Resolution.
On this day, the word references those promises we make to ourselves on New Year’s — pledges to lose weight, get fit, be nicer, and so on. It’s also a foundation for finally resolving some of the thorniest problems facing the state in 2017.
Among them:
Rail
The enormously over-budget fixed-guideway system under construction by the city needs a reality check, plain and simple. The reality is that only the completion of the 21-mile route ending at Ala Moana Center makes any practical sense as a workable transit system.
The state and city must hammer out a financing plan, likely involving an extension of its excise-tax revenue source, to pass federal muster. That’s the bottom line. This is one New Year’s resolution that requires resolve — and political courage.
Housing
Among the benefits of a robust transit network is the neighborhood upgrades that can happen around the rail stations, through transit-oriented development. These hubs need to include a substantial number of affordable rental units, for working families that should be able to live with easier access to their workplace.
The creation of the city’s Department of Land Management must be designed — as was promised — to make TOD a practical reality. The agency also must produce very-low-rent permanent accommodations for the homeless, needed to fulfill the Housing First campaign against homelessness but in short supply. The deficit of affordable rentals is blocking the pipeline that should be moving people from homelessness to homes.
Similarly, the state must redouble efforts to produce these units through rehabilitation and redevelopment of public housing properties, and through financing private partners efficiently. The boost in funds in Ige’s budget proposal sends the right signal, but that only represents the first step.
Public school improvements
The constantly evolving issue with the most potential for improving economic and social prospects here is education. A lot of often- heated discussion and planning went on in 2016, and as we enter the new year poised for progress.
The state Department of Education has come up with its Strategic Plan, a three-year map of how to make education more student-centered and responsive to the needs of individual campuses. There are goals set for achieving a more collaborative and innovative workforce, one in which good ideas can be shared across Hawaii’s statewide public school district.
Critics of the DOE have expressed interest in the goals but also misgivings about whether the DOE’s large and sometimes delay- plagued bureaucracy can deliver. If the department can in 2017 start establishing the mechanisms enabling better intramural communication, that would go a long way toward rebuilding trust among faculty and administration.
The challenges for 2017 are compounded because another transition has been heaped on the school system: the anticipation of a new state superintendent. Whether or not replacing Kathryn Matayoshi is wise is a question best left open until the Board of Education presents a nominee for evaluation.
What counts is that he or she demonstrates the skills needed in a new era of education with a strong grassroots component and less control from federal mandates.
It’s still unclear why Matayoshi, who has received high marks from the Board of Education, will not be retained, although some point to differences with Gov. David Ige.
Ige tapped a task force to develop a “blueprint,” a draft of which is posted on his website. It is a more broadly conceived, longer-range vision document for a DOE that issues fewer decrees and empowers individual schools.
That general principle does not seem irreconcilable with the strategic plan. The trick will be whether the barriers between the executive branch and the schools administration can be bridged productively. The children in their care deserve that much.
TMT
Nothing needs oversight more than the state’s review of the Thirty Meter Telescope permit, now in a court-ordered re-hearing. State Rep. Scott Saiki has proposed appointing a court master to see that the judicial order is followed to the letter but without unneeded delay or tactical stalling by TMT opponents.
Saiki’s idea is well worth consideration. No more time must be wasted in moving this issue to resolution. The TMT would afford educational and career opportunities for residents, as well as scientific gains for the world.
The new year offers new opportunities to settle some of these big, difficult initiatives.
Elected officials should resolve to make real progress — even achieve resolution — on these fronts in 2017.
After all, these times demand more than talk and political jockeying. They demand results.
