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On Politics
Richard Borreca
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It's still Fasi vs. Ariyoshi in Kakaako
WE DID WHAT?" is a common cry from this year's Legislature.
The surprise comes not from what was done last year, or in sessions back to the beginning of the millennium, but 30 years ago when the Hawaii Community Development Authority was created.
There are no legislators from 1976 still left in office to remind this year's pols of the power struggle under way between the city and the state three decades ago.
The beef was between former Gov. George Ariyoshi and former Mayor Frank Fasi, with control of Kakaako as the prize.
Then as now, Kakaako served as the crossroad between Oahu's two major real estate zones, Waikiki and downtown.
This year's 76 lawmakers meet next week with the question again asked: What to do with Kakaako?
Thirty years ago, the House GOP and several maverick Democrats formed the opposition to Ariyoshi's plans to create a super planning agency with the power to leap over state and county regulations.
Today the HCDA might not be leaping, but it is certainly taking some big strides to develop a combination waterfront commercial, private condo and private marina on state land.
Critics say there is no justifiable reason to allow a private entity, A&B Properties, to sell state land to finance parks and other public improvements.
Little known was the extent of the super powers that extend to allowing A&B to also take control of the Kewalo Basin commercial marina, with its charter fishing vessels and tour boats.
Back in 1976, however, the same debate and the same warnings were heard at the Capitol. At that time the bill to create the HCDA was pushed by the Democrats and fought by the GOP.
Former GOP Rep. Jack Larsen said the plan was either "a cheap political shot at the present Mayor (Fasi) or misdirected efforts at changing city policy."
"But laws should not be made on the basis of personality," Larsen said in April of 1976.
Another Republican, former Rep. Richard Sutton, said the HCDA would take a pivotal piece of real estate out of public control and "put it in the hands of a non-elected body."
Today it is Governor Lingle who must answer the warnings first voiced when she was just 23. Opponents are already saying they will do whatever it takes to force Lingle to defend the politically undesirable position to sell state land to developers for condo's for the rich.
For Democrats this year, the habit of looking at a person and seeing a way to block that person with a law continues. Lingle's inability to move legislation can partially be explained by the Legislature's insistence in stopping everything that would bolster her own re-election.
While Kakaako's future is still unknown and likely to remain a political football throughout the 2006 legislative session, the 30-year-old warnings of the dangers of making law based on personalities, remains.
Richard Borreca writes on politics every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin. He can be reached at 525-8630 or by e-mail at
rborreca@starbulletin.com.