[10/5/12] Mayoral contenders Kirk Caldwell and Ben Cayetano continued to poke holes in each other's mass transit plans during a final forum on live television Thursday night.
A majority of the hourlong
"Insights on PBS Hawaii" program on KHET was devoted to the city's $5.26
billion rail project, which Caldwell supports, and Cayetano's
alternate $1.5 billion Flexible Affordable Smart Transportation plan.
Cayetano was put on the defensive first, with Caldwell questioning its actual cost and funding sources.
Tunnels through the Kapiolani
corridor that are part of the FAST plan will cost more than anticipated,
Caldwell said, because "you will basically have to trench or
tunnel for long distances right through the heart of our city."
Further, he said, "there's no financing for this project."
Cayetano said Caldwell's questioning of the tunnel segments "shows his ignorance" of the FAST plan.
"The tunnels are short," he said. "They're basically underpasses."
As for his plan's Nimitz
flyover, Cayetano said that Gov. Neil Abercrombie told him just before
the forum that "he's game" for a partnership with the city.
[10/4/12] Former Gov. Ben Cayetano's campaign team revised the cost of the transit plan he unveiled last week, increasing the projected cost to $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion.
The cost of construction has not
been revised, said Cayetano staffer Sam Callejo. Instead, the total
price tag was increased to include a 20 percent contingency plus finance
charges, making the plan a more “apples and apples” comparison with the
city’s $5.26 billion rail transit plan.
[9/30/12] Star-Advertiser editiorial / Cayetano on FAST / Caldwell on FAST
[9/27/12] Former Gov. Ben Cayetano unveiled a transportation plan today that features new Bus Rapid Transit routes, high-tech traffic signal systems to instantly respond to traffic snarls and plans for two-lane underpasses to ease the flow of traffic on Kapiolani Boulevard and other thoroughfares.
The Cayetano plan would also
feature a two-lane extension of the double-decked segment of Nimitz
Highway, and would route express buses along a newly created dedicated
bus shoulder lane on the Moanalua Freeway.
Cayetano estimates his plan,
dubbed the Flexible Affordable Smart Transportation or FAST, would cost
$1.1 billion, or about one-fifth the cost of the Honolulu rail transit
project.
Cayetano is running for mayor, and promises to halt the city’s $5.26 billion rail transit project if elected.
[8/27/12] The city has agreed to temporarily halt all construction on the $5.26 billion rail project apart from some short-term tasks required for an orderly shutdown, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. said today.
NHLC lawyer David Kimo Frankel
met with city and rail officials Monday afternoon, and issued a
statement that “It is our understanding that the City has halted
construction of the rail project.”
“For all intents and purposes,
construction of the project has been halted although there may be some
narrowly tailored, low-impact exceptions,” Frankel said in a written
statement.
Frankel said the city plans to
complete “a few short-term tasks for public safety” such as backfilling
open trenches, and plans to continue longer-term maintenance activities
such as erosion control measures.
The city also plans to complete
the required archaeological inventory survey for the 20-mile rail line,
and undertake other “miscellaneous activities,” Frankel said in his
statement.
He said the city is drafting a
list to specifically describe those activities, and will discuss the
list with Native Hawaiian Legal Corp lawyers to determine whether those
activities should be allowed to proceed, Frankel said.
The NHLC sued the city and state
over the rail project, and the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled Friday that
the State Historic Preservation Division violated its own rules by
allowing the project to proceed before an archaeological survey was
completed for the entire rail route.
In a unanimous ruling, the court found that rules governing the SHPD do not allow the SHPD to agree to the rail project until the city finishes the survey to determine if there are Native Hawaiian burials or other archaeological resources in the path of the rail line.
[5/3/12] The three candidates vying for Honolulu mayor engaged in the first debate of the campaign season Wednesday night, touching on a variety of subjects but ultimately trying to score points against one another on the singularly contentious issue of rail transit.
Both Mayor Peter Carlisle and former city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell support completion of the $5.27 billion project, while former Gov. Ben Cayetano has vowed to kill it. Construction began last week.
[3/28/12] Rhetoric is heating up over the financial impact of the city's planned $5.27 billion rail transit project as two top contenders for the mayor's job traded accusations Tuesday of reckless spending and misinformation.
Former Gov. Ben Cayetano said the city's prioritization of rail has taken as much as $17 million away from core city services such as public safety, flood control, road paving and street lighting.
"I have contended throughout the course of this campaign that the city's policy of spending without doing due diligence is leading this city to a financial disaster of epic proportions," Cayetano said at a news conference Tuesday.
Mayor Peter Carlisle accused Cayetano of trying to create "fear and confusion" about the cost of the rail project by misrepresenting budget presentations made by his administration.
"This is tired old politics as usual," Carlisle said. "From the very beginning, my commitment has been to spend our money wisely, no matter what the spending is for.
