An anti-rail group has failed on one of its last chances to create a ballot question attempting to stop the city's proposed $4 billion rail transit system. 

 
• Court Denies Commuter Rail Question On Ballot

 

 

 

It looks like Honolulu voters will have a chance to ban Rail Transit in the next election.

 

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The state appeals court rejected Stop Rail Now's last-minute attempt yesterday, giving the group the option of appealing to the Hawaii Supreme Court, though time is running out.

Oahu voters will still have the opportunity to vote on rail transit in the November general election on a question created by the City Council that would amend the City Charter.

“;We may have to, in the end, fall back on the City Council question,”; said Cliff Slater, one of Stop Rail Now's organizers and a vocal anti-rail critic. “;That would not have been on the ballot if not for us.”;

Earle Partington, Stop Rail Now's attorney, said the group were to decide today whether to go to the Supreme Court.

“;It is a great disappointment,”; Partington said. “;This is a matter of public interest and the refusal to order it on the ballot is extremely disappointing for the people.”;

A three-member panel of the Intermediate Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that if the question were placed on the ballot, it would “;engender unintended, serious, negative consequences”; in the general election. Those consequences include the logistical impact on the election as well as “;voter confusion,”; the court said.

In response yesterday, Don Kitaoka, city deputy corporation counsel, said in a statement: “;We are pleased the court ruled the way it did, because the (appeals court's) decision actually ensures that the voters will have the right to vote on the rail issue in the upcoming general election.”;

The court also noted the public will still be able to vote on the issue of mass transit, a reference to the City Council's question.

The Council's question on the ballot will ask voters if they want the city to continue building Mayor Mufi Hannemann's proposed “;steel wheel on steel rail”; technology. If a majority of the voters rejects the system, it would essentially kill the system, many city officials have said, because the federal government would be unlikely to fund a system without public support.

Stop Rail Now was seeking to overturn a Circuit Court judge's ruling earlier this year that said Stop Rail Now did not have enough signatures to place the issue on the ballot.

Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto upheld the city clerk's determination that the group needed about 45,000 signatures. The group maintained that it needed only about 30,000 signatures.

The appeals court noted that if it were to issue an injunction placing the Stop Rail Now question on the ballot and it was later determined that the group's interpretation was wrong, the votes cast on that issue would not count.

The 32-page opinion was issued by Chief Appeals Judge Mark Recktenwald and appellate Judges Corinne Watanabe and Katherine Leonard.

The ruling is at http://www.state.hi.us/jud/opinions/ica/2008/ica29354ord.pdf.