Hello and welcome to the second part of what was a very interesting discussion in Part 1. So in Part 1, we have discussed the role and functions of the WRMA, its nexus to WASCO. We have looked at some of the general mandate of the WRMA. As we came to the end of the discussion in Part 1, we were focusing on the disaster vulnerability reduction project's intervention, its assistance to the WRMA via funding for a watershed management plan. So we are going to continue with this and as we go forward, we are going to look at some of the things that the DPRP has assisted the WRMA with. And that includes the wastewater management strategy. That includes optimizing the hydromet system. And also you are going to hear some of these things. The ring what I have is in the system is another way that the DPRP has assisted the WRMA. But just before we get into this second part of the discussion, let me tell you something that you may not know. The two new blocks of the Schusel secondary school. Because after the earthquake in about 2007, there were some issues with the Schusel secondary school, two blocks in particular. They were being undermined as a result of the earthquake. And so, could you see the DPRP, these blocks were reconstructed. Climate resilient blocks via the DPRP. So if you didn't know, well, now you know. So Jason, at the end of the first part of the program, we were looking at the intervention, the watershed management plan. So continue and speak to it. Yes, so this DPRP funded initiative very critical to the WRMA. Because what it did, it assisted the agency in characterizing one of our watersheds. But apart from that, it also assisted in creating guidelines and some of the officers received training on how to go about in terms of characterizing the watershed. Because we have to do it for all watersheds. Now we have to develop that capacity in-house so that we can do it ourselves. Because if we have to depend on funding by the time, maybe rigid the 10th watershed, we might have to revisit the first watershed because so much has changed. So we basically have to build that in-house capacity. So that initiative from the DPRP, it was very critical because it provided some training and guidance. And apart from that, they're also assisting in developing our in-house capacity further. Just to speak about just some two of the other initiatives that are also critical. It's funded by the DPRP is the optimization of our hydro-meteorological network. So this is a joint collaboration between WRME and the MET services where we're going to upgrade our existing infrastructure. So we're going to replace it with new parts and we're going to introduce new stations. And the idea is that we try to make our network as much as possible functional in actually collecting real-time information. So basically we can stay in the office and see what the rainfall events are happening, say in Canary's, in Viewfort, in Magritut, wherever we have our stations set up. Now piggybacking off that initiative, we also have another initiative funded by the DPRP, where we're creating an integrated database solution where the information coming out of all those sensory instruments would now feed into a central repository where now we can create data products that is in function of what the public and institutions want to see. So it's all about getting the information in real time and all of that now feeds into early warning, forecast, and what have you. So we're actually moving forward in many different spheres with the assistance and the guidance from the DPRP. Yes. Fantastic. I want to ask you, Rupert, because at the end of the day, when the wills of government move, it is supposed to be benefiting the end user. It is supposed to be benefiting me, it's supposed to be benefiting you public. So I'm rewinding a little bit back to the watershed management plan. How does that benefit the ordinary solution? I know guidelines as Jason indicated were also established. So generally speaking, how does a common man benefit? The common person will benefit from this in many ways. When one looks at a watershed, we live in the watersheds and we all have different roles to play. We have farmers in the watersheds. We have professionals. We have contractors, all different professions living in a watershed and using that watershed. Now although we speak about it as watershed, it's land and you have recreational activities. You have sports, you have education occurring in that space and you need to plan all of these activities in a way that doesn't adversely impact on your water resource. Because all of us rely on water, you mentioned that water is life, it is in fact life. So while we occupy that space together, the WRMA is charged with that responsibility to manage the water resources that is also in the space. So now we and Jason spoke about the data. Data is important to us because that will inform actions we take towards managing the water resource and to guide the common man, as you say, as to certain practices that are desirable and those that are not so desirable. The hydromet system which Jason referred to, you did speak to how it's going to benefit the public in some way by way of forecasting and I think this is very critical. So if you want to add a little to this as to how the DVRP funded hydromet system to make it better, to improve on how it functions or to get you the tools and how does that benefit. And Jason is more, he's way more aware of the technical details of that. So you'd be aware that currently we have free siren systems that we set up in Anslery Canaries and Marsha. Right now the system is set up where it's manual, the alert has to be sent out manually but ideally. Have we tested them? Yeah, they've been tested. In Marsha as well? Yes, they do work but ideally the idea is that it's an automatic system where based on rainfall intensities it would just trigger the system because like I mentioned before the land mass is so small that I mean. You get flash flood? Yeah, flash flood in half an instant. By the time you know or if you wait on a water level to tell you that water is a new in less than 10 minutes. So with the intensities with the rain falling it could automatically trigger and tell you what it is that can be expected. So one of the ideas is to tie that whole system, those two systems together to make it one. So it's just based on the intensities of those areas. So we are due for our break in the second part of the discussion but clearly the intervention of the DVRP is clearly assisting the WRM and by extension the citizenry in a major way. So do stay with us, we go into our first break and the second part of our discussion will be back in a moment. Thank you Mr. Enifers. Welcome back and we are just going to be tying up our discussion on the hydromet system that the DVRP has been assisting with ensuring that it functions properly and that all of the parts have been put together and we are also going to be touching on the rainwater harvesting system again funded by the DVRP. But just before we go into this another fact, did you know that the Cannes roadway or highway was reconstructed utilizing DVRP funds? Well, if you didn't know, now you know. So let's get back to tab the discussion on the hydromet system, how that DVRP intervention is benefiting the public. Yes, so like I mentioned is getting the information in real time and that information will not only be used by the WRM, but it would also feed into other systems because there is also an early warning system that is supposed to be implemented by the government of St. Lucia and all of that in situ data slash information will be fed into the system. So at the end the result could tell you exactly what is happening and what is expected and also in terms of modeling like flood modeling, this is very critical for aspect of flood modeling because it would be the input whether it's your discharge data or whether it's your rainfall data to tell you whether you expect flooding in a particular area or not. So all of that would be used to calibrate the model. So it would be at the level that you know you see that in the state sometimes they tell you okay well they expect flooding there at in 12 hours, 10 hours that's something that we're looking to work to but right now at the infancy stage yeah but definitely I mean it's exciting for the WRM. Yeah clearly because we can see that contributing to the saving of lives, you know saving the property, people being able to move at a time that they should and so on so yes. I'm happy that you mentioned saving life, saving life, yeah, of life because I mean canaries, ancillary, marshes, these areas people live in close proximity to the water cost and so hence the reason why we chose those areas and what we've implemented because we're aware of the characteristics of these watersheds and in Marsha's case the catchment Jason spoke about the little time that you have to evacuate if there is an event and so we see the value in the need to put in instrumentation that will help us forecast what's happening upstream so that we can react and protect livelihoods and so on. So which takes us into the rainwater harvesting system, ZVRB funded workshop and contractors and plumbers from all over the country benefited from this training, tell me some more about this. Okay I just want to add first that part of the WRM's mandate is actually to find alternate sources of water so this is one of our responsibilities, one of our functions and we're actually working towards that and we see rainwater harvesting as a very valuable alternate source of water because we know that after a major event water is something that everybody here is, one of the first things that people look for is water, even before the event you see people buying a lot of water and rainwater harvesting it feels that immediate need for water and most of those events you have water related events so you have a lot of water so why not capture that water because you have all that rainwater in the moment of the event and then after there is nothing and persons go out so we think that is something that is very valuable and also it adds to that awareness, a sensitization for conservation you know of the resource and it adds value let's person know that this resource has a value and it's something that is not very costly and it can actually bring down your water bill so in the event of climate change and climate change is basically a water related event it's something that can act as an immediate alternate source of water. So it was important that the DVRP come in and assist with this, the training and so on, I think there's a plan for the WRM to get persons certified. Yes well as part of the deliverables we had a trained workshop, a fully trained workshop and the participants were contractors and plumbers and well it was a first step in terms of getting them the NVQ national vocational qualification right but we're looking to have that as a full fledged qualification so it's more or less like creating the portfolio so starting to create the portfolio to get NVQ certified so that they in turn can either train other persons or they can do the implementations of the rainwater system because it's critical