Keep moving on rail - Hawaii Editorials

"The project will give our local economy a big boost and help get people back to work."

No, it will give the CONSTRUCTION workers a boost...want to help the OVERALL economy, leave the cash in the hands of the taxpayers. What a crock...why not steal a $1000 from each taxpayer, hire half the unemployed folks to dig a ditch and they other half to fill it back in again. If it is a big circle they can go forever round and round and raound.

yups

For whatever reason it seems beyond the scope of intelligent discussion for either of the major print newspapers in Hawaii to grasp the concept that the best way to help Hawaii's economy is to reduce taxation so that the taxpayers, not just a few construction workers, can stimulate the economy.

The only benefactor, aside from a few construction workers and the small number of local employees of Kiewit will be Muliufi Francis Hanneman, who is desperately trying to woo the union vote for his run to the governor's office. His primary opponent is Niel Abercrombie who also has close ties to the unions.

To better understand this one needs to remember that "...in 1986, Hannaman ran for the First District U.S. House seat vacated by Cecil Heftel, who sought the governorship that year. Hannemann won the Democratic primary election but lost the special election to fill Heftel's unexpired term to Neil Abercrombie." (Wikipedia)

The two are about to go at it again and whoever can garner the most union support is likely to be the next governor. The also explains why Hannaman has been spearing Governor Lingle in order to curry favors with the 55,000+ unionized state workers.

To put it all in its proper context, the rail is more about getting Hannaman elected to the next higher government post and less about the economy, and least of all, the taxpayer who has to pick up the tab for Muliufi's rail to the governor's mansion.

Real nice
kiewit is selected to build the E ride from the cornfield of Kapolei to the sugar cane field of Waipahu.

Maybe they should have used the historical track from Ko'olina to Waipahu instead. The tracks are already there and it is closer to Waianae than the middle of nowhere.

Now i am real excited that i will be able to drive to the E ride in seven years or better yet Walk to The Bus real early to get to Kapolei station,get off and wait for The Train to get to Waipahu then get off The Train and take The Bus in Waipahu.

Go through Waipahu through Aiea,Aloha Stadium,Pearl Harbor,the airport,Kilehi and then to town.

Get off The Bus and take a third bus from town to my destination. Get off the Bus and walk to work.

All the while doing work on my laptop.
Oh Wait, since The Bus is suppose to be full of people due to the efficiency of The Rail, I will not have room to sit down and do my 100 minutes ride to town.

Reverse that in the evening.

I will enjoy The Bus and the E ride back to Kapolei.

Thank you mufi

Be a Sheep
Vote Democrap

It is now all about creating jobs. Never mind that no one will use the railroad, because it doesn't run where it is needed. Never mind that some folks will get rich off the backs of the taxpayers if it is built. Never mind that our children's children will be paying for it. Never mind that it will be an eyesore, a monument to stupidity that will be the center of a Natatorium-like discussion -- should we tear it down or leave it as a tribute to the shortsightedness of the Hawaii politicians of 2009.

"The rail system was not conceived with the primary motive of putting jobs into the state's economy, but the timing lends itself to that benefit."

They say that if you repeat a lie over and over again then it becomes the truth. So it goes with the biggest lie in Hawaii: that rail is not primarily a means to create construction union jobs and thereby make Mufi our next governor. Good grief, Star Bulletin, can you tell us what you think the primary motive was? The city's own studies showed that rail will not reduce traffic congestion, so that couldn't have been the motive. The only other one I can think of is to unleash more development on the Ewa plain by pretending to solve the traffic problems. In fact, that IS the other primary motive but as loyal supporters of Mufi the Star Bulletin will never admit that.

Just look at the other editorials running in today's paper. One is a total campaign propaganda piece extolling comrade Mufi's devotion to repaving roads and repairing sewers. Anyone care to guess who the Star Bulletin is supporting in the governor's race? This is a real easy one. Hint: it's not Abercrombie!

With all the talk about how we need to hurry up and build a section of rail (from Kapolei to Waipahu) that won't really go anywhere or solve any traffic problems, it is abundantly clear that rail is ONLY about construction jobs and has nothing to do with unclogging roads. When you get right down to it, rail is a wealth redistribution mechanism in which people living in East Oahu, the Windward side, the North Shore and Central Oahu (Mililani, Wahiawa) will each pay thousands of dollars for something they will never use and which will never benefit them. That money will move into the hands of construction companies and their unionized employees. Yes, Star Bulletin, THAT is the primary motive for rail. To pretend otherwise is fundamentally dishonest and insults the intelligence of your readers. Really, you should be ashamed of yourselves for continuing to tell the big lie.

