies designed to compensate the town for the last 57 years of hosting, the first the “dump” and later, the “sanitary landfill”.
The problem is that the money is still under county control according to a source close to the advisory group who asked not to be identified because it is “too controversial a topic and it will take skill and time to assess the broad range of perspectives, attitudes, and feelings emanating from the community of Kekaha”.
The original amount of $650,000.00 which the County Council approved has not yet been "received" by the community, our source told us.
“That amount is in the Solid Waste department of the County of Kauai. The additional amount of $80,000.00 is also with the Solid Waste department. Presumably, an amount will be allocated annually to the community when the landfill is sited, until such time when the County of Kauai decides that no Host Community Benefit Fund will be awarded.”
How the money will be distributed and how the final decision on how to use it will be made remains problematic, with the HCB CAC wanting to make sure that the community gets to make the final decision and the administration wanting to retain final say over how the money is spent.
“As matters now stand... (a)t the last (CAC) meeting, it was decided that some recommendations would be made in writing to the Mayor for the Mayor's consideration as to whether the recommendations should be implemented. At that meeting, also, a formal request was submitted by the community organization to have the HCB Fund allocation awarded directly to the organization to hold in behalf of the community with the understanding that the HCB Fund CANNOT be expended by the community organization without the approval of the community in determining as to how that fund should be expended.” our source said in an email.
If that issue can be resolved the question remains as to whether the community will buy into hosting the new landfill without some guarantees over how much more money they will receive, how the money will be distributed and their ability to determine how the money will be spent.
For his part Pleas wonders whether there isn’t another more innovative way to use the existing footprint.
Places on the mainland have been “mining” their old dumps that contain mostly metals, glass and other recyclable items after all the organic waste has decomposed, he said.
If that were done to the 36 acre closed “phase 1”- using the in-use “cells B and C” for the “mined” non-recyclable materials- we’d have not just have a huge area for a “new” landfill site but could have all of our prior solid waste placed over currently required “liners” to insure against leakage into the water table and ocean, Pleas said.
But that would require implementation of a “zero waste” program which the county council recently nixed in approving a coordinated solid waste approach contained in the latest iteration of the county-funded R.W Beck study.
Also dealing with all the toxic materials- which any long time Kekaha resident will attest were dumped there over the years, especially by the nearby navy base- could make such a project problematic.
The county has grappled with siting a new landfill since at least 1988 when then-mayoral-candidate JoAnn Yukimura called the lack of landfill space a “crisis” that needed immediate attention.
-----
Another long weekend a’comn’. Be back Monday.
Friday, April 10, 2009
ALTERNATE REALITY
ALTERNATE REALITY: It’s the rare individual who hasn’t shaken his or her head in both disbelief and frustration upon reading a press account of an incident they either witnessed or otherwise had first hand knowledge about, wondering if it was the same event as the one reported.
Sometimes it’s just the “playing telephone” effect where a story is conveyed through so many people that the end product is a garbled, barely recognizable version of the original message.
But the when Big Islander Jeff Satcher (through Brad Parsons) pointed us to some national CNN coverage of the community’s efforts to repair and reopen Polihale it seemed to be purely a whole-cloth spin on the real story.
Anyone who has followed the story locally saw a grassroots effort by a community, led by activist and former county council and mayoral candidate Bruce Pleas, to rally the Westside residents to avoid a possible two-year wait until the state could muster the resources to fix and reestablish access to the storm damaged area and do the job themselves- a job that would supposedly cost $4 million.
Slowly Pleas put together the muscle, negotiated with the state and eventually got Troy Martin to donate the materials and machinery to repair an all important bridge. Then the work started and it all came together in a little more than a week.
But to read Mallory’s take it was all due to co-owner Ivan Slack and his company “Napali (sic) Kayak”, a firm that actually operates under questionable legality, using Polihale as a pick-up destination for Na Pali kayak tours.
After three short paragraphs quoting Pleas (pronounced “place”) and describing him as “a local surfer who helped organize the volunteers (emphasis added) and describing the state’s interminably long-term non-plans for repairs, she gives credit where little is due
(I)f the repairs weren't made, some business owners faced the possibility of having to shut down.
Ivan Slack, co-owner of Napali Kayak, said his company relies solely on revenue from kayak tours and needs the state park to be open to operate. The company jumped in and donated resources because it knew that without the repairs, Napali Kayak would be in financial trouble.
"If the park is not open, it would be extreme for us, to say the least," he said. "Bankruptcy would be imminent. How many years can you be expected to continue operating, owning 15-passenger vans, $2 million in insurance and a staff? For us, it was crucial, and our survival was dependent on it. That park is the key to the sheer survival of the business."
So Slack, other business owners and residents made the decision not to sit on their hands and wait for state money that many expected would never come. Instead, they pulled together machinery and manpower and hit the ground running March 23 ...
"We can wait around for the state or federal government to make this move, or we can go out and do our part," Slack said. "Just like everyone's sitting around waiting for a stimulus check, we were waiting for this but decided we couldn't wait anymore."
