What an interesting moment to drop back into Honolulu’s city hall. The budget, full of controversial items, including aggressive funding for the mayor’s rail transit system even before the results of the environmental impact study are assessed, are on the table for final passage at today’s council meeting. According to news accounts today, Mayor Hannemann is moving ahead with a possible rematch against Neil Abercrombie, this time for the governor’s seat. And Neil’s moving ahead with another $200 per person fundraiser at the end of the month. Fireworks ahead, it seems.

I was Neil’s senior advisor the last time I worked at city hall. This time around, I’ll be in a nice little office with other Bainum staff up on the 4th floor, just across the hall from a small office that I was the first to occupy when it was built back in 1989 or so. Bainum’s staff are in the office that, back then, housed Councilmember Gary Gill’s staff, including now state senator Suzanne Chun-Oakland. So it’s a bit of a time warp.

One thing to note is the remarkable painted ceiling in our little office, which must also stretch into adjoining parts of the building, although I haven’t looked around to find out.

Now I’ve got to check with the city librarians to find out about its history. When was this done? Is it original with the building? Added later? Who were the artists? It really is very unusual and quite a treat to look at.

Thanks to Senator Les Ihara for passing along word of a series of newly published state audits, including DOE procurement, a management and financial audit of the tourism authority’s major contracts, and the state’s information technology. It looks like there will be some interesting findings there.

And for you information junkies, here’s an article from a law journal recommending Internet sites for attorneys and others concerned with legal issues. Some less familiar sites are described, with links.