I read this a couple of days ago but decided not to post it... but I just read it again and think people should know just how our governor is being a "public servant". I want this idiot to send me a list of five ways that I will be "strategically" benefited here in Puna by paying more taxes for the rail... I'll let you all know when I get an answer from Ige.

Senate Bill 4 now heads to the governor for his signature. Gov. David Ige released the following statement:

“I thank everyone who took the time to testify this week, including the leaders from the counties. The special session has not been easy, but the Legislature did not give up. I especially thank the Legislature for passing this compromise measure, which allows us to complete the rail line to Ala Moana. The entire state will benefit from this strategic investment. My cabinet members and I will be doing a final review as we do for all legislation, but I fully anticipate signing the bill before the Honolulu City Council meets on Tuesday.” ….

Sometimes I wonder if they actually believe their own bullshit. It's either corruption or incompetence, or a little bit of both.

Sometimes I wonder if they actually believe their own bullshit. It's either corruption or incompetence, or a little bit of both.

mostly corruption, a little bit of incompetence

mostly corruption, a little bit of incompetence

Well, no worries. Once that forensic audit by an outside independent experienced firm is completed, all the corruption will be clear for all to see and the public will have the evidence they need to finally rebuke these lying criminals public servants... oh, wait, that amendment to SB4 from the super minority Republicans in the House (none in the Senate) for the forensic audit was defeated. Never mind. 

This evening news Think About It segment said the so called 1% increase of the TAT is actually an 11% increase when you raise it from 9.5 to 10.5%.  It also said, Does anyone really think that in the 8 years projected for rail to be completed that a new mayor will not approach a new legislature to ask for more money and blame the former mayor as to why more money is needed?  Think about it.  That is why I said I will bet everything I own that to complete rail to Ala Moana it will cost over $10B.

Ige followed through on his pledge to sign SB4 today.

I have not received an answer from him yet about what "strategic benefits" I will receive here in Puna from the ludicrous boondoggle rail on Oahu, as he promised would be the case. He was probably too busy signing the bill and congratulating himself to respond. Note that Hanabusa will likely unseat him in the coming election so he will no longer be "responsible", and she won't be responsible because all the "bad stuff" with rail happened before she was governor (but AFTER she was no longer part of HART). In other words, it's someone else's fault, or better yet, no one at all's fault. No one will ever be held accountable for all the lies and abuses and fraud (See: Obama then: "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan you can keep your health care plan".Obama now: multimillionaire international jetsetter. Clinton: ditto. Etc.)

My rough guess at the final price tag just for construction (they'll need more additional funds for maintenance and operations), including debt servicing costs: 15-20 billion. Just you watch. They have nothing resembling the slightest bit of integrity.

My rough guess at the final price tag just for construction (they'll need more additional funds for maintenance and operations), including debt servicing costs: 15-20 billion. Just you watch. They have nothing resembling the slightest bit of integrity.

$1B per mile.  Hawaii will have set a new record for most expensive rail that will not be surpassed in my children's and maybe even my grandchildren's lifetime.

#IAmNotRail

Sound familiar?

California's bullet train (and biggest boondoggle) is over budget by billions

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/19/californias-bullet-train-and-biggest-boondoggle-overbudget-by-billions.html

Excerpt:

It’s billions of dollars over budget and seven years behind schedule, and appears to have no plausible way of living up to its goal of getting riders across the state in three hours or less.

Welcome to what’s arguably the nation’s largest infrastructure project and California’s biggest boondoggle.

The highly hyped bullet train has been a challenge from the start. No one thought it would be technically, financially and politically easy, but the way the project has been mishandled has some Californians fed up and demanding answers.

Just this week, the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the organization charged with overseeing construction, reported that the cost of the first segment had dramatically risen – again.

“The worst-case scenario has happened,” admitted Roy Hill, lead consultant on the project.

Since its start, this hot-mess express of a project has been plagued by delays and has blown through every single budget estimate imaginable. And it’ll likely cost the state and taxpayers more in the coming months and years.

Much more.

“The so-called bullet train is a solution in search of a problem that is plagued by billions of dollars in cost overruns and fiscal mismanagement,” San Diego City Councilman Mark Kersey told Fox News. “The billions being wasted on this boondoggle could have been invested in our current infrastructure needs, such as water storage, flood control, highways and bridges.”

I was watching the HNN evening news and certain politicians were blaming other politicians because the cost of rail went up another $600m.  Yes, now they are saying it will cost $9B instead of the previous $8.4B.  Why don’t they stop lying and say it will cost over $10B and likely much more to finish this stupid project. I can see the Oahu GET surcharge going from 4.5 to 5%.

at some point, somebody's gotta come to the conclusion that any public works major construction project in Hawaii always results in exorbitant costs, and cost overruns.  Hawaii is the worst place for the govt to build anything, they really sock it to ya.  is it the worst in the nation?  and as soon as you say federal money, hooo baby, they really milk that one six ways to sunday.  H3 anybody?

who's "they"?  labor unions, hawaiian artifacts & culture folks, environmentalists, conservationists, bumbling politicians trying to micromanage the living daylights out of anything common sense, like changing a lightbulb.  not to mention the run-of-the-mill obstructionists.

lose money.

