Public should get closer look at rail

Daniel Grabauskas, the rail project’s newly arrived chief executive officer, has set a high bar for improving public engagement in, and disclosure about, the $5.27 billion project set to begin construction today.

We certainly hope he meets it. For if people at either end of the opinion spectrum can agree on anything, it’s this: Oahu residents want to be kept more closely in the loop about key elements of what will be the city’s largest public works challenge.

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, the quasi- independent agency Grabauskas now heads, has pledged to put its mammoth administrative record — virtually all its pertinent files — on the Web, and the searchable documents have started to appear there. Up to this point, that level of transparency was lacking, raising questions about HART’s candor and unease about the project itself.

It was left to the Star-Advertiser’s Kevin Dayton, for example, to uncover a narrative of concern from Federal Transit Administration officials about a precast yard planned for West Kalaeloa Business Park. This is the facility that will build the mammoth concrete pillars and supports that will be transported to rail construction sites.

Previously undisclosed documents revealed federal worries about requirements for environmental reviews being met.

Ultimately, HART affirmed that the FTA indicated satisfaction with recently submitted environmental documentation, and that a supplemental environmental impact statement — a much more expansive document that would have involved more public notification — wouldn’t be needed.

That doesn’t mean the public doesn’t need to know. Rail officials offered assurances to the feds that most of the transport of the pillars and supports will happen at night to minimize disturbance, but didn’t bother to tell those who would be most affected: the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.

Further developments show the need for transparency to be HART and the city’s default position.

For example, the state Circuit Court last week invalidated an administrative rule that allowed rail planners to sign contracts for projects having fewer than three bidders, contrary to state law. Existing contracts have not been struck down, but going forward, HART may need to repackage the contract work to entice bidders. Timetables and costs may change. The public must be kept informed.

And where the designs of train stations are concerned, Grabauskas acknowledged complaints that public hearings have been little more than a public relations exercise.

"I have heard a concern on the part of the public that even when there were station design hearings, that they have been more ‘tellings’ than hearings, meaning that they told people what they were going to look like," he said. "And the choice was like, ‘Here’s your station: Do you want to have it yellow or blue?’ And that’s not really engaging the public."

That’s true. HART will need to do better, for the neighborhoods and all Oahu residents, who are paying for the lion’s share of rail costs. Financing comes from a half-percentage point surcharge on the general excise tax, and Oahuans are reminded of that cost with every purchase they make.

That’s why it’s disconcerting that the Legislature is considering Senate Bill 2927 which, among other elements, establishes the "transit-oriented or main-street development program" that would have the effect of streamlining the planning process for developments around the stations. The danger here is that the public voice would be brushed aside in the name of efficiency.

Grabauskas has sounded some notes in his introductory weeks here that do seem promising. He’s stated his concern about openness, public engagement and fiscal responsibility, and his willingness to think outside the box to further those goals. The public now will have to do its part to see that promises are kept.