DENNIS ODA/ DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
This is the progress of construction of the HART mass transit rail line along Kamehameha Hwy. from Aiea towards Aloha Stadium, as it approaches and is about to cross the Aiea Interchange No. 4 next to the Aiea Cemetery.
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It’s hardly surprising that more funding for the controversial, bloated rail project has come down to the Legislature’s last two days — ultra-dramatic with twists and turns.
Tuesday alone began with a hammered proposal to raise the hotel room tax 2.75 percent, to 12 percent, for the next 10 years, with dubious conditions such as preventing the city from redeveloping the Blaisdell Center. An 11 a.m. House-Senate news conference was called, then abruptly cancelled; then the Senate voted to amend and approve the funding proposal back to a 10-year extension, till 2037, of the general excise tax surcharge. The House then OK’d a hotel-tax version but nixed consideration of the GET extension. All that, before mid-afternoon.
Now, the fate of Oahu’s rail rides largely on the leadership skills of its two top legislators, both neighbor islanders: Senate President Ron Kouchi, of Kauai, and House Speaker Joe Souki, of Maui.
