We pay for Oahu Rail

[punaticbychoice]

leilanidude @ 05:27:51-
Yup.
Same here, but it takes a bit longer to register with ordinary tourists.
But it will.
I feel like Hawaii is becoming kind of a self-destructive insane asylum, fueled by greed
and ignorance.
As for San Buenaventura is concerned, aside from a State Rep., she's a lawyer, rather clueless and/or corrupt is par for the course.[]

[EightFingers]

I sent Joy an email, but her email address isn't accepting emails now.

[caveat emptor]

8digits, Joy's email might be plugged up right now but keep in mind her mailing which states she will be holding a "Community Forum on Roads" at the HPPOA activity center Sept. 9th.
Good opportunity to voice your opinion at that time.

[ckg]

Unfortunately the issue of the rail shouldn't even exist. If there were proper zoning/incentives/disincentives where we would have some decentralization perhaps traffic patterns would not be what they are. Make it vastly more expensive to do business in Honolulu and significantly cheaper in other areas so all the fish are not swimming to the same destination. As for neighbor island paying for the rail that is ridiculous. Was the rail not created to get "free" federal dollars in the first place? Who knew you would have local matching fund requirements?

[KeaauRich]

Just for perspective from the tourists' point of view: Many vacation rentals here go for about $75/night. That's what they see when they log onto VRBO or similar sites. So for ten nights, tourists thinks "Cool, about $750". But then many booking site (like VRBO) tack on a service fee of another 8-12% - let's average it out to 10%, so our tourist's stay is now $825. But if we now add on the existing GET and TAT, the tourists' tab, their bill rises to $925. and the additional 1% would bring it to $932. Add to that their $500-1000+ per person airfare, their $30-75 per day car rental, the cost of food and tourist attractions (Helicopter tours at $175 per person, snorkel cruises at $150 per person, Botanic Garden at $18 per person, etc.) and it's easy to see how we're killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. We can't continue to expect others to pay for our necessities and extravagances.

[leilanidude]

it's easy to see how we're killing the goose that lays the golden eggs
------
Exactly.
Cater to the tourists, don't bleed them out. Hawaii already has a reputation as being very expensive to go to. Why make thoses costs even higher?

[Chunkster]

Or to use a metaphor from another fable, Joy might not be smart enough to know when one more straw will break the camel's back.

[David M]

I sent emails to the Reps and Senators at their .gov addresses. So far only Josh Green replied that he agreed.

TAT has been a hot issue in the legislature for past few years. Last year their was rumor of raising it to 12%.
To me the addition of the 1% is minor compared to the behind the scenes maneuvers to reduce the amount returned locally. As we painfully know once gov gets used to a certain amount of money the "need" never goes away, they just find another method to source.

Too bad that 71% survey ad on TV didn't include more question concerning funding and non Oahu participation, but I suspect it was purposely designed to show support. 71% sure doesn't seem all that good considering what a great project it's supposed to be.

Ninole Resident
Please visit vacation.ninolehawaii.com

[kalakoa]

If Oahu really wants rail, set it up so they can pass a special local option sales tax

They already did exactly this. Rail simply expanded to consume all that revenue, now they need more.

People "should" be asking why rail now costs double (or triple, depending which numbers you use) its original stated cost -- almost as if it's really a "gravy train", not a legitimate transportation project.

I've been saying for years that a State-driven economy makes little sense when that State is discontiguous.

[kalakoa]

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news...house-vote

"It feels like there's no good choices," Lowen said.

Where have I heard that one before?