Lawmakers should support rail Plan A
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
This is the progress of construction of the HART mass transit rail line along Kamehameha Hwy. from Aiea towards Aloha Stadium, as it approaches and is about to cross the Aiea Interchange No. 4 next to the Aiea Cemetery.
There’s a reason why a fallback option is called “Plan B.” It’s plainly not as good as Plan A.
In the case of the city’s elevated rail project, Plan B would terminate the guideway in downtown Honolulu but would sacrifice transit stops that almost certainly would diminish its usefulness to a large percentage of potential riders.
Describing just how far short it falls as an alternative is the job of advocates for a truly serviceable rail system, as lawmakers meet to evaluate the way forward on the city’s project, deeply mired in financial trouble.
Of course, this means the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and city officials will have to make the case for why additional revenues to overcome a funding gap are needed to produce a result worthy of the investment.
The coming legislative session is a make-or-break time for HART, which has been given an extension of April 20 to devise a new financial plan to cope with astronomically higher cost projections for completing the project as envisioned, extending from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center.
There is $6.8 billion available through the existing mechanism of a temporary half-percent surcharge on the general excise tax Oahu residents pay. Current projections put rail’s cost at around $3 billion beyond that, and covering that bill would require a further extension of the GET surcharge.
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Legislators need to face the fact that this is the only acceptable route to a solution. “Building to budget” works, but only if the result is something that serves a purpose.
The problem with the new deadline is that it would require lawmakers — and the governor — to act quickly so that HART can finalize the plan by the federal deadline.
They should approve an extension of the GET surcharge, which is the most efficient means of tapping residents and visitors alike, most of whom will either ride the rail or benefit from the economic infusion, redevelopment and transportation improvement.
The bottom line is: That’s what it will take to enable completion of Plan A.
Let’s consider the alternative.
Plan B is to get commuters to downtown by building at least the rail guideway to Aloha Tower. According to the interim plan prepared for federal authorities in September, this would require “deferral” of the Pearl Highlands Transit Center, along with the Kalihi, Kapalama, Iwilei and Chinatown stations.
Deferral means that it won’t be built until it’s much costlier to do so, which leaves prospects for their completion looking fairly murky. In the meantime, the rail system might serve commuters heading to work downtown, but not if they start or end their trip between Middle Street and Aloha Tower.
Even setting aside the loss of ridership from those who would like a trip to the commercial hub of Ala Moana, that means a lot of residents who could use the system likely will stick to car or bus travel. And that means many more cars in the congested city center.
Further, the loss of the Pearl Highlands stop, with its parking garage and H-2 freeway off-ramp, signifies that the city would be giving up on the notion of Central Oahu residents being served by the rail.
Taxpayers must consider: $6.8 billion is cheaper than the $9 billion-plus projected for the full buildout, but the end product does not fulfill the city’s needs.
Finally, there has been a lot of complaining that the April deadline won’t allow the state its full allotment of time to ruminate over this. The response to legislators should be: Oh, please, get real. Now is the time to do not what is usual, but what is required. To do their job, in other words.
46 responses to “Lawmakers should support rail Plan A”
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We need to take the Plan B pill and abort this B@stard.
By the way, this article just proves how “in the tank” the SA has been all along for rail. It’s a project only a mother can love and the SA has nurtured this ugly baby and its liberal, corrupt benefactors from day one.
Yup
Yup,and you’re not just whistling Dixie!
Whistling Dixie…is that considered racist these days too??? 😉
Liberal? Trumpf said he would spend trillions on infrastucture especially airport links.
To all news outlets – Please publish the names of every elected official who supports and votes for Plan A, so that we can vote against them as well as remember them for decades to come. Thank you.
The SA is misguided. The rail will not cost 9 billion. Does anyone truly believe there will be no more cost overruns to complete the rail to Ala Moana?
It’s going to cost more than 9.5 billion. I’m thinking 14-20 billion to complete to Ala Moana, with the power source and all other factors included.
Lol,the last time you guys wanted politician names that supported rail, they all got in. Lol.
LOL, the last time Nanakuliboss promoted and voted for a politician that supported rail, Nanakuli had his property taxes immediately jacked by 12.6% after the election as a thank you gift from that politician! LOL
Who buys something not knowing how much it’s going to cost and also knowing that it won’t make a substantial improvement to the (traffic) problem at hand?
RUSTY THE HATED SCREECHING RAIL REARS ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN & AGAIN AND NOW THE POWERS THAT BE WANT TO GIVE IT A BLANK CHECK!!!!
