City Refuses to Participate in Honolulu Rail Documentary
The City & County of Honolulu has refused to participate in a Honolulu rail documentary that Hawaii Reporter is helping to produce for OC 16. The city administrations under Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Mayor Peter Carlisle have been criticized in the past for only speaking about the rail when they can control the message. An email from Louise Kim McCoy, press secretary for Carlisle, said: “Thank you for the invitation but please make other arrangements as the Department of Transportation Services will not be able to accommodate the request.”
HGEA Unit 9 Contract Negotiations Update
Six of the seven Hawaii Government Employee Association’s bargaining units settled their contract negotiations with the state earlier this year, accepting a 5 percent pay cut but gaining 6 more days off, which gave them a total of nearly 3 months of vacation, sick leave and personal days. The nurses, who make up unit 9, was the only unit not to settle, saying they want a better deal. In a heated exchange on Maui, Gov. Neil Abercrombie told the nurses that the state has no more money.
Yesterday, the HGEA sent this update: “On June 6, the Unit 9 negotiating team met to discuss the status of contract negotiations. HGEA plans to meet with the employer next week. If the employer is not willing to negotiate, the negotiating team will meet again before the end of the month and decide how to proceed. We will continue to update you about contract negotiations via eBulletin and the HGEA website.”
Cleaning Up the Capitol
In a major effort to clean up to give a clean sweep to the Hawaii state capitol and reduce the level of BS, the Department of Accounting and General Services, responsible for the building, announced they successfully negotiated a contract to clean up the piles and piles of bird droppings all around the state capitol by installing special netting.
Further, Bruce Coppa, head of DAGS, said the state is pleased because the bid for the job came in at about half the price they’d estimated, $35,000, instead of $70,000, because of the slow economy.
One politician joked that he wished the state could find a way to clean up the “BS” that emanates, not from feathered friends, but from the politicians inside the building.