Wednesday, March 21, 2007

...the cost continues to add up

Honolulu HI - The Honolulu Advertiser reports on yet another undisclosed cost for Mayor Mufi Hannemann's legacy rail project. A $1 million dollar study to try and determine the effects of the new rail line on city services.

First off, this study should have been done prior to approving the line. The simple fact that it isn't done yet shows how poorly planned the project is. In Mufi's rush to ram his legacy through, he didn't see much of anything except a Utopian vision through his rose colored glasses.

As I mentioned in another earlier Laurels & Lances article, charges such as this are just the tip of the iceberg in regard to nickle and diming the taxpayers with additional costs that will not show up in the total cost for the rail line. Millions more of the taxpayer's money will be spent before the first spade of dirt is turned over on the project. By the time the line is opened, billions of tax dollars will have been spent on the project which will not show on the total cost of the project since they will be considered indirect costs.

Don't think this project and the nickel and diming just effects residents of Honolulu. It effects every taxpayer in the United States. Federal money is being used and Mufi is going to try and pass this latest cost off to the Federal funding which is being applied for.

The pro-rail crowd will never acknowledge things like a $500 million line can actually costs over a billion dollars when all is said and done. They ignore the non-direct costs as though they don't exist and make excuses for direct costs that were not originally reported.

These types of projects need to be much more difficult to obtain funding for. Too many cities have already or are attempting to jump on the rail bandwagon and have no clue as to the true costs. Politicians only see a personal legacy for themselves and the pro-rail crowd spins rail as though it was a gift sent from God.

People need to wake up to reality and soon.

No comments: