Thanks to a reader for calling my attention to this section of a Star-Bulletin story last week:
Judge David Ezra, who has presided over the groups’ lawsuit for the last four years, appeared frustrated at times yesterday and said fixing the sewage system in Honolulu should be the city’s top priority following years of neglect.
“In terms of priority, this comes first,” Ezra said. “It’s much more important to fix the sewers than to put in a light rail system. I’m not against the light rail, but we have a broken sewer system that needs to be repaired. I’d rather see the money that has to be paid by the taxpayers of the City and County of Honolulu put into the sewer system rather than go into the general fund of the U.S. government.”
Interesting in light of the rail debate.
I noticed this Seattle Times story about bus fare increases to cover the soaring cost of diesel fuel. The story notes:
Passenger fares cover about one-fifth of bus operating costs. Metro relies mainly on a sales tax, nine-tenths of a cent for every $1 purchase, and also receives some federal aid.
That’s nearly double the half-percent tax for Honolulu’s rail system, although our excise tax bites deeper than the simple sales tax.
And thanks to Christina Cedeno for pointing me to her “Yes to Democracy…No to PUMA” site, which has been digging into the background and antics of the anti-unity groups and web sites mentioned here yesterday. She wrote: ” This entire coalition smells to high heaven of swift-boat. ” Agreed.
I received an email several days ago from a Laurin Manning.
I’ve recently joined the Obama campaign’s national new media team. I’m overseeing state blogger outreach and wanted to reach out to you.
A little bit about me… I’ve been working on the campaign since the beginning – first in my home state of South Carolina and subsequently in four more states. Prior to my work on the campaign, I ran my own state-based political blog, so I’m especially excited about the state blogger outreach part of my job here.
So they’re taking the State Blogger Corps and the convention blogging experiment quite seriously.
We’re nearly through the long 4th of July weekend. There are still lots of campers down at the parks, and the beach has been jammed.
You might enjoy a few glimpses of the neighborhood.
Just your typical holiday weekend in Kaaawa, with a few more flags flying, I suppose. Just click on the photo for more.
We had dinner with our friends and neighbors down the street last night. Tiger immediately asked about Toby, so I had to walk back out front and call the cat. Toby appeared almost immediately, and followed me back into their yard.
That led to an extended Tiger & Toby love fest. Tiger’s just a little older, and Toby was just a little less worried about him.
Both seemed to like the interaction. And, of course, the adult observers all loved it as well.
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Judge Ezra’s comment illustrates why we do not want Federal judges making policy.
A good reporter like yourself could probably easily dig up and summarize the immense amounts of money that Honolulu has been pouring into repairs of its sewer systems for the last ten years. The required repairs were established as a result of a series of agreements reached between the City and the EPA and State Department of Health.
To intimate that the City has not been making sewer repairs a top priority, if not the highest priority, is a gross misrepresentation of what has been going on.
And the reach to include rapid transit in the discussion is despicable. The rapid transit money is being raised through a special addition to the excise tax, which normally goes entirely to the State. And the amount that is being raised is required by State law to be used exclusively for rapid transit, and cannot be used for sewer repairs.
The City primarily raises its revenues through the property tax. The Hannemann administration has been very forthright about the need to repair the aging sewer collection network which it inherited, and has called for increased spending on those repairs, and the raising of fees to meet the costs. I don’t think Judge Ezra’s comments are appropriate or helpful for community understanding of this situation.