Will Kirk Caldwell force the residents of Oahu to pay for the rail with our tax money forever,i thought they were going to use the revenue from the rail to maintain the rail, and the rail got denied from getting any federal money,, didn't he say in the beginning of rail that we would have no problem getting that federal funding..I'm lost in all this rail confusion

Since when do politicians say what they mean?
Especially when less than 30% of the population don't vote?
Most of my friends say that they can't control that so ..."whatevahs" They advise me not to stress over something I can't control.

If that's the sentiment most of Hawaii is willing to accept we blame no one except the person in the mirror every morning.
This whole "lucky we live Hawaii" and "the price of living in Paradise" is BS conjured up by people not willing to listen to people.
One thing that I observe is that the Democrats are smart - they control the media.

Isn't this whole rail tax illegal? Taxation without representation?

Will Kirk Caldwell force the residents of Oahu to pay for the rail with our tax money forever,i thought they were going to use the revenue from the rail to maintain the rail, and the rail got denied from getting any federal money,, didn't he say in the beginning of rail that we would have no problem getting that federal funding..I'm lost in all this rail confusion

Will Kirk Caldwell force the residents of Oahu to pay for the rail with our tax money forever - YES

i thought they were going to use the revenue from the rail to maintain the rail - That is what they said, but that was impossible then, as it is impossible now.

the rail got denied from getting any federal money - Not a surprise, and also expected

didn't he say in the beginning of rail that we would have no problem getting that federal funding - YES and BS



Vote them out.  They'll take our arms AND all our money.

Sadly the competition has also vowed to continue the corrupted debacle, so....    get ready for the extortion.

Since when do politicians say what they mean?
Especially when less than 30% of the population don't vote?
Most of my friends say that they can't control that so ..."whatevahs" They advise me not to stress over something I can't control.

If that's the sentiment most of Hawaii is willing to accept we blame no one except the person in the mirror every morning.
This whole "lucky we live Hawaii" and "the price of living in Paradise" is BS conjured up by people not willing to listen to people.
One thing that I observe is that the Democrats are smart - they control the media.

Isn't this whole rail tax illegal? Taxation without representation?

:thumbsup:double thumbs up for you ren

Will Kirk Caldwell force the residents of Oahu to pay for the rail with our tax money forever - YES

i thought they were going to use the revenue from the rail to maintain the rail - That is what they said, but that was impossible then, as it is impossible now.

the rail got denied from getting any federal money - Not a surprise, and also expected

didn't he say in the beginning of rail that we would have no problem getting that federal funding - YES and BS



Vote them out.  They'll take our arms AND all our money.

Sadly the competition has also vowed to continue the corrupted debacle, so....    get ready for the extortion.

:shaka:double thumbs up and a shaka for you heavies

I understand that the construction industry is large here in Hawaii and is no doubt a large influencing factor in the rail project.
but after the rail then what? We have all these people with construction skills and what do we do with them? I worked as a project engineer for a very short time. I hated it. But the take-away is how do I keep these people employed? There's only so much you can build on a finite space such as Oahu. What future industries are we growing in Hawaii? Are we content with setting up our next generation with construction skills?

I think we need to incubate a new modern industry. Tourism is great. Construction is great. But I see our island becoming another south Asian island country with limited freedoms, increased urbanization with no long-term plan. How about being the Pacific's premier "big" data center?

I understand that the construction industry is large here in Hawaii and is no doubt a large influencing factor in the rail project.
but after the rail then what? We have all these people with construction skills and what do we do with them? I worked as a project engineer for a very short time. I hated it. But the take-away is how do I keep these people employed? There's only so much you can build on a finite space such as Oahu. What future industries are we growing in Hawaii? Are we content with setting up our next generation with construction skills?

I think we need to incubate a new modern industry. Tourism is great. Construction is great. But I see our island becoming another south Asian island country with limited freedoms, increased urbanization with no long-term plan. How about being the Pacific's premier "big" data center?

Good question.  There's always boom and bust cycles.  The last one that I recall was when they were building all those high rises and then boom, bottom fell out, or at least was bleeding severely.  The Moana Pacific (now Pacifica) sat idle for over a year. 

I was involved in the local construction industry as a designer for 7 years and was part of that boom.  Before that, the typical thinking was get involved in state highway work since those projects received federal monies from FHWA.  Those were typically steady projects, whereas stuff like residential, retail and other "locally" based stuff were typically used as filler for larger firms. 

During the bust times, I recall many moving to Vegas and elsewhere.  Go where the money is, right?