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Taken from my post on the subject " Should Neighbor Isles Pay For Rail"
From what I saw from the air, the rail seems to be going in the direction of the Disney Resort. With that in mind, one can see that they would not to run it to the airport, because then it would be too obvious that the rail was intended to shuttle Tourii to the resort and back as a primary reason for the rail
So, let's get real and talk Disney Inc. to pony up the funds to complete, and run it to the airport so their shuttles can pick them up at the end of the line on the resort side until the general plan is complete on that side of the island and extend the rail line to service the up and coming resorts. Of course part of that general plan is apartments and such along the rail line for gleaning the resort workers salaries in rents and train fare, with a few "convenience" supermarkets and bland restaurants with the traditional ghetto pricing along the way.
Added bland restaurants
Community begins with Aloha
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[quote] Originally posted by Tink
Taken from my post on the subject " Should Neighbor Isles Pay For Rail"
From what I saw from the air, the rail seems to be going in the direction of the Disney Resort. With that in mind, one can see that they would not to run it to the airport, because then it would be too obvious that the rail was intended to shuttle Tourii to the resort and back as a primary reason for the rail
So, let's get real and talk Disney Inc. to pony up the funds to complete, and run it to the airport so their shuttles can pick them up at the end of the line on the resort side until the general plan is complete on that side of the island and extend the rail line to service the up and coming resorts. Of course part of that general plan is apartments and such along the rail line for gleaning the resort workers salaries in rents and train fare, with a few "convenience" supermarkets and bland restaurants with the traditional ghetto pricing along the way.
Added bland restaurants
Community begins with Aloha
I agree it fits right in....
See #4 below. Come on Walt... Ante up! Protect us from those we have elected to serve us for we are weak in the mind.
http://www.history.com/news/history-list...alt-disney
Slow Walker
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Good grief you guys. The rail doesn't go to Aulani. If you want to bitch about it, the problem is that it only just goes to the east side of Kapolei, so all the people living in the massive sprawl there will still be driving to the end station instead of having one within walking distance. And if you want to get into conspiracies with developers, it's about developing Hoopili, the last big piece of farmland in Ewa and one of the few productive ag areas on Oahu that aren't growing GMO corn, and being able to call it "transit-oriented development" because the rail line goes through it.
Now if they were smart, they would continue it from there as a light rail line past Aulani, on the all the way to Makaha, on the old OR&L track. It would be relatively cheap since there's already an at-grade track and only a handful of street crossings on that side. But that would make too much sense.
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I just checked the rates for staying at the Aulani resort. It doesn't strike me as a place your typical guest would use rail. A private helicopter might be a more popular choice...
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This is Rep. Joy SanBuenaventura's explanation of her reasoning and vote on the rail issue, as copied from her Facebook posting, followed by two responses, including mine. FWIW...
Voting yes w/reservations
"Why I voted Yes with Reservations: For the reason I voted no in 2015 because I did not like the rail fiasco, I don't trust Caldwell's numbers & the amendment to exempt neighbor island from TAT surcharge (which I voted for and spoke up for) overwhelmingly failed. The 2015 rail bill passed which led to the rock & hard place we are in now: If this current bill failed by 9/15, we would be stuck with an $800 million bill to fed govt (That's why Hanabusa and Schatz stepped in when they stayed away previously - they saw that the leg was willing to let rail fail by our lack of agreement when 2017 session ended & our unwillingness to schedule a special session- the special session was scheduled at the last possible minute prior to 9/15 fed deadline & only after Hanabusa & Schatz stepped in). We no longer have Dan Inouye nor President Obama and our fed legislators keep speaking out against trump- so fed relationships needed to be retained with the day-to-day non-appointees who actually administer the fed grant $. Hanabusa & Schatz were concerned that if rail died, ALL our fed grants are subject to re-review. Half our highways our funded by feds, including Hwy 130. Someone needs to keep nagging DoT so that Hwy 130 doesn't lose its place in the STIP and I didn't want to give DoT another excuse not to fund 4-lanes (they already allowed the $15 mil for the alternate access to lapse & they already blame me for the failure of the gas tax they wanted in 2016 session). DoT was in every rail hearing even if sometimes they don't testify.
The TAT was always a state tax created in 1986 to help the tourist industry create a convention center and to advertise Hawaii as a destination. In 1991 various grants were given to the counties so that they can promote their own tourism on their island. The big island gets 18.6% of the county share (at least 4% more than we are entitled to because Harvey Tajiri who was once finance chair juiced it) - with this county vs. state debate, a tracking-down of where the money is generated is going to occur and I suspect the big island will lose this advantage because our visitor count shows only 14% of visitor arrivals vs. statewide. The huge pressure to vote "no" has already cost the Big Island to lose statewide power when Cindy Evans lost her majority leadership position - so this huge pressure to vote "no" when the "yes" votes were going to win only led the big island to a worse bargaining position when state monies are used for grants and capital improvements. Most neighbor island reps supported the amendment making this an Oahu-only TAT but we were overwhelmingly outvoted - so the "yes" votes were going to win regardless.