I was watching the HNN evening news and certain politicians were blaming other politicians because the cost of rail went up another $600m.  Yes, now they are saying it will cost $9B instead of the previous $8.4B.  Why don’t they stop lying and say it will cost over $10B and likely much more to finish this stupid project. I can see the Oahu GET surcharge going from 4.5 to 5%.

they should just get it over with and go Kalifornia-style: 8.5% sales tax.  I'm sure our Dem legislators are envious of CA and have all kinds of wasteful social projects they could blow that money on.  After all, they are unopposed in elections, and not held accountable to anybody.

boom.  done.

I bet they all wished they’d listened to Cayetano when he proposed to greatly increase the bus system.  He wanted a few bus terminals fed by smaller buses going into more residential neighborhoods.  Projected cost under $500m and up and running in less than a year.  That would be something a lot more people would have actually used.

Here's the Grassroots Institute press release. There are far more details in the Civil Beat article linked above, but this is a good summary:

First part of HART audit is bad; will rest be worse?

The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii denounces the “egregious” behavior so far uncovered

HONOLULU, Jan. 10, 2019 >> The first installment of a four-part audit by the state auditor is more proof that the over-budget and behind-schedule Honolulu rail project has been significantly mismanaged, intensifying the worries of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii that the megaproject has been rife with waste, abuse and possibly fraud.

Publicly released today, the state auditor’s report found that public disclosures by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation officials of cost and schedule estimates for the rail did not reflect internal projections, seriously misleading the public, lawmakers and even HART’s own board of directors about the financial health of the project.

Keli‘i Akina, Ph.D., president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, said, “Hawaii’s taxpayers deserve public servants who hold truth and transparency as key values in their work. This audit has shown that HART staff did not demonstrate these values. The fact that HART inaccurately reported the project cost and completion schedule is an egregious example of government agencies subverting their responsibility to the public.”

The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has long been lamenting how city and rail officials have been less than straightforward with the public and lawmakers about the rail. Previous research by the Institute found that city officials misrepresented the position of the Federal Transit Administration in order to persuade the Hawaii Legislature to approve a tax increase for the project. The Institute also shed light on the concerns of former HART board member John Henry Felix that the agency was violating its funding agreement with the FTA.

“It’s no secret,” Akina said, “that HART is plagued by cost overruns, and that there are major questions about where the money has gone, or whether the rail will ever be self-sufficient. Instead of misrepresenting and hiding information, HART should seek greater transparency, which would help restore some confidence in this out-of-control project.”

Akina added, “I look forward to seeing the remaining parts of the state audit of HART, but in the meantime, the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii will continue to call for an independent forensic audit for fraud, waste and abuse. It may be the only way to restore the public’s faith in a project that has long been suggested of being handled dishonestly — a suspicion confirmed by this audit.”

State Auditor Les Kondo told the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii that the second part of the audit will be released Monday, Jan. 14. There is no tentative date for the release of the last two parts.

No need any mo audits.  What's a few unaccounted millions among friends. 

Has anyone ever did the math on how much it would cost to just cancel everything?  If we need to save, we can leave the pillars up till later.

No matter the cost, they going complete it to Middle St at the least.  To do otherwise would make them look stupid and incompetent and we can't have that now can we?

did you read about that shooting on the NY "light rail" (subway)?  MS13 perp had a conflict with a Mets fan, so ended up ventilating the Mets fan's face, 6 times.  The Mets fan was getting pounded, pulled a gun, and the MS13 guy wrestled it away and then used it for "self defense".  I'm sure the firearm was registered, legally acquired, and the Mets fan was on his way directly to/from his place of sojourn to the shooting range with the firearm in a law-conforming container.  "killed by his own gun..."

MS13 in a sanctuary city, according to Nancy Pelosi, “There is a spark of divinity among every person on earth, and we all have to recognize that as we respect the dignity and worth of every person...” 

I've ridden light rail on the mainland, in Japan, Australia, Europe, and JIMHO it's terrific as implemented in those places, it goes everywhere, but robot-driven trains, with no attendant or transit cops give me some cause for worry.  I think it's the bus drivers who encourage civility and good behavior on The Bus.  Absent them, and who keeps the street punks in check?

NSFW.
pic.twitter.com/1TKxACLGp1

On the Taipei, Taiwan MRT (rail), they have a sign that says if someone is going ape shit, 1) Call help 2) Get away 3) Fight back with any object (guy using umbrella as sword). 

I'm going next month and will take a pic of it and post it.  The accompanying pics to the what to do sign was funny too. 

About the vid, that's why you mind your own damn business.  What if you were trying to break it up and shot by mistake.  The lady screaming in the background was super irras.

Wonder if the Met's fan had a NY CCW?