From today’s Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Honolulu city council members have voted to continue the rapid mass transit project. However, the council also decided to reconsider three system types: rail, bus and maglev. After 6 hours of discussion that focused on potential noise problems with rail and bus systems, Todd Apo added magnetic levitation to the list in a last-minute amendment.
“Tonight’s vote means that rail is still moving forward,” Mayor Mufi Hannemann said in a statement last night. “But it is a shame that the Council could not support the process it voted to create. The Council did not fully support the findings of the technical panel that a majority of the Council members voted for.”
On 22 February 2008, a panel appointed by the City Council recommended rail on a 4–1 vote. The Council’s unanimous vote yesterday means that councilmembers have broken their earlier promise to let their own panel’s decision stand. A few council members saw this panel as a mayoral attempt to sway the decision towards rail. See my 19 June 2007 article for more details.
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