Posted on: Sunday, April 3, 2005

EDITORIAL
Progress requires bold leadership

Two stories in Wednesday's Advertiser suggest the need for something that too often comes up short here: strong leadership. Bold, courageous, decisive leadership.

Story 1: An ambitious $300 million plan by a Texas developer to partner with the state in an exciting Phase II of the Aloha Tower development at Honolulu Harbor has stalled after failing to gain support at the Legislature.

The Aloha Tower Marketplace area has been a disappointing work in progress since the early 1990s. With so much potential, it's a shame that it's been stalled this long.

The latest plans include realigning four lanes of Nimitz Highway and sending them underground, thus connecting Aloha Tower Marketplace and downtown to pedestrian traffic, and a $300 million residential and commercial waterfront development.

It would provide the critical mass and, even more important, the excitement to get this project off the ground.

Story 2: The city will "huddle" on long-term transit options, hoping to come up with a plan of action by early 2007.

Please. Why the rush? After two decades of meetings, planning and studies, let's hope we're closer to making something real happen this time around.

Those who oppose rail transit because it won't cure O'ahu's growing traffic problems miss the point. All great cities provide sophisticated transit for their citizens because providing world-class amenities is what makes cities great.

O'ahu's geography lends itself better than most for rail or monorail systems. What's needed is to pick 21st-century technologies that can excite and deliver, instead of trying to copy the rusting 19th-century systems that suffice for many Mainland cities.

All this will require courageous leadership and out-of-the-box thinking — qualities we'd like to see more of.