Face-off

Honolulu Weekly
July 14, 2010

ALIA WONG

Community group says “no fair” to TheBus price hikes

Last week’s kickoff to a petition campaign against TheBus’ fare hike–which went into effect July 1–not only highlighted the community’s aggravation with cost increases but also brought to the fore some deep discrepancies between the city’s rationale and the perception of community groups.

Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE), an interfaith organization that strives to develop leadership within its congregations and contribute to community building, is hosting the month-long petition drive.

To launch the campaign on Tuesday, July 6, FACE leaders and members of the Boys and Girls Club sought bus rider signatures for the petition–which demands that Mayor Mufi Hannemann reconsider the fare increases–at Ala Moana’s Kona Street depot and then across the street on Kapiolani Blvd.

“We want to ask the mayor and his administration to reconsider the bus hike,” said Jun Yang, FACE organizer. “A lot of the families are on the edge right now, and all of us are feeling the squeeze. This would be a very difficult time to ask people to pay more to get to work.”

FACE’s objection to the increases is rooted in an apparent discrepancy between the fare hikes–up 25 cents for a one-way adult fare and 10 dollars for an adult monthly pass–and the fact that TheBus experienced a substantial surge in revenue over the past fiscal year.

“At this point, they’ve collection a million dollars more than they did last year,” said Yang. “So in our organization’s opinion, why, then, do you have to go through with this hike? Is there a reason for this?”

Yang suspects that revenue from the fare increases will be diverted to the rail budget.

“Are they moving money traditionally meant for the bus system to budgets for the rail? If they’re trying to balance their budget in some way, this is not the way to do it. They shouldn’t be targeting the bus services.”

While FACE supports rail, Yang asserts that rail development is too far in the future to be considered a beneficiary of funds allotted for TheBus.

Wayne Yoshioka, director of the Transportation Services Department, says the fare increases are necessary to keep up with the rising costs of the materials and services that maintain bus operations. In response to FACE’s assertion that revenue from increased fares might be allotted for the rail budget, Yoshioka said that such assertions are “falsities.”

“I think it was misinterpreted,” Yoshioka said of a financial outline for the rail, which listed dipping into bus revenues for the rail budget as a worst-case scenario.

“We’re trying to look out for the community as much as possible,” said Yoshioka, who emphasized that the fare increases did not apply to seniors or the disabled. Before this set of fare increases–the first increase occurred at the start of the last fiscal year–TheBus fares hadn’t gone up since 2003.

But regardless of whether FACE is unclear as to where revenue from fare hikes will go, the issue remains that the increases are already taking a toll on bus riders.

“This is not the time to do this,” said Yang. “We’re asking [Hannemann] to reconsider this bus hike because, right now, all the people that we’ve been talking to along the bus routes have been telling us that it’s hard for them already. Two dollars and fifty cents may not mean much to some people, but you’re talking about $2.50 each ride, every day.”

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Group petitions against fare hikes

Honolulu Star-Advertiser
July 7, 2010

Faith-based FACE starts a monthlong drive to gather signatures

By Rosemarie Bernardo

Soon after stepping out of a city bus at a stop near Ala Moana Center, 23-year-old Ernest Yimartino signed a petition against the recent bus fare hike with no hesitation.

“It’s a bit much,” Yimartino, of Manoa, said of the increases. He said he catches the bus daily to get to his two jobs, at Gold Buyers Hawaii at Ala Moana Center and at FedEx in Hawaii Kai.

The Faith Action Community Equity group kicked off yesterday its monthlong petition campaign against the bus fare increases, which took effect July 1.

The price of an adult monthly bus pass jumped to $60 from $50, while a youth monthly bus pass increased to $30 from $25. One-way bus fares for adults and youth increased to $2.50 from $2.25, and $1.25 from $1, respectively. The new fares are the second half of a two-part increase that began July 1, 2009.

Petition organizer Jun Yang said the hike is another fee residents are forced to endure in today’s fragile economy. “These increases are impacting our families,” Yang said.

About eight people, including youths from the Boys and Girls Club, collected signatures from bus riders yesterday at a stop on Kapiolani Boulevard fronting Walgreens in Ala Moana.

The group represents members of 24 churches. Each church will adopt a nearby bus stop to collect signatures for the petition calling for Mayor Mufi Hannemann to reconsider the fare increase.

FACE and Wayne Yoshioka, city director of the Department of Transportation Services, said they want to schedule a meeting to discuss the issue. “We know the bus fare is a bargain,” Yoshioka said.

