Mayor Kirk Caldwell suggests circumventing HART on alternate rail plan

Mayor Kirk Caldwell blasted the rail project’s undisclosed plans to build the final segment to Ala Moana, defended his fourth-quarter audible to withdraw the city’s support and, in the process, won the encouragement of several City Council members on Monday to help get the project on track in Caldwell’s final three months in office.

Caldwell critiqued decisions, cost overruns and failed promises by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation going back years that Caldwell said resulted in “delay, delay, always delay.”

Several Council members then praised Caldwell and pleaded with him to work with HART and the Federal Transit Administration.

They asked Caldwell to come up with an unspecified “Plan B” alternative to HART’s current intentions to sign a so-called public, private partnership — or P3 — agreement to finish the final 4.16-mile leg into Ala Moana to connect riders to the state’s biggest transit hub into Waikiki and on to the University of Hawaii. At Monday’s council hearing, Caldwell repeatedly referred to the concept as “Triple P.”

Councilwoman Ann Koba­yashi, a longtime rail skeptic, asked Caldwell: “Is there a way we can come back together and bring it all together? And I think with the few remaining months you can do it, you can bring us all back together on the same page and move forward with FTA to show that, yes, mistakes have been made. It’s been years, but we’re not looking back. We’re looking forward and we’re going to finish this.”

Oahu voters approved the rail concept in 2010 and HART became operational in 2011.

Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi, whose district includes parts of Central Oahu, pleaded with Caldwell to sit in a “war room” with HART officials and come up with a “phased approach” to figure out how to finish Hawaii’s largest public works project — including building the proposed Pearl Highlands transit center, eight stations and a 1,600- stall parking garage, which would be critical for commuters from Leeward Oahu, Central Oahu and the North Shore — without relying on a P3 agreement.

Caldwell, instead, suggested that his administration circumvent HART and coordinate with members of the City Council to propose alternatives directly to FTA officials, whom he said have expressed repeated concerns over the P3 concept this year.

Caldwell said he is willing to jointly contact FTA officials with Council members to discuss “how we’re going to go forward, not just tell them more bad news in which they’re not going to tell us exactly how to go forward.”

“Coming together with a plan and sharing with the FTA is critical. And I will work to do that with you,” Caldwell said.

Some $250 million in federal funds are at risk and even the federal government’s total commitment of “$1.55 billion is at risk,” Caldwell said.

“The FTA could say, ‘We’ve had it … and demand repayment of $806 million (that’s already been spent). This is serious. Really serious.”

Caldwell is barred by term limits from seeking a third consecutive term. Honolulu voters will select a new mayor on Nov. 3 who will take office next year and inherit the city’s share of responsibility for rail’s future.

Until then, Caldwell told the City Council that he is “committed 100% to building rail, all the way down to Ala Moana. … I’ve not ran from this issue and I’m going to fight for this until the very last day I’m mayor. … We’re fully committed to rail, this administration, to our last minute of our last day.”

Caldwell appeared before the council on Monday to explain his Sept. 25 announcement that he had notified FTA officials that the city is withdrawing its participation in the P3 plans for rail’s final leg of the $9.2 billion project.

The FTA has set a Dec. 31 deadline — its third — to see HART’s P3 plans.

Caldwell repeatedly insisted on Monday that the details of HART’s P3 plans remain secretive even to him because of the procurement process.

He expressed what he called “passion, anger and frustration” over rail, particularly its handling by HART CEO and executive director Andrew Robbins during Robbins’ nearly 3-year tenure.

HART officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Robbins spoke to the council before Caldwell on Monday, but Councilman Tommy Waters said, “We weren’t getting any answers, honestly.”

On Sept. 24, the HART board rejected a motion to let Robbins go after his contract expires on Dec. 31, the same date as the FTA’s deadline for HART’s P3 plans. Robbins’ future after Dec. 31 is unclear.

The following day, Caldwell announced that he had withdrawn the city’s support of Robbins’ unspecified P3 plans with potential bidders, who remain unknown.

FTA officials repeatedly have expressed skepticism over HART’s P3 plans, in part, because they would only cover the final leg and potentially affect previous commitments for 13 years’ worth of operations and maintenance over major portions of the project, Caldwell said.

“They’re not so involved in how we get there, whether it’s a Triple P; a design build; a design-build, operate-and- maintain or some other version,” he told the City Council. “They just want to see that they get what they signed on for. … They’re most likely not going to weigh in on which one.”

Waters visited with FTA officials previously and said, “That was not a warm welcome that we got. … The FTA is not happy.”

But Waters said he believes FTA officials are still willing to support Hono­lulu’s rail project if presented with a specific plan.

Despite his criticisms, Caldwell insisted that rail still holds the potential to save energy, provide a greener lifestyle and allow more people to live closely on an island of nearly 1 million people — along with what had been 10 million annual visitors before the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Caldwell pulling the city out of HART’s P3 plans, Caldwell said that even he does not know the implications for the future of rail.

“Nor do the residents of the City and County of Hono­lulu know what’s being negotiated,” he said. “But whatever’s being negotiated is being negotiated secretly and, at the end of the day, could be binding on all of us. And I find that really troubling. Everyone has a right to know.”