Disappeared News

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by Larry Geller

Well, perhaps, but no need to be surprised.

All this said, it’s rather amazing, in the dead of summer, how many students and faculty members you can find who have been appalled at the amateurish way Bachman Hall has managed to do this.

[Civil Beat, Community Voice, Bachman Hall Bumbling, 7/31/2014]

University, heal thyself. It can be done.

What is taught at the business school can be applied to management of the university itself.

I’ve previously written about the “garbage can model” of management that seems to fit UH (as well as some other mid-level colleges and universities, but not the top schools, which have figured out how to manage themselves):

Why “garbage cans”? It was suggested that organizations tend to produce many “solutions” which are discarded due to a lack of appropriate problems. However problems may eventually arise for which a search of the garbage might yield fitting solutions. A snip from a glossary of terms:

… Organizations operate on the basis of inconsistent and ill-defined preferences; their own processes are not understood by their members; they operate by trial and error; their boundaries are uncertain and changing; decision-makers for any particular choice change capriciously. To understand organizational processes, one can view choice opportunities as garbage cans into which various kinds of problems and solutions are dumped. The mix of garbage depends on the mix of labeled cans available, on what garbage is currently produced and the speed with which garbage and garbage cans are removed.

[washington.edu Economic Geography Glossary]

The situation preceding Apple’s firing as described in Ian Lind’s UH freeze may stem from “do whatever it takes” order to fund Cancer Center (ilind.net, 7/31/2014) and in particular in the article he references in the Hawaii Independent, Apple cored: business as usual at UH (Hawaii Independent, 7/29/2014) is a perfect demonstration of uncertain and changing boundaries.

If the university administration had well-established procedures and policies that they could rely upon, there would be some resistance to manipulation by influential state senators, for example, as alleged in the Hawaii Independent article.

Now, if the affairs of the Cancer Center are important to Hawaii, involvement of stakeholders (including legislators) does not seem inappropriate. But follow the narrative in the article—if there are outside forces “pulling [UH president] Lassner’s strings,” and all he has to guide his actions is a dip into the garbage can, then management of UH will always be subject to the strength of outside winds and political storms.

Policies and procedures found in the garbage can are there for a reason.

But the Legislature can fulfill a more important function if it wishes. As I wrote in a Star-Advertiser Island Voices op-ed after the inquisition conducted by the Special Committee on Accountability hearings led by state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim after the “Wonder blunder” incident (Legislative interference threatens long-term viability of UH, Star-Advertiser, 10/22/2012):

Instead of placing blame, it would be far more productive for the Legislature and other concerned individuals to offer assistance to UH with an aim to strengthening its internal governance so that a similar incident is less likely to happen in the future. The university has structural management issues that go far deeper than current or future leadership can likely deal with. What might help would be a makeover by organization development professionals.

While a university does not operate exactly like a corporation, it is possible to put in place structures of management that enable the organization to avoid compounding problems that inevitably occur. The operation of the UH with its many inter-departmental communications problems and uncertain boundaries of responsibility is characteristic of the so-called "garbage-can" model of organization. This needs to be replaced.

If the special committee convenes again, it would be refreshing — and a service to present and future UH graduates and to the state economy — if the committee would replace its current star-chamber tactics with a sincere offer to help.

Bottom line (a useful management cliché), it will be one thing after another at UH until internal processes are strengthened. That can begin at any time, even now, even under UH’s current leadership. Perhaps with some help, but one way or another, they need to start down a path that will lead to strength and confidence in the organization’s leadership.

by Larry Geller

And I thought Hawaii was a data processing backwater. Well, it may help to know that it’s not just our state government that is mired in the computer dark ages. Sit down before reading this.

John Oliver was astonished at how backward the US government’s atomic bomb launch system computers still are. Here, in a snap from Sunday’s show, he appears surprised that our government is still using 8” floppy disks.

That is amazing.

