Advertiser writer Stephen Tsai did a good job as featured guest on PBS Hawaii’s Leahey & Leahey show last night, and the questions quickly turned to the sad state of newspapers, layoffs, cutbacks, etc. The video isn’t available online yet, but should be eventually.

Joan Conrow, who wrote for the Star-Bulletin back when I was on the staff and later was Kauai reporter for the Honolulu Advertiser, has been named “travel writer of the year” by the Hawaii Ecotourism Association.

HEA member Dr. Carl Berg Jr., Hawaiian Wildlife Tours located on Kauai, nominated Joan Conrow for the Hawai`i Ecotourism Association’s award because “She has always emphasized responsible tourism in her travel books and articles and strives to include information about native species, respect for cultural sites, and the environmental and cultural attributes that make Hawai`i unique.”

The award will be presented at the association’s Annual Awards Luncheon on Friday, May 15. Information about the luncheon is available from the HEA.

Honolulu City Councilmember and Republican Congressional candidate Charles Djou has floated his own pay-to-play proposal.

Djou has suggested that any non-city entity, including organizations, businesses, and even state legislators, have to pay a $250 fee if they suggest or request a matter to be discussed by a neighborhood board more than three times in a calendar year.

Djou, who represents the council district stretching from Hawaii Kai to Waikiki, sent a draft bill spelling out the proposed fee to Neighborhood Commision Executive Secretary Joan Manke last month, and it was recently circulated to neighborhood board chairs for comment.

The fee would not apply to those in city positions, such as Djou himself, or to city agencies.

The neighborhood boards are key to gauging public opinion and are routinely consulted about issues impacting on their communities. Certain matters must be reviewed by the relevant neighborhood boards before action is taken by city agencies.

Greg Knudsen, chair of the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board in the heart of Djou’s council district, responded with several questions to the councilman’s office.

In an email sent yesterday, Knudsen asked:

Please provide details on the origins, status and purpose of this bill, including:

(1) When will Councilmember Djou introduce the bill?

(2) Who initiated the bill (the councilmember, or by whose request)?

(3) How was the $250 charge determined; how much is it estimated to cost to hear from non-city entities?

(4) What other rationale besides cost savings exists for such a proposal?

(5) What consideration was given to the Neighborhood Plan and its defined scope, functions, and authority of Neighborhood Boards?

Since this was sent to the Neighborhood Commission on April 8, please also explain why it was not mentioned to the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board when the councilmember reported to us on April 28.

Neighborhood boards often have full agendas with considerable time taken up with reports from elected officials and city agencies, including police and fire departments, sometimes leading to conflicts.

Prior to the April meeting of the Hawaii Kai board, Gordon Bruce, director of the city’s Department of Information Technology and the mayor’s representative to the board, asked to be moved up on the agenda.

In an email to Knudsen, Bruce said he had been “instructed to give my report within the first hour of the meeting.”

Bruce got no satisfaction from board chair Knudsen, who sent this response.

The Neighborhood Plan says priority status is given only to the Fire and Police reports, due to public safety. There is no priority status for city officials, city council members, state legislators, other state officials, or representatives of the governor.

It is the practice of the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board — under its authority to set its agenda and the priority of issues — to give higher consideration to testimony from the public, and to issues of wide public concern.

As the Mayor’s representative for Hawaii Kai, I would hope that the interests and concerns of our community would also be of interest to you.