Anti-rail mayoral candidate Ben Cayetano calls the project a house of cards, while pro-rail candidate Kirk Caldwell says Cayetano is distorting impact of the handful of claims the judge has ordered the city and feds to do more work on.
After a day to analyze a judge’s order in the rail case against the city and the federal government, Cayetano had this to say in a press conference: “We’re claiming victory because, we didn’t get everything we wanted. But I think the fact that they will be compelled to go back to the drawing board to do the supplemental EIS is a victory for us."
“I can’t see any money coming forward as long as they have to do a supplemental EIS,” he added. “This project, for all the assurances the city has given to the public, is really based financially on a house of cards…It doesn’t make sense to me if I was a voter, to put the same people back in charge, that is nuts."
The judge found in the defendants’ — or pro-rail’s — favor on 20 remaining issues, and the plaintiffs — or antirail’s — favor on 3: identifying above-ground traditional cultural properties, considering a Beretania Street tunnel, and considering whether Mother Waldron Park would be constructively used.
"Ben has already lost 54 out of 57 claims that he filed originally, and there’s just 3 left and he’s distorting the impact of those last 3 claims," pro-rail mayoral candidate Kirk Caldwell said. “I think the people of this island are smart enough to see through it."
“What they’re doing this for is on the 11th hour, 2 days before the election, they want to carry this on and say aha we told you so, nonsense, ok?" Mayor Peter Carlisle said. “When you look at this and when you look at the analysis of this, all we’re being asked to do is say, hey, can you give us more information that we can put into a documented form and attach it to what we’ve already said.”
A remedy phase could involve a block on the project. That hearing is Dec. 12.
"If the court grants a permanent injunction in December, that will be a total victory," Cayetano said.
But the city says there’s room for fast fixes.
“Nothing in the judges ruling requires a supplemental EIS,” said Dan Grabauskas, CEO of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation. “What he’s requesting is additional information. There are varying degrees of requirements and various processes, some that are more exhaustive, for instance if a complete EIS or partial EIS has to be redone. But there are literally opportunities for us in some cases where we make changes to the project where we supplement the record with some documentation and that can take as little as days maybe even weeks to turn around.”
Cayetano’s side points to a worst-case scenario.
“One of the three points is that the judge really wants the city to take a serious look at the tunnel option on Beretania Street,” said Cayetano supporter Panos Prevedouros. “That’s a colossal diversion because it diverts the route, it introduces over $650 million in costs."
The city says the judge is allowing for the tunnel to be properly ruled out in more detail, as they did on a separate, rejected King Street tunnel alignment.
"No one here on our side is looking to do tunnels,” Grabauskas said. “We’re looking to do the elevated system as the most cost-effective, safest way to deliver the most reliable service along the 20 miles we’re going to be operating."
The U.S. Department of Justice — answering KHON2 on behalf of the Federal Transit Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation — told us they’re reviewing the court’s decision and has no further comment yet.
Meanwhile, with construction already halted by the archaeological surveys from State Supreme Court ruling, main contractor Kiewit is down to less than half the staff it had on the job — 38 layoffs, 25 transferred out, and 73 inactive subcontractors.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
