Rail

...SB1 has been deleted from the WAM Hearing notice and replaced by SB4.... WAM Hearing Monday 3pm, Capitol Auditorium....

Senate Committee on Ways and Means to hold hearing Monday, August 28th beginning at 3pm...

...The Recovery Plan does not include a financial plan with funding sufficient to cover HART's current estimated total Project cost....

Hawaii lawmakers are finally embracing the call for a “deep dive” audit of the Honolulu rail project, but how they follow through on that embrace could make it all for naught....

...we were told that this was not a negotiation but a take it or leave it situation....

...buried in one of the technical reports that are referenced and made part of the FEIS so you would not be able to say they didn’t tell you....

...A call for Republicans to push for a forensic audit of HART and their failed rail project!....

...to transform the community....

...In a week, lawmakers will be opening a special legislative session to determine how they are going to raise our taxes....

...despite the fact that City Auditor Edwin Young told the committee “the red flags were there”....

...HART Directors discussed using public-private partnerships to help fund the remaining elements of Honolulu's Rail Transit Project....

...City and HART officials were often unable to give specific answers to our questions and rarely took responsibility for their cost overruns and inflated budgets....

...today's information hearing is nothing more than kabuki theater designed to make us believe they're concerned....

“What is needed is a full, independent forensic audit of the project, to identify the reason — or reasons — for its significant cost overruns and missed deadlines...."

...the immediate cash flow problems have been solved for the most part by the Honolulu City Council, which authorized the sale of $350 million in bonds to help bail out the project....

...Mahalo for helping this idea to catch on....

...Honolulu Rail Project is on track to becoming the costliest and most mismanaged public transportation project in our nation's history....

...Cliff Slater told the HART board that “everything should come up on the table, as John Henry Felix is calling for.”....

“While highways funding is limited, we haven’t let that stop us...."

...The Hawaii Legislature is hosting a public informational briefing on state funding for the City & County of Honolulu’s rail project at 10 a.m. Aug. 14 in the State Capitol auditorium....

...Cashing in at Middle Street, Kalapama, Iwilei....

...A Hawaii law dating back to 1955, which now can be found at HRS section 36-27, says that 5% of any special fund’s income will be paid to the state general fund to pay “central service expenses....”

... If the funding of rail was all that was on the table it would be simple....

...In addition to the bond meetings, on Tuesday Mayor Caldwell and Chair Manahan will tour electric bus manufacturer Proterra to examine emission free buses that could be brought to O‘ahu in the future....

...WELCOME to the PEOPLE’S PUBLIC HEARING ON RAIL....

What does it say about the state of governance in Hawaii that endorsing basic standards of fiscal responsibility is a revolutionary act?

...Transit’s Precipitous Decline....

... we found $1.595B being siphoned off of Rail for non-rail purposes ....

.... CITYLAB --formerly Atlantic Cities-- covers the Honolulu rail boondoggle ....

...VIDEO: Grassroot Institute writer discusses audit of rail fiasco....

...Full Text: Letter to HART Boardmembers, Mayor and County Councilmembers from John Henry Felix....

... HART's current cost overrun is 93.4%, of which 1% is due to the two lawsuits ....

...City officials were accused of certifying financial statements in 2002 and 2003 that were false because they failed to disclose that the city was purposely underfunding....

...rail is like the cousin who is always hitting you up for money....

...rail leaders want to put $350 million on the city’s “credit card” to fund the project....

...HART stunned critics by cancelling a special audit that would have examined past cost overruns....

“It’s not my intent to muck around in the past.”

...a number of allegedly flagrant violations of the law including the following....

• July 14-- Capitol Auditorium

...‘We made a screwy stupid decision back then.’ And I think going forward, that’s what I would like to do, unless there’s some critical issue where we suspect there’s like fraud or embezzlement or something....

...Either Anderson did not understand how the GE Tax works, or he pretended not to....

...things could have turned out differently....

We hope that the Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General will be moved to mount a comprehensive fiscal and engineering audit of Honolulu rail ....

...Blood bank sues over city push to take land for rail.... 

... understated costs, overstated ridership, why it would be an environmental disaster, why it will use far more energy than cars, let alone buses ....

To what or whom should we be looking for leadership to get us out of this mess?

... this week, the rail board cancelled a special audit designed to show taxpayers why the costs have ballooned so high ....

...there has never been a full independent audit investigating the rail for fraud, waste and abuse....

...no specific dates have been set for the special session and no rail funding mechanism has been agreed upon....

Stuck in traffic? Panos Prevedouros will share traffic solutions that will free up our state's gridlock and get traffic flowing again....