Slippin’ and slidin’ on transit
July 3rd, 2008 by Jerry BurrisIt’s tough to figure out precisely what Gov. Linda Lingle is up to with her announcement that she intends to sign an anti-rail transit petition now making the rounds in Honolulu.
Lingle said it is purely a matter of her belief that the people have a right to decide matters of this importance. But the plain fact is that if the proposed rail referendum gets on the ballot and if it is passed rail is dead — at least in its present incarnation.
So the signal is that the governor of this state willing to accept — if not fully endorse — the idea that transit may die once more.
All this has mightily upset Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who thought the governor was on board the transit train. As far back as 2003 Lingle was talking about a multi-billion dollar light rail system for Oahu, in cooperation with the City. The big project, much like the one now being proposed, would demand a tax increase, Lingle said at the time.
And in 2005, she made a point of noting in her State of the State speech that both she and the mayor were “supporters” of mass transit on Oahu.
The let-the-people-speak idea is fine, but it must face the fact that the people’s representatives, including the Honolulu City Council, the state legislature and Congress have all said OK to this project. Even Lingle is aboard in the sense that she allowed the critical county-option excise tax hike become law, although it must be admitted that she never was that keen on the idea.
It may be that with the economy in a slump, the prospect of spending billions of dollars on a project that, at best, would serve people long into the future is more than the governor can comfortably accept. Cynics might also point out that as long as the anti-rail campaign is alive, Hannemann will be kept busy spending money and time defending the plan. That’s money and time he might otherwise bank against a possible future political race in which, among others, Lingle might be an opponent.
