George Harris
Engineer
Recently heard that there was some serious opposition to construction of the Honolulu Light Rail Line. My first reaction was a, you have got to be kidding. First, it is a nearly linear city sandwitched between mountain and sea. Second, being a long way from anywhere, gasoline is most likely more expensive than anywhere else (except maybe California?) Third, it is among the most liberal places in the country, which seems to be taken any many locations as equalling pro-rail.
Alas the opposition is very real. The leader of the charge, at least one of them, is a candidate for mayor of Honolulu, Ben Cayetano, who is a former state govenor and is considered to be one of the top contenders for the office. There is an apparently well funded and very active oppositon group that has a web site, www.honolulutraffic.com
A skim through this site shows that it has all the usual anti-rail wind up dolls going full throttle. There is all the usual "It takes to long to build" "It costs too much" and "no one will ever ride it" arguements. To this has been added the driverless cars possibility and other things more appropriate to 1950's science fiction. Theydo a wonderful job of selective choice of statistics and general scaremongering.
By the way: Construction has already started on the first part of this system.
Alas the opposition is very real. The leader of the charge, at least one of them, is a candidate for mayor of Honolulu, Ben Cayetano, who is a former state govenor and is considered to be one of the top contenders for the office. There is an apparently well funded and very active oppositon group that has a web site, www.honolulutraffic.com
A skim through this site shows that it has all the usual anti-rail wind up dolls going full throttle. There is all the usual "It takes to long to build" "It costs too much" and "no one will ever ride it" arguements. To this has been added the driverless cars possibility and other things more appropriate to 1950's science fiction. Theydo a wonderful job of selective choice of statistics and general scaremongering.
By the way: Construction has already started on the first part of this system.