The current bill was a compromise between the 2 chambers & the hotel/tourist industry - It was originally 2-3% of TAT. It was meant to export the tax to tourists after Caldwell's testimony that tourists paid for most of it and Hanneman stating that 90-99% of hotels are rented to out-of -state residents. The original neighbor island tax referred to in Civil Beat was a statewide GE surcharge which option was soundly rejected by all. TAT is deductible by residents but GE is mostly deductible based upon income. Moreover, I felt this bill was a move towards a more equitable tax away from the regressive GE which is a tax on everything and is paid by everyone including those who cannot afford a hotelroom. Everyone was already paying the Oahu GE surcharge without knowing it because the GE is a tax on wholesale items and even on the tax itself that's why its 4.1666666 not just 4%
As to lack of notice: Unless there is a constitutional amendment for a year-long legislative session, this lack of notice will always be a problem because we have 60 days to parse through hundreds of bills and every year we asked for funding for neighbor island residents to testify, we lose. The rail bill like all bills had the 48-hour notice and in this case because there was a special session, it got even more notice than the other bills; and frankly, I called a certain councilperson when this bill was going through the transportation committee in the original session as to the county position before it got to the yes or no stage - but got no response back (I suspect she did not want to violate the sunshine law by just polling members & the mayor on interim positions before getting back to me). Again I remain committed to lessen the burden on local B-n-B's caused by this bill by introducing a bill next session and I invite the local b-n-b's to give me a proposed draft of such a bill."
Thank you, Joy, for this explanation. Unfortunately, voters often don't pay more than cursory attention to an issue, and this one has a long and convoluted history. We all need to learn the first fact of political life: that one must be able to count. And Oahu's legislators represent 1 million residents to the Big Isle's 200,000...there are 35 Oahu state reps, to 16 state reps for ALL the neighbor islands. So it is extremely important that neighbor island reps know how to compromise, think and plan for the long term for their constituency. And I appreciate that you do that, Joy! The total fallout for the no votes remains to be seen. That's the nasty side of politics, the majority payback for grandstanding votes when all the legislators knew going into the special session that the compromise had already been worked out and Oahu had the votes. I'm grateful the entire legislature refused what Honolulu County was trying to shove down all our throats during the regular session and feel the compromise worked out over the summer was inevitable for myriad reasons on all the gov't levels: county, state AND federal. Thanks for working so hard on an extremely unpopular issue and voting the way you felt was right for your constituency in a no-win situation. —Frankie Stapleton
Rep. SanBuenaventura I appreciate your forwardness in explaining your vote. I really got to know the representative when we were at the DNC as Bernie delegates, she is a progressive champion and knows how to advance the interests of Hawaii. A yes vote was a vote in support of reducing the regressive GET and having tourist pay instead of the poorest locals paying a far greater percentage of their income than wealthy people. If big island residents buy goods who purchase those goods from Oahu wholesalers, Puna residents would get hit by a GET. This was not an easy vote but we trust joy! — Cameron Sato
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I have a headache after trying to read that.
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I'll repeat what I said earlier. If Joy Sanbuenaventura really wants to help us Puna residents, she will use her status as a lawyer to file a class action suit against the State of Hawaii for its failure to provide us with equal treatment under the law. This would be a much better use of those legal skills than working on the medical marijuana law's legal details to the extent that she didn't seem to know we had a dengue fever outbreak going on. That YouTube footage is priceless, and the medical marijuana program has proven to be yet another unmitigated mess.
History clearly shows us that Puna loses if our reps play the Hawaii Democratic Party leadership's games and we also lose if they don't play their games. If we're gonna lose anyway, why not go down fighting? Russell Ruderman is not afraid to poke his thumb in the party bosses eyes from time to time, and I respect him immensely for it. He voted NO. Voting "YES with reservations" is a cop-out and shows us that Joy is more interested in feathering her own political nest than taking a courageous stand by telling Oahu to pay for their own crooked project. And does anyone really think Joy is going to get a bill passed later to help out the local B&Bs? Come on now.
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So now we wait and see when the additional .5% GET authorized by this YES vote gets imposed locally.
Ninole Resident
Please visit vacation.ninolehawaii.com
Ninole Resident
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A yes vote was a vote in support of reducing the regressive GET and having tourist pay instead of the poorest locals paying a far greater percentage of their income than wealthy people. Cameron Sato
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I have a problem with this "logic".
When will these people realize that when the tourists stop coming because we have raised their prices so much, that it will affect the poorest folks because they are the ones that support the tourism industry.
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when the additional .5% GET authorized by this YES vote gets imposed locally
Right before the State-required deadline (it's in the bill).
when the tourists stop coming because we have raised their prices so much
Tourists will stop coming when they have to take out their own trash and wash their own towels -- what's the room rate necessary to support a $15 minimum wage?
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