In June, Honolulu City Council members questioned the Honolulu Rail Project and had asked for the city auditor to determine if the amount of money spent on public relations was justified. Daniel Grabauskas, the Executive Director and CEO for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, stated that he would look into the matter and announced earlier this week that the Honolulu Rail Project will be drastically reducing the number of public relations jobs by the end of 2012. Grabauskas note that there are currently 23 full time positions in public relations, but they will be cut down to nine full time positions and one part time position, saving the city $2.8 million in spending. Grabauskas stated, “I share the public’s concern that we currently have too many sub-consultants and staff in public involvement. While heavier levels of public outreach may have been needed in the early years, it is time to scale back our public involvement resources.”
Ann Kobayashi, the City Council Budget Chairwoman, stated that she was happy to see the $2.8 million cuts, but felt that they should go further. Kobayashi commented, “We look forward to more cuts because the financial plan is secure, as they say, and the project is started. So I don’t know why we have to spend so much money on PR. I mean, we haven’t done that for other programs that have already been started.”
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 7-11-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
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