REPEAL HART- LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE
In the event we have a mayor that is determined to kill the rail project, that mayor will not be able to do so unilaterally so long as the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) is semi-autonomous and running the show. If I can get HART on the ballot and the majority of voters want HART repealed, then that would mean a mayor that wants to kill the rail project can actually do it and succeed.
Remember now, if HART does not get repealed, then a mayor who is against the rail project would need four council members to sustain a veto of the budget. As it stands, I am the only councilmember willing and ready to stop this train and my voting record reflects that. I have taken this position because I truly believe the public has become more educated about this rail project and wants another vote. It is obvious that the majority of our residents have deduced that this particular rail endeavor is going to be nothing more than a colossal failure and my survey results also reflect this sentiment. Put it to a vote.
In order to get HART repealed, I will need your help. Please come down to Honolulu Hale on March 21 at 10:00 a.m. and testify. My resolution to put HART on the 2012 election ballot so you can decide to repeal it or not is getting some final edits today and after that is accomplished, the reso will get filed and assigned a number so the public can track it and read the proposal first hand. Stay tuned.
TOWN HALL MEETING ON GMO’S HELD IN WAIANAE
Dr. Melissa Yee of SEEDS of TRUTH gave a presentation at our town hall meeting on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) this past Friday out in Waianae. We had numerous speakers share their expertise on GMO’s. We have a right to know what is in our food. Check out a sample of what you missed on this Youtube video if you were not there in person.
EWA DEVELOPMENT PLAN ON HOLD FOR LANDFILL CASE
Another hearing on the landfill is scheduled for March 7 – however no public testimony is to be taken. The Planning Commission is hearing arguments to extend the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill for another 15 years.
The Ewa Development Plan will not be advanced until the contested case on the landfill extension has been exhausted.
TESTIMONY TO STATE LAND USE COMMISSION ON HOOPILI
I was able to provide testimony to the State Land Use Commission last week Friday- regarding DR HORTON’s petition to reclassify some 1,554 acres on the Ewa Plain currently zoned agriculture into urban.
Albeit the quality of the video is substandard, the audio recording conveys the message that important agricultural lands regardless of whether or not they are inside an urban growth boundary, is to be identified and mapped. See my testimony in the Youtube video report.
HYPOCRISY: TOWN HALL MEETINGS ON RAIL
What is most bizarre, and completely irrational, is the comments made by Go-Rail-Go propagandist Maeda Timson who exclaimed on the nightly news, that she was disturbed by having experts from the mainland come and share their expertise with us here. The experts conveyed that there are better ways to resolve our traffic congestion.
Go-Rail-Go objected to having experts come to Honolulu on their own dime to speak to us when in contrast, to bring rail to the landscape, our tax dollars were expended to bring mainlanders here to sell it. Four of the five persons to participate in the alternative analysis process were from the mainland – only Dr. Prevedouros was from here, and the remaining four all advocated for steel wheel rail. Without mainlanders pitching rail- there may not have been this steel wheel decision or recommendation.
Our tax dollars were used to bring in from the mainland Norman Mineta- the past US Secretary of Transportation, who was paid $115,000.00 to testify for ten-minutes before the city council that steel wheel rail is the only way to go. How would you like $115 thousand to hang out for ten-minutes – think his testimony was objective and not bought off?
Then take into account, that current HART members could not find anyone locally to lead HART and had to go to the mainland to hire the executive director. We can deduce from HART’s actions that nobody is smart enough nor possesses the talent and managerial skills from within our state to get the job. So why isn’t Go-Rail-Go complaining about all those mainlanders coming to Oahu on our dime who know nothing about us here?
To put it all into context- see how hypocritical Go-Rail-Go has become – watch the news clip here:
And most disturbing- is how the intent of the pro-rail faction by association with Go-Rail-Go exhibited by their behavior at the rail town hall meetings was to not stay civil, but rather to just go into the meeting and give those respectable men that were here to help us and educate us- to just go and give them a hard time. See it here for yourself:
“The mission of Go-Rail-Go is to function as disruptors and act like goons,” stated many constituents at the meeting who were there to learn, adding “They tried to drown out the truth from being told. They tried to keep the facts from being presented and used intimidation tactics by blocking the entrance to the meetings.”
And if you missed the who, what, where, when, how, and why- see a synopsis of what the chatter is all about by clicking here.
Notice how the streets are “cleaner” from Homeless? Shoved into every nook and cranny, yet taking a walk through Chinatown today and stopping to talk with many, they are still without services and promises for housing. You say? Yes, we can move many people on a shiny expensive tube, but we cannot house others that need something inexpensive, meanwhile developers are chomping at the bit for their share of the pie on the route to Kapolei. Nothing going on with affordable housing that way, and the City & County is doing all it can to divest itself of its currently owned affordables as we speak about the up and coming RAIL disaster. Why not shove people on the back burner as usual. It’s only kids in poverty. They don’t mind, they will end up in prison on the mainland anyway, won’t they?
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