Then after mentioning the state’s new “Recreation Renaissance” project- the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ (DLNR) rehashing of the roundly rejected “master plan” to commercialize the parks for tourism and as a money generator- it’s right back to Slack who last we heard still operates in a state park without the necessary state permits and in any case exploits our natural resources without paying a fair-share for the use.
.
In a Chaplin-esque “Modern Times” move our would-be hero Slack (or is it slacker hero) heard it was happening and got in front of parade to lead the crowd.
Yet Malloy just keeps up her misinformed version of the non-facts writing:
The park is a fixture on the west side of the island and a favorite spot for many in the area, but it's also a hub for tourists.
Uh, actually rent a cars are banned from using the road and the ones that do routinely get stuck and have to be pulled out by local bystanders. And at the end of the road it’s not clear how it could be called a hub.
Apparently this was all done due to our love for the tourism industry according to Malloy and Slack.
"Tourism is our lifeblood. It's what pays all of our bills," Slack said. "The money that pours in comes from tourism is really an important factor for everyone here in Hawaii, and it's such an important time to encourage tourism."...
"I think it's crucial to say the doors are open, everyone is ready," Slack said. "So when one of the most important parks in Hawaii is closed, it really changes things."
Now, because of their hard work, volunteers hope they'll be ready to send that positive message -- right in time for the tourist season.
Slack said he likes to have business up and running by April 15, and the season gets busy around May 1
The business owners and residents are hopeful that their generous contributions in time and resources mean the park should officially open soon.
And that’s why Polihale will be open soon- because we just love the tourists tearing up the road and overrunning our recreational facilities.
While being interviewed this week for a new documentary on the broad subject of changes in culture, politics and demographics on Kaua`i we were asked about the impression that outsiders have that after the Superferry debacle and people’s direct action in turning it back. There is a new activist community that is poised to push for a more sustainable future and get involved politically to force the corrupt governmental entities to get in line with that vision.
We thought for a minute and asked “well then, where are they? We certainly don’t see them where it matters- at the planning commission, county council and other board and commission meetings where the real decision are made. All we see there is the same old handful of faces.”
Maybe they’re all out working at opening Polihale, which we must admit is certainly as admirable as anything.
The Superferry uprising wasn’t as much about the military or even about state misconduct and outside well-connected businesses getting away with murder..
It was more about protecting our recreational facilities from an onslaught of tens of thousands of campers in thousands of SUV’s, all simultaneously descending on our already stressed-to-the-max if not fully over-used and trashed-out beaches and camping areas.
It just makes sense that if there is a group that is ready to act, they’d act to protect and keep available the precious places where we go to play when work is done.
And it might have been nice if the people and their motivation got the recognition from Mallory and CNN.
----------
Update: Someone called yesterday to say that he was listening to Rush Limbaugh and all of a sudden heard the name “Bruce Pleas” and Rush was telling the whole story of how “this is America” $4 million job done in 8 days by people, blah blah. But interestingly he credited Bruce and the community effort barely mentioning the kayak service- seems like maybe he might have done a little research and found “someone” had a little different version of the story.
Update 2: Well our friend didn’t quite get it all right but Limbaugh did talk about it pretty much with the same tone as CNN. Here’s a link to the transcript
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_041009/content/01125104.guest.html
Sometimes it’s just the “playing telephone” effect where a story is conveyed through so many people that the end product is a garbled, barely recognizable version of the original message.
But the when Big Islander Jeff Satcher (through Brad Parsons) pointed us to some national CNN coverage of the community’s efforts to repair and reopen Polihale it seemed to be purely a whole-cloth spin on the real story.
Anyone who has followed the story locally saw a grassroots effort by a community, led by activist and former county council and mayoral candidate Bruce Pleas, to rally the Westside residents to avoid a possible two-year wait until the state could muster the resources to fix and reestablish access to the storm damaged area and do the job themselves- a job that would supposedly cost $4 million.
Slowly Pleas put together the muscle, negotiated with the state and eventually got Troy Martin to donate the materials and machinery to repair an all important bridge. Then the work started and it all came together in a little more than a week.
But to read Mallory’s take it was all due to co-owner Ivan Slack and his company “Napali (sic) Kayak”, a firm that actually operates under questionable legality, using Polihale as a pick-up destination for Na Pali kayak tours.
After three short paragraphs quoting Pleas (pronounced “place”) and describing him as “a local surfer who helped organize the volunteers (emphasis added) and describing the state’s interminably long-term non-plans for repairs, she gives credit where little is due
(I)f the repairs weren't made, some business owners faced the possibility of having to shut down.
Ivan Slack, co-owner of Napali Kayak, said his company relies solely on revenue from kayak tours and needs the state park to be open to operate. The company jumped in and donated resources because it knew that without the repairs, Napali Kayak would be in financial trouble.
"If the park is not open, it would be extreme for us, to say the least," he said. "Bankruptcy would be imminent. How many years can you be expected to continue operating, owning 15-passenger vans, $2 million in insurance and a staff? For us, it was crucial, and our survival was dependent on it. That park is the key to the sheer survival of the business."
