Business owners impacted by the rail construction will soon be able to receive up to $10,000 a year. Honolulu Mayor Blangiardi signed the bill into law on Friday.
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has recently started the tricky process of relocating a string of underground utilities to build what will eventually be part of the rail line.
That has caused an increase in congested traffic heading both ways on Dillingham Boulevard and many businesses in the area have been suffering.
Yudai Fukudai, who owns U-Kitchen in Kalihi, said he’s seen a 60% drop in customers.
“They say sometimes it takes 20 to 30 minutes to just to come to our stores,” he said. “So they cannot come in during their lunchtime now. So it's kind of hard.”
The law Blangiardi signed will give locally owned businesses up to $10,000 a year, as long as they are within a block of rail construction and have fewer than 15 employees.
The businesses must have opened before 2022 and make less than $750,000 a year.
“This is something that I really feel very good about,” Blangiardi said.
“Our small businesses, the businesses behind me, the businesses that comprise this little mall and up the street and elsewhere are the backbone of our community," he continued.
Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam worked on the measure with Councilmember Radiant Cordero. Dos Santos-Tam said they learned from establishments that went out of business during rail construction in Waipahu and ʻAiea.
“Now that we're in the most difficult part of rail construction, coming down the Dillingham corridor, where it's been years and will be several more years, we said we had to do something,” Dos Santos-Tam said. “These small businesses really are the lifeblood of our community, and it's what gives this part of Kalihi so much character.”
HART Executive Director Lori Kahikina said although the utility relocation is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026, building the columns and stations may take years.
However, it should be less invasive than the utility relocation because the columns and station building will be in a more concentrated area for shorter periods of time.
“For the utility relocations, you can see it takes up the whole span [of the road],” Kahikina said.
“When the city center guideway station contractor comes in, it'll be more lineal ... as they're building, they’ll have the columns, the guideway, so it'll be much more compact than it is right now," she said.
The city expects that several dozen businesses will qualify for the program. It will start in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2024.
In the meantime, the city says they will be developing the application process.
