Calling the Honolulu City Council dysfunctional and embarrassing, Mayor Mufi Hannemann directed the Department of Transportation Services to insert steel wheel on steel rail technology as the choice for Oahu’s controversial 20 mile fixed guideway system.

Hannemann said there was a deliberate attempt by council members Ann Kobayashi, Donovan Dela Cruz and Charles Djou to disrupt the selection of a specific mass transit technology during Wednesday night’s marathon Council hearing.

“I never saw a session where some members were deliberately trying to confuse, obstruct (and) delay a very important decision that the City Council needed to make,” the mayor said during a Thursday press conference with reporters. “It was an embarrassment!”

Throughout Wednesday’s hearing the Council was repeatedly split 4 to 4 on whether to choose light rail, rubber tire on concrete or magnetic levitation for the $3.7 billion system that would stretch from East Kapolei to Ala Moana. Chairwoman Barbara Marshal did not attend the hearing because of a family emergency.

The Council eventually voted 6 to 2 to pass a bill that names all three technologies. Marshall is expected to attend a budget hearing next week where members will once again take up the measure.

Hannemann however said no matter what the Council passes he will not waiver from his choice of light rail. He said previous votes by the Council in favor of a fixed guideway system allow him to move forward with rail, even if a bill that selects a different technology reaches his desk.

“If that scenario did not include steel on steel or if it was steel on steel with some very egregious conditions,” said the mayor, “I will veto.”

Councilman Charles Djou, a consistent light rail opponent, doesn’t believe the mayor has the power to choose mass transit technology on his own. “Clearly,” said Djou, “the City Council is responsible for selecting the technology.”

With Todd Apo, Nestor Garcia, Gary Okino and Rod Tam in support of rail, the council lacks the six votes needed to override the mayor’s threatened veto.

“The City Council still in theory could pull funds,” said Djou. “We still have the power of the purse. If five City Council members refuse to appropriate funds (for rail) the mayor can't spend any money.”

The likely swing vote in such a scenario would rest with Councilman Romy Cachola since Djou, Kobayashi and Marshall are all on record as being against rail. Kobayashi supports mass transit but believes rubber tire on concrete technology is more affordable.

“The mayor has certain tactics,” Kobayashi said, “but I don't dwell on that. I continue to work for the taxpayers.”

According to the Hawaii Department of Taxation the half percent general excise tax increase to pay for mass transit has generated a total of $192,936,630 in its first fifteen months since taking effect in 2007. After the state’s 10% cut to collect the tax, the city has received $173,642,967.

Critics say even after the entire sixteen year life of the tax and up to $1 billion in federal funding, it won’t be enough to pay for a light rail system.

“I have long contended that the general excise increase of one half percent was at best a down payment,” said Djou. “If we're going to do this thing everybody has to realize they need to hold onto their wallets and purses because you should fully expect more tax increases of a large magnitude in the future if this project goes forward.”

The mayor says now that he's made his choice for light rail the city's application for federal funding should be ready this summer. “I'm doing the right thing,” Hannemann said. “And I think what I'm doing can stand any kind of legal litmus test.”

Andrew may be reached at apereira@khon2.com or ph. 591-4263.