STOP THIS CHOO CHOO IN ITS TRACKS AND vote out all the pro RAIL leaders who are looking out for their own wallets not ours.
Call it what it is a B O O N D O G G L E . VOTE NO MORE BROKEN, FALLING APART RUSTING RAIL CARS OR GUIDE WAYS. SHAME ON THE SA & LEGISLATORS FOR EVEN CONSIDERING MAKING THE GENERAL EXCISE TAX PERMANANANT. AGAIN THEY HAVE LIED TO US THE PEOPLE.
The Ala Moana shopping center owners along with the 5 large land owners in Kakaako should be assessed.
Wow this writer sure lives in a FANTASY LAND. We can NOT afford this waste of monies. It was sold at 3 BILLION to UH, so lets use some COMMON SENSE and re-think just HOW MUCH THIS IS WORTH ? I like stopping at Middle street or Aloha tower, NO need go to Ala Moana, its a darn shopping center people. The fact this Rail Project was sold on LIES, DECEIT, Mis-information and CORRUPTION is INSANE !!
When will enough be enough? More cost overruns until the 20 mile rail costs 20 billion?
Bingo. When is enough enough? At what point is rail not worth the money. Go ahead. Make my day. Spend more. Pretty soon Honolulu will be looking back at $20 billion gone for a project that don’t make a hill of beans difference – except for marring the land’s beauty.
A poorly run newspaper supports a poorly run rail project.
This is pure ivory tower B * S *
Star Advertiser needs to reveal their stake in this fiasco both with TOD properties invested in on the route AND relationships with the criminals in city and state government/unions
“Star Advertiser needs to reveal their stake in this fiasco …”
Perhaps reporters and newspaper corporate owners have a financial stake in the rail. Perhaps construction companies and unions bought reporters’ and editorialists’ rail advocacy. I prefer a simpler explanation: news media hire Journalism majors and Schools of Journalism screen students. As a result, journalists are almost uniformly gullible socialists. Government is God to these people.
Plan A is to build something for a price that has yet to be accurately determined (but which is already at least 5 billion over the original price tag), and to have it built and operated by an agency that has proven time and time again to be incapable of performing on-time and within its budget.
My legislators are Brian Taniguchi and Issac Choy and my Councilwoman is Ann Kobayashi. I will not support any of them if they chose to support Plan A.
You can forget about Taniguchi. He supports building rail to UH.
No more tax money for the rail. The cars are defective, the shims are breaking, the cables rusting, the product is defective before it is complete and the price has tripled. Give the federal government back their money and do plan C, tear it down.
A M E N !!!
I vote for plan C!!
END RAIL NOW
Nice thorough commentary. We need to remain focused that rail is for our long range future. Rail should have been built decades ago. Delays caused the cost increase. We need to bite the bullet and finally get this needed infrastructure built properly as planned. West side commuters need and deserve relief from the horrendous traffic. When rail is finally finished, people will be happy to ride it and it will all be worth it in the long run.
I should have invested all my money in Microsoft back in the 1980’s but I didn’t. That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to do so now.
And please stop the BS about traffic because the city has already admitted that rail will not significantly reduce traffic.
So your point is to just ignore the facts that rail was sold to the people on a bunch of lies and deceit. Just keep taxing the people on something the city clearly can’t afford to build let alone maintain. Since you clearly support this runaway train project, why not come clean and tell us where on the mainland you live and how you’re connected to this ill-conceived project called rail.
WE????
WE????
WE????
Where the F do YOU fit in on the “WE”, you P * O * S disgusting shill?????
Only good for a legacy. A mocked legacy.
IRT Ukublue: Are you being paid by rail to write in support of the project? Either way, it is important to be transparent; it would add credibility to your position. As it stands now, I believe your comment are ignored.
Ukuleleblue, it is time you had the courage and character to reveal where it is on the mainland you love and what your connection is to this mess of a rail project.
It’s way past time.
ukuleleblue, you as a government union member employed by HART earning over $850,000+ a year as a professional PAID blogger to promote the rail don’t seem to realize that we need to expand the rail everywhere!
We need to promote a spur to Japan, a second spur to Volcanoes National Park and a spur to Syria to help those undocumented refugees get here faster! Ukulu, there is no one like you when it comes to promoting the rail. I fully support and encourage you. I beg you to quickly call Krook on the phone and promote the expansion of the rail. Your children and grandchildren will save thousands of dollars in airfare costs by taking the rail to visit other destinations and vice versa!
