I've forwarded this messege from Aaron Hebshi, with slight editing.
Hopefully, members will receive it in time.

--- Aaron Hebshi <ajhebshi@...> wrote:
To: criticalmasshonolulu@...
From: Aaron Hebshi <ajhebshi@...>
Subject: Young St. - it's crunch time!
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 01:32:45 -0700 (PDT)

Well, Ala Wai wasn't even brought up at the
meeting - it turns out that Young St. is facing
a crisis; today is a critical day.

Here's what Department of Transportation
director Cheryl Soon told us at the Mayor's
Advisory Committee on Bicycling (MACB) meeting
yesterday afternoon.

Councilmember Rod Tam wants to have an Economic
Impact Statement done for the Young St. bikeway
proposal, and he's got at least two other
councilmembers signed onto it. The EIS may
cost $200,000, and will keep anything from
happening on Young St. for maybe 2 years.
Cheryl said that because Young St. is the most
central part of the Honolulu Master Bike Plan,
if we fail here, we're basically going to be
forced to throw the Plan out the window.

An EIS is totally unnecessary since no major
modifications to the roadway will occur. The
latest version of the Young St. bikeway calls
for no center median. Instead, the proposal is
to remove parking from one side of the street,
thereby freeing up enough space for a bike lane
in each direction. The sidewalk will be
expanded slightly, and shade trees will be
planted. The only argument that could be made
in favor of an EIS is that by taking away some
on-street parking (20-25% in this intial phase
of construction between Victoria and
Pensacola), businesses could be harmed.
However, a parking study done by the city
showed that the majority of on-street parking
is not being used by stop-and-shop customers,
but by employees of local businesses and
hospitals who are avoiding paying parking costs
by parking for free on the street. The zone is
signed as a 2 hour parking limit, but the study
found that most of the vehicles were parked all
day. The City has removed parking in many other
locations without the requirement of an EIS.

Cheryl believes that the EIS is being used
simply as a stall tactic, first proposed by an
influential opponent the Young St. bikeway,
Francis Kaneshiro, in Rod Tam's district. To
defeat this resolution, we came up with several
ideas for today.

1. Show up in-force to the councilmeeting on
Wednesday at 3pm - 2nd floor municipal
building. They might not address the issue
until maybe 4pm, so call me when you get off
work to see where they are: 294-3052. I'll
have my phone on vibrator. If you want to
speak, use the following form:
http://www.co.honolulu.hi.us/council/spktrans.htm

2. Email EVERYONE at city council and tell them
to drop the EIS
dmdelacruz@...
akobayashi@...
bmarshall@...
cdjou@...
rtam@...
rcachola@...
gokino@...
ngarcia@...
mgabbard@...
3. Pass on this notice - it's crunch time and
we need everyone to come out.

If we do a good job today, we'll likely
convince city council to go ahead with the
Young St. plan. If we do a poor job, bicycling
in Honolulu will remain unsafe for the
forseeable future.

Mahalo everyone,
Aaron