Editorials
Monday, June 21, 1999Convention center’s
first anniversaryTHE Hawaii Convention Center has marked its first birthday, a good time for assessing the initial record and the prospects for the future. The first thing to be said is that the talk of a "white elephant" is erroneous.The issue: Some residents think the Hawaii Convention Center is a "white elephant."
As the Star-Bulletin's Russ Lynch reported, the center has hosted more than a dozen events in its first year, attracting a total of about 30,000 people from outside Hawaii. Those numbers are modest, but they are normal for a startup period and are expected to increase.
Sandra Moreno, vice president for meetings, conventions and incentives of the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, noted that conventions are being booked at a faster rate and that many of those who have attended conventions thus far are people responsible for booking other conventions.
For example, the center recently hosted groups from the American Society of Travel Agents, resulting in a booking for a 2,000-delegate convention of travel agents in 2002. "Actually, it's doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing," she maintained.
The center has another seven events booked for the remainder of 1999, including the American Dental Association in October. That gathering alone is expected to attract 30,000 people and will be the center's first maximum-capacity test.
The HVCB estimates that the dentists' convention will generate $118 million in direct spending in Hawaii, which will produce $9 million in tax revenues. The bureau figures that in the next fiscal year people attending conventions at the center will generate about $370 million, producing $28 million in tax revenue.
As for the $350 million cost of the center, it is being paid for almost entirely by revenue from the hotel room tax, recently raised to 7.25 percent.
The convention center special fund gets 17.3 percent of the room tax revenues, which should amount to $27 million in the next fiscal year. So much for the canard that the center is a subsidy for the tourism industry by the Hawaii taxpayer. In fact, tourism is the main prop of the state economy.
Operation of the center is expected to lose about $4 million annually but tax revenues from spending by convention-goers will cover that many times over.
Counting meetings that have already taken place, the center has had 76 firm bookings for conventions and has 78 others awaiting confirmation. Bookings are expected to increase under new policies, with a target of 40 conventions a year averaging 5,000 attendees within five years.
Is that a description of a white elephant? Hardly. The convention center is providing a much-needed boost for Waikiki and the entire Hawaii tourism industry, one that will increase in coming years.
Banning gambling
is best approachTHE National Gambling Impact Study Commission recommends a nationwide minimum age of 21 to place bets, but the odds are that it won't happen. Gambling should remain an issue for the states, not the federal government. In Hawaii's case, that means gambling is illegal -- and it should stay that way.
Banning gambling outright means Hawaii isn't affected by the commission's other recommendations: a ban on betting on collegiate sports, restriction of campaign donations by the gambling industry, removal of cash machines from casino floors, a reduction of state lottery advertising and a moratorium on expansion of gambling.
W. Scott Wood, who teaches a course on the psychology of gambling at Drake University, said he thought some of the recommendations will be used as guidelines, "but there will be no overwhelming endorsement and enactment of the proposals."
That's a safe bet. Pro-gambling members of Congress have vowed to fight any effort to impose new federal restrictions on state-approved gambling. As for the state governments, 37 of them plus the District of Columbia operate lotteries; commercial casinos operate in 10 states and Indian tribes have them in 22 states.
But for all the money generated by gambling, the problems it creates outweigh the benefits. Gambling can ruin lives. It can also result in more crime. Kay James of the national commission said, "I'm deeply disturbed by the impact of gambling on individuals, on families and on communities."
Legalizing gambling is a perennial at the state Legislature. Senate President Norman Mizuguchi is one of its chief advocates. But the lawmakers have resisted the temptation -- so far.
Advocates point to the thousands of Hawaii residents who regularly fly to Las Vegas to gamble. But most of them probably would continue to go even if gambling was legalized here. There is no way Hawaii could compete with Las Vegas on gambling.
The opposite is more likely true: Gambling could hurt Hawaii's image as a peaceful, clean, family-style visitor destination. Addiction to gambling would wreck some careers and families. Prostitution and other criminal activity would increase. Who needs it?
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert 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