that persons get it right in terms of when we're looking at whether you're looking for it to be either the system to be portable or non-portable you know to prevent from getting making the water quality deteriorate or whatever so there are certain steps that need to be taken into consideration and it's a good avenue for you know for business. Now interestingly the DVRB funded workshop introduced I could say perhaps some yeah some degree of emphasis a first flush rainwater harvesting system design can you speak to that? Okay well the first flush is basically what you're saying that let's say we're looking at the catchment area being the rooftops and stuff and we're saying that there are many things on the roof that may deteriorate the water quality that may be hazardous to it so what you're saying in the first instance that water would not be part of make up your storage that would be flushed away so whatever impurities or whatever it is that you have that would deteriorate the water quality would be washed away and then now you can start to collect water that you could put for your portable or non-portable needs. Okay so as we were coming to the end of the discussion we have about 60 seconds left I'm going to allow you some 20 seconds to wrap up and to speak to the benefits of those interventions that have been done could see the disaster vulnerability reduction project and how it is impacting the WRME positively. Okay in many ways DVRP is helping the WRME in improving its management systems we spoke to data collection which is critical for us and we also spoke to a hydromet the hydromet system and just to mention we work in close collaboration with the Met Services as well when we implement that project so that assists us in forecasting and so on and in compiling data that we use to manage the water resource to improve our management of and then we the DVRP is funding the project that you just mentioned which speaks to rainwater harvesting training in that area but a component of that intervention also is water conservation which is part of our mandate anyhow. Right so I'm going to move to Jason thank you Jason allow you another 20 seconds to wrap up. Yes well the WRME like I say our mandate is broad the staff complement is small and we have varying degrees of qualified personnel so very happy that the DVRP is actually helping us to build that human capacity that we have in house because persons have to wear multiple hats you know in order to get the job done so they actually assessed our needs and they see the critical areas that we need assistance not only human capacity but also in terms of additional resources to go out into the catchment to get the relevant data because that's what it is whatever decision that we take it has to be based on empirical evidence so the DVRP has definitely assisted the agency to move many steps forward. So thank you so much gentlemen and let me just say from today viewers thank you for listening and we've been speaking about the disaster vulnerability reduction project DVRP is short which has assisted WRME in a major way and just to let you do that you're about some 100 different initiatives across several implementing agencies that the DVRP is benefiting and two major things that I'd like you to remember among several but two I'm going to pull out to you is that the DVRP is the biggest financial arrangement if you will between the government of St. Lucia and the World Bank to date and the second thing is that the DVRP is all about ensuring that we reduce the country's the risk in times of disaster is drastically reduced so on that note I'd like to say thank you and goodbye


Welcome to this week's Moving Hawaii Forward. I'm your host, Tim Apachella. This week, we once again look at the Honolulu Rail Project. The state legislature has recently announced they will be meeting in a special session in late August to come up with a funding plan that shores the $3 billion shortfall. Many outspoken critics of rail, Randy Roth, Cliff Slater, Ponal's Prevodorus, Scott Wilson, Dr. Keone Dudley, and others tried to warn Oahu residents that the rail project was off-track from the very beginning. It's sad to say the predictions and their cries in the wilderness have been proven correct. Recently a local journalist, Mark Coleman, wrote an excellent article for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii website. This piece cited a vast collection of articles written by those critics and their dire warnings stating, Houston, we have a problem. Mark Coleman's article clearly points the many critical points that should have been listened to but were ignored by Hart, the mayor's office, Honolulu City Council, Hawaii State Legislature, Federal Transit Administration, and even many residents. Everyone is listening now, but is it too late? Mark Coleman was a journalist for the Honolulu Star Advertiser for 27 years and Pacific Business News for 10 years. He continues his long journalistic career as a contract writer and editor. Mark, thank you very much for coming on the show. You're welcome. I appreciate it. Thank you for taking the time out and sharing your vast years of experience as a journalist and your recent article, which I thought was very well placed and very succinct and really hit on all the high points of where we are with the rail project and where we've been with the rail project. Thank you. I love the title of your article. I gotta tell you.   You may remember a guy named Stuart D'Angelo who had this concept about denotation and connotation, and denotation is the exact meanings of the words and how people get hung up on definitions, and connotation is the emotional response we elicit from words and things like that. I look at that word fiasco, and I love it, because if you don't look at the exact meaning, generally people think there's something wrong, there's an emotional connection to that word, it means something's up, something's amiss, so the definition was that it's, fiasco means a thing that is complete failure, especially in a ludicrous or humiliating way, and you picked the right word. Yeah, I was going for brevity for one thing, and that word jumped out at me. Yeah, so words are important, but when it comes to describing our rail project and where it started and... At this point, it's pretty much a fiasco. I think everybody agrees. Even supporters clearly are nervous about the whole thing. True believers are gonna go down with the rail, so to speak, you know, if it comes to that, they'll never change their minds. But even a lot of people who support rail, at this point, are starting to think that perhaps it needs a close look at what's really going on. There is the issue of, do you continue it or stop it at Middle Street or just stop it altogether, like they did with the big dig in New Jersey? Well, it's one thing to have this thing almost daily, if not daily, on the front page or the second page of the Star Advertiser. It's another thing when the New York Times writes it up and calls it a boondoggle. Now, the word boondoggle is an interesting word, too. And that came from Panos Providoris because he was interviewed in the New York Times, but the bottom line is it's an embarrassment now, and it's almost a worldwide embarrassment. This project is the highest, greatest cost per capita in any projects at any time. To be here on this small island of O'odham with barely a million people, if that, and to have to pay for this huge, gigantic mega project, it's basically a mega project, and everyone knows that these things always cost more, but through the years, those who said that were always, oh, don't worry, we got this one under control. It's almost like we have to be lied to in order to have a project approved. Makes you wonder if they really meant to be lying or if they were just hoping for the best, I try not to look at the motives too much. There's always talk about that there's some intentional criminality or fraud. Well, we'll talk about that. But I have no, at the moment, there's no proof of any of that. And there are some people who are convinced that there is, and that's why I personally would like to see a forensic audit. We've had some other audits. Talk about that too. I have had a quote that I've mentioned many times on this show by the ex-mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown. And as you know, he's a very good mayor in San Francisco, and he left being mayor, and he got his own article in the San Francisco Chronicle. So on July 28th, 2013, he basically, not in a paraphrase because I don't have the exact quote here, but he basically said, when it comes to big projects, if people really knew the true cost, true cost of what that project was gonna be, they would never vote for it. He said, in addition to that, he said, the only thing you can do is get on it right away and dig a hole so big that there's no alternative to that big hole than to just fill it in with more money. That's pretty much what they did here. That's what they've done here. They rushed it into production, so to speak, before all the ducks were lined up, hence those, at least one or two of those lawsuits, hence the first lawsuit for sure about the EV. And the second one was a different issue, as I recall, but yeah.  And even now, they're saying, don't worry, once we're done, you'll love it. Try it, you'll like it. Now, we don't know what's in the bill, but once it's there, you're gonna love it. Well, they've been seeing that for a long time. They have, and the thing about being a boondog, I mean, Ponos might have said it in that New York Times article, but the concept has been around forever, including back in 1981, when I wrote this story for Pacific Business News, Robert Poole from the Reason Foundation, he's a national transportation expert in aviation, but also rail, and issues like that as well. And he was speaking here in August 1981, and the headline of this article was called Heart Called Giant White Elephant. This was in the Eileen Anderson days before the current heart, you know. And he was saying that it was gonna be a gigantic white elephant if they went ahead with it, and this is just a fascinating article written 1981, 91, 2001, 2011, you know, almost 40 years ago. Well, in reporting, you know, I'm sure, you know, things were a lot easier because you probably had access to public officials a lot easier. Ponos Prevedores basically said, you know, when the rail was up for vote back in 1992, all the critics about rail, you know, had an opportunity to sit down with public officials, with the rail officials, and basically lay out their case saying why this wasn't the best of ideas.  