Editorials
Monday, November 25, 1996
Mainland voters reject
gambling proposals
LAST year 30 statewide proposals to legalize various forms of gambling were rejected on the mainland. On Nov. 5, ballot casino proposals were approved in Arizona and Detroit. But in 23 other elections and referendums, the voters defeated gambling proposals, despite the expenditure of $4 million by gambling interests.
A nationwide backlash against gambling seems to be building momentum. To be sure, the gaming industry posted record revenues of $44 billion last year.
But the voters are getting wise to the down side of gambling - more crime and impoverishment of those who fall victim to the gambling disease. The promise of increased state revenues for education from lotteries often falls short because legislators cut other funding.
An industry analyst, Eugene Martin Christiansen, writes that "gambling remains deeply troubling to many ordinary Americans." Christiansen adds that "against the benefits of jobs and tax receipts must be set the costs of compulsive gambling, and the community dislocation that is the price of any substantial economic development."
All this is highly relevant to Hawaii because proposals to legalize gambling are made virtually every year at the Legislature and probably will be again in 1997. When gambling proposals were being approved in other states, it was harder to resist the idea here. Now it should be no problem.
Hawaii should look elsewhere for answers to its economic needs. Trying to imitate Las Vegas could destroy the wholesome character of the islands' appeal to visitors - in addition to the harm it could do to Hawaii residents.
A chastened Gingrich
NEWT Gingrich has been re-elected speaker of the House, but he is a greatly chastened figure compared with two years ago, when the GOP won control for the first time in 40 years. This time the margin is smaller. More important, Gingrich's popularity has plummeted - so much so that fellow Republican candidates viewed him as a liability and sought to dissociate themselves from him.
Gingrich self-destructed, with fatuous complaints about being seated in the back of the presidential plane and threats of abolishing Medicare, plus his ethically questionable campaign operations.
Accepting his re-election as House Republican leader, Gingrich said, "We find ourselves here with a Democratic president and a Republican Congress and we have an absolute moral obligation to make this system work. If the last Congress was the 'Confrontation Congress' this Congress will be the 'Implementation Congress.' "
It appears that Gingrich has gotten the message that the American people expect action, not more gridlock, in Washington. But the realization may have come too late for him to salvage his credibility.
Hotel redevelopment
THE reopening of the Sheraton Maui represents the kind of effort that much of Hawaii's visitor industry has to make to keep fresh and appealing. The Sheraton Maui was the first major resort at Kaanapali when it opened in 1963. Now it has undergone a redevelopment that saw all but two buildings on the property torn down and rebuilt. The two surviving buildings were extensively renovated.
On Oahu, the renovation of the venerable Moana Hotel and the former Kahala Hilton, now the Kahala Mandarin Oriental, were comparable efforts. But there are many more aging hotels in Waikiki that need redevelopment, which is why the city is proposing amendments to the Waikiki Special Design District plan. The idea is to encourage redevelopment by increasing building densities in exchange for more open space and other concessions. Without redevelopment, Waikiki will continue to grow older and more run-down. That could spell disaster for tourism - and Hawaii's economy.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor