City councilwoman and mayoral candidate Ann Kobayashi yesterday abandoned her long-standing support for a rubber-tire-on-concrete mass-transit system and vowed to educate the public about cost-effective alternatives to the proposed $3.7 billion rail-transit system.

While accepting the endorsement of University of Hawai'i engineering professor and former mayoral candidate Panos Prevedouros, Kobayashi said current economic conditions will not support a steel-wheel-on-steel-rail transit system or any other train system. "We can't afford it," she said.

Kobayashi is running against incumbent Mufi Hannemann in the Nov. 4 mayoral election.

She named Prevedouros her campaign's senior infrastructure adviser and said her campaign will unveil a comprehensive transportation plan that uses alternatives to relieve traffic congestion while considering the depressed state economy.

Kobayashi and Prevedouros appeared together yesterday with Cliff Slater, a retired businessman and leader of the group Stop Rail Now, in front of the news media and supporters at her campaign headquarters.

Prevedouros and Slater said they will work with Kobayashi's campaign to persuade people to vote "no" on the Nov. 4 ballot question asking voters whether the city should build a steel-rail system.

Prevedouros, who previously said he could not support Kobayashi because she favored a form of rail transit, said three meetings with her and her advisers convinced her that rubber tires on concrete is not the answer.

"She saw rubber tire on concrete and realized it was akin to a rail system and that it would cost more to maintain," he said after the news conference. "She was willing to support a more flexible system. Ann listens. We're not going to do a train with rubber tires."

Prevedouros and Kobayashi declined to discuss their transportation plan yesterday, saying it will be released to the public in the next week. But she said rail will not be part of it.

"No to a train going through our beautiful city. We can't afford it," Kobayashi said.

"I don't think there has been enough said about the alternatives. There are many ways we can handle this traffic problem and there are ways we can fix it without going into debt."

PREVEDOUROS ON TEAM

Prevedouros, a first-time candidate, took 17.7 percent of the vote in Sept. 20's primary election and Kobayashi took 30.2 percent. Hannemann got 49.4 percent. The race is going to a runoff because no candidate got more than half the vote.

Kobayashi lauded Prevedouros' expertise on transit and his experience as a civil engineer specializing in traffic control and other infrastructure issues. She said they will work to refine strategies for repairing sewers and roads, and for maintaining the city's overall infrastructure.

"I've always respected Dr. Prevedouros. He brings so much to the table with information and documentation. We make a great team," Kobayashi said.

Prevedouros and Slater will help form so-called Kobayashi Truth Units to counter what they characterize as misinformation from city hall.

Hannemann, who is attending a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami, said in a statement that it would be "very presumptuous to assume that Prevedouros supporters would now flock to Kobayashi simply because both had campaigned against an incumbent mayor."

"Panos did well in his first attempt at public office, and we welcome his supporters to review our record of leadership and accomplishments. We welcome Panos' supporters and all voters to consider these and other critical issues, including public safety, the economy and environmental protection, and we respectfully ask for their support on Nov. 4," he said.

"As we face growing economic challenges, Honolulu requires a proven leader with a solid track record of experience making tough decisions, tackling problems and creating jobs. Panos and Ann have very different views about solving O'ahu's transportation problems and other issues, and their supporters tend to come from very different backgrounds."

POLITICAL ANALYSIS

Neal Milner, a political scientist and the University of Hawai'i's ombudsman, said the endorsement from Prevedouros will help Kobayashi clearly define her traffic policy but that she still faces an uphill climb to beat the incumbent Hannemann.

Milner said Kobayashi had failed to do a good job of distinguishing her positions from Hannemann's.

"I think what she's trying to do is come up with a clear counterproposal to what Mufi proposes all the time ... and that's one way to get the Panos supporters," Milner said.

However, he said Prevedouros' support is "nice to have but it doesn't bring on a whole lot of resources."

"It's not like you can add on his votes to hers and say they are going to come over (to her side). I think she is trying to pick up pointers from Panos about what a comprehensive transportation policy looks like. It gets her kick- started but I think she still has to overcome the challenge of taking on an incumbent mayor who is reasonably popular."