We have serious concerns about the ad placed in The Washington Post by former Gov. Ben Cayetano calling on Donald Trump to cut funding for the rail project, which is already halfway built.
It is difficult for us to understand why Hawaii’s former governor would team up with President Trump, whose attorney general only last week disparaged us as “an island in the Pacific.”
Through the publication of his ad, Cayetano is attempting to do what he failed to accomplish in court and at the ballot box, where his efforts to kill rail were consistently rejected by a majority of voters on this island.
The former governor is not only disregarding past votes but current sentiment, as well. In the Star-Advertiser poll last week, likely Oahu voters indicated by a nearly 2-to-1 margin they want the rail line finished from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center.
Completing the project as planned not only fulfills the wishes of Oahu voters, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) also expects the city do so to meet the requirements we accepted under the Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA), which the city entered into with the FTA. Under the FFGA, the city is eligible to receive $1.55 billion for the rail project, provided that it meets all of its contractual obligations.
If Cayetano’s effort to cancel the FFGA succeeds, it would place a tremendous financial burden on residents who would have to make up the additional shortfall created by the loss of federal funding.
Terminating the FFGA would likely require returning more than $750 million the federal government has delivered, which would needlessly impose an even greater burden on Oahu taxpayers.
In addition to returning the money already provided, canceling the agreement would mean foregoing the remaining approximately $800 million in funding. If the governor’s advertising effort succeeds, it could be devastating for Oahu residents.
Without the entire $1.55 billion the federal government committed, the city would have to consider other, more painful, financing options in order to complete the project to Ala Moana, including increasing real property taxes or reducing funding for programs and services our constituents need, or both.
In fact, without the $1.55 billion, the city would not even be able to complete the rail project to Aloha Tower, as some rail opponents have advocated. Shortening the route would dramatically reduce its usefulness to residents and result in delays and increased costs.
The thousands of affordable housing units planned for transit-oriented development (TOD) zones around stations in Kalihi-Palama, Iwilei, downtown and Kakaako would never be constructed and our critical housing shortage would only become worse.
Given the April 30 deadline for the city to submit its recovery plan to fund the completion of the rail project to the FTA for the agency’s approval, Gov. Cayetano’s ad sends the wrong signal to the federal government at the worst possible time.
Moreover, the FTA staff has indicated repeatedly that our management of the FFGA will be considered next time the state and city apply for federal funds for future transportation projects.
Significantly, the FTA executive director indicated to both Vice Chairman Ikaika Anderson and me that federal financial support for the rail project is assured, as long as the city follows through on its contractual commitments with the federal government.
This is no time for the state and the city to backtrack. We cannot allow an ad in a national newspaper to break our stride at a critical time. We should continue to show support, while meeting our contractual obligations to the federal government.
City Council Chairman Ron Menor submitted this on behalf of the Permitted Interaction Group (P.I.G.), established by the Council to address the rail issue; its members include Menor, Vice Chairman Ikaika Anderson and Councilmembers Kymberly Marcos Pine and Joey Manahan.
