On Politics: No matter how it’s spun, Oahu rail deficit of up to $2 billion is still billions we don’t have

Honolulu’s rail project, the city nightmare exercise in civic planning, development and transportation, keeps on giving.

Last week’s announcement from the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) officials, including Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa, offered up new estimates paring back the multibillion-dollar construction deficit, but solving little.

Hanabusa, speaking in a Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program, said the $3.5 billion deficit could be lower.

She said new estimates pegged the deficit at between $2 billion and $1.5 billion, down from the estimates of up to $3.5 billion. This does not mean success is in sight; this means the financial disaster confronting Honolulu is still somewhere between horrendous and unimaginable, because those billion-dollar figures are not accounted for in any budget, not…