While promoting its proposed $3.7 billion commuter rail project, the city administration has reminded voters that West O'ahu residents endure the worst traffic congestion on the island and that relief is needed immediately.

The candidates vying to represent the City Council 1st District, which stretches from the 'Ewa Plain to Makaha, differ on whether that plan will solve anything.

Incumbent Todd K. Apo supports the rail project, while his opponent, retired Navy Cmdr. Garry P. Smith, is against it.

Apo says the plan has the support of the people living in the district and will serve as an economic catalyst in tough times.

"The reason I support this project starts with the fact that my constituents are strongly in favor of it," Apo said. "These are the guys sitting in traffic on a daily basis. That led to me doing a pretty thorough investigation as to what the realities were.

"If we have the ability to pull nearly a billion of federal funds and drop it into our economy during these tough times, it's a fantastic add-on."

Smith is not buying the city's transit plan. "I do not support rail because it will not provide any traffic relief for this district. Rail will not serve 'Ewa Beach, Wai'anae, Makaha or Nanakuli. It will only serve a small portion of Kapolei," Smith said. "Rail will require us to ride a bus to the station, catch the train, ride a bus from our drop-off and reversing the process when we come home from work. That will take longer than it does now."

The candidates are as different as their views on transit.

Apo, 41, is a 1985 graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, where he lettered in baseball, football and basketball while serving as student body president. He earned undergraduate degrees in economics and computer science from Brown University, where he continued to play football and baseball. Apo returned to Hawai'i and received his law degree from the University of Hawai'i's William S. Richardson School of Law and an MBA from what is now the Shidler College of Business.

He married his high school sweetheart, Jaime Paet, a member of the 1987 UH Wahine volleyball team that won a national championship. The couple lives in Kapolei with their two children.

Smith, 56, moved to Honolulu from Portland, Ore., at the age of 23 when the Navy sent him to his first duty station aboard a fleet oiler based in Pearl Harbor. He retired from the Navy in 1995.

Smith graduated from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., earning a bachelor's degree in business administration. He also has a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

Smith and his wife have lived in 'Ewa Beach since 1978. The Smiths have owned and operated Painted Rainbows, a graphic arts and financial services company. The couple have no children.

Here is where the candidates stand on several key issues:

THE ECONOMY

Smith says he is worried about what the economic crisis means for the people in District 1. He says the city needs to scale back spending, starting by renegotiating pay raises for city employees, cutting city positions and limiting capital improvement projects. Declining property values will affect property tax revenue, he says, and the city needs to implement a taxation formula that would have residents pay the same amount each year.

Apo, the council's Budget Committee chairman, said the key to seeing the district through the economic crisis is to maintain and create jobs.

Keeping essential capital improvement projects moving while restricting city spending to ensure that taxpayer money is being spent efficiently on necessary city services is key to surviving and prospering during economic downturns, he said.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Lack of sufficient roads serving 'Ewa Beach and the poor quality of streets in Wai'anae, Nanakuli, 'Ewa Beach, Makaha and Kalaeloa concern both candidates.

"We cannot continue to develop West O'ahu the way it is currently planned," said Apo. "The infrastructure is not there right now, but a lot of work is being done out there to create that infrastructure."

Apo cited continued work on Kapolei Parkway and the North-South Road, and projects planned by the state Department of Hawaiian Homelands as initiatives that will help push infrastructure development.

Smith said the water main between Kapolei and Wai'anae ruptures constantly, and that city streets in the district are not maintained as they should be. He said he would work to address crowded parks and the homeless camps that have sprouted up on district beaches.

THE LANDFILL

Apo and Smith feel the need for a new landfill can be negated by expanding the city's waste-to-energy conversion plant at Campbell Industrial Park, shipping trash off of O'ahu and using expanded, island-wide recycling.

Apo wants the landfill closed in November 2009, when its special use permit expires. Smith also supports the closure but wants to ship trash to a landfill on the Big Island rather than the Mainland, keeping jobs in state.