So Slack, other business owners and residents made the decision not to sit on their hands and wait for state money that many expected would never come. Instead, they pulled together machinery and manpower and hit the ground running March 23 ...
"We can wait around for the state or federal government to make this move, or we can go out and do our part," Slack said. "Just like everyone's sitting around waiting for a stimulus check, we were waiting for this but decided we couldn't wait anymore."
Then after mentioning the state’s new “Recreation Renaissance” project- the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ (DLNR) rehashing of the roundly rejected “master plan” to commercialize the parks for tourism and as a money generator- it’s right back to Slack who last we heard still operates in a state park without the necessary state permits and in any case exploits our natural resources without paying a fair-share for the use.
.
In a Chaplin-esque “Modern Times” move our would-be hero Slack (or is it slacker hero) heard it was happening and got in front of parade to lead the crowd.
Yet Malloy just keeps up her misinformed version of the non-facts writing:
The park is a fixture on the west side of the island and a favorite spot for many in the area, but it's also a hub for tourists.
Uh, actually rent a cars are banned from using the road and the ones that do routinely get stuck and have to be pulled out by local bystanders. And at the end of the road it’s not clear how it could be called a hub.
Apparently this was all done due to our love for the tourism industry according to Malloy and Slack.
"Tourism is our lifeblood. It's what pays all of our bills," Slack said. "The money that pours in comes from tourism is really an important factor for everyone here in Hawaii, and it's such an important time to encourage tourism."...
"I think it's crucial to say the doors are open, everyone is ready," Slack said. "So when one of the most important parks in Hawaii is closed, it really changes things."
Now, because of their hard work, volunteers hope they'll be ready to send that positive message -- right in time for the tourist season.
Slack said he likes to have business up and running by April 15, and the season gets busy around May 1
The business owners and residents are hopeful that their generous contributions in time and resources mean the park should officially open soon.
And that’s why Polihale will be open soon- because we just love the tourists tearing up the road and overrunning our recreational facilities.
While being interviewed this week for a new documentary on the broad subject of changes in culture, politics and demographics on Kaua`i we were asked about the impression that outsiders have that after the Superferry debacle and people’s direct action in turning it back. There is a new activist community that is poised to push for a more sustainable future and get involved politically to force the corrupt governmental entities to get in line with that vision.
We thought for a minute and asked “well then, where are they? We certainly don’t see them where it matters- at the planning commission, county council and other board and commission meetings where the real decision are made. All we see there is the same old handful of faces.”
Maybe they’re all out working at opening Polihale, which we must admit is certainly as admirable as anything.
The Superferry uprising wasn’t as much about the military or even about state misconduct and outside well-connected businesses getting away with murder..
It was more about protecting our recreational facilities from an onslaught of tens of thousands of campers in thousands of SUV’s, all simultaneously descending on our already stressed-to-the-max if not fully over-used and trashed-out beaches and camping areas.
It just makes sense that if there is a group that is ready to act, they’d act to protect and keep available the precious places where we go to play when work is done.
And it might have been nice if the people and their motivation got the recognition from Mallory and CNN.
----------
Update: Someone called yesterday to say that he was listening to Rush Limbaugh and all of a sudden heard the name “Bruce Pleas” and Rush was telling the whole story of how “this is America” $4 million job done in 8 days by people, blah blah. But interestingly he credited Bruce and the community effort barely mentioning the kayak service- seems like maybe he might have done a little research and found “someone” had a little different version of the story.
Update 2: Well our friend didn’t quite get it all right but Limbaugh did talk about it pretty much with the same tone as CNN. Here’s a link to the transcript
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_041009/content/01125104.guest.html
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
MORE DOG; LESS PONY
MORE DOG; LESS PONY: Since there don’t seem to be any significant political events in Washington or Honolulu today and tomorrow we thought we’d provide one final diatribe regarding last Wednesday’s council meeting.
One item we neglected to mention in the lead up to the meeting where a three month buildup of delayed items were dispatched was draft Bill 2300 which would “transfer” $833,696 of taxpayer money to support the supposedly self-supporting Wailua Golf Course and another $600,291 to the pay for sewers which are also supposed to pay for themselves through fees..
For the uninitiated there are several “enterprise” funds in the county that are supposed to support ventures via user fees rather than through the property tax money which is collected and deposited in the “General Fund”.
And for years the golf course, despite the fact that the council has put it into a category where it’s supposed to support itself through greens fees, has quietly gobbled up a goodly chunk of cash from the general fund usually in an “after the fact” appropriation to make up the difference.
The council of course hasn’t just raised just the fees but simply acquiesces to the “golf lobby” by stealing tax money to “replenish the Golf fund”
The golf lobby as one would expect is comprised of a lot of business executives and appointed county officials who just happen to be generous with the campaign bucks come election time.
So, in an attempt to link everything to our “tough economic times”, Council Vice Chair Jay Furfaro told Glenn Mickens- who dared to put a finger in the swirling eddy and interrupt the auto-pilot flushing of this year’s money-down-the-drain- that this year the excuse was that the number of rounds of golf was down so we were nearly two-thirds of a million dollars short this time.
