The executive director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has expressed his confidence that the first-phase opening late this year for its transit project won’t be derailed by disruptions of the coronavirus pandemic.

We sure hope Andrew Robbins is right, and not just an unrealistic optimist. There’s less traffic now, so maybe that simplifies roadwork. The real hitch may lie in production delays for the rail cars, which can be ready to roll, with nothing that rolls to put on the tracks.

Restricting foreign real estate buyers

Given Hawaii’s struggles with an affordable housing shortage, the impulse to support Senate Bill 3110 is understandable. The proposal would generally bar people who aren’t U.S. citizens and legal residents, as well as companies and trusts controlled by such nonresident aliens, from buying Hawaii homes that are more than 5 years old.

Still, upon returning from an indefinite recess — due to COVID-19 guidance — state lawmakers should take a hard look at the viability of this measure as a Senate Judiciary Committee report issued last month pointed out that establishing such restriction may be “unconstitutionally discriminatory.”