Flashback to technology shock in Hawaii

The first real computer we owned was an NEC PC98, which came with an 8” hard drive, an 8” floppy drive, and a dual 5 1/4” floppy disk drive. The whole kit was quite an investment.

As I recall, the capacity of the 8” floppy was 1 megabyte, double sided (?). Yes, megabyte. One of them. Not gigabyte. Megabyte.

The capacity of the hard drive was all of 5 megabytes. Yes.

And that was in the early 1980’s I think, or maybe a bit earlier.

Now, we shift to Hawaii.

When we arrived in 1988 and I reported to the office for work, they had an IBM PC with two floppies. You put the operating system in one and the data in the other. I can’t recall if they also had a single-floppy IBM PC. At that time, we had a 6 megahertz PC AT clone at home with hard drive and all the works.

But the government business development agency, DBED (no “T” yet), was touting Hawaii as the “center of the Pacific” for high-tech. Sheesh.

All this makes me wonder if there are still any 8” floppies in our state government computers. Probably not, because another thing I discovered shortly after arrival is that there seemed to be a kind of maintenance gap. Things were budgeted for purchase but no money allocated for repair, and often treated badly.

As an example, the Department of Health was running its computers not in racks or on tables but on the floor, where of course they collected dust and dirt and overheated. At least, that was one of the excuses given for DOH’s plan to close the Diamond Head clubhouse—they needed the space for the computers. It took 300 concerned people working together—and a phone call from Gov. Cayetano—to get that plan scotched. DOH was somehow unwilling to buy shelves or tables and get those computers up off the floor.

We still have catching up to do, as evidenced by news stories highlighting system failures in the tax office, for example. But from John Oliver’s Sunday night segment, it seems that the US government hasn’t bothered to catch up, putting our lives at risk since Oliver was describing our atomic bomb delivery system. Yes, atomic bombs that could be launched by a computer system still using 8” floppy disks.

But hold on—it could be worse. They could try to update the system, and then we’d all be in trouble. Maybe it’s better just left alone.

by Larry Geller

A settlement agreement was filed today in federal court in the case of (de) Occupy Honolulu vs. the City and County of Honolulu, over the alleged illegal seizure of personal property by the City.

As with many similar agreements, there is no admission of wrongdoing.

Reading the agreement brings no sense of the magnitude and expense of the actions it disposes of.

The City conducted approximately 60 raids on the encampment located on the sidewalks around Thomas Square Park, ultimately blocking off the sidewalk by restricting its width with concrete planters on both Beretania St. and S. King St. from Ward Avenue to Victoria St.

Numerous photos and videos documented raids at which the City disposed of personal belongings into garbage trucks, in violation of its own ordinances. During the course of the lawsuit, although the city continued to bring garbage trucks to the raids, it could not use them without violating court orders.

Although there is no admission of wrongdoin, the agreement calls for a payment of $1,000 to be divided among the individual plaintiffs and the return of their property held by the City, and allows for the possibility of payment of attorneys’ fees, subject to court approval and appeal.

While $1,000 is not a considerable sum, the attorneys put in many hours of work on this case, and at prevailing rates, their fees would greatly exceed the value of the settlement.

Who “won?” You figure it out. The repeated raids made little sense and cost taxpayers far more than the litigation.

Perhaps, now that the case has settled, since Thomas Square is a historic location, a brass plaque might be affixed to one of the planters explaining to future generations that this Honolulu “Stonehenge” was erected in frustration after a punitive, arguably illegal, and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to dislodge what was at that time likely the longest Occupy encampment still standing in the country.

A copy of the agreement appears below. This is an unofficial copy, do not rely upon it.

Download: Settlement Agreement: (de) Occupy case against Honolulu city government from Disappeared News

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Find out how to make your own advocacy more effective, and how to demonstrate that it makes a difference

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Kokua Council monthly meeting
Monday, July 28, 2014

11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Miyama Main Hall, Harris United Methodist Church

Nuuanu Ave. and South Vineyard Blvd.