Of course Furfaro offered no numbers, reports or statistics but in his inimitable paternalistic fashion told Glenn and fellow council members not to worry their pretty little heads because he had already asked around and that was the answer and that was that and sit down and shut up.
The problem is he didn’t say why the sewer fund was that short.
Is the sewer fund also a victim of the economic slowdown? Is there not enough ,er- ah, “solid waste” gong into the system now? Or, to put it more bluntly, are we experiencing a crap shortage? Perhaps people are eating less. Or maybe those soaring porcelain prices are driving up the cost of faculties?
Why, just like the golf fund, it couldn’t possibly be because of council mismanagement in not setting fees that would be self sustaining, as the law they themselves passed mandates.
Nah, they wouldn’t do that. Although what they are full of in the council chambers these days may explain the shortage of it flowing through the sewage meters.
On to a couple of predictable outcomes of a couple of matters we wrote about last week.
Guess what happened when the Food Bank’s Executive Director and Ethics Board member Judy Lenthall came to the council to thank them for last year’s appropriation to expand participation in the food stamp program and lobby for more
As we feared would happen a week ago Monday not only didn’t she proclaim her lobbyist status but paid no attention to the law that forbade her from representing the Food Bank before the council while she sits on the Ethics Board, which routinely washes clean the dirty deeds of the council..
Former council candidate Bruce Peas, who has sought to enforce a state law and council rule requiring lobbyists to state they are lobbying when they come to testify, got up to question the matter and attempted to actually read aloud Section 20.02 of the county charter – a provision voters refused to change in the fall which forbids the type of conflict of interest in which Lenthall was engaging.
And to no one’s surprise Council Chair Kaipo Asing- who has been cleared of ethics violations by the Ethics Board in the past- cut Pleas off saying that “only the Food Bank is on the agenda” which caused Pleas to crawl back to his seat instead of insisting on his right to testify about how the action on agenda item was illegal.
But that brief little show was nothing compared to the smoke and mirrors on the bill to appropriate money for recruiting more police officers..
After Glenn Mickens read his testimony which we published last week regarding money for Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) recruiting and the continuing if not worsening low morale on the force, Asing was adamant that Glenn’s figures were wrong.
Asing offered no numbers of his own of course because Mickens was the only one in the room that had checked- and double checked the day after the meeting- his figures on recruitment and the ties to “morale”... both of which have only worsened since Chief KC Lum was railroaded out of office.
Then Furfaro put on his tap shoes and did his usual shtick of claiming he checked with everybody and there was nothing to worry Glenn’s pretty little head about and it seemed that the old soft shoe has been successful until new Councilmember “TV’s Dickie Chang” took the “stage” as he is wont to do.
But anyone expecting the usually smooth talking Chang to rattle off his prattle and easily banter with Mickens would have been be shocked to hear and see a quite obviously nervous and flustered Chang stammer and trip over his words in trying to get to the heart of the issue of “morale” among Kauai’s finest..
He did get out though that he knows that “morale is at an all time high” as evidenced by the “Cop on Top” event he covered on his TV program and some bike race where the guys on the force were letting new chief Perry win until he only lost “due to a flat tire”.
“Morale at the police force has gotten leaps and bounds” he non-sequitorily ended, possibly referring to the “leap” of the “cop” to the “top” of Safeway to raise money for charity and the “bound” Perry experienced when the rubber met the road and his tire tired.
Forget your afternoon “stories”. Forget your reality shows. We suggest that for a good- and free- evening of comedy, tragedy and all around entertainment you tune to the government access channel 53 at 7 p.m.
If this keeps up you won’t be disappointed.
One item we neglected to mention in the lead up to the meeting where a three month buildup of delayed items were dispatched was draft Bill 2300 which would “transfer” $833,696 of taxpayer money to support the supposedly self-supporting Wailua Golf Course and another $600,291 to the pay for sewers which are also supposed to pay for themselves through fees..
For the uninitiated there are several “enterprise” funds in the county that are supposed to support ventures via user fees rather than through the property tax money which is collected and deposited in the “General Fund”.
And for years the golf course, despite the fact that the council has put it into a category where it’s supposed to support itself through greens fees, has quietly gobbled up a goodly chunk of cash from the general fund usually in an “after the fact” appropriation to make up the difference.
The council of course hasn’t just raised just the fees but simply acquiesces to the “golf lobby” by stealing tax money to “replenish the Golf fund”
The golf lobby as one would expect is comprised of a lot of business executives and appointed county officials who just happen to be generous with the campaign bucks come election time.
So, in an attempt to link everything to our “tough economic times”, Council Vice Chair Jay Furfaro told Glenn Mickens- who dared to put a finger in the swirling eddy and interrupt the auto-pilot flushing of this year’s money-down-the-drain- that this year the excuse was that the number of rounds of golf was down so we were nearly two-thirds of a million dollars short this time.
Of course Furfaro offered no numbers, reports or statistics but in his inimitable paternalistic fashion told Glenn and fellow council members not to worry their pretty little heads because he had already asked around and that was the answer and that was that and sit down and shut up.
The problem is he didn’t say why the sewer fund was that short.
