Editorial: Businesses need some rail relief

Like the rail project itself, the disruption as construction approached the urban center has been anticipated for years. Well, the disruption is at hand.

So although there’s now a push for a city mitigation fund to be resurrected, it’s late. And that’s frustrating to businesses, given that there was time to have something already in place to soften the blow along the Dillingham Boulevard corridor.

This is the section of roadway that, so far, due to the absence of any median, offers the least amount of space to accommodate the guideway that already has pushed past Middle Street. It is seen as the most challenging segment the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) is likely to encounter in an already financially bedeviled and delayed enterprise.

Along this route, utilities are being moved, compelling the shift of two-way traffic entirely to the previously westbound-only lanes.

It is massively confusing. There are signs barring left turns along a 1 1/4-mile stretch, although the signalized intersections do allow them during the business day. Left turns into driveways, however, are inaccessible.

The army of traffic cones stretches from Middle Street to Alakawa Street. The turns into and out of a few destinations are clear for now.

But there are many, many other commercial targets where drivers, depending on their approach, are detoured around the block to get where they’re going.

A resolution aimed at standing up a system of offering relief was adopted Wednesday by the Honolulu City Council. The measure requests that the city administration provide an update on the transit construction mitigation fund and program, a report that would be due in 90 days.

It’s plain to see why business may be depressed all along Dillingham, and why businesses want to line up for any compensation the city may offer.

One likely to join them is Jin Lee, who manages a karaoke bar and eatery and who attests to the business losses suffered due to inflation and, now, the traffic mess. R. Erik Soderholm, vice president of Soderholm Sales & Leasing Inc. is another area businessman who submitted written testimony seeking the update, and proposed an offer of a buyout from the city.

Andrew Kawano, the city’s current budget director, said the administration appreciated being given some extra time for the update, and which would seem reasonable under normal circumstances. But officials should accelerate the work to come in with a plan in advance of the deadline. Businesses already are under duress.

What’s really unacceptable is that a program — which received a $2 million Council appropriation to assist businesses in 2018 and another $750,000 the following year — was left in limbo, the funds later lapsing.

The program ran into trouble under the administration of then-Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who issued a message in 2019 that “HART should be responsible for the transit construction mitigation measures and to pay for any associated costs.” So no rules for allocating the funds were established.

For its part, HART maintains its position that the city is better equipped to run the program, said Colleen Hanabusa, who chairs the HART board of directors.

HART has a point. Hanabusa said the fund, whether it included cash or property tax exemptions, involved Oahu taxpayer money that the city should distribute according to rules that gauge the construction impacts on specific businesses.

“You need a process that’s fair for the businesses,” she added. “It can’t be simply first-come, first served.”

No argument there; the process must be accessible. The city should have gained some experience in this during pandemic aid distribution efforts.

Further, Hanabusa noted, HART did not have funds allotted for mitigation and would need federal approval to spend any money that it does have.

The Council made the correct decision to ask that the administration of Mayor Rick Blangiardi take charge, noting in the resolution that “it is in the best interest of the city to offer direct financial assistance to offset business losses caused by the rail project construction.”

What HART can do is to work with Dillingham contractor Nan Inc., to expand outreach. Up until now, this has included monthly public meetings to update traffic management, a hotline (808-566-2299), an email address (ccur4@nanhawaii.com) for inquiries and regular email blasts.

More one-on-one meetings with businesses and groups are planned, said Joey Manahan, HART director of government relations and public involvement. Most bus stops are maintained, he added.

In past years, when it was Pearl City and Waipahu undergoing upheaval, HART did work with community partners to devise promotional events.

Something similar should be contemplated now, an all-hands-on-deck moment on the Dillingham corridor. Here, the people and businesses the rail is meant to serve could use a lot of that service, and soon.