The City Council push to bring Honolulu’s semi-autonomous Board of Water Supply under city control raises questions about another semi-autonomous agency: The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

HART was formed after voters approved a November 2010 city charter amendment. Leading up to that vote, and since, officials have repeatedly likened HART’s operational structure to the Board of Water Supply.

If City Council leadership argues that the public shouldn’t be comfortable with the water board’s semi-autonomy, why should we be comfortable with HART’s?

A spokesman for Mayor Peter Carlisle told Civil Beat that the administration is “reviewing the issue,” but Carlisle will have some questions to answer if he backs the Council on this one. In June, the mayor wrote a piece for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser explicitly comparing the Board of Water Supply to HART, making the argument to “keep the politics out.”

City Council members will have to demonstrate that removing the water board’s semi-autonomy goes beyond a power grab, and that it is what’s best for Honolulu residents.

They’ll also have to explain why residents shouldn’t be worried about the transit authority, since HART was sold to the public based on the success of the water board’s semi-autonomous model.