The curse of the west side …
February 20th, 2012
By ddepledge
By ddepledge
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, made the rounds of the Hawaii media on Monday, discussing rail, earmarks, politics and even New York Knicks phenom Jeremy Lin.
The senior senator said that whenever he is back in the islands for an extended period, he likes to schedule an event on the west side so he can get a reminder of the traffic gridlock.
Just so I can get back this way and cuss myself. You go through that traffic jam, if you don’t cuss, then you’re a saint.
I’m not a saint.
Posted in In Politics | 10 Comments »
Political Radar
February 20th, 2012 at 7:37 pm
I wonder if Ben has ever been out to the West Side lately. Doubt it.
February 20th, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Sincerely love what the good Senator said about this topic in this regard. Right on, man; the first local politician in a while who at least is making an attempt to feel our pain (let’s see him go through that traffic for a solid month, morning AND evening; betcha’ at least 1/2 rail gets done in a few years after Mr. Inouye experiences that).
He should also study how some saints got to become saints; he’ll see parts of their journey wasn’t “saintly” at all (and if any Catholic haters — not talkin’ Senator Inouye here — bother to read some of these lives of the saints, maybe they’d stop their silly uncalled-for anti-Catholic agendas, is the Grease’s soapbox of the day).
February 21st, 2012 at 12:13 am
ben is ensconced in the safe have up in waialae iki overlooking the beautiful pacific ocean. he has no idea or concept what traffic gridlock is all about having to travel from the west side to honolulu and back on a daily basis where one minor fender bender can create a logjam but benny is all about making a name for himself irrespective of other people’s welfare….heck, any of you remember his idea to convert the ala wai golf course into a development area or a park where more homeless can establish themselves….ben is an idealist who should just disappear …..and people are ignorant enough to believe in him like those people in the outer areas where the h-3 was built that was limited to a select few but the rail will service many of the people that work in downtown honolulu and waikiki….the blue collar workers…..and rail is another alternative or option that will give our citizens in that area an option in avoiding the constant traffic mess…if the rail was built twenty years ago when it was first mentioned, it would have cost way less than now and the network could have been expended to service other parts of the city e.g. UH, east side etc….but these idiots that block progress are the very ones in history that cried that the world is flat or why go to the moon etc…
February 21st, 2012 at 12:05 pm
The day that politicians like Inouye and all those government employees regularly commute via TheBus (rather than parking in reserved stalls subsidized by taxpayers) is the day that we stop having to complain about traffic congestion.
February 21st, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Thanks, Big Dan.
February 21st, 2012 at 1:34 pm
And yet FTA and the City of Honolulu both state that rail will not reduce gridlock below current levels…..
February 21st, 2012 at 2:01 pm
@hosana,
H-3 was pushed by pretty much the same interests who are now pushing the Train: development interests, landowners, contractors and construction unions, backed up by First Hawaiian Bank. This absurd talking point that Windward residents wanted H-3 but now oppose transportation solutions for the westside is obnoxious and untrue.
SOME windward businesses and landowners wanted H-3, but most residents saw it as a threat to the Windward side and the North Shore.
Inouye supported both projects and worked to bring in the federal dollars to make them happen. In the 70s, he had the ability to deliver. I THINK the Federal share was 80 or 90% versus 10 or 20% from the state. An offer like that is hard to resist, given its impact on local jobs and cash flowing through the local economy. A major reason behind support for the Train comes from the same urge. To bring money into Hawaii’s struggling economy, particularly into the long-suffering construction industry.
Cayetano understands the stimulus effect of such spending, but thinks we should put our dollars towards repairing the schools, sewage system and roads, all of which can lead to more employment for our construction workers than the Train. And which would less less of a “boom and bust” effect.
February 21st, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Rail is about directing and managing growth more than anything else. It is about keeping a commitment made over thirty years ago when we, as an island, decided to direct growth away from the Windward side and East Honolulu towards the Ewa plains and Central Oahu instead. And it is about continuing to direct growth and shape urban Honolulu for the next century. That is how the island of Oahu as a whole benefits from rail. (See: http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/guesteditorials/20100825_Rail_will_help_direct_growth_across_Oahu.html.) If rail goes down this time, Oahu’s General Plan should be amended immediately to direct substantially more growth to the Windward side and East Honolulu.
February 21st, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Re: kolea. Your statements and suppositions are just ridiculous. The bottom line is providing another alternative or option to our current log jam of cars. Do we wait another ten yrs. when gridlock will definitely take place before we start a discourse on rail or do we start now to provide alternatives and options for west oahu residents that have to commute in this traffic mess . Cayetano knows that our CIP budgets cover the infrastructures in our cities and while he was governor, he should have made this known also but he was too concerned with his own self-interest e.g. converting the ala wai golf course into a development mess or another wasteful park to address the infrastructure concerns within the city and state. Rail, unfortunately, is a necessary evil that has to be completed but the real blame lies in the citizens that constantly purchase two or three cars per family which creates a mess everywhere. Stop the Rail and you will have one gigantic traffic jam 24/7….Open your eyes and think progressive…Don’t be a dinosaur that constantly thought that our world was flat or refused to adapt to change which led to the dinosaur’s extinction.
February 22nd, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Kolea is a mainland person who thinks she knows Hawaii issues.