Harris books may have powerful ending
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
City Managing Director Jeff Coelho came up with a hot new way to raise money from leftover copies of former Mayor Jeremy Harris' "Renaissance of Honolulu": burning about 3,500 copies of the book at the city's garbage-to-energy plant.
"I think we may actually put them in a truck and take them out to H-Power. At least the city will derive some income from the burning," Coelho said.
Coelho
The income would come from Hawaiian Electric Co., which pays the city for electricity generated by the plant. Coelho proposed the unconventional idea yesterday at a City Council Budget Committee meeting.
Coelho said the city so far has received no income from the 220-page taxpayer-financed book heralding the high points of the administration. The books cost $108,763 to produce.
He said the city still owes $13,307 to pay for paper used to print 5,000 copies. Coelho also said he is trying to find a place to store the unsold copies, which must soon be transferred from the book distributor's warehouse.
Council member Barbara Marshall suggested handing out books at next month's National Association of Counties conference.
But Coelho and Budget Committee Chairwoman Ann Koba-yashi both dismissed the book as not fit to represent Honolulu properly.
"We can't hand those out," Kobayashi said. "It's embarrassing."
Marshall suggested recycling them. And that's when Coelho proposed converting them from garbage to energy.
