Convention center
funds on holdLegislators want assurances that neighborhood
By Mike Yuen
complaints about noise and traffic will be addressed
Star-BulletinDon't be fooled by Senate Ways and Means Co-Chairwomen Rosalyn Baker and Carol Fukunaga and their constant talk of collaboration and cooperation.
They also know how to play political hardball with a 2-by-4.
In the Senate budget proposal that Baker and Fukunaga crafted, they're holding $5 million hostage to get neighborhood complaints about noise and traffic congestion at the new Hawaii Convention Center resolved.
And they've included a budget provision that demands a remedy before the Legislature's scheduled adjournment on May 5, less than two weeks away.
If the Convention Center Authority can't come up with a solution, the convention hall's operator, Spectacor Management Corp., won't get the $5 million it is expecting in the new fiscal year that begins July 1.
"This is called getting their attention," said Baker (D, Lahaina). "You've heard of the 2-by-4 and the elephant."
Senate co-majority leader Mike McCartney (D, Kaneohe) believes Baker and Fukunaga (D, Makiki) are wielding something bigger -- "a plank."
Fukunaga, whose district includes the convention center and whose office has been flooded with complaints, said: "The Convention Center Authority has been probably the most unresponsive agency in state government when it comes to dealing with community issues involving noise and traffic."
Alan Hayashi, Convention Center Authority executive director, and state Planning Director Rick Egged, who is trying to facilitate a solution, said they believe a process to resolve the community complaints will be devised before the Legislature ends its regular session. But they added determining remedies will take more time.
"They (Baker and Fukunaga) have our attention," Egged said.
Hayashi said most traffic-related complaints, such as blocked driveways, have been resolved. Moreover, there have been no traffic problems with the center's initial and small events with 3,000 or so people, he added.
"The nagging question is: Will we have gridlock with the shuttle buses (for larger events)? We haven't experienced any problems with smaller conventions. Until we get a 15,000-delegate convention, we don't know what will happen because we don't have any experience to judge that one," Hayashi said.
He added that as a result of complaints, $50,000 has been spent to install and operate a permanent noise monitor on the convention center's rooftop, where there's a garden terrace that can be used to host dinners and shows.
There will be a committee to assess the noise level from the center's rooftop, and one of the panel members will be from the community, Hayashi said.
"The board (of the Convention Center Authority) needs to be sensitive to the quiet and enjoyment of the center's neighbors. But we also need to give the convention center a chance to operate as a convention center. Somewhere in between is a common ground that can be reached and we can live with each other," Hayashi said.
Asked if he thought it was unusual to have the budget of the convention center's operating firm held hostage, Hayashi chuckled and said, "I'll leave that to you."
Fukunaga said that in recent weeks residents near the convention hall, located on the western edge of Waikiki, have complained that convention center officials "seem to be going out of their way to make things worse -- whether it's leaving the lights on all night, whether it's having events on the rooftop without notifying the residents."
At a legislative hearing last month, Sam Bren, who lives about 300 feet from the center, testified that only by enclosing the rooftop garden can noise be mitigated.
Budget negotiations
House and Senate conferees were scheduled to begin supplemental budget negotiations:
When: 7:30 p.m. today
Ward wants private shipyards
By Gregg K. Kakesako
to get a fair share of
Navy’s repair work
Star-BulletinState Rep. Gene Ward is wondering whether Hawaii's private shipyard industry is getting its fair share of the Navy's maintenance and repair business compared with the rest of the country.
The Republican is still wondering.
Ward raised the issue during a Senate Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee looking into recent disclosures that the Navy has drastically cut back repair work with local shipyards.
Last year, Navy contracts to private yards totaled $22 million and $30 million the year before that. That amounted to 60 percent to 70 percent of the work at the state's two largest yards.
Earlier this month, the Navy cut funding because of budget constraints, curbing the flow at $9 million.
Employment dropped
That meant employment in the private yards dropped from 250 workers to 50, said John Ball, president of the 40-member Ship Repair Association of Hawaii. He told the Senate committee that "subcontractors and material providers will be similarly impacted."Ward (R, Mariner's Ridge, Aina Haina) said the Navy told him that the ratio in mainland shipyards ranged from 70 percent public to 30 percent private to a even 50-50 split in regions.
Ball recommended that "the Navy establish a policy whereby a standard percentage of Navy ship repair work is allocated to Hawaii's private sector.
"We believe that if the percentage were only 10 percent, the local industry could be maintained. A 10 percent share would probably mean a growth in employment for local yards."
Cmdr. Kevin Wensing, Pacific Fleet spokesman, said the budget was about $353 million in 1997 with $336 million projected for the current fiscal year.
Shipyard owners urged the Senate committee to get Hawaii's congressional delegation to pressure the Navy to restore private shipyard work.
Inouye contacts Navy
Jennifer Goto, spokesman for Sen. Daniel Inouye, last night said the Hawaii Democrat has contacted "the Navy to see if additional work can be made available.""The Navy is very sympathetic," Goto said, "but the bottom line is that there is less work."
Goto pointed out that the Navy fleet has shrunk in size, dropping down from 600 ships to 350.
Wensing said the question of determining public-to-private ratio is a difficult one driven by the money available, the number of ships home-ported at a given location, when the ships will be in port, the maintenance required and whether there is a naval shipyard in the area.
Ball, also general manager of Honolulu Shipyard, said that local shipyards "provide the Navy, and therefore taxpayers, with the best value for their ship repair dollar."
He said the cost at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is more than $900 per day vs. $350 to $375 per day charged by the private sector."The private sector is determined by a free, competitive market," Ball said. "It is the lowest available price."
'Firm-fixed price'
Ball said this is because the private sector has to work with "firm-fixed price for each job. Overruns on work done by the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard are paid for on a time and material cost basis by the Navy until the job is done."Without local shipyards, Young Brothers, Matson, U.S. Coast Guard and other local vessel operators will be forced to the mainland for repairs.
"All this will mean the cost of ship repair will rise dramatically as will the price for the goods and services these ships provide," Ball said.
Seiji Naya, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said he plans to convene a special council of industry and military leaders to look into this and other situations relating to the effect of military activities on the state.
Ben Toyama, a Pearl Harbor Shipyard union official, said in the past there was a ship repair council whose membership included labor leaders, military and private shipyard operators, the mayor and the governor. But it hasn't been convened in recent years because the maritime business has been good.
LEGISLATURE UPDATE
A calendar of tomorrow's hearings -- to be held at the state Capitol, 415 S. Beretania St., unless noted:
HOUSE
SENATE