Is the sewer fund also a victim of the economic slowdown? Is there not enough ,er- ah, “solid waste” gong into the system now? Or, to put it more bluntly, are we experiencing a crap shortage? Perhaps people are eating less. Or maybe those soaring porcelain prices are driving up the cost of faculties?
Why, just like the golf fund, it couldn’t possibly be because of council mismanagement in not setting fees that would be self sustaining, as the law they themselves passed mandates.
Nah, they wouldn’t do that. Although what they are full of in the council chambers these days may explain the shortage of it flowing through the sewage meters.
On to a couple of predictable outcomes of a couple of matters we wrote about last week.
Guess what happened when the Food Bank’s Executive Director and Ethics Board member Judy Lenthall came to the council to thank them for last year’s appropriation to expand participation in the food stamp program and lobby for more
As we feared would happen a week ago Monday not only didn’t she proclaim her lobbyist status but paid no attention to the law that forbade her from representing the Food Bank before the council while she sits on the Ethics Board, which routinely washes clean the dirty deeds of the council..
Former council candidate Bruce Peas, who has sought to enforce a state law and council rule requiring lobbyists to state they are lobbying when they come to testify, got up to question the matter and attempted to actually read aloud Section 20.02 of the county charter – a provision voters refused to change in the fall which forbids the type of conflict of interest in which Lenthall was engaging.
And to no one’s surprise Council Chair Kaipo Asing- who has been cleared of ethics violations by the Ethics Board in the past- cut Pleas off saying that “only the Food Bank is on the agenda” which caused Pleas to crawl back to his seat instead of insisting on his right to testify about how the action on agenda item was illegal.
But that brief little show was nothing compared to the smoke and mirrors on the bill to appropriate money for recruiting more police officers..
After Glenn Mickens read his testimony which we published last week regarding money for Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) recruiting and the continuing if not worsening low morale on the force, Asing was adamant that Glenn’s figures were wrong.
Asing offered no numbers of his own of course because Mickens was the only one in the room that had checked- and double checked the day after the meeting- his figures on recruitment and the ties to “morale”... both of which have only worsened since Chief KC Lum was railroaded out of office.
Then Furfaro put on his tap shoes and did his usual shtick of claiming he checked with everybody and there was nothing to worry Glenn’s pretty little head about and it seemed that the old soft shoe has been successful until new Councilmember “TV’s Dickie Chang” took the “stage” as he is wont to do.
But anyone expecting the usually smooth talking Chang to rattle off his prattle and easily banter with Mickens would have been be shocked to hear and see a quite obviously nervous and flustered Chang stammer and trip over his words in trying to get to the heart of the issue of “morale” among Kauai’s finest..
He did get out though that he knows that “morale is at an all time high” as evidenced by the “Cop on Top” event he covered on his TV program and some bike race where the guys on the force were letting new chief Perry win until he only lost “due to a flat tire”.
“Morale at the police force has gotten leaps and bounds” he non-sequitorily ended, possibly referring to the “leap” of the “cop” to the “top” of Safeway to raise money for charity and the “bound” Perry experienced when the rubber met the road and his tire tired.
Forget your afternoon “stories”. Forget your reality shows. We suggest that for a good- and free- evening of comedy, tragedy and all around entertainment you tune to the government access channel 53 at 7 p.m.
If this keeps up you won’t be disappointed.
Monday, January 19, 2009
COUNCIL: TRUST US; PUBLIC: WHY WOULD WE?
COUNCIL: TRUST US; PUBLIC: WHY WOULD WE?: In a stinging rebuke to the pleas of the community the Kaua`i County Council unanimously abandoned the campaign promises of most and closed its doors to discuss public policy and future legislation regarding the newly adopted charter amendments in executive session.(ES)
At their Wednesday meeting last week each member asked to public to “trust us” to discuss only what they called “potential lawsuits” resulting from as yet un-discussed and un-drafted legislation to implement what has come to be known as the “Citizen’s General Plan Charter Amendment” passed last fall.
As PNN noted a week ago Friday, the state Sunshine Law strictly prohibits the discussion of public policy in meetings closed to the public and none of the councilpersons offered any explanation as to why this wouldn’t apply to all discussions of pending or contemplated legislation.
All of those who testified were almost livid at the council. Bruce Peas, whose unsuccessful run for council last year was centered around open and good governance, noted how the three new council members had joined him on an open government platform.
“This was done before and left a bad taste in people’s mouth” he said of closed meetings to hide politically sensitive, public policy matters under the guise of a “potential” for lawsuits.
Rich Hoeppner who helped organize the petition effort to put the measure on the ballot- a measure that ties tourism development to the county’s general plan by forcing the council to either give the plan “teeth” or issue zoning permits by themselves- was most blunt in his opposition to the ES.
“If there’s no actual litigation there’s no justification. Future litigation is not grounds for going into executive session now” he told councilmembers adding that “a vote against an ES would be a vote to gain the respect of the public”..
Another former council candidate Scott Mijares said he agreed with Hoeppner and Pleas asking that in crafting an ordinance the discussion be conducted “in an open forum and see what the public wants”.