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Petition launched against city bus fare hikes

KHON Channel 2 News
July 6, 2010

The group “Faith Action for Community Equity” wants the city to reconsider its recent hike in bus fares.

On Tuesday, the group launched a petition drive at this bus stop on Kona Street.

The bus fare increase went into effect on july first, raising one-way adult fares by 25 cents and the monthly bus pass by ten dollars.

“With the petitions, we hope just to get a bunch of people to understand that these things are not out of their control, that we do live in a system of government where people have a say over what happens in their cities and communities,” says Zacahry Fraser with FACE.

The group says the fare increase was needed because the city is diverting money from the bus to the rail project.

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Proposed charter changes affect housing and transit

July 4, 2010

The City Council mulls a ballot amendment creating an agency to combat homelessness
By B.J. Reyes

Oahu voters would get to decide whether the city should create an Office of Housing under one of a handful of proposed Charter amendments advancing in the City Council.

The Council already has approved one ballot question: asking voters whether the city should create a semiautonomous Public Transit Authority to oversee all aspects of the proposed $5.5 billion rail transit project.

Under proposals still being considered by the Council, voters also would decide on creating a housing office and on enacting stricter conflict-of-interest rules on Council members. There also are various “housekeeping” measures to have the charter conform with updated state laws.

The Office of Housing would coordinate efforts at tackling homelessness and affordable housing.

“The establishment of a central body within the mayor’s office will ensure that agencies of the state and federal governments, private organizations, nonprofit groups, community organizations, and individuals will work in partnership to address issues regarding affordable housing, senior housing, special needs housing and homelessness,” states the proposal, Resolution 10-38.

The city had a housing department until voters approved eliminating it in 1998. That came after the start of the Ewa Villages $6 million relocation scandal, in which Michael Kahapea was convicted of theft.

The Rev. Bob Nakata, a former state lawmaker and Honolulu president of the advocacy group Faith Action for Community Equity, said greater work on affordable housing is needed to address homelessness.

“Without a focused body in the city to attack the housing issue, homelessness will continue to be out of control,” Nakata said at a recent hearing on the Charter amendments.

Resolution 08-232 would add a section to the Charter’s section on conflicts of interest, stating that no elected or appointed officer or employee shall “participate in or vote on any matter in which the officer or employee knows or has reason to know that he or she has a direct personal or private interest.”

Chuck Totto, executive director of the city Ethics Commission, said Kauai County adopted a similar measure in 2008.

“It gives you a good opportunity to say, ‘We understand that from time to time we’ll have conflicts of interest, and if we do, we won’t participate and we won’t vote,’” Totto said.

Any proposed Charter amendment must be passed by the Council by August to be placed on the ballot this fall. Council members say they would like to limit the number of ballot questions to five.

CHARTER AMENDMENTS
A look at some of the proposed Charter amendments being considered by the City Council. Adoption also would be subject to voter approval.

>> Office of Housing: Proposes the creation of an Office of Housing within the Mayor’s Office to oversee affordable housing efforts. (Resolution 10-38)

>> Prior employment conflict: Asks voters if a city employee should be able to participate or decide on city matters if that person was directly involved in the matter while employed with a private entity in the previous 12 months. (Resolution 10-15)

>> Conflict of interest: Proposes to bar elected or appointed officials from participating in or voting on any matter in which the official knows, or has reason to know, that he or she has a direct personal or private interest. (Resolution 08-232)

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Group pushes petition against city bus fare increase

July 2, 2010

By Star-Advertiser staff

The Faith Action Community Equity group will kick off their month-long petition campaign against the recent bus fare hike at Ala Moana Center on Tuesday.

Members of the group will ask bus riders to sign a petition calling for Mayor Mufi Hannemann to reconsider the recent bus fare increase that took effect July 1.

“Families are having a hard time,” said Jun Yang, one of the organizers of FACE. “People are already losing jobs. It’s not a good time for anybody.”

FACE represents 24 churches comprised of working and low-income families.

The campaign will start at 10 a.m. at the Kona Street bus depot near Nordstrom. In the following weeks, members will adopt a bus stop near their church to collect signatures from bus riders.

“We want to collect as many signatures as we can,” said Yang. The group plans to deliver the petition to Hannemann and his administration once the campaign ends.

Bus riders also can sign the petition online at www.ipetitions.com/petition/unfareincrease/. For more information, go to www.facehawaii.org or call 522-1304.

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