Downtown Rail Blight
Rail will forever ruin the tropical beauty that attracts visitors from around the world. Here’s a few shots of what to expect if the rail is built:
Waipahu Before & After Rail
A sunny suburban neighborhood will more resemble the warehouse district by the Airport.
Do you object?
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I actually think it looks nice. It makes Hawaii look more metropolitan. Right now it’s too country and sleepy. It’s why mainland people think we surf everywhere and still live in huts.
Very funny J.J. However, the tourists who flock from around the world come here because they think it’s a tropical paradise. When they discover that it’s riddled with urban blight, they’re disappointed. Rail is not going to improve that.
Uhh, since when do people come here to find an elevated rail going down the coastline? If they want that they can go to NYC.
I was born and raised in Hawaii. I have lived the last 10 years in Beaverton, Oregon. I thought the rail system was great. It ran every 15 minutes and I did not have to drive into Portland for school. I could park my car at the closest rail and bus center and get on and go. This would ease some traffic and is not that much of an eyesore if done nicely. Think about it, yes there are some problems but getting from one place to another is easier with rail then by car. From the airport to the capital and other government buildings would have been nice when I was on the board of nursing in Hawaii as an LPN. The Portland one goes from the airport to other parts of the city and also to some outlying areas. This is not a bad thing please rethink this.
It isn’t that the whole idea of rail is bad. But Honolulu isn’t Portland. The rail system they’re trying to get off the ground here now is extreme overkill. The route, the technology and the cost are all poor choices, in my view. If we have rail, it should be smaller, more attractive, less noisy, and tailored to meet the needs of more people.
We cannot afford it and we live on an island with limited land and view channels.
Totally different tax base in Honolulu than Portland. More population there. Simply unaffordable here when water main upgrades, road maintenance, and EPA sewage mandates are added. Just with what I have mentioned here is around 15 BILLION! Go figure.
Rail in Portland is really nice…and the big difference is…it’s flush with the city streets….and easily shares the road with other traffic. In Portland, there in no concrete blight….their system would work in Hawaii….not the monstrosity currently planned.
Have you driven down H-1 and Nimitz lately? What part of ‘Natural Beauty’ is a fleet of rusting ships in Pearl Harbor, an already raised H-1 highway, elevated power lines, a giant power station cranes on sand island, young brothers containers at the piers and oh… let’s see… we did away with the Super Ferry already, so at least we don’t have to worry about that eye sore any more sitting across from Aloha Tower at night. ‘Beauty’ is the weakest argument ever against the Rail… it’s called progress. Hawaii will continue to strangle itself if we stop it.
The eminent loss of influence on Capital Hill with Senator Inouye retiring in less than 10 years means we will simply become a backwater of days gone by when it comes to garnishing federal support for projects like this. It’s time to harvest the taro while the weather is good. Stop fighting over this one issue and let’s build it and move on. The only zip code with consistent growth over the last 5 years in Hawaii is 96707 (Kapolei) it will continue to grow- the infrastructure needs to be improved, traffic only continues to get worse, and gas prices only continue to go up. Build Rail Now.
Hal, what are you saying? Things look sloppy and industrialized here already, so let’s make it worse? People come to Oahu because they’re seeking beauty and relaxation. There’s no need to make things uglier. And there’s no need to strangle Hawaii taxpayers with a behemoth rail system and all the expense that will come with it. Those things do not pay off on the mainland, and they certainly won’t on a small island in the middle of the Pacific. Federal money will go to big mainland cities who need rail a lot more than we do.
“Just build it and move on” doesn’t work for me. We have to change what we believe is wrong.
What most people do not understand is that we are also obligated to upgrade our sewage system at a cost of about 5 billion, we need water main upgrades, and our roads are like a lunar landscape. Add 6 billion in rail to this and you have a bankrupt city.