[2/23/12] Mayor Peter Carlisle delivered his second state of the city address today, highlighting some of his administration's achievements and outlining his vision for the future of Honolulu.
He repeated his commitment to the city's $5.27 billion rail transit project, calling it the only option for sustaining a city that is expected to top one million in population in the next decade.
"This is the only viable option for building this 21st century and providing a sustainable future for all of Oahu that has made it through decades of vetting and is poised to employ people now," Carlisle said in prepared remarks.
Carlisle also pledged greater transparency by the city as the project moves forward.
"It starts with leadership and expecting the (Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation) board to provide the necessary oversight to satisfy the public," Carlisle said. "It means setting clear rules regarding change orders, delays, shoddy workmanship and oversight."
Carlisle has said he and his administration will be providing more facts on the rail project to combat negative information being spread by rail opponents. A recent poll indicated that public support for the rail project has declined, with more people against the completion of the project.
"I recognize many residents question the city's ability to answer questions transparently, to address issues that have been raised, and to deliver the project on time and under budget," he said. "Given its price tag, you have a right to scrutinize it and to feel concerned. I feel those concerns, as well."
[11/16/11] Keith Haugen responds to Bob Jones
[11/2/11] Bob Jones on rail: ugly, expensive, but necessary
[9/21/11] Although retired now, Cayetano has plenty of insightful opinions regarding Hawaii politics and the decisions being made for our communities, including his opposition to the rail system.
“Other than my family, it’s the only thing I’m really involved in these days,” he says.
“As chairman of the (state Senate) transportation committee, I was opposed to it even then, and that carried over to my lieutenant governorship and finally my governorship and now. As I look further, I believe it would be financial disaster as the construction costs are being estimated low and the ridership is unrealistically high, and that seems to be a pattern with most rail projects,” says Cayetano, who was featured on MidWeek‘s cover Oct. 30, 1996.
“There are many alternatives that the city hasn’t looked at,” he adds. “One of the big issues is the city failed to include other alternatives in the Alternative Analysis Report, which is required, which is supposed to be provided by these policy makers.”
Cayetano favors the idea of a bus rapid transit system that, to him, would “do substantially everything that light rail would do, but at substantially less cost.”
[8/21/11] Walter Heen, Ben Cayetano, Cliff Slater, Randall Roth are challenging the processs by which the city chose elevated heavy rail.
The city has paid more than $2 million in taxpayer money to 10 different public relations firms to promote its heavy-rail project. Here's what they have not yet told you
[2/12/11] Make that February
[1/19/11] Rail project to break ground in March
[10/26/09] Is modern Oahu like ancient Greece? Full of tyrants and myths? At least when it comes to rail, yes. Only a tyrant would tax people for a rail project years before the proposal has been found to be environmentally acceptable and federally funded. Only a tyrant would award contracts unlawfully for a project that has neither state nor federal environmental and other approvals. Only a tyrant would manipulate the process in order to ignore superior and lower-cost alternatives such as bus rapid transit and true light rail. -- Panos D. Prevedouros
[10/13/09] Even when I disagree with former Gov. Ben Cayetano's positions, such as his anti-rail stance, I have always respected his honesty. In that spirit, I would like to correct the misinformation in his Oct. 9 Star-Bulletin interview about the Honolulu rail transit project. ... the ridership projections utilize forecasting models that have been approved by the FTA. Our partners in the federal government would not have allowed the project to advance this far if our facts and figures did not meet their stringent standards. -- Kirk Caldwell
Managing director, Honolulu City & County
[10/9/09] Ben Cayetano on transit: First of all, the mayor's rail transit plan is so expensive. They estimate $5.6 billion, something like that. If the historical patterns on the mainland follow through, you can probably add another $2 billion or maybe even $3 billion to that. And they're forecasting unreasonably high ridership. That means that real property taxes are going to go up, and the cost of living is going to go up. And I don't think it's going to relieve traffic congestion to the point that it's worth the cost.
[10/1/09] Rail still being debated
Oahu will benefit from rail, but make sure it's elevated
All-elevated rail will be costly, inflexible and ugly
[8/19/09] The sad truth is that the city has been promoting the Vancouver overhead rail, which was built many years ago for a city twice the size of Honolulu. Since then, many cities much larger than Honolulu have determined that overhead rail is just too expensive, and that light rail at grade or managed traffic lanes are a better alternative. The city, however, continues on its Web site to erroneously misinform the taxpayer by promoting the Charlotte and Phoenix rail projects, which are light rail at grade and are nothing comparable to the Honolulu project. -- Geoffrey Paterson, AIA Emeritus
[6/24/09] An executive with one of the largest architecture and planning firms worldwide said rail projects such as the one planned on Oahu will help increase business along the transit line. "It's not just about moving people around. ... I think it's a catalyst for change," said Ian Mulcahey, a lead planner for the London-based firm Gensler. "It will enable the city to grow."
