Responding to a recent request from constituents to introduce legislation that would ensure accountability measures for the multi-billion dollar Honolulu rail project, City Council Member Charles Djou agreed. However, Djou said he would not be able to get four additional members of the 9-member Honolulu City Council to support the measure.
The question is why?
There are studies and reports about the need for accountability because of the public deception by the politicians in favor of big dollar projects where pay-offs and funds can be inconspicuously diverted.
For example, a world-recognized expert, Professor Bent Flyvbjerg, researched megaprojects, publishing his report in Harvard Magazine…Design by Deception: The Politics of Megaproject Approval
This whole rail saga reminds me of the "vision" projects under then Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris - only the rail will be much more costly for taxpayers.
With the vision projects, community volunteers spent years of their personal time meeting monthly with architects and engineers on projects that would supposedly improve their neighborhoods. The concept was good, but deceptive. For example, the sign to welcome visitors and residents to Pearl City must have cost the public half a million dollars before exhausting the available funds. The end result is a 10 foot moss rock wall with a sign "Welcome to Pearl City, E Komo Mai" that must have been constructed for under $2,000.
This same scenario was repeated throughout Oahu. Many vision team volunteers realized that they wasted their time and the taxpayers’ money just so the architects and engineers got their payback for political contributions to Mayor Harris.
So I go back to my question for this rail project, which is considerably more expensive than a $500,000 signs: Why are the Honolulu City Council members afraid of accountability?
Lawson Teshima is a resident of Pearl City, Hawaii
