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Response to Pacific Resource Partnership and I Mua
May 9th, 2012
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by admin · Filed Under: Children/Families · Hawaii · Oahu's Rail Debacle · Politics
Response to Pacific Resource Partnership launching I Mua Rail
First of all, I know this is a partnership that includes Pacific Business News and is throwing more money at this controversial project. After 5 million and counting of our taxpayers’ money has been poured into propaganda to tell us (obviously stupid) citizens how to think, they figure that just isn’t enough. So, they are going to pour more hundreds of thousands into the propaganda machine. So, the public has had MASSIVE amounts of info and strategies and facts hidden, but now the powers that be see fit to spend more piles of cash to rehash the propaganda to try to make their point.
1. KEY QUESTION: If this is such a brilliant idea, and I for sure know we have hundreds of thousands of good, hard-working intelligent citizens on Oahu WHY on earth does it take millions to convince them/us that this is a good idea?
The standard claim is that the Rail project will create 10,000 jobs annually-4,000 in construction and 6,000 in support sectors architecture, planning, retail, restaurants and other service industries.
2. KEY QUESTIONS: Estimates now are between 400 and 500 jobs will be created in the construction. That’s the local guesses and Kiewit won’t even respond to questions about this. Is this REALLY enough to warrant proceeding with such a huge investment? Now hundreds of mainland people have already moved here to build the Rail (which ironically makes the traffic worse.) When a Kiewit supervisor was asked the other day on TV; “How many local and how many mainland people have been hired?” he stumbled with that very basic concept here in the islands. He responded to that that they were having a hard time telling who is local and who is not. Another Kiewit person told my friend that they would start off with some local workers, but then, as the locals scam them with sore back claims and such they would replace the locals with those from the mainland. In fact it has already been declared that people of Oahu don’t know how to build a rail, so that those people will have to be brought in. I submit that this influx of people is exacerbating the situation and putting an unnecessary toll on the rest of the island’s infrastructure. So, again, is this huge project worth it for the very few amounts of jobs that will be provided to locals. And to Mr. Kiewit, locals are NOT those that move here to work and stay. Regarding the large amounts of locals who would support (?), Yes I guess there seems to be a small need that will be filled. Unless the Rail Supporters are conceding that this influx of new people coming in to build it will need restaurants and other businesses (REALLY?) then it’s just the same number of residents just going to work mainly on Monday through Friday. So they will go to restaurants if they already were, of they won’t if they didn’t. So maybe businesses will ‘move’ towards the Rail and away from the neighborhoods those people come from. Not real gains though. Lastly on this topic, many WILL be needed, (at minimum wage, I am sure) to clean up the Rail stations, clean and/or paint over graffiti, and patrol the stations and lots as security. I will falt out guarantee that this money is NOT in any kind of budget right now, however. Again, Is there enough jobs to make this the main reason for the project?
It has been said that there will be fewer cars on the road, less congestion on highways and side streets, reduced air pollution and less reliance on foreign oil. (And many say there is a Santa Claus.) A LOT of things have been said, but this one has been ‘unsaid’ by Wayne Yoshioka. He reported that this project probably won’t relieve congestion. The rest is just a laughable pie in the sky statement, some of which I have not seen. And I thought I had heard it all.
3. KEY QUESTIONS: As more and more people move here, they will continue to drive cars on the roads and in fact add to this issue. No one will be measuring air pollution before and after and I suggest that if they do, there won’t be much change (that one is a reach.) Surface streets. DID YOU SAY SURFACE STREETS? Has anyone yet begun to consider the overwhelming strain to our side streets when this construction is going on? Not only is it going to make the present commutes unbearably longer for periods of time, but the wear and tear from the extra use of those side streets will cause repair problems. Of course the budgets for that will have to be slashed to help subsidize the Rail-right? Less reliance on foreign oil? Give me a break. So the extra workers and citizens moving here will go on using the roads and some, a small number will switch to electric cars. Hardly a mass of people leaving their cars and that will hardly qualify as less reliance on foreign oil. Now, this is an interesting question. Is one of the subplots of the Rail to mess up traffic SO BADLY through the construction period that, when (and if) it is ever completed, the traffic will then ‘seem’ to get better because there then will be ‘less’ traffic issues? Is that their big trump card?
Residents who use Rail will save on gas auto expenses. The cost of owning a car is highest in Hawaii. It IS, as it is for almost everything else. For many, including myself, I drive less because we are on an island, but that is besides the point I think. So get used to it. We all chose to live here, so the costs are higher. IN FACT ARE WE FORGETTING THAT THOSE WHO LIVE OUT WEST SAVE THOUSANDSS ON THEIR HOME PRICES BUT DO HAVE TO ‘PAY’ IN THE COMMUTE?
