Honolulu Lite
SANITY appears to finally be prevailing in the case of Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium restoration. But sanity's a delicate thing, especially in government. Plug finally pulled
on natatoriumMayor Jeremy Harris has agreed not to push for the full restoration of the swimming pool part of the memorial. At least for now. Which is about as solid as things get in the wacky world of politics. But that means the city won't be spending $11 million to create a state-of-the-art saltwater swimming pool right on the edge for the largest saltwater swimming pool in the world: the Pacific Ocean.
It will still cost a few bucks to restore the arches, which is fine. Memorials are supposed to be maintained so that the memory of those being memorialized is remembered. Or something like that.
The odd thing about this whole restoration business is the way it polarized various sides. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin officially supported full restoration. I know that because the paper ran a number of official editorials on the official editorial page officially supporting the whole shebang.
Then there was me, back here in the cheap seats, lobbing out grenades of verbiage against the full restoration.
I could understand the arguments for full restoration. The natatorium was built as a tribute to Hawaii's World War I veterans and, damn it, it should have been kept up. It was an embarrassment to the state that it fell in such disrepair.
But it did. It became a modern ruin, something like the Coliseum in Rome. The Natatorium's grand arches and majestic bleachers began to look like they had been through a war. It shouldn't have happened. But once it did, it was time to step back and consider what should be done to improve the situation.
IN a perfect world, or at least in a good economy, an argument could be made to spend umpteen millions of dollars to rebuild the entire natatorium, putting in all the advanced scientific gizmos needed to meet modern health guidelines regarding salt water swimming pools. And everyone wouldn't feel so ashamed that veterans were disgraced by letting the place fall apart from the start.
But this isn't a perfect world and it certainly isn't a good economy, so the thought of spending the kind of dough needed for a full restoration seemed insane. It would be something like putting a new CD stereo system in a car that is in such bad shape that it's sitting on blocks. If you don't have enough money to fix the engine and get the car running, why add on the little jazzy extras?
Why not face it? The Natatorium became a historical ruin. Why not restore it just enough to reclaim its past glory and dignity? You don't see the Romans turning the Coliseum into some kind of a modern astrodome. You don't see them putting the arms back on the Venus de Milo statue.
I think some people were against the full restoration because they suspected that there was something else going on. The mayor was pretty vague about who would be running the Natatorium and who was going to pay for the costly upkeep. Some "nonprofit" outfit would probably get the contract, which would have allowed someone a cushy enterprise right on the most famous beach in the world. It's a myth that people involved in "nonprofits" don't make money.
But the argument is over for now. We should now get to work on the economic engine we need to get this city running again. We can add the bells and whistles later.
Charles Memminger, winner of
National Society of Newspaper Columnists
awards in 1994 and 1992, writes "Honolulu Lite"
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Write to him at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, 96802
or send E-mail to charley@nomayo.com or
71224.113@compuserve.com.
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