Hawaii doesn’t need this, Oahu is virtually over developed as it is, Waikiki now looks like the Rodeo Drive of the Pacific, ugly, to further develope a train with all the concrete & track required to run through & around the Island will become an eye sore, & sadly will make Honolulu look more just any other city, Please say no
Before everyone gets all excited and speaking to the positives of this rail system, I would like to say I too had hopes that this would be a benefit to the residents and an asset that would be available if needed. Heres the MOST IMPORTANT part of this debate for rail.
The State of Hawaii, nor if assisted by the City and what they could scrape up from the Federal government could ever pay to maintain this goliath beast of a system.
Take a few moments to ponder what State of City Project or structure has been maintained and run so well that you were proud of what our government did. (Go ahead, we know the answer, think about it?) Look at our Freeways, take any stretch you choose. Look how delapidated and poorly maintained they are? NOW…compare that to the Operational, and Maintainance to what this humungous beast this system will require. The Unions, the accountability, the politics in running this will be a monster. Just like any new toy, its going to be great cause thats how BRAND NEW TOYS ARE. But, wait until it starts need attention, it will be like the Puppy that was brought home, and cared for the first week by the kids and everyone, until after that week, only the parents will be caring for it, then eventually, no one….call the pound, get rid of this animal. YOU CANT DO THAT WITH THIS GOLIATH STRUCTURE. You can believe that !!!!!
Excellent post. If the City could maintain things they could start with the parks.
Rail is a big scheme by politicians that brainwashed taxpayer’s with taxpayer’s money. The City had sham meetings where only the City could speak and questions were in writing so they could be screened. Rail will not solve traffic problems according to the City. So what is the purpose. We need to fix our sewers, our water lines that seem to be breaking every day, our schools, our roads are the same as ever with patched potholes the wash out with every rain. We are being taxed to death and cannot afford rail. Stop the madness now, vote for Ben! Send your checks to help Ben to victory and most of all, don’t forget to vote!
This is true. Building the rail is like building a state-of-the-art roller coaster over a dilapidated, run-down park. We should focus on managing what we have before we get in over our heads on something this huge.
It isn’t just about beauty. Oahu gets more dangerous and more run down by the decade. Our bus system is far from adequate, for the numbers of tourists and residents who want to use it. Our walkways and bikeways are barely given a nod, though tourists and residents want them. We need a Mayor who will put billions into modernizing our lousy infrastructure, not gamble billions on rail. When the economy was booming, some kind of rail system seemed like a possibility. When the economy tanked, and we saw what Mufi’s rail plan actually would entail, it looked like a disaster in the making. There are better ways to releive traffic, to create jobs and to grow local business.
WHAT AN EYESORE!!!!!!
I live in Vancouver, BC that has over 50 km of elevated rail. It is not the elevated rail that causes the blight, it is ugly streets, pavement and traffic. On many sections of the elevated rail that are away from busy streets, there are popular bike and walking paths underneath. The elevated rail actually provides protection from the rail and shade from the sun making walking and cycling more pleasant.
On Number 3 Road in Richmond, the street environment was really improved after the elevated rail was added. It used to be an ugly street surrounded by strip malls. Now there is a beautiful wide with public art, trees, grass and flowers underneath the rail. It is now one of the nicest main streets to walk along in the region.
You can’t fairly compare Vancouver rail’s funding, technology, ridership or routes to Honolulu’s current rail venture. Much of it used existing roadbeds and rail rights of way, and it includes tunnels. The cost of construction was in the millions, not 5 billion plus. It was built in a far better economy than now, and connects with transit systems that lead to other large areas. Millions of people use it every day. That isn’t going to happen here. Oahu is a small island connecting to nothing but water.
I was just in Vancouver, you have no toilets at the stations and people ride on the “honor system.” You do not understand Hawaii. We have lots of elderly here and thousand of petty criminals on this island. The old folks need restrooms and the thieves will ride for free. Vancouver is a large metro area with a big tax base. Not the same here.
The rail looks horrible, it’s going to be a never ending sinkhole expense, and hardly anybody is going to use it. Rail is nothing more than a campaign funding scheme to get taxpayer money kicked back from crooked contractors.