[6/20/09] A former government official in Canada who helped to build the Vancouver SkyTrain said he thinks Honolulu is making the right decision in developing an elevated rail system. Dan Doyle, former deputy minister of British Columbia's Ministry of Transportation, said the SkyTrain has significantly increased efficiency, reduced the need for motor vehicles, and enabled the city to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. "Without those rail lines, we would not be able to do it," said Doyle, now executive vice president of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
[6/9/09 writes Panos Prevedouros] Honolulu's City Council, which represents almost 900,000 people on Oahu, is about to make a major fiscal and political error. It is about to grant the authority to the city administration to start rail without environmental approvals and without federal monies. It also plans to approve to start the project about a mile outside Kapolei and develop a six-mile elevated rail to Waipahu.
Worse yet are plans to approve the float of $1.1 billion in bonds for rail with no stipulations or accountability controls. This $1.1 billion obligation must be paid back by the Oahu taxpayer, plus interest.
[4/30/09] Wayne Yoshioka responds to Bainum
[4/27/09] Architects propose street-level rail (writes Duke Bainum)
[10/22/08] This Honolulu Rail Transit Q&A provided by the City and County of Honolulu was turned into a glossy brochure distributed with the Star Bulletin and Midweek (and I assume the Advertiser)
[10/16/08] The Star Bulletin editorializes. A radical change at this point would undoubtedly jeopardize federal funding, especially during the nation's current economic meltdown. Not only is Kobayashi wrong in assuming that revenue from the general excise tax surcharge could be spent on her plan, her hope for $2.4 billion in federal funding to foot nearly the entire bill is preposterous.
[10/15/08] Mayoral candidate Ann Kobayashi unveiled her new mass-transit plan yesterday to build elevated three-lane highways for zipper lanes and buses that she says would be 62.5 percent of the cost of Mayor Mufi Hannemann's proposed rail transit system.
[10/15/08] Dan Boylan writes The construction of a rail transit system will do more than provide a long-term transportation alternative. It also will provide an economic stimulus that could help sustain us in these difficult times.
[10/4/08] Rail will bring jobs and federal dollars
[9/5/08] Car expenses higher than rail?
[9/4/08] Stop Rail Now fails to get proposal on ballot
[8/23/08] Numbers on rail don't makes sense
[8/21/08] City Council approves ballot question on transit
[8/5/08] City Clerk refuses anti-rail petition
[7/28/08] Poll on Hannemann handling rail: 35% above average, 30% below average.
[7/28/08] 40% say they're likely to ride rail
[7/25/08] Hannemann working with City County on charter amendment
[7/24/08] The City Council yesterday voted unanimously to put the issue of whether to build a commuter rail line on the November ballot. The 9-0 vote was the first of three needed to adopt the measure, which could be vetoed by Mayor Mufi Hannemann.
[7/20/08] "We now must let the people of Oahu vote at the ballot box and settle this debate once and for all," writes Charles Djou
[7/17/08] Stop Rail Now consider legal action
[7/16/08] Stop Rail Now petition derailed by City Clerk
[7/15/08] In his latest promotion of the city's proposed $4 billion rail transit system, Mayor Mufi Hannemann called a news conference yesterday at which four former state transportation directors endorsed the project.
[7/12/08] Lingle signs petition
[7/4/08] Hannemann says Lingle waffling on rail
[7/3/08] Lingle likely to sign anti-rail petition
[7/2/08] Rick Hamada's take
[7/2/08] A continuing debate on the Internet between the pro- and anti-rail groups has shaped much of the conversation surrounding the city's planned $4 billion rail transit system.
Panos Prevedouros to run for mayor against Hannemann.
[6/30/08] Rick Tubania says Callan and Uechi are full of it
[6/29/08] Cayetano enters the fray
[6/29/08] No Rail (says Stop Rail Now). Go Rail (says City Department of Transportation Services).
[6/29/08] Jamie Story responds to Hannemann
[6/26/08] Local bank economists and real estate developers openly admit that rail is about property development - not a transportation solution. The Hannemann Committee ad in both dailies on Sunday was a diversionary tactic to deflect public attention away from important facts and issues [says thee Hawaii Highway Users Alliance]
[6/26/08] Mayor Mufi Hannemann criticized the media for doing a poor job of challenging opponents attempting to stop the city's planned $4 billion rail-transit project, prompting him to spend campaign funds to take out advertisements.
In his first interview since ads ran in Honolulu's two daily newspapers last weekend, Hannemann said yesterday he stands by his assertions that the local anti-rail campaign is backed by mainland companies and individuals connected with the oil and automobile industries.
[6/24/08] Mayor Mufi Hannemann has launched a series of ads using his campaign funds against a group attempting to stop his plans to build a $4 billion rail transit system.
