Over the many years that I’ve worked with business owners in Hawaii, I’ve found that most are willing to put up with short-term inconveniences if it’s for the long-term betterment of the community. That’s how we do things in Hawaii.
So it is with increasing concern that I’ve monitored the discussions about the so-called Plans A and B for the Honolulu rail project. I understand that the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) is preparing both plans for review by the federal government.
Plan A would complete the full project — 20 miles and 21 stations from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center. Plan B, to cut costs, would build the rail guideway through Kalihi and Chinatown possibly to the planned Downtown Station near Aloha Tower, but would delete many, if not all, of the four stations planned for Kalihi and Chinatown.
That’s a non-starter for the hundreds of businesses and the thousands of residents in Kalihi and Chinatown who would be adversely affected by years of delays and detours caused by construction of the guideway. Yet there are still some who apparently believe a “rail light” option is an acceptable alternative.
It isn’t. Advocates of Plan B are asking people who live and work in Kalihi and Chinatown to put up with all of the problems associated with building the massive project but get absolutely none of the benefits when it’s completed.
There will be no easy way to commute to jobs downtown, in Waikiki or at Pearl Harbor. No convenient option to get to Ala Moana Center, Pearlridge center, the new Ka Makana Alii shopping center, or the hundreds of local businesses along the rail route. No hassle-free way to enjoy the many restaurants or specialty shopping in Chinatown. No option to get off our crowded roads and highways to pursue higher education and specialty training at the University of Hawaii-West Oahu, Leeward Community College, Honolulu Community College, the John A. Burns School of Medicine, or Hawaii Pacific University.
I understand the concern about extending the general excise tax surcharge to ensure we’ve got enough funding to build the full rail project. As a Certified Management Consultant, I know that no business owner wants to pay extra taxes. But we’re building a rail system for the long term, for our kids, grandkids and great-grandkids.
It’s the same reasoning that went into building Oahu’s highways, which connect East Honolulu to West Oahu, Central Oahu and the Windward side. Six decades after we began planning that system, it’s obvious we need to do more to accommodate the growth we’ve experienced since then, and will continue to experience in coming decades.
The best answer is the rail system. And we all know how to complete the full rail system: approve an extension of the GET surcharge for rail. The answer won’t be found wasting time debating a shorter and incomplete project that far fewer people will want to ride, won’t take them to as many places, and will stick the people of Kalihi and Chinatown with years of disruption and provide them no benefits.
That’s no plan for the future.
Dennis Bunda is a Certified Management Consultant who works with Hawaii businesses; he’s the past state chairman and assistant district director of SCORE, a counselor to small businesses here.
