The 2008 Great Recession brought stern measures of austerity to Hawaii with one exception — rail. While government programs were being cut and everyone was experiencing frugality, rail was given an extraordinary status and a very generous credit line from taxpayers. Somehow, billions of rail dollars were released.
Fast-forward almost a decade and tourism is having record years while the construction industry is red hot. Yet, within this context of prosperity, homelessness keeps on growing, annually setting new records. Clearly, the “rising tide lifts all boats” aphorism no longer applies in local waters. So, what should we make of Hawaii’s new economic reality?
First, we need to ask ourselves, how can homelessness disappear when the minimum wage is not a living wage and thousands of needed affordable housing units are nowhere on the horizon?
Low-wage earners who are unable to save become vulnerable to homelessness. Couples who cannot put a down payment on a home are locked out of the Pacific dream. Seniors who have not managed to put together a nest egg are forced to work into their final years.
In short, we need a new economic paradigm in Hawaii. When the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum is already falling out, expanding taxes is absolutely the wrong policy for Oahu. We need a tax strategy that pulls people up, not one that pushes people down and out.
Two proposals recently made the front page of this newspaper: access to community colleges and access to dental care. These are the type of bold measures that could strengthen our community by making a direct impact.
From keiki to kupuna and everyone in between, there is a long list of unmet needs: air conditioning in the classrooms, adult education, adequate salaries for teachers, affordable housing, road repair, crumbling infrastructure, real traffic solutions, support for elderly services, assistance for family caregivers, long-term care and mental health — just to name a few. A permanent extension of the general excise tax for rail would not be fair to those needs that have quietly and patiently been waiting for funding.
By the government’s own admission, rail is a venture that only projects a 2 percent reduction in future traffic growth, resulting in much worse traffic than now. That kind of outcome does not deserve to cut in front of all the other urgent needs once again — not when your multibillion-dollar rail budget has doubled in a few years. The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has simply proven to be a totally unreliable agent in the process.
Last but not least is the uncertainty created by a new American president determined to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. If the state of Hawaii is forced to assume a bigger share of the cost of access to affordable care, then the last thing we want is to get sucked into rail’s gargantuan thirst for cash.
At this point, caving in to rail’s recurring demands is pandering to the influence and pressure of the special interest groups behind this project.
Gov. David Ige ran on a platform that called for putting public interest ahead of special interest. Mayor Kirk Caldwell recently used the slogan of “people first.” It is time to have a heart and translate rhetoric into reality.
Marc Delorme is a Honolulu documentary filmmaker; he is working on a film about rail on Oahu.
