Charter proposals to halt rail rejected
The Honolulu City Charter Commission voted Wednesday to set aside proposals submitted by the public aimed at either stopping or shortening the route of the city’s contentious 20-mile, $6.57 billion rail project.
All told, the commission received 154 proposals for charter amendments from government officials, interest groups, private individuals and its own commission members. (See accompanying chart at staradvertiser.com.)
With a Sept. 1 deadline to submit charter amendment proposals to the city clerk in time to be placed on the Nov. 8 general election ballot, the commission has limited time and myriad issues, Chairman David Rae said after the meeting.
On Wednesday, the commission voted to defer 15 of the proposals, including three plans seeking to either tear down the partially built rail line, or to halt the project either at Aloha Stadium or Middle Street, rather than the now-planned Ala Moana station, and eliminating the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.
Rae and several others said the electorate had previously voted on rail, and raised concerns that either tearing down or shortening the length may be considered a breach of the city’s agreement with the Federal Transit Administration that provides $1.55 billion of the project’s funding.
“That’s not something I am prepared to do, or recommend we do,” Rae told colleagues.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
The City Council, separately, is in the process of deciding whether to extend a half-percent general excise tax on Oahu, the main revenue source for rail construction, in the wake of recent financial shortfalls.
Several commission members said they empathize with the concerns of several private individuals who argued that all the proposals should be given a more thorough vetting before being rejected.
But Rae said it’s possible for any of the deferred proposals to be discussed, if members choose to do so later.
The smattering of proposals given the preliminary rejection slip fell into several categories.
Commission member John Waihee, the former governor, said he doesn’t want the commission “being used as a cheap route to have a referendum.” He cited votes by the public on rail and rail funding among them.
| A brief digest of all 154 Charter Commission proposals can be found at data.staradvertiser.com/charter/ |
Rae noted that the commission is continuing to look at other rail-related proposals, including ones that would create a new agency responsible for operation and management of all city-sponsored transportation modes including rail, TheBus and Handi-Van.
Most of the other proposals deferred are defined, in either state or city law, as the jurisdiction of other government agencies or officials, Rae said. Those proposals are being referred to the responsible agencies, he said.
One example of that was a proposal calling for genetically modified products on Oahu to be labeled as “genetically modified organisms.” Commission members said the courts have ruled such a law is outside the jurisdiction of the counties.
Also rejected were several proposals calling for eliminating the mayor’s position in favor of a city manager under the auspices of the City Council. Rae said that contemplating a significant overhaul of the city governing structure, while within the commission’s jurisdiction, was something the panel would not have time to investigate thoroughly given other priorities and decided not to consider.
A handful of people testified at Wednesday’s meeting.
Retired librarian Joyce Solomon spoke in support of a charter amendment requiring greater public access to the city’s Municipal Reference Center, including language requiring it to be open at least once a week. Solomon said the facility and service have been neglected in the last two decades.
Lea Hong of the Trust for Public Land and Marjorie Ziegler of the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i urged the commission to reject an amendment eliminating the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund, which provides money to community groups seeking to preserve undeveloped lands. A 2006 charter amendment approved by voters requires one-half of 1 percent of property tax revenues go to the fund.
Barbara Polk of Common Cause Hawaii called for the commission to continue discussion on adding language to the charter requiring the city clerk to participate in “get out the vote” efforts and to provide “plain English” guides to voters on candidates and issues.
The commission, which has been meeting in the City Council’s committee room, intends to hold at least four meetings outside Honolulu Hale, Rae said. After meeting with city attorneys to discuss format issues at its next meeting Wednesday, the commission will begin airing the remaining 139 proposals in groups divided by related subject matter, he said.
Last week’s meeting was the first to be televised live on ‘Olelo Community Media Channel 54 on Oceanic Time Warner Cable channel 54 and olelo.org. Rae said the commission is hoping to broadcast most of its meetings but may be precluded from showing them all due to budget constraints.
68 responses to “Charter proposals to halt rail rejected”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
http://www.councilmanberg.com/html_pages/eblasts/e_blast_030612.html
http://www.civilbeat.com/2012/03/bergs-radio-spot-repeal-hart/
Look! A bunch of dem insiders closing down the People’s ability to vote on how the taxes and fees they provide should be spent.
Noncouncilmember Tom “Humiliated at the ballot box and rejected by his constituents” Berg, the rail project will be completed to Ala Moana Center and then to UH Manoa and West Kapolei, but please continue wasting your time trying to stop it.
