Waiting For Rail? No! | The Truth About Rail | Online Building Permits

Humbug! People are Not Going to Drive,
Wait, Catch a Rail, Wait....
By Cliff Slater, HonoluluTraffic.com

The Honolulu City Council and the City Administration are in the midst of looking at varied rail systems for Honolulu.

The plan failed before.

In 1992, there was a big push for rail.

People did not buy it.

One of the problems was in the City/Parsons Brinckerhoff 1992 rail plans, which included: In the 1992 Final Environmental Impact Statement, page 4-5, (see at the Municipal Library) the planners showed that for the journey from West Loch to Civic Center, there would a 7-minute time savings using combined rail/bus versus using just the bus.

For the bus, the rider would “Walk to Bus Stop 8 minutes, Wait for Bus 5 minutes, Ride Bus 54 minutes, and Walk to Destination 2 minutes,” for a total of 69 minutes.

For the rail trip, the rider would “Walk to Bus Stop, Wait for Bus, Ride Bus, Walk to Transit Station, Walk within Station, Wait for Train, Ride Train, Walk within Station, Walk to Shuttle Bus, Wait for Shuttle Bus, Ride Shuttle Bus, Walk to Destination,” for a total of 62 minutes.

Would anyone go through all that humbug to save seven minutes? Of course not. The trouble is that the company’s computer models do not have a variable for “humbug.”

Why are Hawaii Taxpayers Not
Being Told the Truth About Rail?

By Jack Schneider for Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

The debate over rail in Honolulu has been going on for some time.

Numerous rail systems from around the country have been held up as examples of rail systems that work effectively and economically.

Seattle’s monorail has been held up to Honolulu taxpayers as one of the transportation systems that work effectively and should be used a model.

But should this system be used as a model by Honolulu?

Should a system that has had two trains collide November 26, 2005 be used as model for Honolulu?

Should a system that will not be expanded because of a 1.84 billion dollar building costs be used as a model for Honolulu?

Should a system that the local rider ship has not embraced be used as a model?

Should a system that is not running be used as a model?

Why are Honolulu officials vigorously promoting a system that uses as a model a system that has been demonstrated to be non functional?

Why are Honolulu taxpayers not being told the whole truth about rail?

Why? http://tinyurl.com/n6dp3 (link to Seattle Times online article “Monorail Trains Collide.”

Jack Schneider is the chairman of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, a board member of Small Business Hawaii, and owner of JS Services. Email him at jschn@lava.net

Online Building Permits Get Raves

Mayor Mufi Hannemann last month announced the City Department of Planning and Permitting's new on-line building permit service is winning praise from the public and saving staff time.

On March 1, 2006, the department began issuing permits on-line for projects that require no plans, such as solar installations, electrical meter or plumbing replacements for single-family dwellings. Applicants may apply, pay for and receive their permits all on-line with the new system.

"The Honline program is one of many innovations that Planning and Permitting Director Henry Eng and his staff have devised to cut down on processing time for permits," said Hannemann. "When we took office last year, one of my first requests of the department was to address chronic complaints about protracted processing times and painfully long lines for building permit applicants.

"The department attacked the problem on several fronts to deliver on our maxim, Go on line; don't waste time in line."

The department promptly opened a pay-only pickup line for building permit applicants that served more than 7,000 people in its first year. Last June, the department began allowing permit applicants to begin the process online before visiting the permit center.

Since the HONline permit service began in March, the department processed more than 300 permits, saving an estimated 150 hours of staff time, and reducing the lines of applicants at the permit center significantly. That saves the applicants time, labor and gasoline over having to apply for, pay for and receive their permits in person.

For more on HONline and other services offered by the Department of Planning and Permitting, visit the website http://www.honoluludpp.org/ or contact: Henry Eng, Director of Planning and Permitting, 523-4432 David Tanoue, Deputy Director of Planning and Permitting, 523-4433.

June 2006 SB News Front Page

Waiting For Rail? No! | The Truth About Rail | Online Building Permits

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