Transit leader denies City Council members have accused the chairman of the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization of trying to kill the city's Bus Rapid Transit project.
he wants to kill bus plan
Sen. Kawamoto says he still has
questions about the plan
and ran out of timeBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.comThe Council members said they believe Sen. Cal Kawamoto (D, Waipahu-Pearl City) abruptly adjourned yesterday's OMPO meeting because he did not have the votes to pull the plan from the three-year Transportation Improvements Program.
OMPO is the group that oversees state and city transportation projects on Oahu. Failure to be placed in the Transportation Improvements Program likely would doom the city's Bus Rapid Transit project. The project calls for a series of neighborhood circulator buses feeding express buses that travel to and from town. In town a tram would run along exclusive lanes and get priority with traffic lights.
Kawamoto refused to take a vote on the $300 million-plus program and left the meeting. State Transportation Director Brian Minaai and Sen. Brian Kanno (D, Makakilo-Waipahu) soon followed.
"It was an outrageous display of power on Cal Kawamoto's part," Councilman Steve Holmes said. "I've never seen anything like it."
Kawamoto denied any bad intent. The meeting had run longer than the two hours that had been slotted, and questions had not been answered for several projects, including the Bus Rapid Transit plan.
"I mentioned earlier that we would defer if time ran down and we still had questions," said Kawamoto, who heads the Senate's Transportation Committee. "When I'm the chair, we start on time and end on time."
However, Councilman Duke Bainum, Kawamoto's vice chairman and chairman of the Council Transportation Department, said, "That's the first time a time limit has ever been discussed, to my knowledge."
Bainum made a motion that was seconded to approve the Transportation Improvements Program, but Kawamoto refused to recognize the move, raising questions about whether he followed parliamentary procedure.
Kawamoto said he is not against Bus Rapid Transit and even expects it to be part of the Transportation Improvement Program when OMPO does reconvene to vote on it, likely next week. But first, he said, he wants answers.
"The problem is, it appears that the city is trying to railroad this whole project down our throats," he said.
"Oh, that's bogus," said Councilman John DeSoto, who said the city has held more public hearings to explain the project than any other project he has known.
Councilman John Henry Felix said he was disappointed Minaai followed Kawamoto out the door. Up until this time, the state DOT has been supportive of the Bus Rapid Transit project, but "it appears he and Cal are in league," Felix said.
Chimed in Councilman Gary Okino, "All we're getting is resistance from the state, and it's pretty obvious they want to kill this project."
Marilyn Kali, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said there was no collusion between Kawamoto and Minaai, who left quickly because he was scheduled to be at a 10 a.m. conference call with Federal Aviation Administration officials.
City & County of Honolulu
