City Council Cakewalk

[jdub]

Reports (mainstream) indicate that no one (meaning folks to testify) showed up to piss and moan about the tax hikes the Council is fixin' and likely to to levy...can i get an auwe?

[Miulang]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

Yeah, apparently the only hue and cry is about NEW taxes, not about fees that currently exist and are being raised by some pretty substantial amounts. That still amounts to each person having less in their paycheck. Apathy rules.

Miulang

[pzarquon]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

Or maybe some crazy, misguided, pie-in-the-sky weirdos in this town support rail, and figure we might as well bend over and get it over with.

[Miulang]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

I'm kind of surprised that there wasn't more public participation at the hearings. I know it would be tough for working-age people to get the time off to go to these hearings, but usually there are lots of retired people on fixed incomes (and for whom some of the increases in taxes might result in having to choose between food and something else) who show up for these hearings. Or maybe the retired people in Honolulu are wealthy enough that they don't care about having to pay more. The anti-tax people should be organizing the seniors to appear at these hearings. People on fixed incomes are the ones who will suffer the most from any increases in any taxes. True, many are not homeowners, but even as renters, things like the huge proposed increase in sewer rates is going to affect them every month when they pay their rent.

Miulang

[jdub]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

It seems like all of O'ahu has accepted the sheer inevitability of rail and its incumbent cost of living ramifications. It has become a foregone conclusion. And let's not forget the sweetheart-of-a-deal pay raise the public unions got. I guess the next time I buy a pack of smokes, register a car, turn on the faucett (how do you spell faucett?), or spend money otherwise, I'll wish I had been at that hearing, flipping the bird in silent protest of the wholesale jacking-up of my cost of living.

[Miulang]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

Honolulu residents, read this and prepare to dig deeper into your pockets this coming year...

Miulang

[Linkmeister]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

Considering the vote was 7-2, I don't think a whole roomful of people was gonna change more than one vote, which wouldn't have been enough. I do sorta think a lot of us have just bowed to the inevitable, or suffer from a great deal of inertia.

Is the city bound by the new labor contracts already won by HGEA? We know about the cops and firefighters, right?

I could strangle a bunch of state legislators who brought arbitration back this session; as far as I can tell going through that just jacks up the raises.

[mel]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

Honolulu residents, read this and prepare to dig deeper into your pockets this coming year...

Miulang

You only love it when we have to fork over more of our hard earned cash to more government spending and projects. It's easy for you to continually bombard Hawaii forums with your tax and spend socialist agenda while basking in the fact that we continue to suffer financially as individuals, families and businesses throughout Honolulu (in this case) and in the State with high taxes. Easy for you to do this crap all the way out there from Washington state/Oregon.

People, remember that these tax increase for vehicle weight registrations and higher sewer fees comes as a result of many years of mismanagement by the former Harris administration and its misplaced policies to beautify rather than to take care of the practical matters on a timely basis.

And remember these fees are going up in addition to our property taxes and the general excise tax that the city council and the mayor are salivating over in order to fund their super expensive and unneeded $2.7 billion dollar rail system!

Our wallets are hurting and bleeding enough already. Some people from afar enjoy knowing that our wallets will bleed even more through tax and fee hikes supported by the city and state.

Pathetic.

[Miulang]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

The taxes up here are going up, too. Thanks to the Monorail, I paid over $500 for my license tabs this year. Next year will be the same. I pay about $1,500 for property taxes. Our local sales tax is 8.8% (tax added on anything but food, but does include services). Our gas tax is the highest in the country (going up another 3 cents/gallon in July). The only saving grace is we don't have a personal income tax (yet).

If inertia or apathy is what got those increases for you guys, then you deserve it. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. The anti tax people should have been mobilizing the retired folks because they have the time to go sit in those City Council meetings. They also are impacted more by tax increases because they live on fixed incomes, and their testimony very often is compelling. If you consciously decided that rebuilding your crumbling infrastructure, easing road congestion, etc. was the reason you didn't speak up, then congratulations on being a "socialist".

All you guys can do now, if you don't like having to dig deeper into your pockets, is to vote against those who supported the tax hikes when they come up for re-election. Grumbling about it isn't going to change anything at this point.

Miulang

[mel]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

Funny how my post is replied to by the person supposedly ignoring me. How's does that figure? Ignore function doesn't seem to work around here.

[Miulang]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

Looks like the new Mayor of Honolulu is trying to be fiscally responsible, but the City Council members (including Charles Djou, who kept voting against raising taxes) added extra padding to the tune of $21.8 million for capital improvement budgets that the Mayor doesn't think is necessary.

Hmmmm...Djou is against raising taxes, but he is OK with getting extra pork for his district? Isn't that kind of hypocritical?

Miulang

[jdub]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

Looks like the new Mayor of Honolulu is trying to be fiscally responsible, but the City Council members (including Charles Djou, who kept voting against raising taxes) added extra padding to the tune of $21.8 million for capital improvement budgets that the Mayor doesn't think is necessary.

Hmmmm...Djou is against raising taxes, but he is OK with getting extra pork for his district? Isn't that kind of hypocritical?

Miulang

Hypocritical? Possibly. But I have to admire the fact that he is the only vocal opponent of raising taxes on the Council. That ship is certainly sunk, and his opposition could be easily construed as grandstanding, but Djou is at least keeping the debate alive. As for asking for "pork" for his constituency, I figure that's why he was elected.

[Miulang]

Re: City Council Cakewalk

I'll let Charles Djou's record speak for itself. Let's see how far he gets with his reforms by the next time he comes up for re-election.

"...Having been raised in these islands, Charles Kong Djou, a Republican state Representative, says he is deeply saddened by recent revelations concerning the ethics and illegal acts of many of Hawaii's elected city officials.

Committed to reform, Djou is running for the Honolulu City Council to bring the enthusiasm for change he is known for and his philosophy of government reform to a city that is "sorely lacking in leadership and direction."

"I am proud of my record of achievement in the state House as an advocate for fiscal discipline, open government, and public safety. I have fought to lower taxes, increase government efficiency, and improve security at the Hawaii State Hospital after a string of escapes. I have successfully required that the once-secret budget worksheets be made public and have strenuously advocated against the traffic camera photo enforcement system, a system that places profit ahead of public safety."

Djou, an attorney, says he intends to bring a fresh, new perspective to city government; a perspective bound in integrity and secured by a vision that Honolulu be a place where Hawaii's parents can proudly raise their children.

He will not raise taxes, will support privatization of government services and will push for a full audit of the city finances.

There are many ways the City Council can help business, says Djou, was awarded "Legislator of the Year" by Small Business Hawaii on Jan. 9, 2002. Speeding up the permitting approval process will be one way to help business and the public. Djou says he'd like to pass a bill that ensures permit applications, for everything from camping to construction, not acted on by the city within 90 days will automatically be approved.

He also will make a push to get the city away from competing with business as it will with the city's proposed $1 billion Rapid Transit System and plans not to support the BRT..."

From http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story....6-b3e2523c5f05