Freeze traffic cams,
then tailor programThe issue: A state Senate committee
chairman has called for suspending
the camera program.A key legislative supporter of traffic cameras to catch speeders has rightly called for suspending their operation while awaiting legal rulings. Even if the lens caps are removed later, legislators should not keep the Department of Transportation in charge of such a law-enforcement function that belongs with police.
Sen. Cal Kawamoto, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, suggested the moratorium to await decisions in cases similar to legal challenges that have shelved traffic-camera programs on the mainland. The first legal test in Hawaii is scheduled Feb. 20 in District Court. A final decision could take much longer, because the issues are likely to be appealed to higher courts.
In San Diego and Denver, judges have ruled that contracts providing for the company operating the cameras to be paid for each ticket issued instead of a flat fee injected a profit motive that made the programs unfair. Hawaii officials were aware of the San Diego ruling at the time they approved a similarly flawed contract with the same company.
Attorneys question whether the state can hold the owner of a car responsible for speeding without being able to prove whether the owner was driving. Owners can legally be fined for illegal parking, but moving violations are a different matter, and owners cannot not be forced to say whether they were driving when their cars were photographed speeding.
Brian Minaai, the state transportation director, spoke in favor of a House bill that would lessen photo-captured speeding violations to the equivalent of a parking violation. That would keep it from appearing on driving records, thus precluding increased costs in car insurance. However, that could trigger complaints that speeders caught by police are denied equal treatment for the same offense.
Last year's Legislature created this problem by assigning the program to the Department of Transportation. The department botched the job from the beginning, approving a system that had been found to be illegal in San Diego and assigning the department's public affairs director to manage it.
Senate Vice President Colleen Hanabusa is leading a group of Democrats who favor scrapping the program and starting over in deciding how -- or perhaps whether -- to use traffic cameras to combat speeding and the running of red lights, an aspect of the program that has yet to begin. While the Legislature considers such a repeal of the program's authorization, Kawamoto's proposed moratorium would be a good beginning. It should be adopted with all due speed.
State founders in
Kauai tour boat battleThe issue: The government
has tried to ban sightseeing
operations at Hanalei Bay.To settle the long-running dispute at Hanalei Bay on Kauai will require the state and county governments to determine their objectives in limiting -- or eliminating -- tour boat operations there. A judge's ruling that the state cannot prohibit federally licensed commercial boats from the bay defines jurisdiction, but does little else to resolve the conflict that pits tourism and business interests against those of residents.
The roots of the dispute go back to the 1970s, when tourism and land development on Kauai faced opposition from residents and environmentalists. Hanalei was being inundated by tourists who drove the two-lane Kuhio Highway along the island's north shore to the picturesque region. In 1977, a company began running tours in small rubber boats to the Na Pali coast. Tours also were running on the Hanalei River. Residents began objecting to the thousands of vehicles that jammed the road and disturbed the rural atmosphere.
By 1985, 23 companies were running boat tours from a county park at the mouth of the river, with the approval of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. The county in 1992 decided to limit the number of tour operations, but failed to enforce its rules. When the state proposed to increase the number of permits it allowed, residents raised a ruckus and the state let the matter lie.
A year later, the state inexplicably evicted boating operations from Hanalei, but three companies that held valid county permits sued. A circuit court ruled that the state had violated its own administrative procedures. The state then amended them to bar tour boats from the bay. The boat operators turned to the federal court, which said the state had no jurisdiction to keep the vessels from sailing in the bay. The state is appealing.
Balancing the desires of the tourism industry with those of residents who want to maintain Hanalei's rural character is no easy task. Scores of boats and crowds of tourists would diminish the area's special qualities and the state has a responsibility to protect its natural resources.
The state, however, failed to establish its goals in an orderly manner when it evicted the tour operators. It may not be able to ban commercial boats from the water, but it can control their numbers by limiting land-based uses. The state, in conjunction with the county, should discuss the problems with the boat businesses and the public, lay out its plans and move ahead systematically. Otherwise, it can look forward to sailing in rough water.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comRichard Halloran, editorial page director, 529-4790; rhalloran@starbulletin.com
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by
John Flanagan, contributing editor 294-3533; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
Oahu Publications at 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.
Periodicals postage paid at Honolulu, Hawaii. Postmaster: Send address changes to
Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.
