Leaders create influence with the clays of criticism others throw at them. They don't take offence; they take corrections. Accept corrections and you'll improve and increase. Correction is the tool for creating better from worse. Make the best use of it! ~ Israelmore Ayivor

1. THE HONOLULU AUTHORITY FOR RAPID TRANSIT (HART)
̶ FIELD OF DREAMS ̶
If You Build It They Will Come
RULE NO. 1: NEVER LOSE MONEY
RULE NO. 2: NEVER FORGET RULE NO. 1
̶ WARREN BUFFETT ̶
SOMETIMES BY LOSING A BATTLE YOU FIND A NEW WAY TO WIN THE WAR
̶ DONALD TRUMP ̶
THE HONOLULU METROLINER (HML)
̶ KAPOLEI TO MIDDLE STREET CENTER ̶
AND
̶ MIDDLE STREET CENTER TO ALA MOANA ̶
HIGH-TECH VERSIONS OF HONOLULU'S AWARD-WINNING BUS SERVICE
In the movie FIELD OF DREAMS, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) while standing
in his corn feld hears a voice say, “If you build it, he will come.” Ray believes
then he must plow under the corn crop and build a baseball feld so that
Chicago White Sox Left Fielder Shoeless Joe Jackson who was banned from
baseball in 1920 and dead for years, can play on it. Ray and his wife (Amy
Madigan) know this is a crazy thing to do and they do it – Ray and Amy are
unable to pay the mortgage, having plowed under a portion of their crop and
spent all their savings to fund Ray's obsession.
HONOLULU OFFICIALS PROMISE FEDS THEY'RE ON BOARD
WITH RAIL MONEY
Mayor Kirk Caldwell and Councilmen Ernie Martin and Trevor Ozawa say they are
committed to fnishing the city's $9 billion rail project
By Nick Grube, Honolulu Civil Beat
April 16, 2018, accessed April 17, 2018
http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/04/honolulu-ofcials-promise-feds-theyre-on-board-with-rail-money/

2. Senator Brian Schatz “doesn't see the federal agency backing out of its grant
agreement, especially if the city continues to commit money on its side of the
deal. Securing funding from Legislature last year was a big part of that.
“The FTA still wants to fnish this,” Schatz said. “I can’t speak for them. But it's
clear to me that they're still deeply engaged. They're transit people. They like to
set up transit systems across the country. They have no desire to make this the
frst one that didn't get of the ground.”
That doesn't mean the city is completely of the hook. The FTA still wants
Honolulu to include $44 million in its upcoming budget to pay for rail. But
where that money will come from — operating expenses or capital
improvement funds — is still a matter of debate.
WHAT HONOLULU RAIL OFFICIALS KNOW THEY DON'T KNOW
Nobody has confdence in estimates of the project’s expense,
which may be as much as $13 billion
By Randall Roth and Clif Slater,
Community Voices – Honolulu Civil Beat
April 17, 2018, accessed April 17, 2018
http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/04/what-honolulu-rail-ofcials-know-they-dont-know/
The mayor and the Honolulu City Council are haggling over a $44 million
funding gap for rail, while pretending the latest construction cost estimate of
$8.165 billion is chiseled in granite. In truth, nobody has confdence in that
number — not the project's ofcial oversight manager, not the Federal Transit
Administration, not even the mayor.
Panos Prevedouros, chair of the University of Hawaii Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, thinks a more likely cost would be $13 billion, but
unlike city ofcials, he stresses the inherent unknowability of what the actual
amount will be. Unknowability is why no bonded contractor will contractually
agree to build rail to Ala Moana for a fxed price that would bring the costs
within the current $8.165 billion forecast, or even $13 billion. Just about
everyone — including rail critics like us — thought construction would go
smoothly until Middle Street, where building conditions worsen dramatically.

3. More specifcally, that's where rail's construction contractor will begin to
confront a host of known unknowns, such as unmapped utilities, uncertain
subsoil, large amounts of iwi, and potentially catastrophic impacts on existing
structures. Asked for an example of how downtown rail construction could
impact an existing structure, Prevedouros points to the now-tilting Millennium
Tower in San Francisco, which already has spawned billions of dollars in
lawsuits.
Another known unknown is the eventual cost of operating and maintaining rail,
not to mention a funding source. In 2027, when the rail is supposedly to be
fully operational, the city forecasts annual subsidies (losses) of $460,000,000
for all public transportation. That is more than double the city forecast for the
current year. These known unknowns are in addition to challenges no one has
yet to consider — the unknown unknowns.Meanwhile, city ofcials are
“whistling past the graveyard,” as they pretend to know all about the many
unknowns. As best we can tell, their strategy is simply not to be around when
the actual tab — as opposed to their feel-good cost estimate of “only” $8.165
billion — fnally arrives.
Polls suggest a MAJORITY OF THE PUBLIC WANTS TO FINISH RAIL AND
STAY WITHIN THE EXISTING BUDGET. BOTH CAN BE ACHIEVED ONLY
BY FINISHING RAIL AT THE MIDDLE STREET TRANSIT CENTER, where
riders can transfer to coordinated options such as pooled ride-hailing and
HIGH-TECH VERSIONS OF HONOLULU'S AWARD-WINNING BUS SERVICE.
[Emphasis Supplied]
HONOLULU LAUNCHES ELECTRIC BUS PILOT PROJECT
By The Sierra Club – Oahu Group
January 31, 2018, accessed April 17, 2018
https://sierracluboahu.org/honolulu-launches-electric-bus-pilot-project/
It's ofcial! The frst zero-emission electric bus in Hawaii has arrived
This Proterra bus will be tested on 23 city routes as a pilot project for
The Bus. Thank you to our Honolulu county leadership for taking this
important step towards 100% clean ground transportation.