City Council to seek
public’s pulse onlineThe Council wants survey feedback
to help set city priorities
The City Council wants to know whether you want two days or one day of trash pick up, whether recreation programs like Summer Fun should continue, and whether services like Satellite City Halls, Sunset on the Beach and Honolulu City Lights are important to you.
Those topics are included in a survey that will go online beginning Monday as part of the Council's PLAN, or Priorities Long-term and Now, which the Council will use to help set priorities for the next budget session, and the next decade.
"We're trying to address the concern that people feel disassociated with government and we hope that this process will encourage people to think about some of the issues," Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said.
But Mayor Jeremy Harris said the Council members painted an inaccurate picture of the city's finances when they publicized the creation of the PLAN. The Council blamed the Harris administration for overspending on capital improvements and causing the city to be burdened with a high amount of debt.
"It's unfortunate that the City Council has misrepresented the city finances in their recent press release," Harris said in a written statement. "The facts are not one penny of capital improvement funds are spent by the Harris administration without first being approved and appropriated by the City Council."
Views on construction spending are among the 12 questions on the survey, which the Council said isn't scientific and is one of many tools that will help set priorities.
Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said it is a way constituents can help the Council determine core services. "It's kind of getting a feel of where the city needs to go," she said.
The survey asks whether residents are willing to recycle and whether they are willing to pay for a second day of trash pick up.
Other questions cover park maintenance, the importance of neighborhood boards, the Office of Economic Development and which police functions are most important.
To answer the survey beginning Monday, log on to www.co.honolulu.hi.us/council and then click on the survey link.
