University of Hawai'i civil engineering professor Panos Prevedouros says he has the skills best suited to lead Honolulu.

What the city needs, he says, is a chief executive with the know-how to fix its aging sewers and deteriorating roads and to plan for its transportation needs.

Politicians, he says, have led Honolulu into disrepair and wasted millions in taxpayer dollars.

Prevedouros — vying to be the first engineer elected as mayor of Honolulu since John H. Wilson took the job in 1920 — has no experience as an elected official.

Instead of spending years on the campaign trail, he was author of an engineering study that he says is the state's largest-ever simulation of five alternatives to relieve traffic congestion.

"We have to use proper engineering to fix our problems otherwise it gets terribly expensive," said Prevedouros. "It's really upsetting to see an administration that does not understand the technical aspects of running a city wasting taxpayer money."

Prevedouros' focus on engineering — especially his opposition to the city's proposed rail system — has led to criticism that he is a one-issue candidate.

His campaign is backed primarily by anti-rail forces, and he's had little success at fund-raising, with $19,495.32 raised through Sept. 5.

'A POLITICAL UNKNOWN'

Some of the harshest criticism has come from incumbent Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who in the past has said Prevedouros' anti-rail stance is purely "political," and that Prevedouros' claims that Hannemann has been inattentive to infrastructure are "preposterous."

Prevedouros was a leader in the anti-rail campaign before announcing his intent to challenge Hannemann. The engineer said pro-rail advertisements by Hannemann targeting him and other rail opponents motivated him to run.

However his chances of unseating Hannemann, who is backed by an 80 percent approval rating and a nearly $3 million war chest, appear slim.

Neal Milner, a political scientist at the University of Hawai'i, summed up the outlook for the engineer in Saturday's primary:

"He's a political unknown. He doesn't have a lot of political experience and he doesn't have a lot of money and he's running against a formidable candidate."

Milner nevertheless acknowledged Prevedouros "can have some effect on the mass-transit issue and he can bring someone new into the political process."

He added: "He can do some interesting things. Does he have chance? I would bet a lot of money against it."

Unlike Hannemann and the other top candidate for mayor, City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, Prevedouros' 19 years in Honolulu have been spent exclusively teaching and mentoring engineers at the University of Hawai'i.

Not that the 46-year-old native of Patras, Greece, let his lack of public policy experience or dearth of time in front of television cameras affect his performance in a recent debate against the two veteran politicians.

The political novice scored some verbal points as he sought to prove he is more than a voice against rail transit.

Prevedouros was on the offensive, labeling the proposed $3.7 billion commuter rail project a nonsolution and calling the second city of Kapolei — which Hannemann has supported — a failed vision and infrastructure nightmare. Prevedouros accused Hannemann of misleading the public about the true cost of the transit project, which he pegged at $6 billion.

Prevedouros also interjected humor and came off as the everyman who responded to a moderator's prompt to ask a question of his fellow candidates by saying he would ask "a tough one."

INFRASTRUCTURE EXPERT

Prevedouros, with the most advanced degrees of the three candidates, believes that it takes an engineer to understand the science behind the core services that keep a city running.

"Infrastructure is my strength and infrastructure is the weakness of this city," said Prevedouros. "I am quite a diverse and well-educated person. My expertise is infrastructure and I know how to make these services operate efficiently."

Cliff Slater, the retired founder of Maui Divers Jewelry and an ardent anti-rail activist credited with pushing Prevedouros to run, said he believes Prevedouros will get a lot of support from the business community when it comes time to go to the polls.

"Virtually all of our problems are civil engineering problems. Whether it be sewers, water, highways, or rail lines, these are all multibillion-dollar problems," said Slater. "That's where the really hard work needs to be done. He's a very, very competent guy. He has a lot to learn about politics but that doesn't strike me as a disadvantage from a citizen's standpoint."

Instead of building a train that "won't relieve traffic congestion," Prevedouros proposes synchronizing traffic signals and building high occupancy toll lanes to better manage rush-hour commutes.

"No one is talking about the real cost of this project. It is a completely unaffordable project that is a nonsolution," said Prevedouros, in an interview with The Advertiser. "We would be literally throwing money out of the window."

Other targets are what he sees as out-of-control development, and to develop Kapolei into a sustainable city so that those living in the area won't have to commute into town to work, live and play.

Prevedouros champions "sustainable solutions" and believes that he can marshal the power of science to develop waste-to-energy conversion methods that will negate the need for a landfill.

He also believes that he can save money and improve road repairs by developing a new type of recyclable top layer of asphalt that will last much longer than the mixture currently used.

Unlike many who participate in public policy debates, however, Prevedouros has extensive technical expertise, and he's not shy about demonstrating it publicly.

When he released his transportation alternatives study in March, he did so not in a scholarly journal, but at a presentation at the state Capitol.

The study concluded that a system of high-occupancy toll lanes, bus rapid transit, highway underpasses and a Pearl Harbor car ferry would cost a third of the price of a starter rail system while moving people and traffic quicker and more efficiently.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

At the time, Hannemann blasted Prevedouros, saying his study was political, not objective, and the ideas "have not been able to generate any momentum and support."

Prevedouros' journey to the public eye began in Patras, Greece's third-largest city, with a population of more than 200,000.

His family shares his technical bent, with a brother and a sister who are electrical and industrial engineers.

Prevedouros earned his undergraduate degree from the engineering college at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, before moving to the United States, where he earned a master's degree and a doctorate in transportation engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

He joined the civil engineering department at UH in 1990 and has served as the chair of its civil engineering graduate program since 2003.

He regularly lectures at international symposiums and conferences and has shared his expertise in 10 countries and 33 cities including Beijing, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, London, Munich, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Venice, Vienna and Washington, D.C.

Prevedouros took a leave of absence from his post as a tenured professor, which pays more than $125,000 a year, to run for mayor.

TALENTED AND EFFICIENT

Ron Riggs, chairman of the civil engineering department, said Prevedouros is an efficient and talented engineer.

"He's very efficient at what he does in terms of what he's done in the department," said Riggs. "It's a characteristic that is easily ascribed to him. I consider him to be a contributive and productive member of the department. He came here as an assistant professor and he is now a tenured professor."

Larry Head, an engineering professor at the University of Arizona and a colleague of Prevedouros, compared his campaign to that of Bob Walkup, the mayor of Tucson. Walkup is an industrial engineer by training and worked as an engineer for Hughes Aircraft Co. for almost 30 years.

"I believe he (Walkup) is very effective because he is able to understand the technical as well as the political issues involved in running a city. I don't believe consultants can 'dazzle' him with technical details to sell a point. He truly understands the technical side of the issues," said Head. "I hope Panos is successful."

Prevedouros was married for 13 years but divorced in 2005. He said he maintains an amicable relationship with his ex-wife.

He is engaged to Katie O'Donnell, a Radford High School graduate and Kahuku native, and the couple is expecting a baby boy in September. They live in a rented house near Triangle Park in Kahala but also own a rental property in Kapolei.

His stepson is a senior in the UH civil engineering department and works daily with Prevedouros on projects and research.