Honolulu’s misbegotten rail project is $5 billion over budget, 12 years behind schedule and short of making it to its planned Ala Moana Center terminus, which itself was a pullback from original plans to run from Kapolei to the University of Hawaii.
Every month brings new squabbles with contractors that end up costing taxpayers millions of dollars over who will pay for the consequences of endless delays, fumbles and plan changes.
The city spends tens of millions to operate interim service with dismal ridership from Kapolei to the shuttered Aloha Stadium, raising concerns that lofty ridership projected when the train was conceived will never be achieved.
In the face of such ineptitude, the board of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has set a priority not of doing its job of protecting taxpayer interests by finding the causes of mismanagement and fixing them, but hiring a $110,000 annual public relations arm to protect the board from media “attacks” about being $5 billion over budget, far behind schedule, constantly off in its projections and incapable of setting this project right.
Never mind that HART already contracts for a similar amount with a communications firm to answer media inquiries, to which a frequent response is “no comment.”
From the start, HART has favored expensive PR to fend off criticism of its failures over honest introspection and better stewardship. The PR machine over the years has included internet trolls spreading misinformation, glossy publications and PowerPoint presentations full of half-truths, and even coloring books to indoctrinate the kids.
The performance of the HART board has vacillated between useless and dangerous, and it’s been the opposite of the original intent of a semi-autonomous agency that would keep politics out of rail.
The agency is currently led by Chair Colleen Hanabusa, whose main skill set is being a consummate politician. She was a longtime state senator, served in Congress and holds the rare trifecta of losing elections for governor, mayor and the U.S. Senate.
Hanabusa has been appointed to the HART board and ushered into the chairmanship by two different mayors. Instead of keeping politics out of rail, HART’s main function has been to give political cover to the mayor and City Council by letting them blame HART for rail’s problems instead of accepting accountability themselves.
HART has put politics at the epicenter of rail, and it shows in the miserable outcome.
With the agency so undeniably not achieving its purpose, it’s time to give taxpayers a chance to cut losses by ridding ourselves of this costly and underperforming albatross.
The City Council should put on the 2024 general election ballot a City Charter amendment to abolish HART and put oversight of rail construction under the city Department of Transportation Services.
That way, all city transportation functions will be under one roof for better coordination, and we’ll have a direct line of accountability to the mayor and City Council when problems fester.
And we’ll be done with the tiresome bleating of Hanabusa and her board about being attacked by honest news reporters who only seek to inform taxpayers when their money swirls down the toilet and get the truth out of HART as to why.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