Council watchdog and open governance stalwart Glenn Mickens attacked the fact that there was no specific reason for the public policy discussion to exclude the public and wondered aloud why the council was always “trying to circumvent the will of the public”.
“The public deserves to hear the rationale for an executive session” he said.
Another candidate who ran on an open government platform, Ken Taylor said he was “really saddened” and called the move to hide public policy “the first time it is on the agenda.... totally disrespectful of the community”
He called for an “open dialogue on the issue” and asked ”if issues come up that call for (an ES) then so be it. But have the dialogue in public.”
Then the council tried to grill the deputy county attorney of the week, Darren Suzuki, as to the legality of going into ES but Suzuki refused to okay it or for that matter reject it saying “it’s up to you” and pointing out how it was a political decision
No matter what and which way the council asked Suzuki about whether it was legal to go into ES, Suzuki repeated the mantra of “the agenda posting is correct. If you want more information, put it in writing” and then his office will respond with an opinion.
Councilmembers, then started to bring up some the problems of implementing the charter amendment, beginning with Jay Furfaro who spoke of many of the implementation problems PNN documented last year.
But that’s where council discussion began and ended when Chair Kaipo Asing shut the discussion down in an attempt to keep it behind closed doors.
In a second round of public testimony Taylor called the discussion Asing shut down “the exact kind of dialogue that should go on in public”.
Mijares called the discussion “extremely frustrating” saying “everything you do has legal ramifications” accusing the council of “sending the wrong massage (because) the public is not involved “
That was followed by a round of hand-wringing from each council members with each saying the pubic must “trust us” but offering no justification for that trust.
But at the end when it was her turn it appeared Councilperson Lani Kawahara might oppose the executive session when she asked Asing if he could “separate the vote” from two other proposed ES’ on the agenda, both regarding current lawsuits against the county.
When Asing asked her “which one don’t you want?” Kawahara asked for a recess.
And after the recess she had apparently been pressured into voting with the group saying ”all the councilmembers talked to me” and that she “will vote yes (and) ask the public to trust us”.
And with that the council voted for the ES and when they came back to public session they did not discuss it further.
Reached for comment over the weekend Kawahara indicated that she regretted her vote even though it would not have stopped the council from clearing the room and meeting in secret.
She told PNN that "I will be much more reluctant the next time I’m asked to approve of executive sessions of this nature. I’m still learning, and I will make mistakes" .
Kawahara said that she is still subject to a “big learning curve” as a new council member and remains committed to open governance and transparency.
She also said she plans to meet informally with the staff of OIP in O`ahu on Tuesday for a comprehensive briefing on the sunshine law and executive sessions.
At their Wednesday meeting last week each member asked to public to “trust us” to discuss only what they called “potential lawsuits” resulting from as yet un-discussed and un-drafted legislation to implement what has come to be known as the “Citizen’s General Plan Charter Amendment” passed last fall.
As PNN noted a week ago Friday, the state Sunshine Law strictly prohibits the discussion of public policy in meetings closed to the public and none of the councilpersons offered any explanation as to why this wouldn’t apply to all discussions of pending or contemplated legislation.
All of those who testified were almost livid at the council. Bruce Peas, whose unsuccessful run for council last year was centered around open and good governance, noted how the three new council members had joined him on an open government platform.
“This was done before and left a bad taste in people’s mouth” he said of closed meetings to hide politically sensitive, public policy matters under the guise of a “potential” for lawsuits.
Rich Hoeppner who helped organize the petition effort to put the measure on the ballot- a measure that ties tourism development to the county’s general plan by forcing the council to either give the plan “teeth” or issue zoning permits by themselves- was most blunt in his opposition to the ES.
“If there’s no actual litigation there’s no justification. Future litigation is not grounds for going into executive session now” he told councilmembers adding that “a vote against an ES would be a vote to gain the respect of the public”..
Another former council candidate Scott Mijares said he agreed with Hoeppner and Pleas asking that in crafting an ordinance the discussion be conducted “in an open forum and see what the public wants”.
Council watchdog and open governance stalwart Glenn Mickens attacked the fact that there was no specific reason for the public policy discussion to exclude the public and wondered aloud why the council was always “trying to circumvent the will of the public”.
“The public deserves to hear the rationale for an executive session” he said.
Another candidate who ran on an open government platform, Ken Taylor said he was “really saddened” and called the move to hide public policy “the first time it is on the agenda.... totally disrespectful of the community”
He called for an “open dialogue on the issue” and asked ”if issues come up that call for (an ES) then so be it. But have the dialogue in public.”
Then the council tried to grill the deputy county attorney of the week, Darren Suzuki, as to the legality of going into ES but Suzuki refused to okay it or for that matter reject it saying “it’s up to you” and pointing out how it was a political decision
No matter what and which way the council asked Suzuki about whether it was legal to go into ES, Suzuki repeated the mantra of “the agenda posting is correct. If you want more information, put it in writing” and then his office will respond with an opinion.
Councilmembers, then started to bring up some the problems of implementing the charter amendment, beginning with Jay Furfaro who spoke of many of the implementation problems PNN documented last year.
