Updated at 12:37 p.m., Thursday, February 22, 2007
Highlights of mayor's speech
Advertiser Staff
Here are highlights from Mayor Mufi Hannemann's State of the City address this morning:Sewers: Increase sewer fees to pay for $944 million in wastewater improvements and repairs over three years.
Sewer projects already begun or about to include Saint Louis Heights; completion of Kalaheo reconstruction in Kailua next month, followed by repaving; Kapi'olani Boulevard; Kalaniana'ole Highway; and in Kailua, Kane'ohe, and Kuli'ou'ou.
Garbage and recycling pickups:: Proposes to launch this year once-a-week garbage pickup combined with curbside pickup of greenwaste and mixed recyclables once a week on alternating weeks. Plan to launch in Windward O'ahu, Mililani or Hawai'i Kai.
Add more locations for white recycling bins.
Saving agricultural land: Proposes reducing property tax for agricultural-zoned land, from $8.57 to $5.70 per $1,000 net assessed value.
Property Taxes: Will again urge City Council to establish a homeowners class. Upcoming budget proposal will offer tax credits for homeowners and a $150 subsidy for renters.
Emergency Medical Services: Asking City Council for money to hire 10 more full-time lifeguards.
Police: HPD has 61 new patrol vehicles on the road and will buy 48 more cars and five motorcycles this fiscal year. Wants Council to authorize purchase of 89 more cars and 30 motorcycles next year.
Waikiki and East Honolulu burglary-and-theft detectives and other HPD units will open office at Fort Ruger this year. Also moving forward with expansion of crime laboratory and plan to replace Wai'anae substation with a full station.
Fire: New fire department headquarters opened last year; Makiki station completed and improvements made to the Moanalua, Manoa, Kane'ohe, Palolo, and Waimanalo fire houses. Now rebuilding McCully station and will soon start improvements for the Mililani, Wai'anae, Kapolei, and Nanakuli stations. For next fiscal year, requesting money to fix at least a dozen more fire houses.
Put three new fire engines into service in 2006 and will get one more this year. Budget proposal calls for six more apparatuses for fiscal 2008.
Fiscal Achievements: Better financial management, including creation of a reserve fund, led Standard and Poor's to upgraded Honolulu's bond rating, which saves the city up to $300,000 for every $100 million in bonds sold.
Legal issues: City lawyers won outright seven of nine trials last year, with a favorable result in another.
Telecommunications: Enhanced 911 let police, fire ambulance crews find mobile phone users. Four out of six local cellular companies have the system and the others are expected to join soon.
Emergency Management: Elevating Civil Defense Agency into a full city department called the Department of Emergency Management.
Would prepare for and cope with terrorism, pandemics, and natural and man-made disasters.
Roads: Over past two years, road crews filled nearly 117,000 potholes. Among bigger projects: repaved South King Street in Mo'ili'ili and streets in 'Aina Haina, Kailua and Mililani. Have begun or soon will begin rehabilitation projects on Beretania Street, Kilauea Avenue, Ke'eaumoku Street, University Avenue, Ala Wai Boulevard, and 'Alewa Drive.
Acquiring land to remake Pa'akea Road so it is an emergency route to Farrington Highway, between Mailiili Road and Lualualei Naval Road, by the summer of 2008.
Preparing to extend Kamokila Boulevard in Kapolei to Roosevelt Avenue in Kalaeloa to relieve traffic on Fort Barrette Road.
Public Facilities: 40-year-old air-conditioner and risers at Blaisdell Center Arena should be replaced by summer. Concert hall will be recarpeted and exterior painted.
Coming at the zoo are new classroom for Keiki Zoo and bigger habitat for tigers. Zoo attendance up 9 percent despite higher admission.
Renovated Pearlridge Satellite City Hall to reopen by May.
Parks: New maintenance program includes regular power washing, makeover renovations, application of modern sealants, and other tasks at parks. Also more frequent repairs and maintenance of parking lots and roads, and tennis and play courts, and comfort stations.
Homeless: City contributed $500,000 to the state's shelters and has awarded $39 million over five years to groups aiding the homeless.
Transit Planning to break ground on new transit system in 2009. In addition to rail, TheBus hubs for under construction in Mililani, Waianae, and Middle Street. Negotiating with state for Wahiawa Transit Center.
Ferry will begin in early July from Kalaeloa Harbor to Aloha Tower with feeder buses.
Business Development: Just signed contract to provide free broadband Internet access to Chinatown for a year. Similar projects planned for other, unnamed neighborhoods.
Looking for private developer to expand Blaisdell exhibition hall, build more parking, and attract more users to the facility.
Environment: Created working group to create 10-year plan for alternative fuel usage, hybrid vehicles, cogeneration of electricity, conservation and recycling. Have upgraded air conditioning at Kapolei Hale to cut $50,000 from electricity bill. This year, will modernize air-conditioning and lighting for Fasi Municipal Building and police headquarters that will save $500,000 a year.
City using 600,000 gallons of B20 biodiesel a year in trucks and heavy equipment. Will expand use in buses, with a goal of total conversion within two years. Buying new hybrid diesel-electric buses. These vehicles cut fuel consumption by about 15 percent to 20 percent over diesel buses.
City requesting proposals to add another waste-to-energy facility that can process 600,000 tons of waste each year.
No-call bulky-item pickup now available island-wide, plus curbside greenwaste pickup in Windward O'ahu. Fifty-seven percent of O'ahu garbage is recycled or turned into energy.
Goals: Said he and his administration are fulfilling the three main themes of his election campaign: fiscal accountability, a focus on basic services, and making this the best place to live, work and raise families.