First, my reaction to yesterday’s rail extravaganza at the capitol?
Here’s the mystery: If the city really did a comprehensive look at all the rail alternative before deciding to go with the planned all-elevated system, as Mayor Hannemann and Managing Director Kirk Caldwell say so adamantly, then why was the light rail alternative left out of the draft environmental impact statement?
The question is central because the legal “notice of intent” prepared by the city to spell out the scope of its EIS specifically included its intention to look at light rail and other alternatives, and because the failure to follow through and provide that study of alternatives has been flagged as a potentially fatal flaw if the EIS faces a legal challenge.
It’s doesn’t seem reasonable, in my view, to conclude that the city’s consultants decided on their own to sidestep consideration of light rail altogether, considering their experience with other light rail projects in other cities, where light rail has been the preferred type of urban rail system for years and the liability that would follow from such a unilateral decision.
It is much more reasonable to presume that the client, in this case the Hannemann administration, directed its consultants to omit light rail from consideration.
Why? We don’t know. Just as we don’t know why Hawaii Superferry Inc. and its investors took the risk of trying to ram their plans through without doing the legally required environmental assessment.
But we do know that, in the end, the Superferry failed because its backers tried to skirt the law. If Honolulu’s rail project finds itself in the same fix, don’t blame its critics, many of whom tried repeatedly to get the administration to look at the alternatives, both before, during, and after the draft EIS was done.
Another mystery: Both the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin reported on an arbitration panel’s ruling calling for pay cuts or furloughs for thousands of UPW’s state and county workers. But none of the reporting told us anything about the arbitrators’ reasoning or factual findings, which actually likely are much more interesting than the specifics reported. And none of those reporting on the issue made a copy of the arbitrator’s ruling available. It makes me wonder whether reporting was done off of a summary press release rather than the decision itself.
Okay, Meda and I both looked at the “Before” and “After” photos accompanying this story, From Beverly Hills to Honolulu, which filled 2/3 of the front page of the Advertiser’s Island Life section on Friday. Both of us thought the two photos were remarkably similar, not the dramatic makeover that the big spread would lead the reader to expect. Overhyped, perhaps?
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Superferry is not the same as rail according to Lingle…Her administration just followed the law and the high court changed the law.
I did not believe that line then or yesterday. But I do appreciate that she is using her position to try to force the city to consider the a light rail option.
What is her motivation? Does she want to protect Hawaii from the excessive cost of all elevated rail or does she want to cripple Mufi so that she can beat him in a future Senate race? Who knows, but I don’t care.
If Mufi does not accept this offer to look at light rail now, he will have to later when Kamehameha wins in a legal challenge on the adequacy of the EIS.
i heard mufi address light rail at ground on the radio the other day. he said having it on the ground level is a safety issue. he used arizona as an example. he said since they started their light rail, they’ve had lots of accidents. he also said having it elevated allows the trains to go faster.
i know that doesn’t address the process of their procedures, but those reasons made sense to me. i’m a little biased though… i’ve got some pro-rail in me.
I too am pro-rail. I just want it to be at street level when it runs through downtown, Waikiki and up to UH.
The architects presented an interesting chart that showed a 10 study that light rail is safer than elevated rail if you take into account accidents and crime. Elevated rail platforms have more crime than street level platforms.
Yes, elevated rail can go faster. It is projected that the all elevated train will be 12 minutes faster from the Kapolei to downtown.
But since the elevated stations are on the edge of downtown most people would have to spend more time walking to their jobs. The at grade train could run through the center of town.
So, with the light rail design most people heading for downtown will spend a few extra minutes in total travel time. The offset is a better quality of life for all who work, visit and live in downtown!
Regarding “From Beverly Hills to Honolulu,” what struck me was that the “after” picture was set against a mostly dark background so that the change/improvements to the hairstyle were not readily apparent. So, one would not have known even if the makeover had lived up to the hype. I guess the piece was more about that stylist, in particular, than about makeovers, generally.
In the “before” and “after” pics, it would help if the photographer took the time to light it properly.
The photo was taken with direct flash. Similar to what you can get by pulling a point-and-shoot right out of your pocket.
It’s not a professional-level portrait that would allow the makeover to look as good as it should.