IRT BluesBroken: the reality is PRP ( John Whites group of Union Money thieves) spent well over 4 MILLION DOLLARS TO create a witch hunt for both Tom Berg and Ben Cayetano. With that kind of money they could have made Mother Teresa look like and isil member or a mass murderer. So don’t think that Hawaii is controlled by deception just do your research and you will find everything I have said since 2008 has and is becoming the truth. Who I going to ride the MONSTER CHOO CHOO ARE YOU ?????????? and ho many busses will it take to get you there and back or where will you fix your car after you park in a park and slither RAIL STATION
PRP has simply spoken the truth.
wilikitutu says: “PRP has simply spoken the truth.”
http://khon2.com/2014/06/13/pro-rail-group-apologizes-for-political-ads-attacking-cayetano/
BB – Well aware of what it is like to be humiliated. Everyone of their posts pure rail shibai, another minion, rail lapdog for hire @. $.50 a post. $.74 if they do a really good job.
Way too many utterly weak of mind rail minions out there. Just like the “Walkers” in The Walking Dead, no purpose in life, always walking after the rail money pit. Sad.
Localguy, did you read yesterdays letters. Someone had commented on a letter about rail, and Ukuleleblue came out of the woodworks to defend it. Its not hard to see that ukuleleblue is somehow connected to rail since it’s the only subject they seem to comment on, yet continues to refuse to say, and ignores it when someone asks on where on this island they live.
polekasta – Yes. uku is just a paid rail troll. Word is he is Grabby’s born out of wedlock, red headed, step child. Pays him on average $.50 per post. Sometimes $.75 up to $1 if he really has to work. Yeah. Right. Basically cut and paste.
When I think of Uku I think of the “Walkers” on the TV series The Walking Dead” A mindless creature walking after rail.
The “people,” that is the majority of voters in this state, are overwhelmingly Democratic. The anti-union, right wing folks who post in this comment section regularly represent a tiny minority, a fact corroborated by the number of Republicans in the legislature and other elected offices in Hawaii.
What are you mumbling about? Not even half the citizens of this state vote.
Well BB, your numbers will never add up if you don’t count solid Democrats who hate the rail, like me.
irt Diogenes, You may be the only smart Democrat in Hawaii and its time you stood up LIKE A MAN AND BECOME A REPUBLICAN as we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.
Only an idiot could make rail a partisan issue.
Indeed, we are the silent supermajority.
RUSTY THE HATED SCREECHING TRAFFIC JAM CREATING STEEL ON STEEL MONSTER RAIL REARS ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN & AGAIN. Built on a foundation of Lies, Deception, Backroom cash deals, A corrupt BRIBERY INDUCED green Cash paid City Council and Mayors office. The truth is they have all been bought and paid for EXCEPT FOR TOM BERG WHEN HE WAS IN OFFICE. Somehow, someone has to stop the runaway CHOO CHOO
WE FELL ONE VOTE SHORT – ONE VOTE SHORT OF TERMINATING HART- WE CAN DO THIS- REPEAL HART- SIMPLY ELECT ME BACK TO CITY COUNCIL AND I WILL CHAMPION THE EXTERMINATION OF THE STEEL WHEELED BEAST. WATCH THE NEWS REPORT HERE- WE CAN DO THIS- TRUMP AND USURP THIS CHARTER COMMISSION HOUSE OF ILL WILL-
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AwrSbDyjI4lWgHMAQGVXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3VzaC1tYWlsbl8wMgRncHJpZANPT2t4MVlSaVFKNmw1VHpNWVMybWpBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwM0BG9yaWdpbgNzZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMwBHBxc3RyAwRwcXN0cmwDBHFzdHJsAzI3BHF1ZXJ5A2NvdW5jaWxtYW4gYmVyZyByZXBlYWwgaGFydAR0X3N0bXADMTQ1MTgyODMwMQ–?p=councilman+berg+repeal+hart&fr2=sb-top-search&fr=ush-mailn_02
CouncilmanBerg says: “WE FELL ONE VOTE SHORT – ONE VOTE SHORT OF TERMINATING HART-”
And that;s with multiple council members accepting bribes and large gifts. Imagine how quickly it would have gotten voted down without guys like Nestor Garcia.
“Rae and several others said the electorate had previously voted on rail”. This statement alone should force David Rae off the commission. He’s stating THE lie of this entire rail fiasco. We have never been given the chance to vote, straight up or down, if we wanted rail or not. We were given a choice of what kind of rail we wanted. We were TOLD that there would be a rail system of some sort. The election for mayor was exactly that, an election for the office of the MAYOR, NOT a vote on rail. (An election that was stolen by dem insiders, oh, sorry, unions, which is the same thing).
