City Council bills trouble bicycle advocates

Bicycling advocates are worried that a push by ­Honolulu City Council members to gain more control over planned bikeways and other Complete Streets projects could stymie efforts to make streets more pedestrian- and bike-friendly.

The Council voted to give second-reading approval Wednesday to two bills introduced in response to an outcry from businesses and motorists about the South King Street Cycle Track and the upcoming South Street bike lane project.

Bill 84 (2015) would allow the Council to reject or change a bikeway or Complete Streets project in Hono­lulu’s urban core during the annual budget process. The measure would require that specific projects must be identified and described within the city’s capital improvements budget before taxpayer money could be spent on them.

Introduced by Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga, the bill would also require that the project description include the street or streets to be improved as well as the start and end points.

Bill 8 would require the city administration to submit a Complete Streets checklist of criteria — used to determine whether a bikeway or major Complete Streets project should get funding — to the Council for approval. It’s not clear whether the bill, introduced by Councilman Trevor Ozawa, would require a checklist form to be reviewed and approved periodically, or each time a bikeway or Complete Streets project is proposed.

Bicycling advocates are concerned that the bills could stall or derail carefully laid out Complete Streets projects designed to work in concert with one another, instead pushing a piecemeal approach to future bike lanes and other projects.

Daniel Alexander, advocacy director for the Hawaii Bicycling League, said at Wednesday’s meeting that 72 percent of Oahu voters approved the 2006 amendment to the Honolulu City Charter making Oahu streets pedestrian- and bike-friendly a priority.

“There’s an overwhelming interest in making communities where people can walk and bike,” Alexander said. The charter amendment led to the Council 2012 Complete Streets ordinance that calls on the city to consider the needs of pedestrians, bike riders and those who use modes of transportation other than motor vehicles.

“That doesn’t mean every road gets a bike lane,” he said. “It means … we seek opportunities to make the roads better for those who walk and bike as well as those who drive.”

Longtime bike advocate Natalie Iwasa said the bills would add red tape and cause delays to upcoming projects. Bill 8 doesn’t work because planning and design need to be completed before a checklist can done, but it leaves no funding for the planning to occur, Iwasa said.

“It doesn’t make sense to me, and … it has the potential to bring all of our roadway work to a grinding halt,” Iwasa said.

“I think the city has really gone beyond what is expected in trying to get people to participate and give input, but, frankly, we have people who are not going to participate until they see that line in the road,” she said. “But we shouldn’t be developing policy around those people. If they can’t take the time now to come down now here and tell you what is important to them, we can’t be making exceptions for them all the time.”

But Ozawa shot back that “not everybody has the kind of time that regular testifiers have to come down here. … Ninety-nine percent of the people don’t have the time, and we represent those people as well.”

There are projects being planned that even Council members aren’t made aware of until they are far along, he said.

Fukunaga said the intent of her bill is to provide more opportunities for businesses and residents to be notified of and weigh in on road projects before they begin.

“I think the goal in all of this is to improve upon whatever is being proposed by the administration,” she said.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said she supports the Complete Streets process to help support motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. But Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration, she said, “has put an emphasis only on bike lanes.”

Councilman Brandon Elefante, who cast the lone “no” vote on Bill 8, said he’s worried the bills would impede Complete Streets improvements.

Bill 84 (2015) was passed unanimously, although Elefante and Councilman Ron Menor voted yes “with reservations.”