11-07-2009, 04:52 AM
I spent a long eight hours at the Charter Commission hearing yesterday and testified for FoPF on a few charter amendment proposals. It was a long day.
For the most part the meeting was well run. The testimony from a variety of speakers went rather smoothly. I did notice a consistent theme from any and all testifiers who draw a county paycheck...
Don't change a thing.
Don't make our world more difficult. The financial foundations of our empire could crumble if voters were to approve a number of proposed amendments. We need more "flexibility" not less. Reminds me of a popular home style slogan you occasionally see in people's homes which say... "God Bless This Mess".
Probably the bleakest view of the future came from Planning Director Bobbie Jean Leithead-Todd who spoke at length, and I mean length, on the need to double staff, a drowning tsunami of paperwork and unforeseen and 'be careful what you wish for' effects of CA-25, a proposal to embed the Community Development Plans into the Charter for redos every ten years. What was lacking was any sense of how to work out the bugs from the proposal which there are.
The proposal calls for all applications to be forwarded to the Action Committee but the intent is merely for the Action Committee to have access to all applications. BJ basically did her own version of Fear Factor on the discrepancy. Sigh. It worked for Dick Cheney and will probably work here too. I know BJ won't like this description but it is not intended to offend. It is intended to inform.
What was most disturbing to me though was the fate of the 2% Land Preservation Fund. Having been approved by voters in 2006 it has been under constant attack by the Kenoi Administration and his council cohorts. Two years of funding had been hijacked from the fund using the Fear Factor tactics and in doing so the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and thousands of voters had (temporarily they tell us) been undone.
Well "temporary" is about to become Permanent.
CA-15 (Charter Amendment 15) was on line for first reading vote last night. CA-15 would place the 2% Land Preservation Fund before the voters again and ask the same rather simple question: Do you want 2% of county revenues to be dedicated to the preservation of open space and significant natural resources?
The majority of the Charter Commission did not gut the fund but instead gutted the question. The CA-15 language was watered down to so weaken the 2% Land Fund that they had to change the name to The Land Fund. 2% is now 0.5%. The 0.5% Land Preservation Fund doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely.
With what appeared to be little knowledge or research to guide him one commissioner decided that asking the voters to approve the amendment language was simply too onerous for the county government. So he proposed lowering the 2% figure to 0.5% and the majority fell quickly in line.
A heartfelt defense was put forth by Commissioner Jamae Kawauchi who reached back into her childhood and brought forth memories of a struggling Hawaiian family's access to the ocean and coast as an aid to survival. Those places are going away. The families that can't afford a Disneyland vacation are losing access to the natural resources of our county and these resources need to be preserved for future generations.
Not to be.
So the $4 million per year fund (about 1% actually of county budget) which was gutted by Mayor Kenoi and his team will very likely be further reduced to $1 million per year.
I am sure that a number of county folks and campaign supporters are very pleased. They will all have more "flexibility".
Welcome to The 0.5% Land Preservation Fund.
For the most part the meeting was well run. The testimony from a variety of speakers went rather smoothly. I did notice a consistent theme from any and all testifiers who draw a county paycheck...
Don't change a thing.
Don't make our world more difficult. The financial foundations of our empire could crumble if voters were to approve a number of proposed amendments. We need more "flexibility" not less. Reminds me of a popular home style slogan you occasionally see in people's homes which say... "God Bless This Mess".
Probably the bleakest view of the future came from Planning Director Bobbie Jean Leithead-Todd who spoke at length, and I mean length, on the need to double staff, a drowning tsunami of paperwork and unforeseen and 'be careful what you wish for' effects of CA-25, a proposal to embed the Community Development Plans into the Charter for redos every ten years. What was lacking was any sense of how to work out the bugs from the proposal which there are.
The proposal calls for all applications to be forwarded to the Action Committee but the intent is merely for the Action Committee to have access to all applications. BJ basically did her own version of Fear Factor on the discrepancy. Sigh. It worked for Dick Cheney and will probably work here too. I know BJ won't like this description but it is not intended to offend. It is intended to inform.
What was most disturbing to me though was the fate of the 2% Land Preservation Fund. Having been approved by voters in 2006 it has been under constant attack by the Kenoi Administration and his council cohorts. Two years of funding had been hijacked from the fund using the Fear Factor tactics and in doing so the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and thousands of voters had (temporarily they tell us) been undone.
Well "temporary" is about to become Permanent.
CA-15 (Charter Amendment 15) was on line for first reading vote last night. CA-15 would place the 2% Land Preservation Fund before the voters again and ask the same rather simple question: Do you want 2% of county revenues to be dedicated to the preservation of open space and significant natural resources?
The majority of the Charter Commission did not gut the fund but instead gutted the question. The CA-15 language was watered down to so weaken the 2% Land Fund that they had to change the name to The Land Fund. 2% is now 0.5%. The 0.5% Land Preservation Fund doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely.
With what appeared to be little knowledge or research to guide him one commissioner decided that asking the voters to approve the amendment language was simply too onerous for the county government. So he proposed lowering the 2% figure to 0.5% and the majority fell quickly in line.
A heartfelt defense was put forth by Commissioner Jamae Kawauchi who reached back into her childhood and brought forth memories of a struggling Hawaiian family's access to the ocean and coast as an aid to survival. Those places are going away. The families that can't afford a Disneyland vacation are losing access to the natural resources of our county and these resources need to be preserved for future generations.
Not to be.
So the $4 million per year fund (about 1% actually of county budget) which was gutted by Mayor Kenoi and his team will very likely be further reduced to $1 million per year.
I am sure that a number of county folks and campaign supporters are very pleased. They will all have more "flexibility".
Welcome to The 0.5% Land Preservation Fund.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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Punaweb moderator