Well, there are a lot more gatekeepers now, that's for sure. And as a journalist, you've seen this. Well, you know, I'm not, for the last few years of my journalism career at the Star-Arvetizer, I did a lot of interviewing of people, name-in-the-news kind of folks, but I didn't do the kind of reporting that would have familiarized myself with how difficult it might be on the ground for actual transportation reporters and such. But, you know, those are the guys, the guys who were doing that work, but I did get to see people like Kevin Dayton and Marcel Anarray and others at the Star-Arvetizer, you know, they're doing a fantastic job and other publications, Civil Beat and so on. But, you know, for myself, now as a contract writer and working with Grass Street Institute, yeah, some people don't return my calls, you know. But I'm not having that much trouble. I haven't tried to call everybody, you know, but I haven't never had to follow NFOIA. I try to, I give people enough time to make sure they really aren't calling me back and I'll take it from there, but I can't really speak to that in terms of now versus then because I haven't been doing that kind of reporting lately. My article that you talked about that I had on the Grass Street Institute website, that was really working off a lot of what guys like Kevin and Marcel have done and many others, it wasn't just critics of the rail that I was citing, in fact. No, you had over 27 sources and there was variety from A to Z. Yeah, yeah. And really great, you know, resource list. Thank you, and I, you know, it was almost something I could write and then I went back and found the sources, you know. That's how easy it is to think about this project at this point.  That's what I put in the introduction. Yeah, and now it's like, they're just trying to put lipstick on a pig, you know, and there are a lot of economic reasons to ditch the thing even now. I'm not saying you should. Personally, I've never really been in favor of it. I think there were a lot of other better ways to handle the issue of traffic congestion, which was the original reason for doing this. In fact, I've been tracking this so long. I remember when Fosse, I remember when the original rail proposal was from Honolulu to Kailua, right, you know, and then it was, then it was variations of the theme going out to Kapolei area for the Evercroids to get to Honolulu. Right. I think they were even talking about at one time of going to Hawaii. Yeah, they were. That was a concept. Yeah. So, you know, it's like when those issues kind of, when those needs kind of faded, it's almost like they were looking for something. We've got to build a rail somewhere, you know. Yeah, there's federal dollars out over there somewhere. Yeah. Boy, why don't we just try to get some of that? And I just wish that they had not been in such a rush or fallen. Right. So, you know, you start to worry about crony capitalism and who benefits, you know, follow the money is the benefit really going to be equal to the cost. Well, at this point, I'm thinking that it's not. And I'm a true believer that you don't throw good money after bad, the fallacy of sunken costs. It might be time to pull the plug on the thing. But first, I'd like to see a forensic audit, which, as you know, is different from a mere financial or performance audit, in that in those kinds of audits and similar audits, the auditors basically go in assuming everybody's on the up and up and they just want to make sure everything's going according to how the contracts are specified and that the financial statements really reflect, you know, that they're accurate, both for business and government. But a forensic audit is more looking into correspondence, going emails deeper into the contracts to find out if there's any fraud, any criminality, any violation of law. And I'm not saying there is, but now that we're three to four times over budget and only halfway there, with the hardest part looming ahead, you know, going into town.  Let's just move forward. Yeah. Doesn't that sound convenient? I mean, really, I wonder if the heart director who said that has had any second thought about that, and if she would change her mind or reword her. And then the other guy said, there was another guy on the board, too, who said, you know, kind of backed her up and said, they'll basically say, well, we're new, let's start fresh. Yeah. That was before us. Yeah, that was before us. But you know, also new on the board is Felix, John Henry Felix, and he's the one who requested a forensic audit, which they actually approved and allocated $250,000 I wish to submit that in their budget for the city council to approve. Hold that thought for a minute. I'm sure they interrupt you, but we do have a commercial break. All right. I'm Tim Appatelle. I'm here with Mark Coleman, and this is Moving Hawaii 4. We'll be right back. You're watching Think Tech Hawaii, 25 talk shows by 25 dedicated hosts every week, helping us to explore and understand the issues and events in and affecting our state. Great content for Hawaii from Think Tech. We all play a role in keeping our community safe. Every day we move in and out of each other's busy lives. It's easy to take for granted all the little moments that make up our every day. Some are good, others not so much, but that's life. It's when something doesn't seem quite right that it's time to pay attention because only you know what's not supposed to be in your every day. So protect your every day. If you see something suspicious, say something to local authorities. Aloha and Richard Concepcion, the hosts of Hispanic Hawaii. You can watch my show every other Tuesday at 2 p.m. We will bring you entertainment, educational, and also we'll tell you what is happening right here within our community. Think Tech Hawaii, Aloha. Welcome back to Moving Hawaii Forward. I'm here with Mark Coleman, a journalist for many decades, and we're here before the commercial break talking about an audit of the heart rail system. Mark, before I interrupted you, go ahead, continue what you were saying about there was actually an approval for the forensic audit by heart. It seemed so. The whole trans-Chocant, Vice