Welcome to Inside Honolulu! It may be a furlough day but there’s a full schedule of City Council committee meetings at Honolulu Hale today. Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

Parks and Rec chief defends permitting process for siren upgrades

Parks and Recreation Director Les Chang said he’s doesn’t understand the need for a bill that would allow workers to enter parks without permits to upgrade emergency warning sirens.

“I am against this bill for the simple reason they’re asking that we forgo the need for a right of entry permit,” Chang told the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety & Services. “The reason why we need an entry permit is it spells out all liability issues. The person coming onto the park property takes full responsibility of all their equipment. Without that requirement, they could choose the busiest day of the park and show up with their heavy equipment, and we have a higher risk.”

Chang said the permitting process is easy and straightforward, and workers are already cleared to respond immediately to emergency repair situations when there is a public safety threat.

“In the event of a hazardous element, I don’t think anyone is going to say, ‘Gee, you need to have a permit.'”

City Council members on the Public Safety Committee — Lee Donohue, Gary Okino and Reed Matsuura, who arrived late — opted to defer action on the bill.

Committee wants “overt” video surveillance in Chinatown

The city’s Committee on Public Safety & Services advanced a measure to install more than one dozen surveillance cameras in Chinatown, Kalihi, Ala Moana, McCully, Waipahu, Ewa Beach and other designated Weed and Seed neighborhoods.

The cameras — which police officers say would be purchased with monies the Honolulu Police Department secured through a private grant from Target — would be used first and foremost as a prosecutorial tool.

When asked whether the cameras would be used to help combat prostitution, Maj. Gregory Lefcourt told Civil Beat it’s likely.

“Prostitution is criminal behavior, so I would say yes,” Lefcourt said. “How far, in what direction and exactly how we could use it, I’m not sure.”

Asked to explain why he supported installing a surveillance system, Lefcourt was concise: “Partnerships with the community using technology of today.”

Committee advances leaf blower ban, with reservations

City Council member Gary Okino said a leaf blower ban would come at “the price of freedom,” before supporting Public Safety Committee Chair Lee Donohue he’d support advancing the resolution for a full council vote.

Okino said he wanted the bill to reach the council floor so it could be “killed once and for all.”

“I have to tell you that I am totally against this bill,” Okino said. “If we allow this, what’s next? They going to begin to regulate everything that makes noise? The other night I was running my vacuum cleaner at night … are they going to pass some legislation for me to stop using my vacuum cleaner?”

Gordon Bruce nomination cruises through committee

The Committee on Public Safety & Services is underway with just two City Council members — Ann Kobayashi is excused — making quorum.

Gordon Bruce sailed through the nomination process to stay on as director of the Department of Information Technology. Bruce testified on his own behalf, and his nomination was advanced with no discussion between City Council members Lee Donohue and Gary Okino.

As rail projects die, Honolulu’s prospects for more federal money appear unchanged

Reporters in cities and states across the country are tracking how the outcome of midterm elections will affect numerous high-speed rail projects. NPR reported today that high-speed rail could be a casualty, now that a slew of fiscally conservative Republicans are taking office.

NPR’s David Schaper makes the point that as some states — Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida — appear to be backing away from high-speed rail, officials in other regions will begin to clamor for the federal monies left behind.

So could Honolulu get in line to pick up more federal funding? Civil Beat asked City Council Vice Chair Ikaika Anderson in the hallway at Honolulu Hale Friday afternoon.

“Anything’s possible but the FTA is weary about giving us any more money for this project,” Anderson said. “They didn’t say that outright, but it was implied. Of course, more federal money for this project would be a positive.”

Council member impatient with rail division on transparency

Civil Beat reporters aren’t the only ones frustrated by the rail transit division’s roadblocks to accessing contracts associated with the city’s $5.5 billion rail project.

City Council member Romy Cachola put Transportation Services Director on the spot about contracts at a Transportation Committee meeting Friday afternoon.

“I’ve been asking for a copy of the contract with Kiewit,” Cachola said. “When are you giving me a copy?”

“We have no problem providing you with that contract but there is some proprietary information in that contract, so they have to redact that,” DTS Director Wayne Yoshioka said.

“Is that contract not public record?” Cachola fired back.

“Most of it is,” Yoshioka said. “Again, that’s being reviewed to make sure we don’t do anything improper … But the intent is to release the document to you.”

Yoshioka assured Cachola he’ll review the request and let him know when the contract might be available this afternoon. Cachola said he would have no problem keeping the contract confidential from the public, as long as he gets the opportunity to review it.

U.S. Navy asks to share authority on rail

An updated programmatic agreement on the city’s rail plan would include the U.S. Navy as a prime signatory on the project.

“The Navy had asked to be a full signator because we are affecting their property in the Pearl Harbor area,” said Faith Miyamoto, environmental lead in the Honolulu Department of Environmental Services. “As such they want to be a full signator.”

Full signatories have the authority to stop portions of the project from moving forward.

“We would have to go back and renegotiate,” Miyamoto said of the possibility of signatories refusing to sign.

“All would need to sign,” Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka said. “They would all need to sign.”

Rail division asks to create new $100,000 job

Updates to the city’s programmatic agreement for rail include the addition of a $100,000 managerial position.

“One of the major changes is that, upon the request of the State Historic Preservation Officer, we are including a position for a project manager,” Faith Miyamoto, environmental lead for the project, told the city’s Transportation Committee. “This position would be responsible for overseeing and reporting on the city’s compliance with the stipulations listed in section 106 of the programmatic agreement.”

That section concerns historic preservation, and the handling of any burials uncovered during construction. The new agreement would also give State Historic Preservation Department officers more time to decide how to handle burials, and outlines a process for measuring the rail line’s indirect and cumulative impacts on historic Chinatown.

The new employee’s salary would be paid with city funds, but he or she would work within the State Historic Preservation Department.

Coming to testify? Don’t forget your ID

One quirk of a furlough day is that you need an ID to get into a public building.

Security staffers are issuing visitor passes for Honolulu Hale — technically, the building is closed to the public on furlough days — and entry is only available to those attending City Council committee meetings. See you on the second floor!

City Council committees stay busy on furlough day

It may be a furlough day for many city workers, but City Council members have back-to-back committee meetings at Honolulu Hale today.

Issues on the agendas include:

• Historic preservation and rail

• A proposal to install overt video surveillance in Chinatown

• Nominations for permanent city leadership positions

• The process for repairing emergency warning sirens

• The possible ban of leaf blowers

Check back with Inside Honolulu for updates throughout the busy day.

Furloughs ongoing

Today marks the fourth city furlough day since Mayor Peter Carlisle was elected — the second since he was sworn in one month ago— and it’s unclear what Carlisle plans to do to put an end to furloughs.

While campaigning, he vowed to end furloughs. His disdain for mandated days off was so great, he said, he would consider exploring legal options to break the contracts that led to them in the first place.

Today is the ninth city furlough day since they began in July. There are 15 more furlough days scheduled through the remainder of the fiscal year:

• November 26
• December 10
• December 17
• January 14
• January 28
• February 11
• February 25
• March 4
• March 18
• April 15
• April 29
• May 13
• May 20
• June 3
• June 24