why rail is dumb

[kalakoa]

http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/04/dumb-an...ndon-rail/

Note the part where HART's annual operating cost is more than our share of the TAT...

Gee, I wonder why taxes keep going up...

[kalakoa]

It just keeps getting better.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/35280...il-project

increase the TAT (by 2.75%) to twelve percent ... signifcant reduction in the distribution of TAT funds that typically go to the counties, from $93 million to $80 million. The difference would go toward funding rail the rail project.

This is in addition to the Oahu GET surcharge.

[kalakoa]

SB1183 made it through conference:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/...ax-to.html

The House estimates the increase in the hotel room tax will generate the equivalent of $2.4 billion in future G.E.T. revenues to provide funding for the rail transit project

...

The draft also prohibits Honolulu from "using public funds to reconstruct or redevelop the event venue known as the Neal S. Blaisdell Center."

[terracore]

Only time will tell if the rail experiment is ultimately a success or failure. It wasn't too long ago that people were equating the Pahoa roundabout to Armageddon, but the sun still rises and the rain still falls and that intersection is a lot more pleasant than it used to be.

http://punaweb.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22208&whichpage=1

[kalakoa]

Only time will tell if the rail experiment is ultimately a success or failure.

Same could be said about Puna.

[terracore]

Pages 2 and 3 in the above link has some of the best comedy seen on PW in some time... just sayin'.

ETA: and 3

[Frank]

"Only time will tell if the rail experiment is ultimately a success or failure."

Why, exactly, is it a good idea to fund this experiment with cash generated on our Big Island?

[terracore]

It isn't.

[kalakoa]

some of the best comedy seen on PW in some time

I miss those days...

fund this experiment with cash generated on our Big Island?

Indeed -- and this exact problem exists all throughout our system. Theory is that there is some "collateral value", eg, money invested in the State improves the quality of life for all residents. Doesn't work so well when things are discontiguous: no matter how much the rail might improve traffic, those roads aren't connected to ours, so it doesn't really help us at all.

We need a hybrid structure of government similar to the "nation-state", in which the Counties are mostly autonomous, with the State apparatus merely a coordinator for inter-island functions such as DMV and the court system. Ideally, Federal funding would simply be apportioned directly to the Counties, who would then be responsible for highways, etc.

Secession might well fail, but it would at least force some meaningful discussion.

[Frank]

quote:

---

Originally posted by terracore

It isn't.

---

glad to hear...I completely miss that sintiment in your post