For a few years the Mufi propaganda machine pushed and pushed, hiding the real details of this project and with the financial support of the taxpayers, eked out a narrow majority ‘victory’ in the election.
Everyone who directly financially benefits-big biz, developers, political friends, the unions along with many who THINK they will benefit-the pbulic wrongly assuming this will help traffic has been onboard.
Now, as intelligent Oahuans, including the couragous Ben Cayetano stand up and say “We aren’t gonna sit back and allow this project to bankrupt and destroy our Paradise!” the tide will turn. Desperate politicians, the above developers and unions and those to financially gain- are all scrambling to ‘close the deal.’
Anyone who cares about this island’s future and the liveability for the children and grand children MUST try to intelligently evaluate what is going on. Picture the traffic along ANY stretch of the H-1, Middle Street merge, Nimitz near the harbor, along the federal courthouse when THAT section is closed for months under construction of the Rail.
Then start listing the services Government provides now- elderly assistance, homeless help, buses, road improvements, sewer and infrastructure improement that you feel can be cut to pay the overruns and extra costs. Oh yeah, education for our children too……
I hope someday soon we can start to get a complete picture of what this is going to look like in terms of ALL the stations, whether there will be available and free parking near them, the time-tables for completing certain ‘problem’ areas along the way and then-What the heck is plan B when we figure out this is not going to ease traffic…..
This Island does not need a rail, if you think it does you probaly came from some place else and have no respect for the aina or the natives of Hawai’i. How can people be so stupid and blind to think we need one, we need Hawai’i to stay Hawai’i what the world thinks is paradise. If you think the traffic is bad then go back. If the rail starts it will keep going around the whole Island sooner or later. I want my kids and their kids growing up in Hawai’i not a copy cat state that this state is becoming. Stop building on every open land there is, stop building high rises, stop building condos, the more you build the more haole’s come the more traffic on the road. STOP BUILDING!! Nice to visit Hawai’i then ALOHA go home
Its not “urban blight” if you think it isnt ugly. Thats the definition of blight. And to me, another freeway, or double decking the current freeways, would be way uglier. But to do nothing is not acceptable. Bens idea to take away lanes for express bus service also doesnt make a dent as almost every study has shown. Or does he want to build a guideway for just buses? If he thinks rail is blight, so would that be. Lets be honest, Bens always been against rail. The route, grade, technology, and cost are all irrelevent to him. Easy for someone retired living in Waialae. But lucjkily the majority of voters approved steel on steel and a large marjority approved HARt, which took rail out of the Mayors hands and put it in a semi autonomous body. The only group that has any oversight is Council. So Bens election wouldnt stop rail, despite what he says.
There isn’t much “urban blight” in lovely, secluded Kailua, so maybe it’s easy for you not to care what happens to the residents of other neighborhoods. If elevated steel on steel is built over Salt Lake, Kalihi and Ala Moana, trains will be screeching through from 4 in the morning until 11 or 12 at night. Construction will go on for years, making traffic in and around these areas a nightmare. You know that there there is no way in hell that elevated rail would be built up around the east side, even though that would get thousands of students, working people, tourists and old folks off the road. Yes, let’s be honest. Rich people won’t stand for having rail around their neighborhoods.
“Urban blight” is what comes when business and government chase profits and don’t take care of the negative results of their ventures. Oahu has been built up helter skelter, without taking good care of the problems it brought. All that mattered was development. Fixing roads, sewers, landfills and even the schools became patch jobs, something to worry about later. If Mr Cayetano has always been against rail, that makes me like him more. I thought maybe it could work, when the economy was on a roll. When I saw that almost half of voters were against it, I started learning more. I didn’t like the way Parsons, their high priced consultants and Mufi talked out both sides of their mouth, spinning the issue to their purposes. And when the economy went bust, I gave up on the plan altogether. We need to put fixing our broken infrastructure first, and do it right. We need to build up the Honolulu area and make it a modern, walkable, green city. With Mr Cayetano at the helm, we could steer out of this crazy rail gamble, and put our money into projects and jobs that will make Oahu the modern paradise metropolis is has all the potentioal to become.