Ample parking - driveway off Nuuanu Ave.

 

Agenda:

11:30 Luncheon (optional): Various Subway Sandwiches or pizza, Salad, Dessert——$5.00 donation

 

11:50 Welcome: Introductions and Remarks, Larry Geller, President

 

12:00 Program:  “Measuring Social Change: Some Ideas and Discussion”

Guest Speaker: Darlene Rodrigues, Community Grants Program Coordinator, Hawai‘i People's Fund


Organizations such as the Kokua Council are striving to make positive differences in the lives of seniors and others in Hawaii. How do we measure social change and improve the effectiveness of our advocacy? How do we know if we are making a difference?

 

12:30 Questions and Answers

1:00   Adjourn 

by Larry Geller

Ian Lind dissected the latest financial disclosure form submitted by Governor Abercrombie’s chief of staff, Bruce Coppa, in an article posted yesterday: Conflicts can lurk among undisclosed clients (ilind.net, 7/8/2014).

Who is Bruce Coppa?

Bruce Coppa is Governor Abercrombie’s chief of staff. In that position, he also holds the title of administrative director of the state. He’s the top appointed administrator in the executive branch.

And what’s of interest in his filing?

Ian’s eagle eye noted that this disclosure form indicates a sharp increase in high-end real estate sales, even while Coppa was serving in this key role in state government. On his financial disclosure form Coppa entered an “E” in the income category for Hawaii 5-0 Properties, Inc.

That “E” represents a sum of at least $50,000 but less than $100,000. That’s an increase from the $25-49,999 that Coppa reported from real estate sales over the past two reporting periods.

But Ian also reported that Coppa failed to disclose his state income on the form.

At the bottom of the form is a signature block

CERTIFICATION: By checking this box or signing your name on this form, you signify and affirm that you are the person whose name appears as the "Filer” above and the information contained in the form is true, correct and complete to the best of your knowledge and belief. You further certify that you understand that there are statutory penalties for failing to report the information required by Hawaii law.

Now, readers of Disappeared News may remember that two years ago Ian reported that Senator Clayton Hee had filed a series of false disclosure reports—see: Politically powerful state senator files false ethics reports (ilind.net, 5/21/2011). And then, some months later:

The State Ethics Commission was “troubled” by Senator Clayton Hee’s filing of inaccurate or incomplete personal financial disclosure statements over a period of five years or more, but took no further action against the windward Oahu senator.

[ilind.net, Senator Hee escapes ethics penalties despite commission concerns, 10/22/2011]

At first, the Ethics Commission replaced the erroneous filings with amended filings, which effectively obscured the issue, but soon posted both the originals and the amended forms. No further action appears to have been taken, so far as the penalties, at least.

Several months later, I posted three more situations (no doubt there are more, this was just intended as a sample) of disclosures which omitted income or even mentions of employment.

Noting the silence from the Ethics Commission, I checked their web page at intervals and posted articles noting that no amended forms had been filed.

So we have a law that is intended to produce transparency in government and act as a watchdog against abuses--which can simply be ignored. In other words, de facto, no transparency.

Ian was left to wonder in his current article:

I have to wonder when Hawaii’s top administrative officer finds the time to not only continue, but apparently expand his personal real estate activities?

And, yes, I do wonder about whether any of the business steered his way creates potential conflicts of interest?

What else might be omitted in financial disclosure forms, given that the filers do not have to fear penalties for not reporting? We don’t know. These are Rumsfeld’s “unknown unknowns” and they are possible because accuracy in filing disclosure forms seems not to be effectively enforced.

I know I’m not making friends over at the Ethics Commission by pointing out these issues. I also am aware that they may not have the budget to do all that is expected of them. On the other hand, letting another politically powerful officeholder escape the Commission’s authority would demonstrate that its authority is ineffective.

Does the statute need repair? Is there any reason why it is not being enforced? Where is the Commission statement on this? Isn’t some reaction to its inaction called for?

