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Honolulu Board of Realtors and HAR should take a stand against Rail

Posted by Tony Kawaguchi, RA on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 2:08pm.

The Rail system in Honolulu is a massive financial black whole even before it has begun. With a budget already falling so short that government employees are forced to take furloughs, and with tax revenues down and falling even more, the City and County. and the State cannot afford this $5billion project. As a member of the Honolulu Board and the Hawaii Association of Realtors, I think it's time these two associations take a stand against the Rail project, before more tax dollars are wasted and more debt is ammassed. Already the City (read: Mayor Mufi) has used our tax dollars to advertise on the radio and TV, attempting to turn public opinion in favor of this project. Already money has been spent on planning, researching, etc. It’s time to stop. Last fall, with a vote of just 51%, the measure passed the public vote, but that was before last year's economic collapse, and before most people realized that the Rail project would be so grossly under funded before it ever broke ground. Now is the time to fight this project before our City is plunged into debt that it will never repay. There are dozens of reasons to stop the rail project, but the only one that should matter now is the money simply isn't there. Mayor Mufi promised that this project would be fully funded, and now he cannot fulfill that promise as tax revenues have fallen faster than anyone expected.

Honolulu Board and Hawaii Association of Realtors - Your members do NOT support Rail, so neither should you!

2 Responses to "Honolulu Board of Realtors and HAR should take a stand against Rail"

anonymous wrote:
Tranist only works when it's centrally located, convenient, faster, and less expensive to the alternate one occupancy vehicle commute. $4300/person (people living in the region) is certainly a high price to pay, but, the system is 20 miles long.

How many of us have travelled to Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, New York, Paris, Toronto and most recently Vancouver. And while visiting those cities and how many of you have been amazed at how well their rail systems operate. Though it's a bitter pill to bite, we need a rapid transit system in Honolulu. The amount of traffic on the H1 - 3 and getting around Honolulu is painful at best.

Posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 11:59 AM.

Tony wrote:
I just went to Japan and took the train 4 times a day for 10 days. Great system, but completely different than what we're going to have. There are so many reasons that our rail won't be anything like that, you cannot even compare.

First of all - they have dozens of trains that can take you almost anywhere in the country and get you within a few blocks of wherever you're going. Our Rail is going to be a single line system. If you aren't going somewhere very close to the stations, then you have to get on a bus or walk a long ways. It's not even a fair comparison. It will actually take longer to take the Rail and then get on a bus because of all the wait time and bus stops.

More importantly - NONE of that matters because we cannot pay for our Rail system. Only a crazy person would want to build a system we don't have money for.

Posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 12:41 PM.

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