[6/18/08] Reader can't figure out Al Chase
[6/15/08] Al Chase can't figure out anti-rail logic
[3/2/08] While managed lanes, HOT lanes or bus lanes can be a useful complement to a fixed guideway system, such approaches are no substitute for a permanent rail-based system as the backbone of a regional transit program.
[11/14/07] Hannemann wants experts to decide on fixed-guideway technology
[10/17/07] Kobayashi responds to Kaku
[10/9/07] Melvin Kaku responds
[9/28/07] Rail critics complain to Federal Transit Authority / editorial / response to editorial
[9/11/07] Jerry Coffee compares transit alternatives [again, guess which one doesn't sound so hot]
[9/2/07] Melvin Kaku counters claims of Dela Cruz and Kobayashi
[8/26/07] Guided bus system is serious option for Honolulu say Donovan Dela Cruz and Ann Kobayashi.
[1/31/07] Mayor Mufi Hannemann wants the city to build a $3.8 billion 20-mile rail line from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center as its first mass transit segment.
"We have kept in mind that we want to serve a populace area, a major employment center. We also wanted to have this line where we would carry the most future riders and would best meet what the (federal government) calls the cost -effectiveness criterion," Hannemann said yesterday.
The initial line -- called the minimal operable segment -- will begin at the future site of the Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center just above Kapolei Parkway in Ewa and move up the proposed North-South Road to Farrington Highway. Circulator buses will transfer riders from Ewa, Kapolei and other parts of West Oahu to the rail line.
The line will then run through Waipahu, Pearl City and Aiea before passing Pearl Harbor, Hickam Air Force Base and the airport. It will then go through Kalihi, downtown and Kakaako, and end at the shopping center.
"The (minimal operable segment) says what we can afford to do in the short-term so this is what we call 'the first project,'" Hannemann said.
[2/7/07] Michael Lauck responds to Coffee's article
[1/12/07] Jerry Coffee touts the HOT lanes alternative
[12/23/06] The City Council, in a 7-2 vote yesterday, gave final approval to a fixed guideway mass transit system for Oahu but left it to Mayor Mufi Hannemann to decide key segments of the route.
[12/8/06] City Council chooses rail
[12/3/06] Expanded bus system would be better than rail
[11/26/06] Enhanced bus system could be the way to go
[11/21/06] We need to get cars off the roads, not put more on
[10/31/06] Estimated cost for rail transit raised 20 percent (responses)
[10/15/06] Rail or a real solution?
[10/15/06] Mufi is P-R-O R-A-I-L
[10/11/06] more on toll lane capacity
[10/6/06] Councilman Gary Okino responds to David Rolf
[10/1/06] So what's the solution to traffic?
We've now learned that rail will not solve the traffic congestion problem, so voters likely will question any candidate who proposes it as a solution. Particularly since the proposed rail for Honolulu would cost more than $4,000 per person to build -- more than 20 times the cost of other city rail systems. The Dallas rail system cost $204 per person to build.
That's why more and more elected officials and candidates for office in Hawaii are examining the elevated tollway solution proposed by a nonprofit organization known as the Hawaii Highway Users Alliance, [writes David Rolf, executive director of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association]
[6/23/06] Councilwoman calls proposed rail transit ugly
[6/21/06] Jerry Coffee on collecting the 0.5% transit tax
[6/6/06] Details of mass transit options are starting to emerge
[5/24/06] Light rail won't reduce traffic says Jerry Coffee
[4/18/06] HOT lanes have been added to the mix of transit alternatives
[1/5/06] It's a done deal says Rick Hamada
[12/10/05] There are two public meetings scheduled and the website is honolulutransit.org (from Mufi's radio commercial)
[12/4/05] City consultants have identified three likely technologies — light rail, monorail and magnetic levitation — and four routes that could be used for a new mass-transit system between Kapolei and the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
[10/9/05] Start small. Get a high-profile leader, preferably not a politician. Be prepared to stay the course. Those are the things Honolulu needs to do if it hopes to see its latest push for mass transit become a reality, according to transit experts nationwide.
[10/4/05] Hannemann impressed with Sumitomo's rail system
[8/11/05] City Council approves transit tax
[8/9/05] Star Bulletin opinion: new mass transit system is essential
[8/8/05] Transit tax approval not assured
[7/30/05] Hawai'i would get federal authorization for a long-debated Honolulu rail transit system and almost $146 million for roads, bridges and transit systems in a massive $286 billion federal transportation bill approved by the House and Senate yesterday in Washington.
[7/12/05] Lingle won't veto bill after last minute compromise
[7/10/05] The Mayor is not backing down from his viewpoint
[7/7/05] is the title of Susan Page's article in the June 29, 2005 issue of Midweek. There's a lot more on the anti-rail viewpoint at honolulutraffic.com.
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