Checking References: Prevedouros’s UH Bio Lists Research Background, but Where's Transit?

Panos D. Prevedouros, newly declared candidate for Mayor of Honolulu, is the favorite of the anti-rail crowd because of his numerous denunciations of the City’s rail project. Now that he has stepped into the political arena, his background should be subject to as much attention as any would-be governmental leader.

What’s been puzzling about the Professor’s views on transit is the absence of anything in his background to suggest he has any transit expertise. Check out his bio on a University of Hawaii web page.

Anything But Transit

Prevedouros has researched highways, traffic detectors, crossing lights, off-ramps, airports and even helicopter noise, but there’s nothing in the list of his eight research projects about transit.

Maybe there’s something in his Selected Publications. There are 17 publications on the list covering freeway tunnels, traffic counts, freeway simulations, signalized intersections, underpasses, “oversaturated isolated intersections,” accident risk, satellite telemetry, railroads in Greece, automobile ownership in Asian countries, helicopter noise, etc.

Again, there’s nothing about transit in the list. What about his Professional Activities? The list includes work involving freeway and tollway operations; airport terminals and ground access; airfield and airspace capacity and delay; traffic records and accident analysis, and so on.

Searching for the T Word

Again, there are no activities suggesting involvement with transit projects in any way. In fact, you can search the Professor’s UH page for the word “transit” and you won’t find it.

Professor Prevedouros seems decent and likeable enough, but he’s running for mayor of a city with a multi-billion-dollar budget with exceptionally shaky credentials. Judging from a bio that Preverdouros undoubtedly created and posted himself, there’s no reason to believe his high-visibility fight against transit is backed up by expertise in the field.

Back by Popular Demand

Some of the "anonymous" contributors (see Comments) want the world to know that I have a financial interest in supporting this rail project, and I want the world to know, too. Here's the paragraph from the first post back on June 30th:

Full Disclosure: I'm part of the City's public outreach effort; as a communications consultant, I'm hired by clients who want my help in telling their story and influencing public opinion. In this case, I've been hired to share my views with Honolulu residents on why building the City's transit project will be good for our island community based on my long-held convictions. I went on the team last October, but I've been writing without a client and without compensation about the importance of building a transit line here since the early 1990s. Google my name and "Honolulu transit" to find some of those uncompensated columns and letters. (In future posts, I'll link to those items, because the pro-rail arguments I made in the 1990s hold up today.)