City answers criticism
on canceled Kualoa concert

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

City officials were close to making a decision on whether to allow a New Year's concert at Kualoa Ranch when the promoter chose to withdraw a permit application, according to Lorrie Chee, deputy director of Planning and Permitting.

Bill Graham Presents of San Francisco had announced plans to stage the three-day music festival at Kualoa featuring the group Phish to ring in the new millennium. But Graham sent the city a letter on Feb. 2 saying it no longer wanted to have the concert in Hawaii and suggested the city permit process was taking too long. A Graham official said the project would have brought up to $10 million into the economy.

Chee said Graham first requested a special permit from the city in November. The city then asked for information regarding the specifics of the event such as parking, traffic mitigation and security measures associated with an event expecting to draw 20,000 concert-goers. The promoter also was asked to address concerns raised by the Koolauloa Neighborhood Board, which in January recommended that the city reject the permit.

The constant exchange of information may have added some time to a decision on the permit, Chee said, but a decision would have been made "in a few weeks" of the time Graham withdrew.

It's not the first time the Koolauloa community has voiced concerns about concerts at Kualoa.

Promoters of the annual Big Mele concert, which draws up to 10,000 people, have stepped up security, parking and traffic controls in recent years in response to complaints from neighbors.