For one brief, shining moment, the City Council teetered yesterday on the brink of artful compromise before falling into the same old political hogwash.

By failing to garner the votes for the more sensible fixed-guideway initial alignment that includes the airport, the council has settled on the lesser option: crossing on the mauka side, along Salt Lake Boulevard to Mapunapuna before reconnecting with the Nimitz Highway route.

Councilmember Todd Apo tried to salvage the original Kapolei-to-Ala-Moana route, with its airport service, by adding a commitment that city engineers would study the University of Hawai'i-Manoa and Salt Lake spurs as well — as future add-ons or alternate routes.

That fell short by one vote, thanks to Romy Cachola, Donovan Dela Cruz, Ann Kobayashi, Barbara Marshall and Gary Okino. So much for the shining moment.

There's enough blame to go around: Most supporters of the system believe the council as a whole has failed to grasp the overriding importance of integrating the airport in this critical transit development.

Perhaps the council should take a page from Apo's playbook and consider authorizing that engineering studies of the airport alignment be prepared as well. There's a good chance for a change of heart by the time construction approaches that juncture, so it's wise to be prepared for it.

The city needs to work with the congressional delegation to present the best possible case for funding — and aggressively work to get in an airport alignment.

We all could mourn from now until doomsday the lemon the council has handed us, made even more sour by the 5-4 margin. At this point, it's smarter to hunt for a decent lemonade recipe. And let voters deal with these council members come election day.