Rail ?
Do we need it ? NO !
Can we afford it ? NO !
Can we maintain it ? NO !
Let’s help bruddah Ben bring some SANITY to the Mayor’s Office !
He can beat ( Cave In Carlisle ) and ( Boycott Walmart ) Caldwell
Imua Ben !
I lived away for 30 years and now I’m home. Hawaii is and always will be a special place on this globe.In the San Francisco/Oakland bay area, they’ve tried to get people to get on BART for over thirty years. Raising the bridge tolls still hasn’t persuaded people to ride the rail. Here, we have a water line rupturing every other week. Sewer lines that are breaking down and roads that need more diligent upkeep. Our infrastructure is continuing its road to its natural demise, and our politicos continue to ignore this. Some want to ruin the beauty of our land for the sake of saying that we’re on a par with mainland metropolises. That’s why people come here, for the beauty of our land and to get away from big city bustle. Do we really want to give this up for 21 miles of track?
This entire project is a bunch of BULLSHIT. I will forever pay for this contraption as will my children just so all of you poor bastards that cant aford a car have some sort of transportation.
You idiot politicians should not have the right to force this monstrosity down our throats.
ALL PROJECTS should pay for itself, not a forced contribution of us all. You use it, you pay for it. Simple as that. All your going to do is transfer the passengers from our award winning Bus System to this fricken rail that we cant afford. Then what, our Bus System, which has won National Awards year after year, go broke, because you forced ALL THE TAXPAYERS to pay for all the poor bastards to ride in like kings. Common Mr. Mayor Pull your head out your kukai!
Good Morning,
Speaking from the point of view of a regular tourist / visitor to your beautiful Islands I think this is a terrible idea, I have visited over 10 times from England and My Parents over 20 times. My Parents are both in their 80′s like me they come for the beauty, the peace and the tranquility that is Hawaii / Oahu they put up with a 27 hour journey because they know the wonderful place they are coming to, you have a bus service which makes England look as tho its still in the dark ages and ok the Highways get a little congested at rush hour but hey they do that all over the world and we cope, From the pictures I have seen this would ruin the beauty and destroy the wonderful character of such a unique place. If Hawaii starts to look like those pictures above I guarantee you will lose tourists, you are already pricing yourselves out of the long haul visitor market with all the new developments in Waikiki, (it used to cost me 700 GBP for a flight and hotel for three weeks on Oahu, now its 2000 GBP minimum), dont continue to lose valuable income by desecrating your beautiful Island Paradise in this way. You think people that pay thousands of Dollars to stay in all those new luxury hotels and Condo’s round Lewers and Ala Moana are still gonna visit when they see that monstrosity, think again.
I may never again be able to afford to visit your beautiful home, but I hope if I do it is still the Hawaii I grew to love and respect.
I have lived in both NYC and Boston. In both cities, I used the rail/subway systems all the time. However, the proposed Oahu system is a huge mistake. It appears that politicians are ramrodding it through despite all the objections. The billions of dollars being spent on it could be much better used fixing our aging infrastructure. But, mainly, it is UGLY!. It will destroy the rural nature of places like Waipahu and obstruct views of the ocean in urban Honolulu. The pictures above make that perfectly clear.
With most people here not in favor of the rail……i still have yet to hear what Ben plan so do in regards to helping the people who live and work on Oahu with traffic. If he can produce a solid plan to help with this…im on board with him. But all i hear is a dedicated bus lane….thats it! where is this dedicated bus lane gonna be placed? I totally understand that the sewers and other projects are very important, but if Ben gets in a stops rail….i wanna see improvements to the traffic situation. Ben is you are reading this…or any of his supporters….convince me how Ben will help traffic without the rail. And i want details and cost……until i hear a clear plan from him, and not some vague statement….i will not support him. Its a fair request, win votes by producing a plan, that makes sense!