Exasctly. When we “voted” a 3.2 billion dollar project was going to be 50% subsidized by the feds, leaving us with a small price tag. Now we have a $7 billion and counting train, and our contribution has quadrupled. HEY Rae! Nobody voted for this shhht. If you call that a vote, then you are a minion of a banana republic government.
He is a minion in a banana republic government.
I was thinking more like a “Walker” (The Living Dead) always walking after the siren song of rail, same mental level of the TV series Walkers.
CORRUPTION is destroying this once great city !
And denial is a river in Egypt. Both votes were proxies for where we are now.
amazing how you pro rail people think a vote for steel on steel was a vote for a Rail line ? And when people did not know how to vote and left it blank it counted as a YES. CORRUPTION buddy !!
I voted NO and it meant nothinG. the city would have still built it. Sick of all the LIES and MISINFORMATION !!
You would be confused if you think I am pro rail, I’m not. I voted against the referendum and I voted for Ben. What did you think a yes vote on the referendum was for? A no? I also believe the only thing dumber than building rail is stopping the project now or cutting it short.
Chair Dave Rae and the Commission are doing a good job reviewing and sorting through many important recommendations.
Yeah, thanks for the input Mr. Mayor.
irt Mikehono FOMBY IS THAT YOU AGAIN and did Caldwell say you could talk????
I agree. Special interests are trying in insert a lot of nonsense into the city charter.
Mikehono – Pure Shibai. Chair and Commission are nothing but bought and paid for lapdogs, minions of rail. Envelopes of love (filled with Zippy’s coupons for free food) appear on their desks. They blindly follow the siren song of rail. Pulling the Nei deeper and deeper into another endless money pit. Losers every one of them.
I wish there was a way the feds could get involved and expose the corruption and stupidity of this thing. But it’s only a wish
The rail project IS a federal project and the FTA is deeply involved, along with U.S. DOT, which supports the project.
Why is it that from the very start, federal funding only covered about 50% of the cost to build rail? My understanding is that is the lowest in the nation.
BB – There you go again with more of your usual shibai. Rail IS NOT a federal project. If it was a federal agency would be in charge of it. Hoover Dam was a federal project. Now do you understand? Truth is federal agencies have been very critical of the Nei’s willful inability to properly manage the project, failure after failure.
Rail is a backwater, bush league, money pit project loosely managed by a disgraced Grabby (Boston’s Big Dig) and a peanut gallery of obtuse city bureaucrats (HART) plus numerous “Walkers” (The Living Dead) elected bureaucrats who blindly walk after the rail money pit, hoping to take a bite from the taxpayer’s money.
Rail’s crushing yearly O&M costs will lower the quality of life for our children and grandchildren as the struggle to pay the extra taxes, reducing their spending power. Many will realize the failure of their parent’s decision for rail and leave the Nei for the mainland. Forever asking how their parents could have been so easily manipulated to approve money pit rail.
Rail is receiving $1.55 Billion in federal dollars. That, and the involvement of the federal oversight agencies, makes it a federal project. The project has to follow federal rules, which it does. It became a federal project when the financial plan and the EIS were accepted by the FTA. Your entitled to your own boneheaded opinion but not to your own facts.
BluesBreaker says: The rail project IS a federal project and the FTA is deeply involved, along with U.S. DOT, which supports the project.
FALSE!!!!!! The H3 was a federal project, The rail is a City, I repeat, a City project. The FTA should be more involved by asking why have costs skyrocketed when the city claimed the financial plan was so solid. And if the US DOT supports the project, then the city should ask for the US DOT to help and contribute some funds to help build it also.
Keep this rail only if it goes to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Tear it down if it is not going there.
Rail will eventually reach UH-Manoa. It has to. We need to build the important trunk line from the west side to downtown first. We need to get past the present inconveniences and look at the long term necessity of rail infrastructure. The cost today will have no relevance to the benefits we will gain for generations to come. Bay Area residents don’t care about the cost of BART now. We don’t care about the cost of H-3 now. Having foresight allows us to accomplish needs for a better quality of life.
uku= BS The RAIL IS A BOONDOGGLE AND WE WANT IT STOPPED BEFORE MORE DAMAGE IS DONE!!!!!
Eventually rail will connect all the UH campuses. Students will be able to take courses from different campuses,
Rail will never, ever connect to the UH campus. As we have seen, it is just too expensive to rip up our limited number of streets, redo all the underground infrastructure, then suffer the never ending construction delays, change orders, usual Nei inefficiency in doing anything. Utter gridlock in the effected areas.
The billions it would cost to go to UH would never, ever be made up in rider fares (recouping) to cover the cost of building and yearly O&M. Already our children and grandchildren will buckle under the crushing yearly O&M cost for the current rail line. Adding more will further lower their quality of life. Their only answer will be to leave the Nei. Let it sink under its own debt.
IN whose lifetime. Cheaper to relocate UHM to UH WO and sell off the Manoa land.
students will still take whether or not it goes to Manoa or Ala Moana,
wilikitutu says: “students will still take whether or not it goes to Manoa or Ala Moana”
Then according to you, it doesn’t matter where the rail stops, does it? SO why not shorten to something affordable and keep the promise of the temporary tax?
I’d buy rail municipal bonds if it is backed up by the general funds. As a revenue bond, forget it.
(See accompanying chart at staradvertiser.com.)Where is this chart?
I haven’t seen the chart online, either. Here’s the link to the charter commission’s website. Hopefully they’ll post minutes soon, so everyone can see what was deferred. http://honoluluchartercommission.org/
Apologies for the mix-up. The link to our chart is attached to the story now, and we mark those that were deferred.
You can also link to it here:
http://data.staradvertiser.com/charter/
The LIES are outrageous !
Rail has NEVER had a straight YES or NO vote. Voting for steel on steel as opposed to Rail or BUS was NEVER voted on. The LIES and CORRUPTION is this state is out of control.
Its also sad that is you did not vote for steel on steel and left it blank it was counted as a YES vote. CORRUPTION is alive and well in this town !
Oh and Rae, is a JOKE and should NOT be able to make those types of choices, it a HUGE CONFLICT OF INTEREST !!
Baloney, the media have always explained to the public the consequences of voting yes or no.
hahaha you make me laugh with your B$
If you were ignorant of the ballot, then you were living under a rock.
Yeah. Right. When unmarked vote choices counts as a Yes. Talk about little 7th world, banana boat republic. So laughable.
At best, putting such a question on the ballot was a waste of time. Of course, the city has the “power” to build rail. So what? The relevant question—should it build the current proposed project?—was not plainly asked.
Worse, it was a sham. As Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter Laurie Au noted in 2008, even a “no” vote on that ballot measure, “would have [had] no legal power in stopping the city from continuing to build a mass transit system.”
That basically states that whether it was on the ballot or not, or voted yes or no, rail would have still be built cause Mufi would have wanted it anyway.
polekasta Totally agree!! But I still can’t believe that some people still think that voters had a chance to vote for Rail or No Rail. Simply put, the way the ballot was setup “Rail” could not loose.
1. A Yes vote = “RAIL” Build Steel on Steel
2. A No vote = “RAIL” Build Rubber Tire or Other
3. A Blank vote = Yes vote “RAIL” Build Steel on Steel.
Mufi was just doing his typical scam game. But I must give him credit, by reading some of the posters, Mufi did a great job in scamming voters. (I wasn’t fooled)
Baloney …? What are you, like 100 years old?
Fire Ernie. He’s doing rail.
Sad to see the Chairman is just another clueless, rail lapdog versus doing their job to look out for the people. By failing to accept money pit rail needs to be stopped at the Middle Street Bus Terminal, they are reducing the quality of life for our children and grandchildren. Ensuring the crushing debt and yearly O&M costs saddle them with excessive extra taxes, forcing many to leave the Nei for a higher quality of life.
So many weak minded, clueless, obtuse bureaucrats falling victim to the siren song of rail. Failing to understand it is adding billions in another money pit. Returning little in value. This is what these bureaucrats do. Nothing.
It’s just Ernie. Keep the others.
Caldwell’s chief of staff small brains wili
The Charter Commission is a bunch of super dictators with a lot of conflicts of interest. They should let the voters decide on important matters of public interest, not decide for themselves. A new Cindependent Charter Commission should be appointed.
Charter Commission are related to Mayor.
Have you submitted testimony yet? During their next meeting, they will be discussing ethics rules and whether they should be required to disclose conflicts of interest. Here’s the agenda with instructions on how to submit testimony. http://honoluluchartercommission.org/images/1-6-16-Agenda.pdf
A former rail lobbyist saying that nothing can be done to stop rail and will not give the citizens an actual yes or no vote on continuing rail. This is BS!!!!
If anything, the citizens should have a say in this election about the future of rail and its looming financial burden to the residents of Oahu.
Anyone connected to Rail in any form, i.e. lobbyist, former council members, should be excluded from any decision on the project’s inclusion on the ballot.
Where is the FEDERAL investigation into this corruption?
Everything about rail is ugly! Financing, management, political musical chairs, etc. . Rail is here to stay and paradise as we know it had gone away! RIP!
No surprise here. All of Caldwell’s henchman stack the commission.