Panos Prevedouros stands alone among Mayoral Candidates on Rail stance. No to Rail. Yes to Traffic Relief.

For Immediate Release
Panos Prevedouros stands alone among Mayoral Candidates on Rail stance. No to Rail. Yes to Traffic Relief.

Honolulu, Hawaii- July 9th, 2010 - Panos Prevedouros, candidate for Mayor, confirms his position on the $ 5 billion + heavy rail project:

NO TO RAIL.

“When elected mayor, I will put a stop to the $5.5 billion project immediately and with the input of the citizens, implement alternate solutions to traffic congestion- solutions that will work and really bring traffic relief, ” explains Prevedouros. “In 2008 the public was deluged with millions of dollars worth of “Light Rail” commercials, emails and letters, and still achieved just 50.6% of the vote for rail. A vote that is not valid today,” he states.

Why is the vote not valid?

>People voted for light rail. What is being proposed is heavy rail.

>People voted for rail through Salt Lake. The proposed rail will run through the airport.

>People voted for rail from Kapolei to UH and Waikiki. The rail starts a mile out of Kapolei and stops short of its original destination.

>People voted for rail to serve communities. Rail will destroy prime agricultural land.

>People voted for congestion relief. Rail will cost $5.5 Billion for a 1% reduction in traffic.

YES TO TAX RELIEF.

The General Excise Tax surcharge funding the rail project is expected to extract between 3 and 4 billion dollars from the local economy. “I can’t imagine any family on Oahu, regardless of income level, that would want to take almost $18,000 out of their wallets and give it to the city to build a rail project that will not significantly reduce congestion,” says Prevedouros. “Immediately after stopping the rail tax, we will work toward eliminating the general excise tax surcharge which will immediately reduce the cost of everything on Oahu.”

WATCH
Panos Prevedouros and Katie O'Donnell on rail and the election http://vimeo.com/13201853