Marc, I agree. I have not heard what will be done. Only what shouldn’t be done. The rail project will be paid for. There is a financial plan that has been reviewed and approved by 100s of people. Sometimes there are solutions that not everyone agrees with, but, not everyone will agree with tough solutions.
We could always widen the H1. Not change the travel patterns of residents and that project would start in the billions, would be unreliable in its timing. Something needs to be done. Instead of stopping efforts that have been reviewed by tons of people locally and in the federal government, why don’t we just start something else, have tons of people review that and I bet that solution will be not 5 billion, but 10s of billions and talk about impacts….try relocating both sides of H-1 in town. Is that the solution…oh, wait, I still haven’t heard one…
We need a solution. I applaud the effort and the passion but H-3 took years to get built, if we want a solution in 30-40 years by stopping rail and starting over, great…who will be around by then…surely not Ben.
The state government is already taxing Hawaii residents to pay for the rail.
The rail is nothing more than a SCAM to separate people from their money. It’s ridiculous to think this this an expedient use of tax-payer’s money. Go to any city and see what is like to have a rail screaming above your head, and imagine what it will do to beautiful Hawaii.
HIGH SPEED SCAM = BYE BYE $$$
Most, if not all, Oahu residents agree that the cost of building, operating, and maintaining this rail as designed is bound to escalate. When that point is reached, who will pay for the added and continuing cost? Ans: _____________.
For what good is the rail if I’m going to have to pay more taxes and even go into bankruptcy and foreclose the house in exchange for the rail. If I have to spend extra time in minutes or hour stuck in traffic, fine! just so long as I can keep up with my mortgage payment and avoid going bankrupt. The worse of two evils.
I’m not much into the argument that the rail will ‘ruin the natural beauty’ of the island. It’s the high cost and only high cost of it. Period! I don’t know about you, but I am not willing to pay (more and more) for it.
There are rail proponents who only want to see other motorists get off the freeway so there’s less cars on it. They express little to no desire to use the rail if that ever gets built at all.
Not so long ago, the city operated the ferry service, running from Campbell Industrial Park to/from Aloha Tower. Why was it discontinued after only a few months operation: Ans: __________.
Let’s face it, people don’t want to give up their cars. People predictably will continue to drive them whether or not there’s the rail up there.
The revenue derived from rail will be so neglible, it might not be enough to pay for itself throughout. If you never noticed, the buses are only full capacity Monday to Friday during the hours 5am to 8am, and 3pm to 6pm. There’s less revenue earned outside of these periods, so there goes your bragging ridership estimate, which is inflated and inaccurate.
I fear for this rail project. I see it’s potential for an Oahu version of Costa Concordia disaster. How would you like to be a Francesco Schettino of Oahu?
There is no enough land in a populated area in Oahu. Streets and roads are in maximum capacity of lanes already and I’m sure that our island land area is not growing… Population is increasing, more houses are being build every year. I don’t get it…. It is an investment for the future… When we gonna built it. Don’t think of now, think for the future, for our kids and grandkids.
Oahu is almost the size of Singapore, Macau and/or Hongkong and eventually we will become a fully urbanized place like them. What we gonna do then if we don’t have an alternative way of transportation??? I understand that there are some Oahu resident that they never been away outside Oahu and they will agree for what other people (specially politicians) will say to them. I really don’t get it…
This is the wrong project at the wrong time in the wrong place. I could understand building a rail from, let’s say Waikiki to the airport, but Kapolei to Ala Moana? Come on now! Who is going to give up their car to ride a train that takes longer than a car and requires you to stand the whole way? And because the route excludes so many potential riders, the absurdity of absurdities is you will have to drive your car or take the bus ON THE CONGESTED roadways just to get to the train! That makes no sense. This is a classic example of what happens when you give politicians other people’s money to spend. They waste it on whims or things that look good on paper, but suck in reality. I just pray that the people of Hawaii can see this project for the complete waste that it is. Seriously, it is a massive waste.