Ukulu, one more favor, call Krook and let him know this is going to be a mother F#@$er of an expenditure but we can do it! Tell him to tap the entire Hawaii ERS pension system loaded with billions of slush money to cover this, the taxpayers will never miss a single penny of the ERS money! I promise you brah! If we build it they will come and your children and your great grand children will all thank you for your great contributions to the betterment of our islands!
The Editorial Board has been “All in” for rail since the two papers became one. They are “True Believers” that are “shooting from the hip”. They have no understanding of how much this costs per person. They are confused about the topic of traffic congestion and rail. They have no understanding of the “Reality of rail” – ridership, cost, security etc. They just think, “We must need rail”.
Shame on them for not being more involved in the details of this project. They are social engineers without understanding the project. Shame on them for editing editorials form the public all these years to make sure rail “looks good”.
Nice comment, Pukele!
A former Advertiser editor Jeanne Marian- Belding is on the Hart board.
Star Advertiser should ask itself the following before trying to brainwash the public. “Do we need it?” “Can we afford it?””Can we afford to maintain it?”
The article is misleading. It suggests that there is only a Plan A, and a Plan B. What about other alternatives, including stopping the project completely? While many do not want that to happen, it is indeed an alternative.
The article suggests that “There’s a reason why a fallback option is called ‘Plan B.’ It’s plainly not as good as Plan A.” Even assuming that’s true, it doesn’t mean we HAVE to stick with Plan A. For example, a used Honda is “not as good as” a brand new Mercedes or Tesla. But if you don’t have the money or budget you realistically should stick with the Honda. Or hold off on buying any vehicle until your budget will allow for it.
Most of us in Hawaii may not be as financially well off as those on the Star Advertiser editorial board, so to us the concern of money and finances is foremost in considering Plan A , Plan B or any other plan. In its oversimplification and glossing over the many practical issues, this article is quite offensive.
Stop at Ala Moana? Why? Let’s build rail to Las Vegas since they want a permanent tax to fund the construction … ahhh … and road upgrades … and to the never ending scenarios that will come up soon. Rail? We are being railroaded.
It’s simple.
The bill should be passed and signed on the first day of the session. Enough grandstanding by legislators.
It’s disappointing to see them fight for the limelight and NOT do their job. If they wont act, fire them.
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It’s simple.
The bill should be passed and signed on the first day of the session. Enough grandstanding by legislators.
It’s disappointing to see them fight for the limelight and NOT do their job. If they wont act, fire them.
Looks like SA Moderators are not doing their jobs either….
“The response to legislators should be: Oh, please, get real. Now is the time to do not what is usual, but what is required. To do their job, in other words.”
Whose job is it to make HART and these politicians and their insider friends deliver on their many broken promises?
Remember “on time and on budget”? If you think it’s the job of the legislature to facilitate the lies and deception of the these HART insiders and reward their lies and shoddy work with untold riches, then you people at the SA are a major part of the problem.
How long will the rail project go on? Here’s an exerpt from and LA Times article about Californias rail debacle:
California Hits the Brakes on High-Speed Rail Fiasco
1026JUNE 28, 2016 By Virginia Postrel
“California’s high-speed rail project increasingly looks like an expensive social science experiment to test just how long interest groups can keep money flowing to a doomed endeavor before elected officials finally decide to cancel it. What combination of sweet-sounding scenarios, streamlined mockups, ever-changing and mind-numbing technical detail, and audacious spin will keep the dream alive?”
If it were not for the small Republican minority in the CA Legislature, spending would have likely not been halted. Google the CA rail project; the similarities to Hawaii’s project are uncanny. The HI legislature needs to step up and do the right thing. Enough is enough.
The dictator of The Banana Republic of Honolulu fed all of them a lunch plate in exchange for a vote. Only way to end this viably is to use reverse psychology on them. Bankrupt Honolulu County!
We should also suggest Krook Caldwell loot the entire Hawaii government pension system (ERS) to pay for the rail and mandate furloughs for all non-essential county workers to help meet the budget overruns. Let’s bankrupt the county and in the end ALL inept useless non-essential government jobs will be eliminated or outsourced to Asia or India for a 1/3 of the cost so the rest of us will no longer need to worry about more taxes to pay for “solutions” we never asked for.
HNL: Cheapest, most easily bought and most mediocre politicians MONEY CAN BUY