The Washington Post reported yesterday that threats against federal judges are increasing across the country. Similar stories appeared on CNN and in other media.
It seems likely that this will add weight to the objections raised by Hawaii’s federal judges to the city’s planned rail route that passes next to Honolulu’s federal court building.
A reader who pointed me to the WP story commented simply: “That train is not gonna go past the PJK Fed bldg.”
Meanwhile, while the city has been appearing to encourage public input, award-winning architect Peter Vincent called its real intentions into question. In an email circulated to other architects, Vincent described attending a recent city meeting in Waipahu, and concluded the process appears designed to cut off discussion rather than actually solicit meaningful comments.
It was a charade, albeit a well orchestrated one. The City and their consultants presented the system, offered a brief reason why the system must be elevated, then broke into smaller groups, each with an artist and facilitator. There was NO opportunity or allowance for general questions or comments.
The stated reasons for elevated were:
land availability
doesn’t take traffic lanes
smaller footprint
avoids accidents (Houston accident example cited)The emphasis seemed to be based on fear/safety, rather than speed.
Once in small groups of 20-30 people, the facilitator asked people to comment on what they would like to see for specific elements of the elevated station – walls, roof, etc. Booklets were available with concept images, such as the Honolulu Academy of Arts, etc, showing options for say, what a roof could look like. Did I already say charade?
Comments from folks in my group of what they would like included:
not too much concrete
tropical
plantation
history/cultural
blend with community/don’t make it stand out
don’t make it a place for homeless to hang out
concern for maintenance and graffiti
prevent people from throwing things off the platform to public/traffic below, as well as people jumping off
concern for security
concern for accessibilityThe irony is that people are getting exactly what they don’t want, but are being lead to believe that their comments are being incorporated into the design of the project. I stated that I’d like to see the station at grade and the facilitator and PB-hired architect/artist looked at me like a deer in the headlights, then moved on.
I drove the route before the workshop to better understand what’s being proposed in that community and see first hand what Phil is proposing. I am clear that the elevated line will cut Waipahu town into two and have a negative impact on the adjacent retail.
Unfortunately, these workshops Do NOT present a chance for our voice to be heard. I am convinced that the City/PB/Infraconsult carefully planned the workshop to essentially eliminate someone like me making comments that could be heard by people in the community.
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I’d like to comment on the e-mail about the station workshops in Waipahu. I attended the first and second workshops in Waipahu (last night was the second) and, so far, have been pleased with the results. The City and its architects were pretty clear from the beginning of this process that the workshops are about the design of the stations themselves, and not the rail line.
The sketches I saw last night seemed to be a faithful representation of what I heard in the first workshop — keep Waipahu’s history at the forefront of designs while keeping a modern look to the stations. I hope that Ian will keep that in mind and post this citizen’s perspective on his blog.
So Peter Vincent showed up at a station design meeting wanting to talk about route and grade separation, then he was disappointed when they wanted to stay on topic? Sounds like some of the yahoos that testify on GMO-taro bills when they derail and start going on about Hawaiian Sovereignty.
Since it looks like the route (at least for the moment) and the technology aren’t up for debate at these meetings, how is it productive to go and make oneself a martyr as Mr. Vincent seems bent on doing? Maybe he can call up Panos so they can both show up and talk about how the route should be changed and the technology should be rubber on concrete?
The longer we wait to build it, the longer we debate about the design, the more expensive it becomes. Hooray for inflation.
Does anybody think it inapprpopriate that federal judges, who may be required at some point to rule on any number of issues relating to the rail system, including the route, are publicly taking positions about the route? Shouldn’t this be done by the people who run and are in charge of federal buildings and their security? Or even, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts? http://www.uscourts.gov/adminoff.html
The notion that the federal judges are threatened by the possibility of an elevated train briefly passing by the Kuhio Building every four minutes ignores the fact that the Oklahoma City bombing was caused by a pickup parked on the street in front of the Federal Building. If they are afraid of the train, they must be terrified of the traffic on Halekauwila Street. Any one of those cars, trucks, or buses might be full of explosives!!!