Nevertheless, we have a statute and officeholders are subject to it: “You further certify that you understand that there are statutory penalties for failing to report the information required by Hawaii law.”

But the message is that unless caught by a blogger, no one will know about what has been intentionally or unintentionally hidden from the public, and even if caught, it really doesn’t matter at all.

So Ethics Commission, Ian’s done the sleuthing, now over to you.

By H. Doug Matsuoka

[The criminalization bills in this post are up for second hearing on Wednesday, July 9, 2014, on the 2pm agenda. The hearings will be on the campus of Windward Community College at Hale Akoakoa.]

The Mayor's Message:
On June 12, 2014, Honolulu's Mayor Caldwell sent a message (MM58) to the Honolulu City Council along with drafts of two proposed ordinances. These drafts were immediately introduced by Council Chair Ernie Martin and scheduled for the first of three required public hearings only 14 days later, on June 26.

"With the Council's support, I anticipate that together we can make significant improvements for our Waikiki businesses, workers, and visitors." Honolulu's residents, the general public, and the homeless — all constituents of the City & County of Honolulu — are notably missing from the list of beneficiaries.

The Bills:
Bill 42 is the "sit/lie" bill making it a crime to sit or lie down on the sidewalk in Waikiki. Bill 45 extends this island-wide. Violators will face up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. If you are camping out in line for the new iPhone, you are exempt. I'm not kidding.

Bill 43 makes it illegal to pee or poo in public in Waikiki, and its counterpart Bill 46 extends that island-wide. To help force the issue, the Mayor has been closing public restrooms early. The criminalization of those literally "without a pot to pee in" strikes many people as unfair, unconstitutional, mean, and idiotic. Indeed the testimony submitted in writing and at hearing was overwhelmingly in opposition to these bills.

The Problems and Unanswered Questions:
Here are a few highlight testimonies that bring up major problems with these bills:

Councilmember Breene Harimoto is on record opposing this sort of criminalization of homelessness and his testimony on June 26 articulates his objections. (Harimoto will be leaving the Council for the State Senate this coming January as he is running unopposed for the seat vacated by David Ige who is candidate for Governor.)

Harimoto: "The fact of the matter is that the homeless issue didn’t happen overnight. This situation has been brewing for years — I would say even decades. And it’s reached a crisis situation. And here we are today trying to find a quick fix. I think we’re fooling ourselves to think that we can solve this by making this law."


Activist Kathryn Xian found major flaws in the Mayor's ad hoc effort:

Xian: "If you want to help the homeless, this is not part of a comprehensive plan. You have models for comprehensive plans that have been proven to work. Criminalizing the homeless is not part of a comprehensive plan. It is unconstitutional. It divides our community between rich and poor."

The sit/lie bills are practically clones of last year's Bill 59, which was the first proposed ordinance to so directly and blatantly violate King Kamehameha's Kanawai Mamalahoe (Law of the Splintered Paddle). What makes this notable is that Kamehameha's law is enshrined in the Hawaii State Constitution and is well known to the public as a principle means of protection from the abuse of power. It literally grants safety to those who "lie by the roadside." (See my post discussing this in relation to last year's Bill 59).

The City's Corporation Council has signed off on the legality of these proposed ordinances, yet last two year's sidewalk ordinances are still subject to Federal Court proceedings.

Activist and Hawaiian cultural practitioner Laulani Teale quoted Hawaii attorney Derek Kauanoe's research on the subject.

Teale quoting Kauanoe: "Honolulu's several anti-homeless ordinances helped rank our city among the 'meanest to the homeless' by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. This is precisely the type of government conduct the Law of the Splintered Paddle was intended to protect people against."

Councilmember Kymberly Pine couldn't vote for previous bills that so literally violated Kamehameha's law. Here's her testimony against last year's Bill 59:

Pine: "I have a strong objection to the term 'lying down.' It's just something my district would not support as my district does interpret Hawaiian law very seriously. We do have the largest Hawaiian Homes population and the terminology 'lying down' does violate their belief of what the constitution is."