But that’s where council discussion began and ended when Chair Kaipo Asing shut the discussion down in an attempt to keep it behind closed doors.
In a second round of public testimony Taylor called the discussion Asing shut down “the exact kind of dialogue that should go on in public”.
Mijares called the discussion “extremely frustrating” saying “everything you do has legal ramifications” accusing the council of “sending the wrong massage (because) the public is not involved “
That was followed by a round of hand-wringing from each council members with each saying the pubic must “trust us” but offering no justification for that trust.
But at the end when it was her turn it appeared Councilperson Lani Kawahara might oppose the executive session when she asked Asing if he could “separate the vote” from two other proposed ES’ on the agenda, both regarding current lawsuits against the county.
When Asing asked her “which one don’t you want?” Kawahara asked for a recess.
And after the recess she had apparently been pressured into voting with the group saying ”all the councilmembers talked to me” and that she “will vote yes (and) ask the public to trust us”.
And with that the council voted for the ES and when they came back to public session they did not discuss it further.
Reached for comment over the weekend Kawahara indicated that she regretted her vote even though it would not have stopped the council from clearing the room and meeting in secret.
She told PNN that "I will be much more reluctant the next time I’m asked to approve of executive sessions of this nature. I’m still learning, and I will make mistakes" .
Kawahara said that she is still subject to a “big learning curve” as a new council member and remains committed to open governance and transparency.
She also said she plans to meet informally with the staff of OIP in O`ahu on Tuesday for a comprehensive briefing on the sunshine law and executive sessions.
Monday, September 8, 2008
SAME OLD DOGS, SAME OLD TRICKS
SAME OLD DOGS, SAME OLD TRICKS: Though there are few benevolent bright bulbs running for council along with the usual sucking black holes, the same can’t be said about this year’s Mayor’s race.
It’s Slim Pickens out there and we’d probably vote for him if he was running before one of the four headless horsemen. It’s one of those elections where the “none of the above” crazes come out of the woodwork.
Having an NOTA choice on the ballot might make some fools feel better but is an exercise in futility.
NOTA as an electoral choice only make matters worse. It forces another vote, usually for an even worse slate. It makes you wonder where all the NOTA people were when others were filing to run.
Sometimes there is a candidate who fills the NOTA niche- a candidate who, we’re told, has no chance of winning but who everyone agrees with on the issues. Such an apparent non-sequitor is informative of the sorry state of what passes for democracy in our two-party-addled system.
This year on Kaua`i even our NOTA candidate is a malahini high school teacher with no government experience whose only campaign promise is that he will give his salary back to the taxpayers.
For all we know, if elected he may even need to watch one of those 50’s film strips on “How a Bill Becomes a Law” replete with talking cartoon documents, narrated by the condescending Mr. Know-It-All.
At least during the last election, among the usual “electable” dregs we had good-governance aficionado and current council candidate Bruce Pleas to vote for for mayor. It gave people an opportunity vote their conscience and at least use their vote to make an NOTA statement.
But Rolf Bieber could be a Ralph Cramdon or a Ralph Richardson but he’s no Ralph Nader and no one is lining up to support his policies because he doesn’t appear to have any.
As for the “aboves”, Bernard Carvalho would be four more years of even more of the headless chicken dance that passed for an administration under Bryan Baptiste- same department heads, same private interests sitting on all the boards and commissions, same cronies, same time, same station.
All the corruption, secrecy and general inactivity you’re come to know and love will dig itself in a little deeper, approve few more hotels, sell off a few more beach accesses and generally run the place into the ground.
Bernard can best be described as the lack of brains behind Baptiste, putting together secret task forces and done deals and generally exhibiting an expertise only in paper shuffling.
The reason his ads say “together we can” is because he has no idea how to do it himself. He hasn’t got a clue and needs all the help he can get from anyone who’ll give it.
Not that he’ll take it from us. He’s usually already made his decision based on what the various and sundry crooks have told him because he knows he’s not capable of rendering a learned one. Few other than he himself will disagree that he treats you and your required public testimony as a bothersome nuisance.
It’s hard to imagine anyone worse for our future but perhaps only if you hadn’t met that piece of work they call Mel “tail-gunner-Joe” Rapozo.
There actually is a shot in hell of him ripping into some of the sleaze in county government but only if it’s someone Mel has it in for anyway. He can be petty and vindictive and isn’t above abusing his position with the witch hunts and cover-ups that have characterized his tenure on the council.
It usually depends on who’s got what on him at the time.
And that leaves our sister JoAnn Yukimura. She’s a shell of the activist she once was- the one dedicated to public service who spoke and acted her mind and was wildly popular for it..
Now she’s ditched all service but the lip kind and become the consummate politician.
She is single-handedly responsible for continuing vacation rentals in non-tourism areas, the thousand acres of million-plus-dollar homes at Kukui`ula and keeping official legal opinions and council public policy decisions away from public eyes..... all the while claiming to have ended the vacation rental crisis and led “affordable” housing efforts and verbally championing the sunshine law.
But she’s also the one of the smartest people in government– or at least she used to be until she thought she lost the ‘94 election because she didn’t make everybody happy.
