The new effort by a citizens group to put an anti-rail initiative on the November ballot adds to the uncertainty over O'ahu mass transit, but maybe it's time for voters to weigh in and settle the chaotic decision-making by our elected representatives.

The craziness of the past week has left the $3.7 billion rail line from Kapolei to Honolulu still moving forward, but without any semblance of the consensus we'd like to see on the most expensive public works project in Hawai'i's history.

The City Charter sets a high bar for citizen initiatives, requiring organizers of the referendum to gather and certify nearly 45,000 signatures of registered voters to get their ordinance banning a rail system up for a vote in the general election.

If they clear the hurdles and get it on the ballot, it'll be a clear sign that a substantial number of voters are concerned about the merits of the project and the competence with which it's being carried out — exactly the kind of circumstance the public initiative provision in the Charter was intended to address.

If they fail, it'll be a sign that a good majority of Oahuans are OK with rail transit and we can move ahead with more confidence — and hopefully, less bickering.

The City Council failed last week to choose a transit technology from among steel wheels, rubber tires or magnetic levitation for the 20-mile line after a seven-hour meeting that Mayor Mufi Hannemann described as "the most dysfunctional council session I have ever seen."

The mayor said he's going with steel rail no matter what the council ultimately decides — or will abandon the project in the unlikely event that the council comes up with the six votes out of nine needed to choose a different technology.

Hannemann, meantime, is facing criticism of his own about lucrative transit contracts going to his political associates, feeding public fears that transit will become the biggest opportunity for political profiteering Hawai'i has ever seen.

The confusion left some state legislators regretting that they let Hannemann talk them out of a bill that would have pulled the plug on the half-cent excise tax to pay for transit if the city didn't get its act together soon.

But legislators have their own vested interest in the city's transit tax. They're disgracefully skimming 10 percent off the top to cover nonexistent state collection costs and diverting the nearly $15 million a year to general state spending — likely including expenses in Neighbor Island counties that don't pay the tax.

It's difficult to have trust in a massively expensive project that's costing 10 percent more than necessary right from the start because politicians can't resist taking their rake.

And it's still relatively early in the process; if we've got mayhem now, imagine the free-for-all when the mayor, council, and possibly meddling legislators get around to deciding rich development rights near train stations and setting up a transit authority to preside over the system.

Transit advocates are quick to cry that any drive for a public referendum gives the impression of a lack of local resolve that could endanger the chances of federal funding to pay for about a fourth of the project — the same hobgoblin that's been hauled out all along to quiet contrary voices on rail.

Well, our elected representatives had their chance to demonstrate clear resolve and gave us a muddle instead. What more appropriate time to ask voters if they want a direct voice on the most important decision our city will make in a generation?

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. His columns are archived at www.volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at volcanicash.honadvblogs.com.

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. His columns are archived at www.volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.