As he prepares for his second State of the City address, Mayor Peter Carlisle confronts a sagging job approval rating and growing public skepticism about the biggest public works project in Hawaii’s history.
Carlisle attributed both to the spread of information — some of it misinformation, he contends — by rail opponents.
Without revealing specifics, Carlisle said his speech Thursday will mark the start of a renewed effort by him and his administration to give the public more information about the $5.27 billion rail project.
The mayor said he believes he can swing around the poll numbers.
"We need to get out more facts than we’ve done," he said in an interview Friday. "We can let people know why this is absolutely the thing that they voted for and why they should want to keep it."
A recent Star-Advertiser/Hawaii News Now poll showed support for the rail project slipping, with 53 percent of respondents saying they do not think work should proceed on the project; 43 percent said work should proceed.
A similar poll taken a year ago showed 49 percent who said they thought work should continue, compared with 45 percent who said no.
Carlisle’s job approval rating also fell to 55 percent in the most recent poll, down from 64 percent a year ago.
His speech comes as he seeks to keep his job for a full four-year term. He is serving out the second half of the term vacated by Mufi Hannemann, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2010.
Carlisle faces formidable challengers, primarily from Ben Cayetano, a former two-term Democratic governor who has vowed to kill the rail project if elected. Also running is former city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell.
The recent poll showed Cayetano in the lead, followed by Carlisle, then Caldwell.
Although he will not bring up the election in his address, Carlisle said he does expect to tout some of his administration’s accomplishments.
Those are expected to include the success of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings the city hosted in November and, more recently, the start of the process to sell the city’s 12 affordable rental housing complexes.
Carlisle announced Friday that the city was seeking a private company to buy and manage the housing projects and lease the land from the city for 65 years. Any agreement would require that the parcels be governed by current affordable housing guidelines. The sales also would require City Council approval.
"It will be interesting to see if he shows any insight as to the level of revenue they hope to recoup as the result of that sale, and how he’s going to account for it," Council Chairman Ernie Martin said.
Martinsaid Monday he had not spoken to Carlisle about the speech, but that he expects the mayor to touch on familiar themes, such as keeping city borrowing under control. He also is hoping to hear an update on compliance with a federal consent decree covering the city’s wastewater treatment system and information on potential economic partnerships cultivated through the mayor’s various trips abroad.
Martin said he also would like to hear more about the planned $450 million city-backed line of credit for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Carlisle announced last month. The move was to demonstrate to federal authorities that the rail project has the resources it needs to successfully complete construction. As part of that effort, Carlisle said he would ask the City Council for a $100 million increase in the city’s limit for borrowing using "commercial paper," or short-term debt that is sold on financial markets.
Ann Kobayashi, the Council’s budget chairwoman, said she is hoping to hear about the city’s needs beyond the rail project.
"I hope he’ll talk about the needs of the sewer, water, wastewater, roads — I hope he’ll touch on those," she said. "I’m sure there’ll be some (rail talk) because he has to justify what he’s been pushing all this past year."
Kobayashi said she’s hopeful that any new initiatives are also backed by viable funding sources.
"I don’t know what those will be," she said. "I look forward to hearing initiatives that will help to raise revenue, not just look to the ratepayer and the taxpayer."
