honolulu rail

Mayor Caldwell on Rail; Hawaii Farmers Union United; Reality Check: Bleak Forecast for Rental Market; Board of Water Supply

  Spending CARES Money; Maui County EMS Budget Cuts; Reality Check: Possible Rail CEO Replacement; Gauging Vaccine Willingness; National Public Lands Day

Rail construction moves forward amid COVID-19 crisis; Pandemic delays Hawaii courts; Staying safe from domestic abuse while staying home; Nearly free childcare for Maui's essential workers

The Honolulu transit fare review body wants to raise the price of a bus ride by 25 cents to $3, but provide free transfers between the rail and bus.

Gun control bills at the 2020 legislative session; AARP Hawaii warns of Census scammers; Hitachi lands $70M a year rail contract; Creating Hawaiian subtitles for Netflix content

The City and County of Honolulu signed an agreement with Hitachi worth $918 million over 13 years to operate the long-delayed rail transit system.

Pearl Harbor Shipyard Centennial; DNA Medicare Fraud; Rail Power Issues; Analyzing eDNA In Water Samples; Water Sitting at Bottom of Kilauea Crater

CRB City Follow-up; UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; Rail Update; Hawaii's Filoli Connection

Leadership and TMT; Polls and Polling; Rail Legal Dispute; Wildfire Risk in Hawaii; Transpac: Roy Disney

When state lawmakers added new members to the HART board to help scrutinize the growing costs of Honolulu’s rail system, it actually made it more difficult to get a quorum and get business done. That’s why a question to amend the city charter will appear on the ballot next week. HART board chairman Damien Kim sat down with us yesterday afternoon to explain why voters are being asked to tweak the makeup and operation of the board.

Banking for Dispensaries; Technical Challenges of Urban Rail; Women in Business

Rail Finance; Political Dog Whistles; Molokai Community Plan

The Transient Accommodation Tax or T-A-T is the buzzword of the week. At least it will be at the Hawai‘i State Capitol, where lawmakers are in special session to come up with a plan to finance the Honolulu rail project. HPR’s Ku‘uwehi Hiraishi tells us why this tax is so popular. 

No one person decided the rail system Honolulu is currently embarked on.  In 2008, 50.6% of voters decided to allow the construction of a steel on steel rail transit system.  There were expert panels, studies, reports, and key City Council decisions, which were shaped by input.  HPR’s Noe Tanigawa talked with former Mayor Mufi Hannemann who was spearheading the rail project at the time.  It was pegged at 5.2 billion dollars.

  There were a few key junctures in the long, convoluted story of Honolulu’s rail project.  Getting the point five percent general excise tax increase was one, and the decision to go with an elevated system is another.  HPR’s Noe Tanigawa is taking an average citizen’s look at the project and had a chance to talk with two key players involved in the project’s beginnings.

  Since before Honolulu's elevated rail broke ground, architect Scott Wilson has advocated for a different system. Still rail but 'at grade.' In a report released this year he re-energized that idea to transform the bloated project once it reaches town. Scott Wilson will be on the show to answer calls and questions.

Outlook for the E-Cig Industry; A Local School Goes Paperless; Future of HART

Campbell estate heiress Abigail Kawānanakoa has filed a lawsuit against the City and County of Honolulu to re-address the City Council’s approval of the rail project.  The lawsuit seeks to invalidate key votes of two former Honolulu City Council members who favored the rail project.  Former city council members Romy Cachola and Nestor Garcia agreed to pay fines to the city ethics commission for accepting gifts from lobbyists who profited from rail construction.

Bridget G. Morgan is an attorney representing Kawānanakoa. 

A Hawaii congressman has a new idea to help a couple of major roadways on Oahu. The financial impact of light rail construction has slowed repairs to Kamehameha and Farrington Highways.  The two corridors serve as vital links between Aiea and Waipahu for residents, and require improvements brought on by the rail.

On this Town Square, a progress report on Honolulu's rail project with Mayor Kirk Caldwell and HART Executive Director & CEO, Daniel Grabauskas.