4. KEY QUESTIONS: Are we forgetting that the person who uses the Rail will be inconvenienced to the point that many will have to start earlier, come home later, do a lot of walking (even when it is raining) and still drive to a park and ride lot? Won’t they charge for the park and ride lot? I assume so, but no one is volunteering that information. They will be inconvenienced, standing, holding on to a strap all the way from Kapolei for example, to downtown. Are we forgetting that the Rail itself will charge a fair? How much? No one is sharing that info.
5. KEY QUESTIONS: You say you’ve talked to 36,000 people and the vast majority support Rail. I DARE THE C & C TO DO ANOTHER POLL. You will probably see what the most recent polls have shown-that the support is waning. In fact, isn’t that why you are introducing I Mua in the first place? Other than the fact that your businesses are ‘in on the profits.’ And, would you really admit if people were AGAINST Rail? Propaganda doesn’t work that way. Oh, and the claim that you Rail supporters all work? It is ridiculous and insulting to imply that those who are against Rail either don’t work or have nothing to do than show up at Rail meetings. I Mua actually tries to remind residents why they voted for Rail in 2008. That’s absurd. All they knew about this project was the sunshine and rainbows propaganda that the C & C has been spreading so long and that you are claiming to continue. What’s really going on is that the hard-working, intelligent people of Oahu are waking up and seeing the other side finally. With a tiny fraction of the budget and mainly other hard-working family people-NOT your fat cat corporations and Who’s Who of 1% businesses of Oahu-the people who oppose this project are making headway. We know that bugs you, but too bad.
And lastly, we know that the person who wrote that article in PBN last week is among the groups that will profit-as so many who are for Rail are. The hundreds of thousands who oppose tend to be family people who want to say NO to increased taxes on their properties and gas in the future to allow for this Rail. They have kids and grandkids and worry about what type of future their families are headed for with this colossal expense-not to mention the strain on the aina in so many ways and in so many places. I commend her for using public transportation now, and I will count her among those that I am aware of who will use Rail daily when it is here. I have easily talked to and encountered hundreds and that count is up to 4 now. Aloha, Rick Emmer
First of all, I know this is a partnership that includes Pacific Business News and is throwing more money at this controversial project. After 5 million and counting of our taxpayers’ money has been poured into propaganda to tell us (obviously stupid) citizens how to think, they figure that just isn’t enough. So, they are going to pour more hundreds of thousands into the propaganda machine. So, the public has had MASSIVE amounts of info and strategies and facts hidden, but now the powers that be see fit to spend more piles of cash to rehash the propaganda to try to make their point.
1. KEY QUESTION: If this is such a brilliant idea, and I for sure know we have hundreds of thousands of good, hard-working intelligent citizens on Oahu WHY on earth does it take millions to convince them/us that this is a good idea?
The standard claim is that the Rail project will create 10,000 jobs annually-4,000 in construction and 6,000 in support sectors architecture, planning, retail, restaurants and other service industries.
2. KEY QUESTIONS: Estimates now are between 400 and 500 jobs will be created in the construction. That’s the local guesses and Kiewit won’t even respond to questions about this. Is this REALLY enough to warrant proceeding with such a huge investment? Now hundreds of mainland people have already moved here to build the Rail (which ironically makes the traffic worse.) When a Kiewit supervisor was asked the other day on TV; “How many local and how many mainland people have been hired?” he stumbled with that very basic concept here in the islands. He replied that they were having a hard time telling who is local and who is not. Another Kiewit person told my friend that they would start off with some local workers, but then, as the locals scam them with sore back claims and such they would replace the locals with those from the mainland. In fact it has already been declared that people of Oahu don’t know how to build a rail, so that those people will have to be brought in. I submit that this influx of people is exacerbating the situation and putting an unnecessary toll on the rest of the island’s infrastructure. So, again, is this huge project worth it for the very few amounts of jobs that will be provided to locals? And to Mr. Kiewit, locals are NOT those that move here to work and stay. Regarding the large amounts of local jobs who would support (?), Yes I guess there seems to be a small need that will be filled. Unless the Rail Supporters are conceding that this influx of new people coming in to build it will need restaurants and other businesses (REALLY?) then it’s just the same number of residents just going to work mainly on Monday through Friday. So they will go to restaurants if they already were, they won’t if they didn’t. So maybe businesses will ‘move’ towards the Rail and away from the neighborhoods those people come from. Not real gains though. Lastly on this topic, many WILL be needed, (at minimum wage, I am sure) to clean up the Rail stations, clean and/or paint over graffiti, and patrol the stations and as security. I will flat out guarantee that this money is NOT in any kind of budget right now, however. Again, Is there enough jobs to make this the main reason for the project?
It has been said that there will be fewer cars on the road, less congestion on highways and side streets, reduced air pollution and less reliance on foreign oil. (And many say there is a Santa Claus.) A LOT of things have been said, but this one has been ‘unsaid’ by Wayne Yoshioka. He reported that this project probably won’t relieve congestion. The rest is just a laughable pie in the sky statement, some of which I have not seen. And I thought I had heard it all.
3. KEY QUESTIONS: As more and more people move here, they will continue to drive cars on the roads and in fact add to this issue. No one will be measuring air pollution before and after and I suggest that if they do, there won’t be much change (that one is a reach.) Surface streets. DID YOU SAY SURFACE STREETS? Has anyone yet begun to consider the overwhelming strain to our side streets when this construction is going on? Not only is it going to make the present commutes unbearably longer for periods of time, but the wear and tear from the extra use of those side streets will cause repair problems. Of course the budgets for that will have to be slashed to help subsidize the Rail-right? Less reliance on foreign oil? Give me a break. So the extra workers and citizens moving here will go on using the roads and some, a small number will switch to electric cars. Hardly a mass of people leaving their cars and that will hardly qualify as less reliance on foreign oil. Now, this is an interesting question. Is one of the subplots of the Rail to mess up traffic SO BADLY through the construction period that, when (and if) it is ever completed, the traffic will then ‘seem’ to get better because there then will be ‘less’ traffic issues? Is that their big trump card?
Residents who use Rail will save on gas auto expenses. The cost of owning a car is highest in Hawaii. It IS, as it is for almost everything else. For many, including myself, I drive less because we are on an island, (but that is besides the point.) So get used to it. We all chose to live here, so the costs are higher. IN FACT ARE WE FORGETTING THAT THOSE WHO LIVE OUT WEST SAVE THOUSANDS ON THEIR HOME PRICES BUT DO HAVE TO ‘PAY’ IN THE COMMUTE?
4. KEY QUESTIONS: Are we forgetting that the person who uses the Rail will be inconvenienced to the point that many will have to start earlier, come home later, do a lot of walking (even when it is raining) and still drive to a park and ride lot? Won’t they charge for the park and ride lot? I assume so, but no one is volunteering that information. They will be inconvenienced, standing, holding on to a strap all the way from Kapolei for example, to downtown. I see a rash of carpal tunnel or bursitis type injuries in the future…ha ha. Are we forgetting that the Rail itself will charge a fair? How much? No one is sharing that info. So the car owners that try the Rail as an option (and decide to stay at it) will save some on auto expenses and will pay more in other areas and perhaps with more time, so it’s a wash, even a trade-off.
5. KEY QUESTIONS: You say you’ve talked to 36,000 people and the vast majority support Rail. I DARE THE CITY & COUNTY TO DO ANOTHER POLL. You will probably see what the most recent polls have shown-that the support is waning. In fact, isn’t that why you are introducing I Mua in the first place? Other than the fact that your businesses are ‘in on the profits.’ And, would you really admit if people were AGAINST Rail? Propaganda doesn’t work that way. Oh, and the claim that you Rail supporters all work? It is ridiculous and insulting to imply that those who are against Rail either don’t work or have nothing to do than show up at Rail meetings. I Mua actually tries to remind residents why they voted for Rail in 2008. That’s absurd. All they knew about this project was the sunshine and rainbows propaganda that the City & County has been spreading so long and that you are claiming to continue. What’s really going on is that the hard-working, intelligent people of Oahu are waking up and seeing the other side finally. With a tiny fraction of the budget and mainly other hard-working family people-NOT your fat cat corporations and Who’s Who of 1% businesses of Oahu-the people who oppose this project are making headway. We know that bugs you, but too bad.
And lastly, the person who wrote that article in PBN last week is among the groups that will profit-as so many who are for Rail are. The hundreds of thousands who oppose tend to be family people who want to say NO to increased taxes on their properties and gas in the future to allow for this Rail. They have kids and grandkids and worry about what type of future their families are headed for with this colossal expense-not to mention the strain on the aina in so many ways and in so many places. I commend her for using public transportation now, and I will count her among those that I am aware of who will use Rail daily when it is here. I have easily talked to and encountered over a thousand and that count is up to 4 now.
Aloha, Rick Emmerich
