Businessman and former Honolulu City Councilman John Henry Felix is resigning from the rail authority board effective as soon as his replacement is confirmed, and recommends in his resignation letter that the city declare a “time out” on the project and pause the construction of rail at Middle Street.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell and officials with the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation have repeatedly rejected the idea of stopping rail at Middle Street, warning that the city must complete the project to Ala Moana Center or default on its agreement with the Federal Transit Administration.
The FTA pledged to provide $1.55 billion to help fund the Honolulu rail project, and has provided more than half of that amount already. That money would have to be paid back if the city fails to complete the project, according to HART.
Felix also urged the HART board in his resignation letter to complete a forensic audit of the rail project to determine exactly how the cost of the 20-mile rail line ballooned from about $5.2 billion in 2012 to today’s budget of $9.2 billion.
“Before you can get it right, you have to figure out what went wrong,” Felix wrote in his resignation letter, which was dated Jan. 29.
The Honolulu City Council has budgeted up to $2 million for a forensic audit of rail, and Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi said her office has been discussing the scope of the project with the Honolulu City Auditor.
Felix contends in his letter that the audit should determine whether the rail ridership will turn out to be as large as was originally projected, and whether the ridership justifies the cost of rail. HART projects the rail line will have 119,600 weekday passenger trips by the year 2030.
Felix said his resignation was prompted by medical issues as well as his demanding corporate and community commitments. Felix is executive chairman of Hawaii Medical Assurance Association, and served on the City Council for 16 years.
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