Councilwoman Pine wins bid for reelection
STAR-ADVERTISER / JAN. 2016
Kymberly Pine
With a dominating 65 percent share of the vote late into the evening, Honolulu City Councilwoman Kymberly Pine has clinched reelection in today’s primary election.
By getting more than 50 percent of the vote, Pine, who represents the Waianae Coast and other parts of West Oahu, will not have to face a challenger in November.
Pine’s Council seat was the only one in play during the primary election, and her district is among the island region’s most impacted by one of the election’s hottest issues: rail. Land-use planning and future residential building, such as the planned controversial Hoopili community, are also key issues in the West Oahu district.
Pine faced three challengers in today’s primary race: community activist Kioni Dudley, Kapolei resident Marc Anthony, and a political rival whom Pine unseated in 2012 — former Councilman Tom Berg.
Dudley continues to maintain a 17 percent share of the vote, and Berg is maintaining his 14 percent share. Anthony has about 4 percent.
“We’re very proud of the work we’ve done for people … we hope that we can continue for another four years to serve them,” Pine said today while awaiting results. The councilwoman has voted in support of rezoning for the 11,750-unit Hoopili project.
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She’s also a staunch supporter of completing the full 20-mile rail project and often advocates in public for the cash-strapped elevated transit line, saying it would help improve quality of life in the Leeward area.
Pine said today that what her constituents ultimately want are more opportunities on the island’s west side.
“My opponents made rail the biggest issue, but when I talk to people they want jobs close to their homes, they want to spend more time with their families,” Pine said. “They just want the true promise of the second city” — a reference to the development of Kapolei.
Meanwhile, Dudley said that during the primary campaign he found traffic to be by far the No. 1 issue in the district.
“I’ve campaigned for years … and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Dudley, who’s previously run for state representative, governor, lieutenant governor and City Council. “My feeling is people are really responding to that issue”
Dudley, a Makakilo resident and an educator at the college and high school levels for more than four decades, is a staunch Hoopili critic and has called for a moratorium on new housing development.
“If we could stop building and get the new freeway lane in, we could straighten out the traffic that we’ve got right now,” Dudley said while awaiting results. He supports building the elevated rail pathway into downtown but opposes running it to Ala Moana because he believes in several decades “the last five stops are going to be underwater.”
Neither Berg nor Anthony could be reached for comment.
Windward-area Councilman Ikaika Anderson, running unopposed, also secured his reelection to a second four-year term today.
8 responses to “Councilwoman Pine wins bid for reelection”
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Proof that the public votes for smiles, not brains.
Dudley & Berg. NO can. PINE, now she’s fine.
ouch! Berg bites the dust badly. I guess Ewa prefers corrupt over crazy.
I guess telling the truth is considered crazy in this town.
Staradvertiser has refused to publish over 50 submittals this past year to them that I have written – covering the truth about rail and superior technology of urban maglev to solve and save the day without needing any more funds…..not one letter will they print of mine illustrating the truth about this scam of a rail con…….I have submitted over 24 feature guest columns…..not one published……they feature truths such as the city breaching the state constitution mandate of law whereby the Oahu General Plan shall be reviewed and voted upon every five years- they refused to do such in 2007, when it was required- and still not done to this day- why? Answer- so the city could illegally reclassify Important Ag Land such as Koa Ridge and Hoopili into urban development before the public can amend its urban growth boundaries- WE HAVE BEEN DISENFRANCHISED…. when this newspaper reporter Marcel Honore claims here IN THIS ARTICLE THAT I could not be reached for comment- he again, is a swindling liar like this rag of a newspaper…..no one contacted me…..I ain’t full of sour grapes, rather, amazed at how a people can look the other way when government lies with a smile…. for another breach- Pine claimed and backed a report to the FTA that rail would not displace any productive farmland — fact- when at Hoopili one can garner between $100,000 to $200,000 per acre/six crops a year….and the city told the feds that this land that rail would go through was worthless, unproductive farmland so as to avoid having to mitigate its loss……so go ahead, elect con artists and thieves and pueo killers……sleep tight District One knowing you have sold the future to the biggest con artist liar itself, namely, a woman called Pine who just conned the crap out of the voters- using PRP funds of course embraced by Marcel Honore who as a reporter, is another dishonest individual hiding from the truth—–not one bit of news they would publish regarding the two new urban maglev rail projects that went up in S. Korea and China within the last six months…..maglev rail costs only $65 million a mile to construct and is quiet- feds approve of it too…..our steel wheel noisy beast is to cost over $400 million a mile but this newspaper will not let you know of real solutions I can, and could have brought forth for all of us…..instead, got graft?
