[ OUR OPINION ]
Bad planning gives rise
to convoluted permitting
process
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Mayor Harris' plan to transfer part of the city's permitting responsibility to private-sector engineers and architects comes at the behest of the City Council, which also bears culpability for the lack of staff needed to handle the volume of work. Whether the plan, which the administration says will be up and running in a few weeks, will provide relief remains to be seen.
Harris last week unveiled a strategy, called third-party review, that officials hope will cut the time it takes for the city to issue permits developers need to build housing projects and homeowners need for fixing a garage or installing a swimming pool.
Plans normally reviewed by city employees can now be examined by architects, engineers or others unconnected to a project and who are tested and certified by the city. Such parties will be allowed to charge for their services; city workers do the reviews for free. If plans are determined to be in line with land-use ordinances and regulations, the city will authorize a permit.
The city says the third-party reviewers would be liable for any discrepancies or problems that may result from their work, which may prove to be a hurdle for anyone willing to do such work and would likely put a high price tag on the service. However, it is questionable whether the city would escape all legal obligations should problems arise. In addition, because of Honolulu's insular development community, it wouldn't be inconceivable that deals and favors would be traded among the unscrupulous.
Under the best of circumstances, the city would have adequate staff to handle its responsibilities, but such scenarios are impossible with the demands from taxpayers to rein in spending and with election-bound politicians reluctant to ignore them.
In April, the administration warned the Council that budget cuts would mean longer lines and longer waits for permits, but the Council eliminated $137,000 for salaries to fill vacant jobs. In June, the city auditor took the department to task for lack of staffing and operational problems, but the administration called the audit inaccurate.
So now, the administration has put together a convoluted system to fill a need. Would that those who run the city were more sensible.
Keep efforts alive to
attract pro sports
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The Islanders appeared confident in July that they would be competing at least one more season, their fourth, in arenafootball2, an offshoot of the Arena Football League. Executive Director Chris Dey said the team was "right on track" with a five-year plan, but the financial realities took hold. The Star-Bulletin was among the corporate sponsors of the team.
The team lost $1.3 million in the past season and the goal had been merely to cuts its operating loss to less than $350,000 a year. The Islanders averaged less than 4,000 in attendance at Blaisdell Arena. "It's a business and you've got to make money," Dey explained.
"I was really disappointed because we don't have any professional sports," said Ken Stafford, JN Automotive vice president and general manager, who served on the franchise's board of advisers. "And it's so disheartening that this community won't support a professional sport."
That should not keep sports enthusiasts from trying. Hawaii had a Triple-A minor league baseball team, the Hawaii Islanders, for 27 years before it folded in 1987 because of dwindling attendance after moving from the old Honolulu Stadium to Aloha Stadium. The team was moved to Colorado Springs, Colo.
City officials and Honolulu businessman Duane Kurisu talked three years ago with a Maryland developer about the feasibility of bringing back minor league baseball to Honolulu, but the plan has not gelled. Kurisu, now a member of the Star-Bulletin's board of directors, had been owner of the Hawaii Winter Baseball league, which lasted from 1993 to 1997.
Hawaii's best opportunity for a pro team sport in the future may be women's volleyball. A U.S. Professional Volleyball League was launched two years ago at four Midwestern cities but lasted only one season. If women's volleyball were to gain in popularity on the mainland to the level of enthusiasm in Hawaii, Honolulu should be a prime candidate for a franchise.