President of Research for Grassroot Institute, went back into the videotapes of the hearings of the Heart Board in November, June, May, and so on. He transcribed that exchange you were talking about. I think your name is Embershoom, the woman on the board who was saying, let's don't muck around in the past, and if I got her name wrong, I'll pop that. That's okay. These things happen. Anyway, why they were even talking about it is because late last year, John Henry Felix had suggested, had recommended, in fact this is a letter from John, he had recommended that they do a forensic audit because the credibility of rail transit on Oahu had lost, the credibility for it had virtually disappeared. Nobody believes anything anymore about what public officials have to say about it. They said it's well deserved and if they want to restore their credibility, they need to do this. That these other sorts of audits, like the performance audit that the city auditor did, which was pretty rough on Heart and the project, they're still just kind of cursory. They don't go deep. And so apparently from the transcript, it sounds like Colleen Hanabusa, former chairwoman of Heart and now U.S. representative, she supported it, Mike Formby supported it. There's apparently support on the city council for it, at least three members. The voices are getting louder. They are, and there's people in there. So I think this is a perfect opportunity to do it, especially now. And it could be done by the legislature. If Heart's not going to do it, what they eventually did when it came back around in June, they decided, well, never mind, let's don't do that after all, but the money's still in there.  So finance chair Sylvia Luke said on March the 10th, said it's not because people no longer support rail, but people have lost confidence in the cost. And they have lost confidence in what this project is going to cost in the future. There it is right there. And those are the people she's referring to that actually support the project. Right. And as we go into the legislature, you know, theoretically they're all for the rail. And at least that's the way that some of the news articles have been framed, that the only issue for them at this moment is to consider how to raise taxes to fund rail, and that they couldn't agree, and that's why they had this stalemate. But I'm not so sure they all really do support rail, and I'm not so sure. And I have a feeling that very few of them want to either extend the GTT or impose a tax on the tourism industry or anything else that involves raising taxes. And they have a real good opportunity if what's also happening right now tomorrow, the council is going to take another vote on whether to issue bonds. And I think there might be one more vote after that. But they want to float bonds, and they are pretty much saying that if they do, $350 million with the bonds would cover them through January. So what the legislature could do, it would be a very good face-saving maneuver, I think, for them, and put everything on the table. They don't believe, it's like here, both money committee leaders do not agree on at least one thing so far. They don't believe the figures anymore from the city. That's from Luke. Luke says she doesn't trust the city budget. That's from the style advertised. They don't trust the city figures anymore. So what they ought to do, I recommend, is have the state auditor work with an outside independent transportation expert auditor to do a forensic audit of rail between now and January. And the legislature could, that's what they could do when they convene in late August. Don't just put everything else on the shelf and say, all right, you guys are covering yourself till January. We're looking, we'll conduct a forensic audit because there's a nexus, you know, the state GT, the state TOD planning. There's a lot of connection with them. Keep moving things forward until this.  And then in January, we promise to take up this issue first thing. And once we get the results of this audit. Right. That way, they don't have to pass any taxes. They can all wait for the audit report. Well, FTA's looking for an answer, though. Well, and what is at stake is probably another 750 million because the real project already got us so much. Well, my view on that is, at this point, when you're talking $10 billion and possibly $13, $14, $15, who knows where it's going to end. What is a mere remaining $770 million? Good point. I want to get at more of this concept of why your point, and I think it's a good one, that a forensic audit is paramount. Randy Roth, who has been on Think Tech Hawaii and has opined on Civil Beat and the Star Advertiser. He's done a great job. Great job. He actually was one of the parties that took the rail project to federal court. He was on May 22nd. He was on Dr. Akina's show. And we're going to look at a quick clip on this because he's using the term fraud. Fraud is a legal term. It's a very strong term. But you know what? He's a legal law professor. So you think you would probably know what that really meant before he said it? Can we take a look at that? Well, I'm not an expert on transportation and transit and wouldn't normally spend nearly the kind of time and energy that I've put into this project. But from my standpoint, what's gone on is a form of fraud. Wow. I can tell from the very beginning, there's been more than just political spinning. I think it was really clear at the beginning that this was going to cost far more than the 2.7 billion that they initially said the 34 mile route would take. Then they increased it to 3 and then they increased it to 3.4 and then they increased it to 4.2 and etc. Okay. Well, that was Mr. Roth and opining that he isn't a transportation expert, but he recognizes how these costs kind of starting to grow. And the fact that he's using the term fraud would warrant maybe what other people think. Yeah. Well, I think if you're talking about a fellow who uncovered all the shenanigans at Bishop Estate, now Kamehameha Schools is saying this kind of thing. I haven't taken it seriously. And I think that's giving impetus to the push for a forensic audit.  