Here is one example of a guest column from another supporting my efforts that the newspaper declined to print….and, many people told me they wrote about this ethics complaint to the newspaper- to Marcel Honore directly- EC 15-118- fact is- the city council defunded the investigation…..this newspaper refuses to tell you about this ethics complaint—-no one at the Honolulu Ethics Commission is actively pursuing the seven complaints chuck Totto got on this back in February of 2015…..complaint proves the city disenfranchised the voters in 2012 when I tried to put rail back on the ballot for us and the council shot me down 8-1….had I been elected yesterday, councilmembers Martin, Anderson, and Harimoto would be prosecuted for misrepresenting and mischaracterizing the true terms and conditions of a contract (FFGA) to swindle the people from having access to relief- watch it on video of hearing November 2, 2011….oh that’s right, the council removed the video from their website! Hello District One, are you breathing?:
SWITCHING TO MAGLEV RAIL CAN SAVE THE PROJECT
On December 2, 2010, a report was released by Hawaii’s Executive Branch which illustrated findings that the City and County of Honolulu’s financial plan for the rail project was estimated to have been underfunded by as much as $9 billion.
The governor’s recommendation to offset the shortfall back then was that voters should demand a change in the project’s scope. One suggestion they had was to include switching rail technologies that can complete the job for less money.
On November 2, 2011, a hearing to do just that transpired at the Honolulu City Council. However, the option to change rail technology to save money was shot down by eight council members claiming then Councilman Tom Berg’s resolution (11-328) to put rail back on the ballot would not be approved by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
Thirteen months later, on December 19, 2012, the Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) between the FTA and Honolulu (the Grantee) was executed.
Here is what is confusing: In the spring of 2015, five council members went to Washington, DC, to ask the FTA if a switch in rail technologies was permitted. Why would they ask that? Could it be the council members knew a better rail technology was available? They knew China was just about to finish its urban maglev rail project at a cost of only $65 million a mile to construct in today’s US Dollar – and in addition, S. Korea just opened another urban maglev spur costing much less than steel wheels on steel rails.
The answer by the FTA to the inquiry in 2015 was that the Grantee had signed an agreement calling for steel wheels on steel rails. Had Honolulu wanted maglev instead of steel wheels on steel rails before it signed the contract, all Honolulu had to do was ask stated the FTA. This contradicts the eight city council members who made the claim we were prohibited from making any amendments to the FFGA way back in 2011.
Now, we have been apprised that all constraints as required by the FTA have been softened, and the FFGA can be altered and amended to reflect a financial plan that includes constructing a more efficient and superior rail system that can meet the price tag as originally brokered.
To understand how we got to where we are today, we have to go back to the December 5, 2012, hearing on the Grantee’s decision to either approve the FFGA as written, or make adjustments to it and petition congress to obtain a waiver to avert any penalty for amendments being sought.
On that December 5th date, the city council voted 8-1 to approve of the FFGA with accolades that included a scenario that money would be left over by going with steel wheel rail technology over any other type of rail system. Former Councilman Berg had revealed that the FFGA Administrative Guideline allows per chapter five, Grantees to make changes to the scope of project, including change in rail technology, up until the time the contract is actually signed.
