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On Politics
Richard Borreca
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Now it will take shoe leather to push the MUFI train
LEARNING about trains takes a lot of traveling.
For instance, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann in just the last two years has unpacked his bags in Manila, Washington, D.C., Salt Lake City, Denver, Shanghai, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Tokyo in the quest for a mass transit education.
Along the way, his traveling buddies have included City Councilmen Romy Cachola, Rod Tam, Todd Apo and Gary Okino.
Of course, those sojourns aren't such a bad life because in every city there are plenty of commercial operators waiting to show off their trains and trolleys and new transit gizmos.
In fact, if the touring had a purpose it was in helping Hannemann refine the city's transit plan to the point that he came away from Vancouver in January saying that the Skytrain plan, which links a system of subways and light rail with expanded bus routes, was the sort of system that would work in Honolulu.
At an estimated price tag of $3 billion-plus, there are a lot of reasons for folks to be interested in Hannemann's decision-making process.
For Hannemann, transit will be his signature statement in Hawaii politics. If the train actually rolls, they should call it the MUFI because Hannemann blew the kindling and sparks until a fire caught hold in the Legislature. At his behest, the Legislature passed Hannemann's plan to raise the excise tax. It was Hannemann who kept coming back to take one more shot at assuring passage, and it was Hannemann who has had to keep the city focused on building the new system.
"Transit will be Mufi's defining issue," says Sen. Sam Slom, a strong Hannemann supporter who also is a vocal opponent of the mass transit plan.
WHAT IS forgotten in all of this is that rail and therefore Hannemann will not succeed as a wholesale project. Orders from on high and blue-sky projections without excruciating details proving every decision will doom the transit plan.
When required, Hannemann can make a politician's retail sale and win the vote, one vote at a time. But the great temptation with a project this big is to leave it to the engineers and the hired help.
Engineers and real estate speculators may be sizing up this train's route and plans, but for most of the community, it is a great unknown.
The wise retail politician would cancel his tickets to see the trains in Zurich or Portland and instead find his way to Kaonohi Street, Mokauea Street and Hausten Street and see what the folks there are ready for.
This summer before the new tax increase he wanted kicks in, and before the engineers announce where all the train stations will go, it is time for Hannemann to put the passport in the drawer and find some comfortable walking shoes.
Richard Borreca writes on politics every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin. He can be reached at 525-8630 or by e-mail at
rborreca@starbulletin.com.