Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Berg on Transit Authority: Mayor, Council Leadership put Cronyism ahead of qualifications
By News Release @ 8:03 PM :: 5751 Views :: Maui County, Education K-12

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CITY COUNCILMAN TOM BERG:

COUNCILMAN BERG HIGHLY CRITICAL OF MAYOR AND COUNCIL LEADERSHIP FOR PUTTING CRONYISM AHEAD OF EXPERTISE WITH RAIL AUTHORITY (HART) NOMINEES

Honolulu, Hawaii - "Just two weeks ago on April 18th, the mayor and our transportation committee chair announced with great pride at a press conference that “highly qualified individuals” were being appointed to the new rail transit authority known as HART. Unless you believe that hiring a plumber to fix your DVD recorder is a smart idea, then you already know that these people who have been nominated are anything but highly qualified. There is not one single transportation expert, not one single transit expert, not one person who has ever been a recognized leader in the field.

These six rail authority nominations make no sense if you think they should be picking transportation experts . . .. that is until you force yourself to comprehend that the rail project is not about traffic relief or about transportation or about transit. It’s actually about development. Once you do that, it all makes perfect sense. Look at their backgrounds: a banker, a lawyer, a developer, a building trade activist, a mayor’s political appointee, and a union leader who happens to represent those striking HECO workers who walked off the job while many communities in my district were in the middle of a power outage just a few weeks ago. (see correction below)

And speaking of my district, it is an affront to those who care about the problem of traffic congestion that West Oahu is NOT officially represented on this committee. Serving as members are representatives of communities who do NOT make the drive from Waianae to town each day, from Kapolei and Makakilo to town each day, from Ewa Beach to town each day. The precise victims of poor City planning who sit in artificially created traffic jams each and every day, each and every morning and afternoon, have been consciously and purposely left off this committee which decides how billions will be spent on what used to be a traffic relief project, but has been reduced to a jobs for people with friends in high places project.

21 mini cities will be built around each rail station through the loosening of zoning and building codes using a methodology known to some as Transit Oriented Development, but is really Developer Oriented Transit.

That’s why rail is a developer’s dream. That’s why this project has virtually nothing to do with transportation. And that’s why there are no transportation experts on this authority to oversee this massive, expensive project. Instead, we have a banker, a lawyer, a developer, a building trade activist, a mayor’s political appointee, and a union leader rather than a transportation expert.

To call these people highly qualified defies any and all logic, unless you like the sleazy way that our city and state government operate. We’re already paying six figure salaries to rail project publicists and propagandists who work out of a fancy office on Alakea Street. Who is going to oversee these people? Does the story of the fox and the hen house have any meaning anymore?

This is supposed to be a transportation project which provides traffic relief at an affordable price. This is supposed to be about transit and about making the daily rush hour more bearable for motorists and public transportation riders alike . . . and NOT about well-connected political appointees doing the bidding of the establishment.

The willingness of the mayor and council leadership to politicize the transit authority by stuffing it with cronies rather than instilling it with transportation expertise speaks volumes about the twisted priorities at City Hall. While I, the lone representative on this Council from West Oahu, the area affected by the specific traffic congestion which was exploited to justify this project, is prohibited from voting on this committee, you can count on me to vote “no” to every name on this list.

As many of you know, I submitted the name of renowned transportation and transit expert Dr. Panos Prevedouros to serve on HART. Few of you probably know that Dr. Prevedouros is PRO-RAIL. While he opposed the City’s rail project as inappropriate and unaffordable and ineffective for our small city, he routinely advocates heavy and light rail projects around the world when and where these are appropriate. Who better for the transit authority than someone who will ask questions, who will keep things honest, who knows what he’s talking about, who is a recognized transportation and transit expert?

Panos Prevedouros holds a Ph.D. in transportation engineering, a degree in land surveying engineering, is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Hawaii, served as a member of the technical advisory committee of OMPO, served as a member of the Council's 7-member transit advisory task force, and served on the 5-member expert panel on transit in 2008 which brought us to this point.

Apparently, neither the mayor nor my council leadership want transportation experts overseeing a transportation project. Clearly, they want inexperienced 'yes men' to do the bidding of the rail consortium and developers rather than truly qualified experts who'll keep an eye on how taxpayer funds are expended with Hawaii's largest and most expensive public works project ever.

Perhaps because Mayor Carlisle has now said over and over and over that the rail project is about jobs more than anything else. To that, you can add that it’s about development more than anything else. The numbers bear this out. Traffic congestion will be 60% worse on H-1 with rail, and a mere 1% are expected to get out of their cars to become public transportation riders. With transportation benefits of rail so incredibly tiny, the only possible justification for diverting 95% of our transportation spending away from the 95% who drive to and from work each day is jobs for the well-connected and development opportunities for the even more well connected

Finally, let me say this. Brennon Morioka just finished years of service as the State’s director of the Dept. of Transportation. He has been instrumental in pushing for both highway solutions and the rail project. Guess who his professor was at UH? Naturally, it was the eminently qualified Dr. Panos Prevedouros. This, my friends, is an outrage which makes the usual cronyism around City Hall pale by comparison."

#####

CORRECTION TO YESTERDAY’S OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM WEST OAHU CITY COUNCILMAN TOM BERG ON THE APPOINTEES TO HONOLULU’S RAIL AUTHORITY:

Honolulu, Hawaii - "In my critique of Mayor Carlisle’s and the City Council leadership’s appointments yesterday, I gave the regrettable impression that the HART nominee Damien Kim – business manager and financial secretary of the IBEW local 1186 – works for the same chapter of the electrical workers union which walked out on my constituents in Ewa Beach and Kapolei during the power outage a few weeks ago. Earlier today, I spoke with Mr. Kim who kindly explained the difference between his Local 1186 and Local 1260 which represents the HECO workers. I regret that my statement lumped these two chapters of IBEW together in a way which made Mr. Kim seem directly responsible for the mid-outage work stoppage.”

# # # # #

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT