Monday, August 27, 2012
Rail construction halted
by Larry Geller
I emailed the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation to find out if the city had stopped work on the rail project in compliance with their state Supreme Court win—if it hadn’t, it might have meant going back to court for an injunction.
I received the reply below… just as I was reading the same thing on Civil Beat. They’re really on top of it. Of course, this is not disappeared news. I should resume turning over rocks and leave the obvious stuff to the pros.
Attorney David Frankel met with City and rail officials this afternoon. Based on the meeting he offers the following summary:
“It is our understanding that the City has halted construction of the rail project. The City would like to: (1) complete a few short-term tasks for public safety (e.g., backfilling a trench) (2) continue longer-term maintenance activities (e.g., erosion control measures) (3) complete the archaeological inventory survey and (4) miscellaneous activities. The City is currently working on a list that would describe these activities with specificity. Attorneys for Paulette Kaleikini and the City are in discussions regarding whether any of these activities should be allowed to proceed.
For all intents and purposes, construction of the project has been halted although there may be some narrowly tailored, low-impact exceptions.”
Check out the first two comments below the Civil Beat article. One points out that the people making the decisions on transit have no transit experience. That’s our way in the Islands. I’ve pointed out recently that our Board of Education and the UH Regents, with one notable exception, have no experience in education.
The second comment points out that the way the city is surveying for iwi kupuna is defective.
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