There's a growing number of people. And Grouchard Institute itself has a push going called Audit the Rail. Oh, okay. It's a petition you can go online and go audittherail.com and you can sign it and add your voice to the crowd, to the choir. When I interviewed Representative Bob McDermott and he's a Republican representative from the Eva district area. And, you know, he was one voice to say, look, let's just go. Let's just get this thing done. Let's just push it through. Yeah. And, you know, I admired his editorial and it was very succinct. It was very clear. And for politicians to be succinct and clear was really rare. So I walked him up on the show and, you know, discussed his points. And during the interview, I said, you know, there's just no credibility here.  But how do you do that when people are saying, wait a minute, is there fraud here? Is there a case of fraud and why do we throw more money after something that really is not looking so well? And he acknowledged that. And to my surprise, he said, I fully support a financial audit and a management audit. Which, you know, almost, I didn't expect that from him, to be honest with you. Well, those are okay, but it's got to go more than that. Yeah. So we have a clip of that, too. Just on what he said. Let's look at what Mayor Kirk-Callwell said when he first pitched this idea to the legislature in February 1st, 2017. He said, I think we're having a harder time than two years ago. And it's all based on the fact there's no trust. The numbers given have changed dramatically. Well, that's another statement. Yeah. And history now has proven itself right, because we're now in June. I would support a complete financial audit going back to the beginning of the project to this fiscal year. I think that will go a long way to restore public trust. I think that's a great point. And I wanted to ask you about that. That's a great, great point. I think also you would need also a management audit, too. Because, as you know, there are two specific different things. But there is no public trust. And I think local people feel, because I'm married to a local girl, and so I live in that world, somebody's making money on this. Somebody's getting rich. Somebody's pockets are being lined. And I think the voters are now realizing that, yeah, who is that? Who's making the money, bro? Yeah. There we have it. We have both Republicans and Democrats saying we have an issue here. And the groundswell is getting far more, much, much, much louder. Yeah. I'm somewhat disappointed that he's such a cheerleader for extending the general excise tax. A lot of Republicans aren't quite sure what to think about that. Because Hawaii already has such a high burden of cost of living. And that's another problem with the rail. It's a very expensive top-down, size-large, one-size-fits-all kind of thing. And it never did take into consideration cheaper alternatives and probably more effective alternatives. And the cost in money and land being taken from landowners, families, businesses, the hassle. Yeah, the blood bank. The hassle. Yeah, the blood bank. I mean, it's terrible. I think the social cost, the financial cost, and they just want to keep it going. I don't get it. You know, the question is, this debate about whether it's a TAD or a GET tax or it's property tax, those discussions are probably taking place right now in the background. And, you know, the special session wasn't really supposed to be enacted unless they had an answer. And they're just coming to the special session to vote on it, right? The shine laws that kind of get at this? I don't know. I don't know. We don't have time to go into that. I wish we did. Well, I think what they should do is get together and just shove all that kind of talk and vote to allocate money for a special audit in conjunction with the state audit or hire an outside firm. Because I don't think the state auditor would really vote. How long do you think it would take to do an audit of that magnitude? Well, I think they could do it by January. But, honestly, I don't know. But, like you said, things could still progress forward and until this had been resolved. I did talk about that with Randy Roth as a matter of fact. And he agreed that this would be a really good face-saving maneuver gesture for these guys. Unless it went south. Unless it didn't go well for them. Well, you know, you don't know until you get it, right? And if we are all working in the dark, well, that's no good. I'd like to see some light shine. Speaking of the sunshine, I'd like to see some sunshine on some of our particulars here. Well, Mark, we've run out of time. And I hope you'll come back again because we didn't get to all that. Yeah, there's so much talk about it. I got so much to talk to you about it. Like the alternatives to rail. Right, exactly. So we didn't get a chance. So please come back again. And I appreciate you coming on board and sharing your experience and your thoughts and your wisdom about this topic. So thank you very much. Nice to meet you as well. Great talking to you. Thank you.


