A City Council committee will consider a resolution this week calling for disbanding the Clean Water and Natural Lands Commission, which was set up after voters approved a 2006 change to the City Charter setting aside funds for protection for “still undeveloped and important environmental and aesthetic assets…vulnerable to ongoing development, commercial interests, and urban sprawl.”
Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who publicly opposed the 2006 charter amendment, has refused to follow the process previously established by the council, apparently because the independent commission is outside of his direct control.
The commission makes recommendations to the council on projects to be supported by funds set aside in a Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund. The 2006 charter amendment provides that the money can only be spent for purposes have not traditionally been funded by the city, such as the preservation of natural areas.
Its creation was strongly supported by environmental groups and the general public, and its elimination is likely to put Hannemann at odds with the environmental community.
Resolution 149, introduced on June 17 by council chair Todd Apo, would replace the independent commission with a committee that would “advise the city administration on the expenditure of moneys in the Fund.” It is scheduled to be considered by the council’s Budget Committee at its meeting beginning at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 30..
Testimony regarding Res. 149 can be submitted to the Budget Committee via email.
Apo’s proposal would eliminate specific requirements for relevant experience and expertise, and instead simply provides that the mayor and the council would each name four members, with the ninth member to be chosen jointly.
The commission is currently required to have members with particular expertise, including at least one scientist, one representative from an environmental or land conservation organization, one member of an agricultural association, one water expert, a public recreation specialist, and at least one member knowledgeable about Hawaiian cultural.
The latest move appears to follow through on Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s publicly announced plan earlier this year to bypass the commission in order to divert money from the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund for transit oriented development along the proposed rail transit line and for other administration-backed purposes.
According to the resolution:
…although the Commission has worked diligently and recommended to the council projects to be funded from the Fund and the council has appropriated moneys from the Fund in accordance with the Commission’s recommendations, the city administration has not implemented the projects, and in the budget documents submitted to the council for Fiscal Year 2010-2011 has proposed its own projects to utilize moneys in the Fund….
Hannemann’s budget designates $3 million from the fund to purchase land for a proposed regional park in Nanakuli, located in Apo’s council district, where it is popular with voters. The Nanakuli project was never submitted to the commission for review, although the commission invited such a move. Instead, Hannemann inserted it into his proposed budget in a direct challenge to existing city law.
Marjorie Ziegler, chair of the commission, said over the weekend that she had not been notified of the resolution by the council or the mayor’s administration, and had not yet seen a copy.
Commission member and former chair, UH law professor Denise Antolini said she heard about the resolution from a private citizen.
“I find it highly disrespectful for neither the Mayor nor the Council to provide notice to the Commission about this resolution,” Antolini said in a statement emailed to iLind.net.
The commission has developed a reputation for careful study and review of each proposal submitted for funding by the CWNL Fund, including site visits and careful prioritization. It’s lengthy recommendations can be found online via the city’s Docushare system.
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Funny but I can’t help viewing every action by Mufi in light of the Democratic Party gubernatorial primary until he files and resigns? The deal with Council Chair Todd Apo surely solidifies a region which supports Mufi and solidly pokes Mufi’s environmental critics in the eye. Perhaps Mufi is more similar to Obama than Abercrombie since this is Chicago style politics — sharp elbows under the basket by the big men!
Mufi does not believe in transparency and due process.
This committee will be stacked with his cronies.
Mufi has placed them in all high places and the community groups and businesses.
It’s also time to have a rule that PREVENTS city employees from service in Neighborhood Boards. All these cronies do is carry out the agenda of Mufi.
This may also be tied to te proposal to use 1% open space funds for the Nanakuli Park acquisition. The existing commission might have concluded (rightly) that the park was NOT a valid use of the 1% funds.
Nanakuli Park: Hannemann pounds Hanabusa in proxy fight between Waimanalo Gulch and PVT landfill
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/main/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2295/Nanakuli-Park-Hannemann-pounds-Hanabusa-in-proxy-fight-between-Waimanalo-Gulch-and-PVT-landfill.aspx
Yes, that’s the Nanakuli park situation that I described earlier and linked to in this entry.
You’ve got to take the whole charter amendment into account. In addition to the categories of approved spending, the charter now contains this provision:
The City Charter now provides, in part (Section 9-204):
“The council shall by ordinance establish procedures for the administration and expenditure of moneys in each fund. The appropriations to each fund shall not substitute for, but shall be in addition to, those appropriations historically made for the purposes stated in this section. ”
This is repeated in the implementing ordinance.
Since the establishment of regional parks has been a routine type of expenditure historically made by the city as population shifts require, it would appear that use of the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund for this purpose would be contrary to the Charter.
Nobody is against a park but the Mayor simply announced that during his city address. Mufi has no respect for due process. He’s above the law. The owner is UNWILLING to sell and the city is threatening eminent domain condemnation. All his planted supporters – like city employee Patty Teruya who is also the neighborhood board chair – make it sound like this is the most important need in this universe.
This is something very wrong with this modus operandi.
Another assignment is to check the qualifications of the cronies serving in other commissions and boards.
Hawaii doesn’t have an environmental organization that is a bad cop. Most are reasonable and more than willing to talk. The Native Hawaiians sort of play that role but not directly for the environment. They know it is better to be feared than loved.
Meanwhile the environment is simply seen as unimportant or second fiddle to everything else. Somebody has to decide to litigate and organize and raise hell, like the old days.
good point Ulu … but if you organize they will marginalize you
if you are not on their team … you must be a nutcase, or a loud mouth haole, or something else they can find to attack you
the machine doesn’t discourage such ad hominem attacks … that is why they are so frightening
How obnoxious of Mufi. Spread the word to stop this shenanigan.
Spread the word to stop Mufi. Period.
This proposal needs to be aired in a major way so that people can consider its impact on our fragile environment.
It has been said you can see the structure of the entire universe in a grain of sand if you look closely enough.
Mufi’s behavior here is symptomatic of his entire approach to power.
He is a bully and those defending him are his paid flunkies, foot-soldiers in his thuggery.
This is not “The Machine.” This is “Mufi’s Machine.” There is SOME overlap, but there are a lot of Democrats who will agree with the entrenched interests around Senator Inouye on other issues, but who cannot stand Mufi’s crude bully tactics.