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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, January 29, 2002

Mayor's speech focuses on ambitions

 •  Analysis: Harris colors his words bright green
 •  Excerpts from yesterday's State of the City address
 •  Full text of the speech

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser City Hall Writer

In what he called his last State of the City address, Mayor Jeremy Harris yesterday presented an ambitious plan to recycle more garbage, promised not to increase property tax rates and highlighted his administration's accomplishments of the past seven years.

Mayor Jeremy Harris delivered few surprises in his State of the City address, which he called his last.

Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Harris delivered a polished, politically safe speech filled with positive messages about strides made during the past few years.

He did not refer directly to his political future. But afterward, Harris told reporters it was his last such address, because he will resign this summer. "As you know, I'm going to be running for governor this year," he said.

As expected, Harris said there would be no increase in real property tax rates. "Despite the fact that in the coming year, collective bargaining pay raises will increase by $24 million, in the coming budget I will ask for no increases in real property tax rates in any category," he said.

Harris proposed several new ways to improve the city's recycling program and reduce the amount of garbage that needs to be buried in landfills, including increasing the city's H-Power garbage-to-energy plant by 50 percent.

He declined to say exactly how much those improvements would cost, noting that details would emerge from his budget proposal in March as part of the construction budget, financed with government bonds.

"In the long run, programs such as that save money," he said.

'Huge cost'

Speech highlights
 •  Keep real property tax rates the same. However, higher assessed values for most O'ahu property owners mean many will still pay more in property taxes.
 •  Increase the capacity of the H-power garbage-to-energy plant by 50 percent and build a solid-waste separation facility there "to dramatically increase our recycling efforts and reduce the amount of waste we send to the landfill by 80 percent."
 •  Create a recycling technology park, for public-private partnerships to develop new methods of waste disposal.
 •  Turn sludge from sewage treatment plants into fertilizer, and transform ash from burned rubbish into asphalt.
Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who has announced that she is running for mayor, said Harris neglected to explain how the city will afford the billion dollars needed to repair, replace and expand the city's aging sewer system.

Hirono said it is ironic that Harris would propose new environmental initiatives without addressing the lingering financial burden, a "huge area of concern."

"This is a huge, huge cost that's coming down the pike that we're going to need to address," Hirono said. "Basically it's the fiscal state of the city that he didn't get into."

Councilman John Henry Felix gave Harris' speech more points for style than substance.

"There was nothing really substantially new. But it was very visionary, and it was delivered with great passion and conviction," he said.

Felix also said Harris was wise to stay clear of any mention of the state Campaign Spending Commission's investigation into his campaign's finances, which has been turned over to city prosecutors for possible criminal action.

"It would have been a tragic mistake to address the campaign spending matter at a time like this," Felix said.

The stage was carefully set for the speech, with hundreds of seats placed in the courtyard and featured guests including U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle and UH football coach June Jones.

Vision teams will stay

The City Council sat in the front row as Mayor Jeremy Harris delivered his annual State of the City address at Honolulu Hale. Harris confirmed that he would resign this summer to run for governor.

Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Harris veered from his text a few times. Once he noted the presence of members from the community vision teams that he created, and acknowledged that some might be wondering if they will remain when he leaves office.

He told them to expect the vision teams to continue, because politicians won't walk away from a process that gives more residents a say in their neighborhoods. "The vision process is here to stay."

Harris also said he'd like to work out a public-private partnership to develop plasma arc technology to turn refuse into hydrogen fuel for vehicles.

"We need to be out on the cutting edge of technology in waste management," said Harris, who said he read about the process being used in Japan and in a pilot project on the Mainland.

After providing details of his plans for garbage, Harris joked that he knew the audience might be tiring of the subject, but "this is important stuff."

City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura said he thought it was the sign of a responsible leader to devote so much time to the issues of sewage and garbage. "It's not an attractive or particularly sexy issue, but it really is one of the most important challenges that we as a municipal government have."

Hawaii Hotel Association President Murray Towill called Harris' address "exciting," and said he wasn't concerned that it seemed to focus more on the environment than the economy.

"The most direct impact the city can have on the visitor industry are the kind of improvements that they're making in the infrastructure and the physical plant in Waikiki. And clearly a great deal of that has happened, and more of that appears to be happening," Towill said.

Advertiser staff writer Kevin Dayton contributed to this report. Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.