City Council must take a position on rail resolutions

Last week, City Council members considered four resolutions in support of building the full 20-mile rail transit line to Ala Moana Center — a move that could touch off more support at the state Capitol for another rail tax extension request.

“We have to take a position,” Councilwoman Kymberly Pine said, recounting how the Council’s silence on the matter in 2015 riled some legislators. Last year, city and rail leaders assured the Legislature that a five-year general excise tax surcharge extension likely would be enough to finish the line. It’s not.

This summer, the Legislature’s two money committee chairwomen said the city could forget about asking for more money to close rail’s latest budget gap, estimated at some $1.8 billion. Still, there’s sentiment that the firm “no” now may be melting into a “well, maybe.”