Editorials
Friday, October 17, 1997THE deaths of seven people in a fire that destroyed their Palolo home and two others nearby should induce all families to check their homes for fire hazards. Hawaii's mild weather, while eliminating the need for dangerous space heaters, enables people to stretch their living space outside with electrical extension cords, exposing their homes' electrical systems to the elements with potentially disastrous results. Disaster underlines
need for fire safetyInitial examination of the rubble indicates that an electrical malfunction may have set off the blaze. Investigators say a clock radio apparently had been plugged into an extension cord that snaked under the house to an outlet near a washing machine. The fire is believed to have started beneath the house.
Families are advised by the Honolulu Fire Department to replace frayed or cracked cords, prevent overloaded extension cords and remove cords from flammable material, such as furniture or clothing. Whether the family had smoke detectors in their home is unknown -- no remnants of smoke detectors could be found -- but families are urged to have detectors installed, check them monthly and replace batteries annually.
As part of Fire Prevention Month, the department is distributing fire safety guides to children through schools. Among other things, the guides urge families to plan fire escapes from their homes and to designate meeting places away from the homes to check on each family member's safety in case of a fire.
Just as no single cause may have created the conditions resulting in the Palolo tragedy, no single precaution can protect a family from the risk of fire. The best protection can come only from completing a thorough checklist of preventive measures.
DESPITE the state's fiscal problems, the University of Hawaii has done reasonably well in providing quality education for Hawaii's youth. But it could do better, and UH President Kenneth Mortimer has ideas about how that could happen. Mortimer wants more autonomy from the state for the university system, freedom from onerous state regulations and oversight. It makes sense. Autonomy for UH
Mortimer says the university needs full authority over its assets -- its land, money and people. And it needs its own legal counsel to protect its interests in those assets. It needs the ability to buy, sell and mortgage land, to collect, invest and spend money.
"We simply cannot tolerate systems where 45 people have to touch a piece of paper before a small-business person can receive a check for a service performed or a product delivered," he told the State Economic Revitalization Task Force.
It's true, as Mortimer contends, that autonomy would permit the university to function more effectively in luring capital to the islands and helping rebuild the economy. The key building block for economic revitalization, he said, is "our intellect," and the UH is the main instrument for strengthening Hawaii's intellectual resources.
The state has taken steps in the past to give the UH system more freedom in budgeting and in fundraising. Two years ago the Legislature passed a law permitting the university to keep all tuition and fees, rather than send them to the general fund.
Mortimer is talking about a much bigger step, but it is a necessary one if the UH is to achieve its potential and maximize its contributions to the people of Hawaii.
WHILE Hawaii County's privatization of landfill operations was being nullified by the state Supreme Court, in the Philippines a vastly bigger operation -- the metropolitan Manila water system -- was being turned over to private business. Water privatization
The Manila system served 11 million people, but very poorly. Confronted with a projection that the population would double in 30 years, officials realized that the antiquated, heavily indebted Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System couldn't deliver water to all who would need it.
Service was available on average only 16 hours a day, often with insufficient water pressure. Only 67 percent of area residents could be offered connections for water and only 8 percent for sewage. A staggering 55 percent of the system's water was lost through leakage and theft.
On Aug. 1 all responsibility for operational management and capital investment was handed over to two private consortiums with majority Filipino ownership. Together they are expected to invest $7 billion over the next 25 years. The International Finance Corp., a member of the World Bank Group, handled the privatization process. The contracts call for provision of uninterrupted 24-hour water service within five years, universal water service coverage within 10 years and 83 percent sewerage and sanitation connections in 25 years.
Nobody is suggesting a comparable step in Hawaii. Honolulu's water system is certainly superior to Manila's and far more capable of meeting its capital needs. But the Philippine decision is a dramatic example of the trend toward privatization, which is being embraced in many states and foreign countries. It is the largest water privatization to date anywhere in the world; large-scale privatizations were also conducted in Argentina and Britain.
Hawaii is going backward, nullifying privatizations at the behest of government employee unions, particularly the United Public Workers, whose only concern is protecting the jobs of their members. Meanwhile the economy stagnates amid calls for reducing the cost of government.
Privatization can help, in some circumstances. The Legislature must change the law to permit state and county officials to privatize government functions when it would be in the public interest to do so.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
