The Honolulu City Council wants to create a framework for a fund to pay businesses affected by ongoing rail construction on Oʻahu.
Bill 40 is concerned with the city’s Transit Construction Mitigation Fund, which was established in 2015 to distribute money to negatively impacted businesses.
The city allocated $750,000 to the fund in 2018, but none of it was actually distributed and the funding lapsed. It hasn’t received any funding since.
“We've seen how businesses have been negatively impacted, we know that this construction is going to go for years and eventually come into town and Kakaʻako, and we need some sort of framework here to get this done,” said Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, who co-introduced the bill, at a Tuesday council meeting.
Sean Uezu, who runs the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen on Dillingham Boulevard, said in written testimony on the bill that the fund can be vital to impacted businesses.
“My business has seen a measurable drop in revenues directly resulting from rail construction over an extended period. The mitigation fund could be a lifeline for businesses like mine … The fund cannot remain an abstract concept; businesses are hurting now, and need reasonable access to these support resources that we have been promised,” Uezu said.
Bill 40 would require the city’s Department of Budget and Fiscal Services to establish application procedures, deadlines and selection criteria. It would also require the city to do outreach on the fund.
BFS Director Andrew Kawano argued against the bill, saying the fund — and taxpayer dollars — could easily be abused.
“I just think that we're going to have to determine, with a little more objectivity, how you determine that a business was actually harmed by the construction itself versus other factors, other variables,” Kawano said.
The council voted to move along an amended version of the bill anyway. It now focuses on small businesses and tries to address some of the city’s concerns.
“I don't want to take no for an answer. So I think we ought to keep pushing forward on this. Because that's what these small business owners, who have poured their heart and soul into their livelihoods, that's what they deserve,” Dos Santos-Tam said.
