‘Ōlelo to televise HART Board meetings beginning next week

News Release from City and County of Honolulu   April 16, 2015

Honolulu – Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced today that arrangements have been made with ‘Ōlelo Community Media to provide live television coverage of next week’s Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s (HART) Board of Directors meeting, which runs from 8:30 a.m. until noon.  The meeting will be carried on ‘Ōlelo Channel 55 and re-aired at least 3 additional times, as well as archived on ‘Ōlelo’s website, www.olelo.org.  At that same meeting, the HART Board will take action on a proposal to allow for closed captioning of future HART meetings.

The action comes after Councilmember Trevor Ozawa introduced a resolution (no. 15-80) last month urging HART to provide the service.

HART Chair Ivan Lui-Kwan voiced support for the action.  “HART thanks Mayor Caldwell, Councilmember Ozawa, and ‘Ōlelo for their quick action on making HART meetings more available to the community,” said Lui-Kwan.

“The introduction and passage of this measure was one of my top priorities when I took office as it addresses the concern my constituency frequently shared with me when I was going door to door,” said Councilmember Ozawa.  “I promised my constituency that I would take action to address their concerns and passage and implementation of the action to televise HART Board meetings is a crucial first step in providing real transparency to this project.”

“I thank Councilmember Ozawa for proposing this sensible idea which will allow the public to more closely monitor the actions of HART and increase transparency,” Mayor Caldwell added.  “All City Council hearings, our town hall meetings, and many of the city’s major events along with legislative proceedings are covered as well.  The public should have the same opportunity to review the HART board meetings when their schedules do not allow them to attend in person.”

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