#breene harimoto

[honolulu-politics]

Special Transportation Committee Meeting This Morning

Programming note: The Honolulu City Council Transportation Committee is holding a special meeting this morning starting at 9:30 a.m.

This is the only agenda item:

1. PRESENTATION BY DR. RICHARD JACKSON ON “YOUR HEALTH AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT.”

Jackson, it seems is a professor and chair of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA's School of Public Health. Here's his official bio:

While in California he helped establish the California Birth Defects Monitoring Program and state and national laws to reduce risks from pesticides, especially to farm workers and to children. While at CDC he established the national asthma epidemiology and control program, oversaw the childhood lead poisoning prevention program, and instituted the federal effort to “biomonitor” chemical levels in the US population. In the late 1990s he was the CDC leader in establishing the US National Pharmaceutical Stockpile to prepare for terrorism and other disasters—which was activated on September 11, 2001. He has received the Breast Cancer Fund’s Hero Award, as well as Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Public Health Law Association, and the New Partners for Smart Growth. Dick Jackson lectures and speaks on many issues, particularly those related to built environment and health. He co-authored two Island Press Books: Urban Sprawl and Public Health in 2004 and Making Healthy Places published in August, 2011. He will host a 2012 public television special Designing Healthy Communities which links to a separate book by the same name published by J Wiley & Sons in October, 2011. He has served on many environmental and health boards, as well as the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects. He was the 2005 UCLA SPH commencement speaker: http://www.ph.ucla.edu/staging/finalsite/students_keynote.html

[honolulu-politics]

Rail to West Kapolei, Manoa, Waikiki Would Cost $3.9B

This one's a few weeks old — at least — but it's interesting and hasn't been highlighted in this space before to my knowledge. So, better late than never.

Rail line extensions to West Kapolei, UH Manoa and Waikiki would cost a total of $3.9 billion to plan, design and construct.

That number comes from a Feb. 7 letter from interim rail chief Toru Hamayasu to Council Transportation Chair Breene Harimoto, which in turn cites the Oahu Regional Transportation Plan 2035, adopted by OMPO in April 2011.

Here's the breakdown:

From West Kapolei to East Kapolei: $2.03 billion

From Ala Moana to Manoa and Waikiki: $1.83 billion

The memo also includes a list of all properties acquired so far, with the costs for each parcel, as well as a list of major contracts executed so far, with the amount of approved expenditure to date.

It's worth scanning.

[honolulu-politics]

Berg, Harimoto Share a Moment of Aloha

This morning's "Message of Aloha" was delivered by Vice Chair Ikaika Anderson.

With a wink and a nod toward the recent Council squabbles, he asked his colleagues to stand and  turn to those next to them and express their appreciation and love. Tulsi Gabbard and Stanley Chang shook hands; Romy Cachola and Nestor Garcia high-fived.

Sitting on the right end of the table, Breene Harimoto and Tom Berg stood and looked at each other. From a distance, it looked like there was eye contact, and a nod of acknowledgment from each.

In the first full Council meeting after Harimoto asked that Berg lose his voting rights, it looks as if the two are ready to get back to business, even if the hatchet isn't totally buried yet.