How will Councilmember Pine and the rest of the Council resolve the issues that plague these criminalization bills? Bill 59 was deferred by public outcry. Yet that bill was resurrected by the Mayor in Bills 42 and 45.

I plan to be at the hearing on July 9 to lend my presence against these bills. On the next page are links to the bills and othe relevant info. Hope to see you there.

H. Doug Matsuoka
6 July 2014

Makiki, Honolulu

Links and info on next page:

Read more »

by Larry Geller

One last thought on the nursing one’s baby issue.

If the Honolulu City Council passes its punitive ordinances as expected, it will become illegal in Honolulu to sit down on the sidewalk and nurse a baby, or just carry an infant, for example. Mothers will have to stand up.

Of course, a new law will be enforced selectively against the homeless, that’s the motivation for these laws in the first place.

Since most people have smartphones with cameras, I hope that there will be video documentation when HPD puts the cuffs on a mom holding her infant on her lap on the sidewalk.

Thank you, City Council, for being such caring and thoughtful human beings.

Not.

“
“In Hawaii, there's an expectation that you are discreet," Mitchell said. But she couldn't describe the level of exposure because she hasn't seen Penley nursing.
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by Larry Geller

A story posted on the Star-Advertiser website, Honolulu shelter will allow mother to nurse openly (Star-Advertiser, 7/1/2014) sheds more light on the issue reported earlier by HawaiiNewsNow. And it’s not much of an improvement.

In Homeless vs. shelter rules—what really happened at IHS in this breastfeeding incident? (7/1/2014) I commented on reports that rules imposed by the various shelters keep people out. I assumed that it was a staff member who interacted with Ms. Penley, but of course we don’t know what was said. The Star-Advertiser story confirms that it was a staff member, anyway.

What we do know is that IHS executive director Connie Mitchell, according to the the pull-quote above from the on-line story, despite the controversy, had not yet herself seen this mother nursing. You’d think she’d check this out.

Hypothetical: a blind man with a service dog enters a restaurant. The restaurant owner thinks that customers will be bothered by seeing a dog in the restaurant, so offers the blind man a seat in a separate room away from the main dining room.

Is that legal? Is that right?

Next: Hypothetical: a woman chooses to breast feed her infant in a homeless shelter in Honolulu. Like the restaurant owner, those who run the facility think people will be bothered at the sight. So she is offered a room separate from everyone else.

The two are not quite the same, but the question is similar. There are laws that apply, and that make the activity legal. Is it right for IHS to separate someone from everyone else?

“
How would conservatives and their agents respond if a company with Islamic beliefs (however defined) decided to impose its religious values on white, Christian, American employees?

Sharia hysteria would spread in such a way as to make the present day-to-day Islamophobia of the Right-wing echo chamber appear benign and muted by comparison.
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This argument is popping up all over the web, it’s not exactly “disappeared news.” But check out this article if you like, I think it covers a lot of ground.

What if a Muslim Company Used the 'Hobby Lobby' Decision to Impose Its Values on White Christians? (dailykos, 6/30/2014)

Maybe I should start a new religion—one that doesn’t believe in the existence of the Supreme Court. Then do I get to ignore its rulings?

“
The news: A Vancouver charity, RainCity Housing, is converting city benches into pop-up shelters for homeless people. And by giving homeless people in this rainy city some dry coverage and a place to rest.
”
“
These benches would have not been allowed to be placed there without the approval of the City of Vancouver, who have vowed to end homelessness in it's city by 2015 and has been promoting projects such as this and many other to try and achieve that goal. These types of initiatives don't happen without some political will behind them and the city of Vancouver has made some big efforts to curb homelessness.
”

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by Larry Geller

The daytime city bench uses UV rays from sunlight, so the bench reads, "This is a bench." Then at night, glow-in-the-dark wording appears, saying, "This is a bedroom," and drives people to the RainCity website.

