Former Governor of Hawaii, Ben Cayetano, is running for Mayor of Honolulu under an anti-rail project platform. Last month, the City and County of Honolulu was required to release approximately 500,000 documents, letters and emails dating back from 2006 to a group of rail opponents who were suing the city in federal court in an effort to stop the rail project. Yesterday, Cayetano released several of these documents including internal email messages from Federal Transit Administrion where members of the FTA questioned if the rail project complied with federal environmental law or if advancements were done property. Governor Cayetano stated that now that these emails from Federal Transit Administration staff members have been made public, it “Will only increase the public’s disgust and disappointment with how the city has managed the rail project.”
The Federal Transit Authority released a response which stated, “There is no question that this project has overcome early obstacles because of a much improved federal partnership with the City of Honolulu and State of Hawaii over the last several years. The Federal Transit Administration believes that this project will bring much needed relief from the suffocating congestion on H-1 and provide a real transportation alternative for the people of Oahu when gas prices rise.”
Ben Cayetano concluded, “I think the only reason this thing is still alive and has not been rejected by the FTA is because of a very, very powerful senator (Daniel Inouye) who chairs the Appropriations Committee.”
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 3-14-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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