GO RAIL!!!! or GO RAIL??? or NOO RAIL??

[ahuimanu]

Honolulu had its chance... in the 70's and in the early 90's. Honolulu was too lame to act then and will be too lame to act now or in the future. I've been back about 4 times since I left in the mid 90s and the crowding only gets worse - like the island is not a finite resource or anything. Prices are terrible, everything is crowded and plenty of the "paradise" is lost in an urban shuffle... Funny, some of the arguments used to be: "it'll ruin the view" Uhm there are sooooo many high-rises in Honolulu now, my response is: What view?

Good luck Honolulu. I'd love to still be a resident (lived there for 25 years), but my most recent visit (Jan 2008) confirmed that Hawai'i is good for visting, but less so for living - unless you're rich or have long-standing family in the area who obtained land in a kinder and gentler time.

Aloha...

[Spirit7]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Actually, instead of rail what the islands need is a revamped land planning that allows communities to be built that have jobs, shopping and housing all integrated within walking distance. At the moment commercial zoning is kept separate from residential so folks HAVE to commute to work. If small shops and factories were allowed within walking distances of housing areas (think how the sugar plantations were set up) then folks would be able to live, work, shop and play all within walking distance.

How come you no run for office?

You got more brains than our entire State, County or City councils all put together!

YOU GOT MY VOTE!

[hotzcatz]

Ack! I'd survive in public office about two hours before they threw me out. I have a bad tendency to tell the truth or at least the truth as I see it which can annoy way too many folks for me to be in public office. I also don't know enough about enough of the things they have to know about to be a politician. Mostly I do drafting and draw up blueprints for houses, laundromats, small office buildings and the occasional goat barn so how architecture allows folks to interact with each other is something I've paid a lot of attention to. The way the current land use zones are set up pretty much requires that we have folks commuting to work. It was set up that way to provide nice quiet neighborhoods when transportation was inexpensive and easy. The zoning areas should be changed but how to do it will probably require groups of folks to make the changes. Getting all those folks organized is beyond me, but if it involves buildings, then I can arrange things properly. I think the planners of Kapolei intended it to allow folks to live and work in a neighborhood away from Honolulu but folks still go to Honolulu for work since they built the houses and didn't have many businesses there.

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

The way the current land use zones are set up pretty much requires that we have folks commuting to work. It was set up that way to provide nice quiet neighborhoods when transportation was inexpensive and easy.

I think the bigger culprit is the "secondary mortgage market". As in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

When I was a kid, growing up in a small town on Long Island in the 30's and 40's, "Downtown" was mostly made up of stores with apartments over them. Two or three story buildings. That made for a close knit neighborhood feel, and no commuting.

The problem is that such buildings are "mixed use" in Real Estate terms. I don't think banks will loan on such a building nowadays (even before the credit crunch) because they can't sell the mortgage to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, who only buy mortgages for "residential" or "commercial". Not both.

If folks can't get a loan on a particular type of property, I don't think they are going to build that kind of property.

Anyone know if I'm right?

Hank