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Press Release - RailJuly 9, 1992 The League of Women Voters of Honolulu today is calling for equal time and equal public funding for opponents of rail transit to counter the Mayor's half-hour program shown on Channel 22 on July 8, selling Rail Transit. The League objected to the use of taxpayers money to produce the show and pay for air time. "If this were an honest effort to educate the public, we would support it", said Arlene Kim Ellis, the organization's president. "But this kind of blatant propaganda does not stimulate informed understanding of our people." The League has for years actively opposed the construction of the Rail Guideway. Our position was based on detailed studies of the city's justification for it and on professional reports of the experience of other cities. "We think the discussion of pros and cons of rail is healthy", she said, "but only if based on supportable data and honest analysis for their implications." In the entire half-hour we heard no doubts or questions about any aspect of the project. Nor did we get any hard facts about what the system will really cost-operating, maintenance and replacement costs as well as initial construction. Fares were not mentioned, though recently Frank Doyle, the City's rail project manager, said they might have to be as high as $1.50 a ride. We got no facts -- which the City has published in various reports -- about the insignificant amount of automobile traffic reduction rail would achieve -- between 1% and 2%. We got no facts about the extremely small shift of daily trips from cars to transit that the City has estimated. We got no facts about the inability of the rail system to lessen air pollution to any meaningful degree, which the City reports show. In short, we got no facts. We are asking for equal time in prime time to get these facts before the public. Our citizens, both as taxpayers and as users of transportation, deserve to know the truth about this proposal before we are forced to accept it against our will.
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