See on Scoop.it – PRG HAWAII NEWS WITH RUSS ROBERTS
The Detroit News (blog)
Abercrombie defends Hawaii as a meeting place to pension fund conference
Pacific Business News (Honolulu) (blog)
“Hawaii stands on its own merits as a premier location to host meetings and conventions,” Abercrombie said.
The governor makes some good points, but I can’t help but wonder why a financially destitute city such as Detroit would send a group of city employees to Hawaii for a conference. Why not link up a number of cities to the Honolulu Conference through internet software such as "Go To Meeting"? Large businesses do this all the time. I suspect the Detroit Pension Board had other motives in coming to Hawaii. You can’t beat our weather and tropic shores. In some ways, I can’t blame the pension board for wanting to escape Detroit for a few days. Aloha, Russ.
See on news.google.com
I think Neil’s been in the “herb garden” again. How can he say Hawaii’s public pension system “provides a working model” for other systems? How far in the red is the system in Hawaii? How rosy are his glasses? (Neil’s always been a little on the “red” side of politics, so I guess it’s a natural tint for him, anyway…. ;)… massive personal opinion) The public pension system is one of the reasons the city/state is going broke or haviong troubles. Lots of money going out and not enough coming in. Detroit knows this better than most other cities. Maybe the meeting should be held in Detoit so the other officials can get an idea of where things are headed. Relaxing in Hawai is not the only place where one can think clearly. Seeing the wreck that is Detroit would certainly help make a pont of working within public budget constraints crystal clear. Besides, couldn’t Detroit use the income for the conference? I don’t think constituants from the other cities would balk about having a conference in Detroit…of course none of those scheduled to attend really wants to go to Detroit. Between Detroit and the “Go to Meeting” software, the software looks pretty good.
I totally agree. This state’s been on the collective nursery system for so long, it couldn’t function as an “adult” if it wanted to. Detroit could use the money. In fact, years ago, Detroit hosted some of the best attended auto design conferences in the world. But that was then. When I worked at KKBG-FM/KHLO-AM, the “Go to Meeting” software was used frequently. It’s efficient and relatively cheap. Thanks for your input. Aloha, Russ.