Hence, when the council voted against the resolution to let the voters act upon Lingle’s report, I filed a complaint with the Honolulu Ethics Commission claiming the Grantee had mischaracterized and misrepresented the true terms and conditions of the FFGA.
The basis of my complaint, EC 15-118, stipulates that the eight council members at the November 2nd hearing in 2011 disenfranchised the public when they voted to confirm and codify as truthful, a false portrayal of the FFGA contract itself. The false portrayal being that the council had deceived the public claiming thirteen months before we signed anything, that we were already locked into constructing a steel wheels on steel rails system. We were not.
With the Honolulu Ethics Commission in disarray and no news as to when the investigation into my complaint will be completed, it is the duty and responsibility of the mayor and this council together with HART to simply ask the FTA, “Can we switch to an urban maglev rail system to save money so as to complete the project in totality?”
SWITCHING TO MAGLEV RAIL CAN SAVE THE PROJECT
On December 2, 2010, a report was released by Hawaii’s Executive Branch which illustrated findings that the City and County of Honolulu’s financial plan for the rail project was estimated to have been underfunded by as much as $9 billion.
The governor’s recommendation to offset the shortfall back then was that voters should demand a change in the project’s scope. One suggestion they had was to include switching rail technologies that can complete the job for less money.
On November 2, 2011, a hearing to do just that transpired at the Honolulu City Council. However, the option to change rail technology to save money was shot down by eight council members claiming then Councilman Tom Berg’s resolution (11-328) to put rail back on the ballot would not be approved by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
Thirteen months later, on December 19, 2012, the Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) between the FTA and Honolulu (the Grantee) was executed.
Here is what is confusing: In the spring of 2015, five council members went to Washington, DC, to ask the FTA if a switch in rail technologies was permitted. Why would they ask that? Could it be the council members knew a better rail technology was available? They knew China was just about to finish its urban maglev rail project at a cost of only $65 million a mile to construct in today’s US Dollar – and in addition, S. Korea just opened another urban maglev spur costing much less than steel wheels on steel rails.
The answer by the FTA to the inquiry in 2015 was that the Grantee had signed an agreement calling for steel wheels on steel rails. Had Honolulu wanted maglev instead of steel wheels on steel rails before it signed the contract, all Honolulu had to do was ask stated the FTA. This contradicts the eight city council members who made the claim we were prohibited from making any amendments to the FFGA way back in 2011.
Now, we have been apprised that all constraints as required by the FTA have been softened, and the FFGA can be altered and amended to reflect a financial plan that includes constructing a more efficient and superior rail system that can meet the price tag as originally brokered.
To understand how we got to where we are today, we have to go back to the December 5, 2012, hearing on the Grantee’s decision to either approve the FFGA as written, or make adjustments to it and petition congress to obtain a waiver to avert any penalty for amendments being sought.
On that December 5th date, the city council voted 8-1 to approve of the FFGA with accolades that included a scenario that money would be left over by going with steel wheel rail technology over any other type of rail system. Former Councilman Berg had revealed that the FFGA Administrative Guideline allows per chapter five, Grantees to make changes to the scope of project, including change in rail technology, up until the time the contract is actually signed.
Hence, when the council voted against the resolution to let the voters act upon Lingle’s report, I filed a complaint with the Honolulu Ethics Commission claiming the Grantee had mischaracterized and misrepresented the true terms and conditions of the FFGA.
The basis of my complaint, EC 15-118, stipulates that the eight council members at the November 2nd hearing in 2011 disenfranchised the public when they voted to confirm and codify as truthful, a false portrayal of the FFGA contract itself. The false portrayal being that the council had deceived the public claiming thirteen months before we signed anything, that we were already locked into constructing a steel wheels on steel rails system. We were not.
With the Honolulu Ethics Commission in disarray and no news as to when the investigation into my complaint will be completed, it is the duty and responsibility of the mayor and this council together with HART to simply ask the FTA, “Can we switch to an urban maglev rail system to save money so as to complete the project in totality?”
My comments are being censored…..blocked….