Reinhardt in their second match dueling perm good one at 160 but in the third period Wyatt Guck pins the Warriors Braden Kramer at 448 that'll give him the victory the yellow jackets won the last seven matches Dawson Kellogg pins Nathan Remek here at 157 that'll help pace the way for the team when Reinhardt falls in this 148 to 17 their other two matches though today wins over Bloomington Kennedy and United North Central if you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland public television


We're going to take a look at just a few pages from DC's Vertigo, Shade the Changing Man, number 49, and this was part five. I believe that this was a season in hell. This is part five, so we're not going to give too much spoilers in this. I believe this is a six-issue story arc that ends part six with number 50. This is Shade the Changing Man, number 50, and this is a very important issue. Very important issue. Much happens in this to many of the main characters. That's the only spoiler I'm going to give you. The titles of these things, number 50, is Love, Labor's Lost, but let's have a read-through. Issue number 49, just a few pages, and just to let you know, in this issue the conversation we're going to read is the conversation between Shade and, in issue 49, his partner, the blonde girl that you see here. These are the two main characters in the few pages that we're about to read. This character, let me show you, that's her right there, and they meet up basically in either the first or second issue of Shade the Changing Man when the series first began. So Shade and, well, Kathy's gotta be Kathy, the name's skipping me right now, but they're both right from the get-go. They're there. Okay. Oh, Elder God's coming in. Love's Labor Lost is Shakespeare Missing Manuscript. Really? I have no idea. Very cool, very cool. So let's put this one away, and we're picking up in sort of mid-story here, and the only background you need to know for this, the only background you need to know for this is that they're together, okay, and this $20 bill that is going to be the central focus of the story has been appearing in the last few issues at random points where she has been looking at it and thinking and talking to herself, and all we know so far, we don't know anything about this $20 bill other than it was important to her, and it is important to her. Okay? That's it, and all we're going to do is read, like, I think it's like five pages. Okay? And I titled this thing, The Bookmark as Life, and this is the hotel that I've been staying at, and they own the hotel, by the way, it's not an open hotel, it's just they own the hotel and they live there. It's strange how the hotel has been so hot recently, yet now the air around it is so cold, the steam hangs from their mouths like comic book word balloons. The west wings untouched, we could move back, move back in right away, Shade says, no, I don't want to stay here tonight, I just want to pick up a few things from my room. And just so you know, there was a fire in the hotel in the previous issue, and she's going into the hotel to pick something up, or some stuff up, and Shade is waiting outside. The bill seems oddly crisper than usual, but old Hickory's face is still intact, unlike poor shimmies. And shimmy is another character in the story arc, and then they go back to the hotel they're staying at right now. Later, in adjoining but separate rooms, Motel faced, she stares at the bill. The first time I saw it, I was just 17 years old, she says. So, what's so important about it? Shade asks.  Now keep in mind they're partners right now. She's actually pregnant with Shade's child.   Well, I was at a party I didn't want to be at, with my parents, whom I didn't particularly want to be with. It's hard to admit when your parents are dead that there was times when you couldn't stand them, she says, looking at the $20 bill. The party was at one of their friends' houses, and the average age was about 90. We were fighting. I forgot what we were fighting about, but at the time I was the most important thing in the world. It was the most important thing in the world. The point of it was that they were treating me like a child, a little girl.  I left them and went to cool off in the garden, which was the size of a small farm. It was a beautiful night, but I didn't see it. This guy was smoking a joint down by a really cutesy ornamental pond. He was about my age. I didn't say a word to him, not a single word. When I sat down beside him, he handed me the joint, as though I'd been there all along. He blew smoke out of one nostril, then the other. I was impressed, though I tried not to show it. Five minutes later, we were doing it. We still hadn't said a word. He didn't even bother taking our clothes off. I was smiling, partly because I was a little high, but mostly because I was thinking about my parents in the house and what they'd think if they could see me now. This is me, I thought, I'm liberated. I do what I want, she says. We still hadn't said a word as the boy hitched up his pants. He pushed the hand into a pocket. He pulled something out. It was a $20 bill and he threw it at me. He threw it at me and turned and walked away. And I just sat there, holding the bill, staring at it, not believing it. The bastard had changed everything. It was no longer an act of liberation, a sign of my own self-determination. He turned it into something grubby. I'd had sex for money. There I was, thinking I made some kind of brilliant gesture. And he turns around and pisses on it. So it's the past, forget it, Shade says. But it's not just the past, she replies. All we seem to be are empty gestures. Look at Shime today. He tries to save Lily, who finds her own way out and ends up getting torched for his efforts. An empty gesture, that's all, she says. You're blowing things out of proportion, Kathy. That's my job, Shade replies. No, and look at me and this baby, whatever I think, whatever I try to do, life might just turn around and hitch up its pants and throw me a $20 bill, she says. What are you doing, Shade replies? Another empty gesture, what else? I could bring myself. I could bring myself to do this before, she says. She can feel herself crying as she throws the bill away. It's always a melancholy occasion when you let go of the past, however unsavory that past might be.  She really has no idea quite what or whom she's crying for. Take your pick, she thinks. Take your pick.


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