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The federal government gave Hawaii $20 million for a transportation project to help economic development and “achieve national objectives” and that grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation is going to …
OK, stop for a moment and think of all the ways $20 million could fix transportation problems and serve as economic stimulus in places like Waianae and Nanakuli, where hours-long delays because of horrible accidents are almost routine and where the local economy consists of people selling pickled mango and dried aku out of their rusty trucks on the side of the road; or the North Shore, where residents get stuck for hours when tourists invade the two-lane roads to get a glimpse of high surf; or any other working class residential neighborhood beset with the burdens of too many commuters on old roads and local businesses that struggle because there’s no longer parking or foot traffic or because a bypass has left them out of the flow of commerce.
This $20 million is not going to anything like that.
Instead, it will be used to build a wide, landscaped pedestrian bridge connecting the gleaming high-end housing towers of Ward, the luxury chain stores of Ala Moana Center and Ala Moana Beach Park, the busy beach that is, no doubt, only going to get busier as Mayor Kirk Caldwell pigheadedly tries to pave the way for his wealthy friends to build their pet projects in view of their high-rise balconies.
In proudly announcing this big win for the ritzy redevelopment-section of seaside Honolulu, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said, “We had to compete for these dollars, so this is an especially big win for Oahu residents. These new federal funds will make it easier and safer for people to visit Ala Moana Beach Park, shop at local businesses, and access the future rail line.”
The money comes from the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Discretionary grant, which used to be known as the TIGER grant.
In 2015, Kauai secured a TIGER grant to help revitalize Lihue.
TIGER is an acronym for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, which, in the case of Lihue’s Rice Street, was clearly needed. Rice Street, once the main drag of the main town, had been for decades a collection of run-down storefronts used every few years as political campaign headquarters, and small local businesses that held on despite very little foot traffic. Insurance agents. A resale clothing store. A smoke shop. Everything yellowed and crumbling and all but forgotten.
The Rice Street redevelopment is just an island away, yet a world away from a bridge between high-end apartments, high-end shopping and a gorgeous but heavily used beach park facing all sorts of over-development pressure.
Nobody wants anybody getting mowed down in that crazy Ala Moana Boulevard traffic, but this federal grant wasn’t about safety. It’s about economic development, and the economy in that area is already pretty darn developed. Seems like the developers could have kicked in for their own pedestrian bridge and left the free money to communities that need it.
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
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