BY JIM DOOLEY – Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle and City Council chairman Ernie Martin reacted quickly and
negatively to Ben Cayetano’s plan for a new Honolulu transportation plan.
Both men recently met in Washington with federal transit officials and congressional leaders and said they were told that if anti-rail mayoral candidate Cayetano is elected in November, Honolulu would lose $1.55 billion in rail funding and be forced to begin a long, involved new application for financial support from Wshington.
“We would definitely lose our place in line,” said Carlisle, whose lost his bid for reelection to former Governor Cayetano and challenger Kirk Caldwell.
The general election is slightly more than a month away.
Although Cayetano said today that federal officials “should be happy” with his new Honolulu transportation plan, Carlisle said that’s not likely to happen.
Honolulu has started and stopped twice before in seeking rapid transit dollars from Washington and if the $5.2 billion rail line project is aborted, “the feds are never going to believe us for the rest of our lives,” Carlisle said.
Both men scoffed at Cayetano’s assertion that his new transportation plan, which centers on increased bus service,
could be fully operational within four years.
Cayetano’s approach may require preparation of a new environmental impact statement — a long, time-consuming task, said Carlisle.
“It took us seven years to get this point” with the elevated rail project, Carlisle said.
Cayetano’s four-year timeline and estimated project cost of $1.1 billion are “numbers that seem to be virtually nonsensical,” said the mayor.
Martin, who will work with the next mayor, was more restrained in his response to Cayetano’s four-year project completion date.
“Four years is very ambitious. Based on what needs to be done, it would be very tough,” said Martin.
And he pointed that the next mayor will be faced with a City Council that is “very strongly aligned with the rail project.”
Political dynamics at City Hall “can introduce delays” to any new transportation programs, Martin said.
I guess we have to go through with this ridiculous rail plan or else the feds will never believe us again.
hahahahahahahahaha. Don't they realize how ridiculous they are when they say crap like that?
Carpenters tools. 🙂
-David
i thought so to. imagine grownup boys saying things like that. kind of embarrassing for us who live here
and have that kind of people running for offices. i dare the star advertiser to run your comment on the
front page.
Funny it took 7 years to get the EIS completed. And yet its being challenged as a flawed document. Even after 7 years the city still could not defend their EIS and make their case. Guess what Mayor Carlise we are headed back to square one anyway. The city tried to pull a fast one and guess what you were caught in the act. Maybe if people were as dumb as you thought they were you might be running for Mayor again.
Obviously Gov. Cayetanos 1.1b project is far less than the 5.2b rail project. His plan serves more people, especially the hard working poor and needy. His plan alleviates traffic congestion, what a novel idea. Fact is the rail does nothing to ease traffic and that is not my opinion but the city's conclusion. Using common sense and examining all, with an emphasis on "ALL", alternatives there are ways to solve our most pressing traffic problems that is reasonable in cost and highly effective. From my view and the folks who I know that are against the rail Ben will be our next Mayor. His plan reinforces why he should be the next Mayor. Voting for Ben is casting a vote eliminating the corruption, cronyism and political payback that rail brings. A vote for Ben will save 4.1b in taxpayer money that can be used for other more pressing needs. Sorry Mayor Carlisle and Councilman Martin, people are not as stupid as you think they are.
Not true. The courts found the EIS to be in complete compliance with all laws. The court found the State agency which allowed construction to begin violated it's own rules. This had nothing to do with the EIS. Cayetano wants to dig four tunnels in town to reduce traffic congestion in town which will close Kapiolani Bl for months not to mention the years it will take to do the AIS. The real question is why is Cayetano now proposing a plan he rejected ten years ago. Why is Cayetano now proposing a plan that his transportation advisors Cliff Slater and Panos Prevedouros called a traffic nightmare ten years ago. Why is Cayetano proposing a plan that Cliff and Panos filed a federal lawsuit to stop ten years ago. Why is Cayetano proposing a plan the public rejected ten years ago.
David: Carpenters' or "chicaner's" ' tools. Alla same thing seemingly….and so much money to advertise! (Best to examine carpenter bills for the built-in fluff and puff costs they contain–so they're always readly to add "the union flavor" to issues and elections.) If Ben wins this may change a lot of things–especially union percepts of "power and control." A lot is going on here…now it has become obvious, no longer is sub rosa. Auwe!
"Numbers that seem to be virtually nonsensical," said the mayor.
If anyone would know about nonsensical numbers, it would be him!!
Noticed that you couldnʻt see Panosʻ hand. Maybe Tata Cayetano is Panosʻ new hand puppet? But seriously, BRT will even create more traffic before, during, and after construction. More roads? More busses? Where are you going to find the room to widen the roads? Widen School St. overpass? Take parking away from King St.? Or maybe, destroy the sidewalks for Panosʻ dedicated bus lane? Where is Tata Cayetanoʻs EIS? Rail is on track financially. Its Cleaner. More efficient. Safer. Enviromentally friendlier. Greener. Quicker. Less expensive. The better plan!
The fact is if you want federal money, plan to dig holes and build elevated fly overs you will need an EIS which will take at least four to five years to complete. That is not even counting the AIS. And if they find iwi? forget it.
if we had legalized gambling,legalized drugs,legalized prostitution,off-shore banking,right to work ,and abolish state income taxes,there would be so much revenue in our beloved hawaii,we could build bullet trains.
David: Carpenters' or "chicaner's" ' tools. Alla same thing seemingly….and so much money to advertise! (Best to examine carpenter bills for the built-in fluff and puff costs they contain–so they're always readly to add "the union flavor" to issues and elections.) If Ben wins this may change a lot of things–especially union percepts of "power and control." A lot is going on here…now it has become obvious
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