Editorials
Monday, June 1, 1998

Let the voters decide
city reorganization

THE proposed city reorganization plan has won approval of the City Council by a single vote, but that's far from the end of the story. Several key portions of the plan, including the merger of the Budget and Finance departments, require amendments to the City Charter.

It takes six votes on the Council to put amendments on the ballot, and at the moment there are only five. The alternative is a charter commission, but it isn't clear whether a commission can legally be created and do its work in time for the election.

The reorganization plan has been reworked by Council members since it was submitted by Mayor Harris in February. Harris proposed to lay off more than 150 employees but the Council restored 111 of those positions.

A controversial proposal to merge the semiautonomous Board of Water Supply with the wastewater department was deferred. This was wise because the proposal could have left water policy decisions vulnerable to politics -- which was the reason for the creation of the board in the first place.

The mayor and his supporters maintain the reorganization is the first step toward making city government more efficient and consumer-oriented.

A leading critic, Councilman Duke Bainum, called it "premature and irresponsible." But Councilman Jon Yoshimura said the plan was much improved from the mayor's original proposal. Mufi Hannemann, the new Council chairman, said the Council wouldn't have been able to restore many of the jobs slated for elimination if it hadn't approved it.

Bainum complains that the Harris plan was thrown together without consulting department heads or lower-level employees and that no data was provided to back up claims of savings.

But the Council has had time to make improvements. The city's fiscal problems require prompt action to make government more efficient. The alternative is to wait two years for another chance to put Charter amendments on the ballot.

Now that Harris has announced he won't be running for governor, he should be available to preside over the reorganization for at least the next two years. But first the Charter must be amended. For that, a sixth vote is needed.

Route for power line

AFTER months of study, Hawaiian Electric Co. has produced its recommendations for routing a proposed power line between Moiliili and Palolo Valley. Heco says the 138,000-volt line should run underground from the Kamoku Street substation near Iolani School to the base of Waahila Ridge, then overhead on the ridge to the Pukele substation in Palolo.

Heco is prepared for a fight. Opposition to overhead lines on Waahila Ridge, which separates Manoa and Palolo, has been building on the contention that the lines -- on poles 80 to 115 feet tall -- would destroy the view.

Perhaps so, but there are already power lines on the ridge. The existing poles are shorter -- they are 40 to 70 feet tall -- than the new ones would be, and thus less conspicuous. But how much difference would the taller poles make?

The question, it seems to us, is whether the additional cost of going underground the entire distance -- either on the ridge or through Palolo -- would be justified by the protection of views that are already somewhat obstructed by existing lines and poles. Keep in mind that the bill will be paid by the consumer, whatever the decision, and going underground would cost more. Another contention is that the line isn't really needed. Christen Mitchell of a group called Safe Power Action Network said she wants to see proof of that need.

Having suffered through several prolonged blackouts here, and having read about the dreadful weeks-long outage in Auckland, New Zealand, we are prepared to accept Heco's position that the line is needed to make Honolulu's power supply more secure.

Modern life is tremendously dependent on electricity. Whatever it takes to avoid blackouts is worth doing.

Progress in welfare

A welfare program that works! The state seems to have found the key to success with its welfare-to-work program. Hawaii now has more of its welfare recipients employed than any other state in the Western region -- despite the state's stagnant economy.

The state welfare reform program, PONO, Pursuit of New Opportunities, is only a year old. Before its inception, only 10-15 percent of welfare families earned income. Today, 50 percent of the 16,000 able-bodied welfare recipients are employed, although mostly part-time. With more recipients working, the state has been paying $1 million a month less in assistance.

As the Star-Bulletin's Lori Tighe reported, PONO turns a job into a financial incentive rather than a penalty. Recipients are required to take a four-day program in job-readiness called Hoala, which means awakening. And they are under pressure to find jobs. If they fail to find work in two months the state cuts their benefits 20 percent. If they don't find a job in two years, the state cuts off benefits for adults but not their children.

Provided the recipient works at least 18 hours a week, the program provides for child care, training and education. Assistance with paying for child care can be crucial.

From 1993 to 1997, Hawaii's welfare population grew by 38 percent, while other states saw their welfare rolls shrinking. Now the state hopes to stabilize the welfare population this year -- a dramatic improvement.

A resumption of strong economic growth would help, but it's encouraging to see the progress that has been made in welfare reform even without it.

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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor