He's not a politician, but he believes that he can fix the city's transit, trash and sewer problems.

"The most important person to address these infrastructure problems is an engineer, preferably a civil engineer, and I am one all the way to the Ph.D," said Prevedouros.

Mayor Hanneman said he's been handling those problems ever since he took office.

"We have been doing things that haven't been done for years. road paving, park cleanups, sewers, waste water. We have stuck to our promises; we have delivered on our promises," Mayor Hanneman said.

The contrast between the two men's finances could hardly be greater. Hanneman has two million dollars in his campaign war chest. Dr. Prevedouros will apply for an unpaid leave of absence from his UH job.

"That's gonna be pretty hard, because we are on rent with my fiance. We have a child on the way and I got a step daughter, so it's not gonna be easy and we really don't have money, but we need to do this for the people," Prevedouros said.

The professor has been a long time opponent of mass transit, and his main source of financial support will be the "Stop Rail Now" organization.

The would-be candidate also says that "Stop Rail Now" has collected 80 percent of the signatures it needs to get mass transit on the ballot this fall.

"All the surveys show that people are against rail by at least a ten percent margin," Panos said.

Whereas the Mayor says he's confident that if the stop rail initiative does get on the ballot, the majority will side with him.

"I believe the people of Honolulu will vote to reject it. That's why I'm not afraid," Mayor Hannemann said.

Either way, it looks like the fate of biggest single public works project in the history of the state could be decided this November.

Here's more on Prevedouros's study on transit alternatives. The 47 year old engineering professor said Honolulu would be better off building under-passes or small tunnels at busy intersections to allow free flowing traffic.

He also recommends high occupancy toll lanes or hot lanes in which vehicles with five or more people could travel for free while others would pay a toll.

Prevedouros said his ideas along with upgrades to the bus system would reduce traffic 34 percent and cost less than the rail line.

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