Public-access TV is not just for policy wonks. In addition to allowing citizens to access and watch governmental meetings, it also offers a broadcast venue for anyone to exercise their freedom of speech. Every effort should be made to keep this public forum as open and robust as possible, not diminish it.

That’s why Spectrum Cable should ditch its plan to move public-access channels from well-positioned and long-established spots — on Oahu, Olelo’s channels are 49-54 — to less-desirable channels, 182-187.

“We’re being exiled to digital Siberia, where no one wants to go,” said Sanford Inouye, CEO of Olelo Community Media. He, Maui counterpart Jay April and others are rightly worried about viewership drops, which would reflect diminished participation in civic and free-speech engagement.

Spectrum says its system upgrade will offer better picture quality, more high-definition channels, faster internet and other features. Much of that upgrade, including the digital change, was mandated when the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs two years ago OK’d transfer of Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s cable franchises to Charter Communications, Spectrum’s parent.

But on Friday, state regulators put a temporary halt to Spectrum’s digital overhaul, citing an error in the company’s notice to subscribers that its digital converter boxes could access only channels 2-99.

Public, educational and government access television (PEG) is a matter of law, created by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1969-71 and mandated under the 1984 Cable Communications Act. Channel-spot location, though, is at the cable provider’s discretion. In fact, Hawaiian Telcom, Oahu’s other cable provider, is keeping the public-access channels as they are, right where they’ve been for at least 20 years.

Spectrum’s plan gives a glimpse into an ominous future now that the FCC has decided to end net neutrality. There are real concerns that the nation’s most powerful service providers will be making content decisions that are not in the public’s best interest.

All of Hawaii’s four mayors have sent letters opposing the PEG moves into “digital Siberia.” They should be joined in that opposition by all civic-minded people.

Make way for Pali Highway project

For Pali Highway commuters, the road ahead will be long, and often closed.

The state Department of Transportation has embarked on a two-year improvement project that includes repaving the patched-up highway and repairing or replacing street lights with energy-efficient LEDs.

Lanes that are open will be narrowed and shifted. Lanes that are closed will include the townbound lanes from 8:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday night to Friday morning, beginning in mid-February, according to the DOT.

No cause to grumble, though: Long-suffering Pali drivers, bumping along over potholes and the odd patchwork of surfaces left by short-term repair work, have been asking for a smoother highway for years. Besides, if it gets to be too much, Windward-side drivers can choose among three alternatives — the Likelike, H-3 and Kalanianaole. Those are three better alternatives than H-1 commuters have.

Construction updates will be available at PaliHighway.org, along with a 24/7 hotline at 945-1111. So keep informed about the work in progress. And don’t forget to drive carefully, and with aloha.

Hawaii’s political world a small one

The abrupt resignation of Shan Tsutsui as Hawaii’s lieutenant governor, announced Monday and effective two days later, set political wheels in motion. Not just the obvious one, as to who would replace him per state law. After two passes, the job was accepted Friday by Douglas Chin, who won’t be running for this office in the months to come but for Congress instead.

Then there’s this political wheel spinning its own intrigue: Why Tsutsui prematurely ditched his public-service commitment to join the Hawaii branch of Strategies 360, a communications and public affairs firm.

“I just figured this is kind of a good time,” Tsutsui had said.

The timing is indeed interesting, heading into election season and given some of Tsutsui’s new colleagues, per S360’s website: John White, former head of the politically savvy Pacific Resource Partnership (PRP); and Khara Jabola, community activist and partner of state Rep. Kaniela Ing, who is running for Congress.

Yes, Ing and Chin (and others) are vying for the same congressional seat this fall — which just goes to show that in Hawaii, it doesn’t take even six degrees of separation.