Then she took one of those Steve Covey “Seven Irritating Habits of Highly Annoying A-holes” seminars and became the developer’s best friend, creating “win-win” situations by losing what had already been won.
She now compromises and compromises until the final product doesn’t resemble anything but the dreams of the developers and other assorted thieves and rogues. Anyone who waves a park, a road, land for an unneeded new school or some other unfathomable pet project at her is thus entitled to a private beach or some other golden-egg-laying goose in return.
But while she’s no longer smart enough to see what she’s doing to herself or us, she is smart and at one time did great things for this island.
We don’t expect her to change but at least under JoAnn we would have a mayor who knew what the right thing to do was at one time and may actually set a few things in balance.
Which is why- and even we can’t believe we’re saying this- we are urging people vote for JoAnn Yukimura for Mayor on September 20.
It could be worse... a whole lot worse.
It’s Slim Pickens out there and we’d probably vote for him if he was running before one of the four headless horsemen. It’s one of those elections where the “none of the above” crazes come out of the woodwork.
Having an NOTA choice on the ballot might make some fools feel better but is an exercise in futility.
NOTA as an electoral choice only make matters worse. It forces another vote, usually for an even worse slate. It makes you wonder where all the NOTA people were when others were filing to run.
Sometimes there is a candidate who fills the NOTA niche- a candidate who, we’re told, has no chance of winning but who everyone agrees with on the issues. Such an apparent non-sequitor is informative of the sorry state of what passes for democracy in our two-party-addled system.
This year on Kaua`i even our NOTA candidate is a malahini high school teacher with no government experience whose only campaign promise is that he will give his salary back to the taxpayers.
For all we know, if elected he may even need to watch one of those 50’s film strips on “How a Bill Becomes a Law” replete with talking cartoon documents, narrated by the condescending Mr. Know-It-All.
At least during the last election, among the usual “electable” dregs we had good-governance aficionado and current council candidate Bruce Pleas to vote for for mayor. It gave people an opportunity vote their conscience and at least use their vote to make an NOTA statement.
But Rolf Bieber could be a Ralph Cramdon or a Ralph Richardson but he’s no Ralph Nader and no one is lining up to support his policies because he doesn’t appear to have any.
As for the “aboves”, Bernard Carvalho would be four more years of even more of the headless chicken dance that passed for an administration under Bryan Baptiste- same department heads, same private interests sitting on all the boards and commissions, same cronies, same time, same station.
All the corruption, secrecy and general inactivity you’re come to know and love will dig itself in a little deeper, approve few more hotels, sell off a few more beach accesses and generally run the place into the ground.
Bernard can best be described as the lack of brains behind Baptiste, putting together secret task forces and done deals and generally exhibiting an expertise only in paper shuffling.
The reason his ads say “together we can” is because he has no idea how to do it himself. He hasn’t got a clue and needs all the help he can get from anyone who’ll give it.
Not that he’ll take it from us. He’s usually already made his decision based on what the various and sundry crooks have told him because he knows he’s not capable of rendering a learned one. Few other than he himself will disagree that he treats you and your required public testimony as a bothersome nuisance.
It’s hard to imagine anyone worse for our future but perhaps only if you hadn’t met that piece of work they call Mel “tail-gunner-Joe” Rapozo.
There actually is a shot in hell of him ripping into some of the sleaze in county government but only if it’s someone Mel has it in for anyway. He can be petty and vindictive and isn’t above abusing his position with the witch hunts and cover-ups that have characterized his tenure on the council.
It usually depends on who’s got what on him at the time.
And that leaves our sister JoAnn Yukimura. She’s a shell of the activist she once was- the one dedicated to public service who spoke and acted her mind and was wildly popular for it..
Now she’s ditched all service but the lip kind and become the consummate politician.
She is single-handedly responsible for continuing vacation rentals in non-tourism areas, the thousand acres of million-plus-dollar homes at Kukui`ula and keeping official legal opinions and council public policy decisions away from public eyes..... all the while claiming to have ended the vacation rental crisis and led “affordable” housing efforts and verbally championing the sunshine law.
But she’s also the one of the smartest people in government– or at least she used to be until she thought she lost the ‘94 election because she didn’t make everybody happy.
Then she took one of those Steve Covey “Seven Irritating Habits of Highly Annoying A-holes” seminars and became the developer’s best friend, creating “win-win” situations by losing what had already been won.
She now compromises and compromises until the final product doesn’t resemble anything but the dreams of the developers and other assorted thieves and rogues. Anyone who waves a park, a road, land for an unneeded new school or some other unfathomable pet project at her is thus entitled to a private beach or some other golden-egg-laying goose in return.
But while she’s no longer smart enough to see what she’s doing to herself or us, she is smart and at one time did great things for this island.
We don’t expect her to change but at least under JoAnn we would have a mayor who knew what the right thing to do was at one time and may actually set a few things in balance.
Which is why- and even we can’t believe we’re saying this- we are urging people vote for JoAnn Yukimura for Mayor on September 20.
It could be worse... a whole lot worse.
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