An anti-rail group failed yesterday to get its proposal on the November ballot to block the city's proposed $4 billion rail transit system, ending a four-month-long fight that created widespread community debate and spurred aggressive attack campaigns.

Stop Rail Now lost in all of its last-minute, desperate attempts to create a ballot question asking voters to prohibit the city from building a rail transit system.
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. As its last hope, the group, which wanted the threshold lowered, went to the Hawaii Supreme Court, which issued a ruling yesterday that it would not intervene in this case.

In a final but expected blow to the group, City Clerk Denise De Costa ruled yesterday afternoon that the group collected only 35,056 signatures from verified voters, nearly 10,000 below the requirement.

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