Finally, the wheels are turning on the new contested case hearing over the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.

Retired Judge Riki May Amano on Monday called the attorneys for the parties to a pre-conference hearing to prepare for the hearing.

Sounds simple enough. But Richard Naiwieha Wurdeman, attorney for the petitioners trying to block construction of the TMT, said he was surprised that the call came so soon.

Amano was officially given the job of hearings officer three days earlier.

Any bets that TMT’s developers, who have been working on the approval process for seven years, might disagree?

Some city ‘games’ just smell wrong

It’s nice to see that one never gets too old, or too decorous, for a hearty game of “chicken” to send the other guy cowering.

Unfortunately, when city officials play it, taxpayers get hauled along. And in this week’s “game” involving upgrades at the Sand Island sewage treatment plant, the prospect of $43 million in projects being held up has caught the attention of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as environmentalists ready to sue if overdue upgrades lag.

City Council members say they will restore the funding by a June 1 final budget vote; they just wanted to press the city administration to meet with a behavorial treatment center that will be forced out by the Sand Island sewage expansion. That meeting is scheduled for Monday.

Now no more gamesmanship; just keep things on track.