[edale]

Damn, I was excited to learn Honolulu was in the advanced stages of building a metro system-- I previously had no clue. But it's disheartening to hear about the cost overruns, truncated route, and poor ridership projections. I do think it's important infrastructure for Honolulu, though. As Oahu's population has now exceeded 1 million, and with limited land to develop remaining, Honolulu is going to need to get denser in order to accommodate growth. It's the only major city for a vast geographic area, and I think its importance is only going to increase in coming years. Having rail will allow for growth to occur in a smarter, more sustainable way.

Given the massive amount of tourism Oahu receives each year, could there be some sort of traveler/hotel tax established to help fund operations? I agree a 9% increase in property taxes for residents just to pay for operations seems crazy. Surely there's a way to shift some of that burden to the visitors to the island. It's not like people are going to stop coming to Hawaii simply because of added taxes.