Rail

The document obtained by the Star proposes funding the projects as public-private partnerships, with half the money coming from private investment....

"The State of Hawaii owns about 50% of the land along the rail corridor between Kapolei and downtown Honolulu and can raise millions of dollars through the sale of development rights...."

Projects Not Started or Suspended....

"We’ve got to wake up and sell development rights along the rail, like they do in Japan and Hong Kong."

Modifying the HART project to allow street level operation for the final five miles will save money ($2.9 - $4.2B), will save time (completed in 2020 vs. 2025) and will provide a much more environmentally acceptable system Downtown that can be easily extended to Waikiki and UH Manoa....

...the OR&L ROW, a 40-foot wide stretch from Central Waipahu to Piliokahe Gulch in Nanakuli, owned by HDOT....

...splints that have cracks... tendons that aren’t working properly... the railcars....

Post-tensioning, final set and finishing work on the guideway will follow the initial set, and will continue through January....

...just long enough to con legislators into hiking taxes....

“The city streets are being engineered to create traffic congestion, to slow traffic down, to favor bikers and pedestrians,” the former official said....

...due to the recent passage of Charter Amendment Number 4 in the 2016 Elections, the voters of the City authorized the consolidation of the operations and maintenance functions and responsibilities for all modes of public transit....

...Wednesday, November 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Mililani High School Cafeteria....

...there’s still a better way and it’s pretty simple and practiced by the best rail systems in the world....

The plan was developed in coordination with state agencies that are studying options for stadium reconstruction or building a new stadium on the site....

Under his watch, the cost of rail has risen $3.34 billion over budget to $8.6 billion, and more than 7 years behind schedule. A recent federal “upper bound” estimate puts the cost at $10.79 billion (more than double the original budget of $5.26 billion) and the completion date at 2027.....

... By “tinkering” with the traffic lights, it’s possible to reduce traffic ....

...if enough of the tendons or their anchors fail, the entire box girder system will fail and could very well collapse....

HART has now received a total of $1.8 billion in surcharge revenue for the rail project ... roughly $48.4 million less than projected....

In my first 100 days in office, I will....

"...Caldwell may have evaded State and Federal taxes on all the stock options he has received to date...."

Glen Nohara gave $12K to Caldwell and a total of $102K mostly to the usual list of Democrat incumbent candidates...

The Grassroot Institute argues that this is not about the right to collect taxes, but rather a matter of mis-allocation of the funds....

Drive-alone remains the choice of slightly over three-fourths of all commuters....

This report provides the Honolulu City Council with an update on the activities of the Office of the City Auditor....

...the habit the state Department of Taxation has of keeping the money that is left over after they process the rail surcharge....

Voters should have received the 2016 Charter Amendments booklet this week....

An average family of five would have to pay more than $1,000 per year just to complete rail....

"The City is requesting an extension of the December 2016 Recovery Plan submittal date to June 30, 2017"

...Caldwell has been using his position as Mayor to enrich himself -- making $200,000-$299,999 a year as mayor "working" just 1-2 hours a months and collecting $900,000 - $999,999 in bank stock for his "service"....

"In the future they can be aggressive. In other words, they can be tailgating each other to save a lot of space. But in the early stages this is not going to happen...."

"Last week we learned that the City failed to spend tens of millions of dollars in the affordable housing fund and we may now lose this money."

The Federal Transit Administration says it will demand its money back....

"...Farrington Highway and Kamehameha Highway ... are eligible for Federal aid funds, subject to selection by OahuMPO and HIDOT...."

A couple of days ago, I talked to a senior consulting engineer on the rail project....

It seems that 15%-20% of our surcharge is being paid by “tourists” in the strict sense, but when you include military families and the federal government you do come up with a percentage closer to a third....

...a significant portion of the $110 million spent to design the Airport section will be lost because the design-build contractor will not use all the designs....

Djou Endorsements Now Include: Council Chair Ernie Martin, Councilmember Ann Kobayashi and Councilmember Trevor Ozawa....

Blatant dishonesty, pay-to-play politics, and the blame game are what defines his administration....

Divide $200 million by 1 million people, and you get $200 a year per person....

...In the last 24 hours, my position on rail has been misrepresented and taken out of context....

...FTA is reconsidering its recovery plan due date (to allow this to stretch into the Legislative session so Caldwell can use it to push a GE Tax hike)....

...FTA rules have required a HART Recovery Plan since late 2014....

Mayor Caldwell is responsible for this mess and his only answer is more rail GET tax extensions....

...Garrity will serve as acting DTS director until the HART board names an interim or permanent executive director and CEO, thus allowing Mr. Formby to resume his normal duties....

"...mainland consultants who have little knowledge of local construction conditions (are) dictating the course of the project...."

Hawaii’s construction industry made the second largest contribution to state GDP at 5.9 percent with an increase of 0.5 percent from 2014, the largest year-over-year improvement of any state....

By keeping traffic jammed, DOT maximizes the demand for Rail....

They don't care that many people cannot afford the high cost of living and live in their cars and on the streets.  But, we do....

In just 68 days, we managed to hold the incumbent mayor to an effective draw after being outspent 5-to-1 with the entire City machinery against us....