The two candidates who support the city’s planned rail system saved most of their barbs for each other as the three hopefuls vying to be Honolulu mayor faced off Wednesday night in the first live televised debate of the campaign.
Mayor Peter Carlisle and former city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell had several pointed exchanges, notably over the other’s job performance and who deserved credit for certain successes, while former Gov. Ben Cayetano picked his spots to try to score points.
The debate, co-sponsored by the Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now, touched on various topics but, as in their debate three weeks ago, much of the discussion continually circled back to the issue of rail.
Cayetano, the perceived front-runner and the only candidate of the three opposed to the city’s planned $5.27 billion rail project, was pressed for details on his transit alternative and was criticized for failing to deliver specifics.
Cayetano has vowed to kill the project and instead use the money for improvements to roads, sewers and the bus system.
When asked for details of his bus plan, Cayetano referred to a 2003 study that indicated a bus rapid transit system would cost about $1 billion, but he envisioned it costing less.
"We propose things like better traffic synchronization, more express buses and then we’ll get to our second phase — the bus rapid transit system on dedicated lanes," he said. "We’ll use existing lanes, yes, that’s part of the strategy of bus rapid transit. Will we have dedicated lanes? Yes."
Given first response, Carlisle said Cayetano had yet to provide details, such as which lanes would be used or where new lanes might be built.
"We’re not getting the specifics," he said.
Caldwell was also critical and highlighted a recent study that showed Honolulu had the worst traffic congestion of any city in the country.
"It’s the most congested city in the entire country and Ben wants to dump hundreds of more buses onto these roads, adding to that congestion," he said. "That’s not a plan. That’s a disaster."
Caldwell and Carlisle saved their sharpest criticism for each other.
Caldwell, who served as acting mayor for seven months in 2010 before losing a special election to Carlisle, pounced on a question criticizing the mayor as disengaged from the job and not taking more of a hands-on approach to managing the city.
"The city is on autopilot — I think we see the results of that," he said. "Debt ceiling exceeded by 20 percent — the mayor didn’t even know. The mayor should be the one announcing this to the Council and to the public. He didn’t even seem to want to know."
Cayetano offered another example of when a change order was made with respect to the rail project.
"You didn’t even know about it," Cayetano said. "You need to be engaged to make sure you’re up on those things."
Carlisle defended his style as one of letting qualified managers handle matters such as appearing before the City Council, which is handled by Managing Director Doug Chin.
"The critical aspect of this is to make sure that you allow them the opportunity to do their job and do it well," he said.
Carlisle and Caldwell also sparred over who deserved credit for the advancement of the rail project to this point.
Noting that a Record of Decision was obtained, ground was broken and federal approval to move into final design phase occurred during his term, Carlisle asked Caldwell, "Did you do any of those things?"
Caldwell said the mayor was not giving credit where credit was due.
"Many of the actions taken by you were set up by the previous administration that I was part of and worked hard to do," he said, adding that Carlisle held a "fake" groundbreaking.
"Did you tell Sen. (Dan) Inouye that he was engaging in a fake groundbreaking? Because he sure seemed to take it seriously when he was there," Carlisle said.
"It was your groundbreaking," Caldwell responded. "I had nothing to do with it."
