Four short weeks until the city budget is due, but city officials have plenty of other big projects ahead: A rail groundbreaking and the mess at Waimanalo Gulch are at the forefront. Plus, the new City Council is finally up and running. Civil Beat is tracking all of it, and reporting from the inside.

Waimanalo Gulch Operator Under Oath Before Land Use Committee

2:48 p.m.
Waste Management manager Joe Whelan is testifying before a crowded Land Use Commission about what led to a landfill spill that flooded medical waste and other debris into the ocean in mid-January.

Commission Chairman Vladimir Paul Devens said he “doesn’t buy” Whelan’s explanations about what happened, and believes Waste Management was ill-prepared to handle the storm.

“I have a real hard time believing this was unavoidable,” Devens said. “(You) just hoped it wasn’t going to rain. You folks were caught with your pants down.”

Whelan rejected Devens’ characterization. Also on hand for the hearing: Hawaii Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, who has long advocated Waimanalo Gulch be shut down, and has legally represented Ko Olina Resort in its efforts to close the landfill.

Land Use Commission Wants Answers from City on Landfill

11:41 a.m.
The city’s Department of Environmental Services continues to focus on the aftermath of a landfill spill at Waimanalo Gulch that flooded medical waste into the ocean, and disrupted bulky trash pick-up for weeks. Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger said the slow-and-steady response is continuing, as workers strive to comply with deadlines outlined in a clean-up order by the federal government.

“It’s gonna take a little time for us to get back to normal,” Steinberger told Civil Beat. “It’s a big thing, having one component at the landfill taken down.”

The State Land Use Commission (LUC) is requesting Steinberger provide a written report at the commission’s meeting this afternoon showing how such a spill will be prevented in the future. Before the spill, the LUC said the permit for the city to use Waimanalo Gulch for municipal solid waste would expire in July 2012.

Steinberger said the city is actively appealing that decision. A Department of Health investigation into the spill is ongoing.

Berg Wants “Mental Affair” With Bachmann

10:01 a.m.
Tom Berg can’t wait until lunchtime. The newly elected City Council member is attending a Grassroots Institute Hawaii luncheon featuring Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann as a keynote speaker. Bachmann and Berg share Minnesota roots and Tea Party values.

“I’m the only elected Tea Partier in the state of Hawaii,” Berg told Civil Beat. “I want a mental affair with her … I want to meet her. Even just 10 seconds with her to get my photo taken.”

Berg said his Facebook friends — many of them “liberals from Minnesota” — are vocal about their disdain for the Congresswoman.

“I go on Facebook and I see the hate,” Berg said. “But this is a groundswell. This (Grassroots Institute) event was supposed to have 60 people. There are going to be more than 200.”

City Council to Rush Limbaugh: Say You’re Sorry

9:22 a.m.
Honolulu City Council members are asking talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh to apologize.

Stanley Chang and Romy Cachola are co-sponsoring a resolution urging Limbaugh to apologize for “offensive and derogatory remarks regarding the Chinese language and Chinese President Hu Jintao.”

Complaining about a lack of English translation during a speech by the president, Limbaugh said, “Hu Jintao was just going ching chong, ching chong cha.”

Honolulu City Council members join many others criticizing Limbaugh for his remarks. California state Sen. Leland Yee posted a petition to his website, asking others to condemn Limbaugh’s comments.

A transcript of Limbaugh’s on-air response to the backlash reads: “The left says that was racism; it was bigotry; it was insulting. And it wasn’t. It was a service.”

City Council members will discuss the resolution in an Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee meeting on Monday, Feb. 7.

Rail Lawsuits Begin to Trickle In

As the rail project continues to move forward, opposition is again ramping up. Along with former Gov. Ben Cayetano‘s appearance at Honolulu Hale this week, a pair of lawsuits could delay or even stop the rail project.

One long-expected suit comes from the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. Paulette Ka‘anohiokalani Kaleikini is suing a group of city and state officials for allegedly violating state law protecting burial grounds.

The suit alleges the city should have completed an archaeological survey along the proposed rail line before finalizing the route. There’s particular concern over the area planned for the fourth phase of construction, downtown and Kakaako, where the unmarked remains of many Native Hawaiians are believed to be buried.

Honolulu Transportation Services director Wayne Yoshioka told Civil Beat the city is mitigating those concerns by expediting the survey of that phase of construction. He said rail planners have agreed to survey Phase 4 before Phase 3, as originally planned.

The lawsuit argues a planned survey still comes too late.

Defendants include the city’s Yoshioka, Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, State Historic Preservation Division chief Pua Aiu, the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting, State Land and Natural Resources Director William Aila, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and the Oahu Burial Council.

Another suit that may have implications for rail calls into questions the city’s procurement process. That suit filed by attorney John McLaren alleges the city broke the law by failing to properly secure contracts including those related to the rail project.

McLaren’s lawsuit comes on the heels of his previous attempt to sue the city over the way it handles contracts. An August decision by the state Procurement Office found nothing to substantiate that claim against the city. At the time, McLaren told the Star-Advertiser the Procurement Office’s review appeared suspicious.

The League of Women Voters‘ Pearl Johnson told Civil Beat that other rail opponents are trying to raise enough money to fight the city on rail. She said she believes the city’s environmental impact statement, or EIS, is flawed. The state and federal government approved that document in December and January respectively.

“These things happen in all EIS-related projects,” Rail planning chief Toru Hamayasu told Civil Beat. “I don’t know if ‘anticipated’ is the right word, but we’re not surprised.”

Catch Up on Inside Honolulu

Feb. 1, 2011: Bulky item pick-up to start again; Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz introduces bill that would create development exceptions for rail; Tom Berg invites anti-rail groups into his office to discuss next steps in rail opposition.