If things are so cheap due to the down economy how come my grocery bill isn't down 20 %? Better check that contract and make sure they are using miles to calculate costs instead of kilometers.

willie wrote:

"The project will give our local economy a big boost and help get people back to work."
No, it will give the CONSTRUCTION workers a boost...want to help the OVERALL economy, leave the cash in the hands of the taxpayers. What a crock...why not steal a $1000 from each taxpayer, hire half the unemployed folks to dig a ditch and they other half to fill it back in again. If it is a big circle they can go forever round and round and raound.

"willie" I'm can only speak from a 4 time, 55 day Oahu tourist. I can't disagree with anything you ever say about rail. Oahu , in my opinion, has a great transportation system now. Why spend millions making is worse? We never had any problem getting around on Oahu and we used the bus plenty.

I'll make one more comment. We always had a great time on Oahu and met wonderful Aloha spirited people. However, the first time we went was in 1989, and we thought then, Oahu is over-populated. Oahu is not a tropical type island like you would think about being tropical. Oahu for the most part, is a big city, traffic, too many people, too many buildings, In fact, we were told there is a state law no building can be taller than the tallest palm tree, except in Waikiki. We have been to 5 islands and MOLOKAI is the best.

Glenn Paul wrote:

<quoted text>"willie" I'm can only speak from a 4 time, 55 day Oahu tourist. I can't disagree with anything you ever say about rail. Oahu , in my opinion, has a great transportation system now. Why spend millions making is worse? We never had any problem getting around on Oahu and we used the bus plenty.

Glenn, as you say, you're only speaking from a visitor's POV. You're not trying to get to work on time when you're visiting right?

But maybe the moon will fall out of the sky and I will have a bad day and I don't want to ride the train and there's not enough traffic and I don't like Mufi and I want to sit in the corner and grumble and ...

Completely irresponsible on the part of the SB to urge full speed ahead when there are still several major obstacles to be passed (plus some unknown problems). No one yet knows the number and scope of lawsuits that are sure to plague this project. And please note that the FTA said it was okay to start preliminary engineering. They didn't say "start construction". Mufi is probably right about no project getting this far in the process and not receive funding but there's a first time for everyting. Consider that some major national banks were never told before to withold bonuses but it happened this year. So it's not out of the realm that the feds might tell us that they support us but have no money for us or here's a little bit, you'll have to find the rest on your own.
Maybe the construction industry needs to lose some fat. There just might be too many people involved in construction for such a small state. Or does the SB advocate a lifetime of make work construction projects in the hopes that we will have a continuous construction stimulus cycles.

Tsarbomb wrote:

<quoted text>
Glenn, as you say, you're only speaking from a visitor's POV. You're not trying to get to work on time when you're visiting right?

"tsarbomb" You are absolutely right. A huge Aloha from Northeast PA.

swannie wrote:

If things are so cheap due to the down economy how come my grocery bill isn't down 20 %? Better check that contract and make sure they are using miles to calculate costs instead of kilometers.

"swannie" you got that right. My wife and I are wondering the same thing. Our grocery bill is up every week and gas is 3.00 a gallon. Alohafrom Northeast PA.

"The rail system was not conceived with the primary motive of putting jobs into the state's economy, but the timing lends itself to that benefit."

Yes, originally it was conceived to be address our traffic congestion during the afternoon and morning rush hours. Soon after Mufi declared it was a "done deal", it came out that the project does NOTHING for traffic congestion. The Rail is nothing but a development scheme to channel public funds toward special interests. That the SB is shamelessly promoting this scam is disgusting.

Opposed wrote:

"The rail system was not conceived with the primary motive of putting jobs into the state's economy, but the timing lends itself to that benefit."
Yes, originally it was conceived to be address our traffic congestion during the afternoon and morning rush hours. Soon after Mufi declared it was a "done deal", it came out that the project does NOTHING for traffic congestion. The Rail is nothing but a development scheme to channel public funds toward special interests. That the SB is shamelessly promoting this scam is disgusting.

How can you say it does nothing, when it's not even built yet? Are you putting your comments and accusations on the foundations of your fortune telling ablities? You must have a pretty powerful psychic ability, to forsee the future.

And that goes to all of you, anti-rail people. You have heard, "if you build it, they will come" is tried and true.

Stop saying that people won't ride it, when it is not even built yet. That thing will be full, of students and workers.

end the funding of rail and use the excise tax to fund academics!

The idiotic babble the editorial writers at this paper put out never ceases to amaze me.

How exactly is sucking money out of our economy (rail tax) and giving it to mainland fims going to do anything for our economy? At most it stimulate the construction industry by employing some local contractors (who were living high off the hog during the good times). Not that they aren't entitled to charge what the market will bear but let's not forget how much it cost to hire a contractor a few years ago. It's not our problem that they're on unemployment now that the economy has slowed.

Something to remember; the city can't even keep park bathrooms clean and they are expected to build the rail?

Absolutely appalling that the Starbulletin would support this "white elephant" project. It would be "foolish" to continue this project!