[News.Mic, Here's How Vancouver Responded to London's "Anti-Homeless Spikes", 6/29/2014]

Visit the website for more pictures of these benches.

Look, I don’t know if converting benches to shelters at night is a good idea or not. The point is that Vancouver appears to be working on solving the problems its homeless residents face.

Honolulu is not.

In Honolulu, homeless people themselves are viewed as the problem.

I thought the innovative bench idea was very clever. It also helps set the tone of public discourse if people see that something positive is being done.

In Honolulu, both the City Council and the Mayor believe that criminalizing the houseless is a productive approach—it’s sad that cruelty and punishment is the best they can come up with. The city’s approach finds resonance in much of the commercial media which emphasize complaints over evaluation of the city’s approach in comparison to other cities working in the same issue.

The state is not much better. Recently in the news again: a state legislator wielding a sledgehammer that he charged to his state expense account:

[Pat Saiki, chair of the Hawaii Republican Party] identified Rep. Tom Brower as among the worst offenders for buying a sledgehammer to destroy shopping carts being used by homeless people.

Brower did indeed buy the sledgehammer with his allowance, claiming the $37 expense as an office supply. He was reimbursed for the expense Nov. 15, but he submitted a repayment to the House on Nov. 19 after receiving so much public backlash over his stunt.

[Civil Beat, Ethics Commission Tells Lawmakers How They Should Spend Allowances, 6/19/2014]

Until Housing First is up and running and people have a place to stay, and until Honolulu accepts that public toilets are a public service and necessity the city should embrace, passing laws designed to punish is simply inhumane.

It’s also poor civic management, and a waste of money, since providing the housing as soon as possible is less costly than what the city plans.

Good luck to Vancouver.

“
Hawaii's law is clear:

It is a discriminatory practice to deny, or attempt to deny, the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of a place of public accommodations to a woman because she is breast feeding a child.

Mitchell says Penley was offered a place to go but she refused.

"We have offered her three different places that are air conditioned and I would think that that would be a much more comfortable place for her to be breast feeding," said Mitchell.
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by Larry Geller

The devil is in the details, no doubt, but a common controversy has been brought to light by the Hawaii News Now story from which the pull-quote above is snipped, Homeless mother fights to breastfeed in public, (hawaiinewsnow.com, 6/30/2014).

The issue is rules, rules that discourage or prevent homeless individuals and families from seeking cover at temporary shelters.

Probably there was a conversation between a staff member and Ms. Penley, the nature of which we can’t know. What seems likely is that Ms. Penley was asked to move, to get out of view of others, in apparent violation of the law. Again, we don’t know what the conversation was about.

Check out the video at the above link, though. It appears that IHS was trying to create or enforce yet another restrictive rule, a subject which several homeless people have raised with me with regard to other shelters (not IHS).

An explanation posted to IHS’s Facebook page did not help and drew critical comments of its own:

Today, IHS received a flurry of complaints in response to a story that ran on Hawaii News Now. We recognize it is a discriminatory practice to deny, or attempt to deny, the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of a place of public accommodations to a woman because she is breastfeeding. IHS also recognizes and takes seriously our Hawaii State Laws that allow for breastfeeding in any public or private location. IHS encourages our mothers to embrace all positive maternal health practices for a child’s well-being, including breastfeeding.

We want to make clear that Ms. Penley was not asked to leave the shelter at any time, and that she remains here receiving services. Our goal is for our guests to benefit from the multiple services we offer in order to help homeless ultimately transition into a safe home and a high-quality of life.

The statement and the video are not encouraging. It’s easy to be a couch potato critic based on reading one reporter’s story on the Internet, but I’ve heard similar.

I learned, for example, that at another shelter, apparently some homeless people have been kicked out or banned and then beaten up outside. Again, without knowing the circumstances, it’s hard to evaluate these reports, but in a climate of concern for the welfare of all of Hawaii’s citizens, including those without homes, someone would be checking on this.

See the next article for an example of a community where people care.