ハワイ旅行･ホテル･ショッピング･グルメ･求人

The anti-rail group Stop Rail Now failed in court yesterday to get its proposal on the November ballot to block the city's rail plan. Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto upheld yesterday morning his earlier decision that the group needed 44,525 signatures from registered voters to be successful in its petition drive.

In a desperate bid to end the four month long stand-off on the issue, the group went to the Hawaii Supreme Court to ask the court to throw out Judge Sakamoto's earlier ruling. The Supreme Court refused to overturn the case. With that decision, the door was opened for City Clerk Denise De Costa to rule that the group collected only 35,056 signatures from verified voters, nearly 10,000 below the requirement. Roughly 45,000 signatures were submitted to the City Clerk's Office, of which nearly 10,000 were found to be either unregistered voters or improperly registered.

While the Stop Rail Now question will not be on the ballot, another measure proposed by the City Council will be. The question put forward by the council will be whether the city should build a "steel wheel on steel rail" system. Mayor Mufi Hannemann, a staunch supporter of rail, thinks that voters will approve the project. Voters can expect increased advertising both pro and con in the coming weeks.