City skeptical of
plan to condemn
newspaper
The Star-Bulletin's owner
could be forced to sell
it to the cityJudge issues preliminary injunction
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinCity officials are skeptical of a plan by former Councilman Kekoa Kaapu to condemn the Honolulu Star-Bulletin to stop the newspaper from being shut down.
Kaapu wants the city to use its powers of eminent domain to force Liberty Newspapers LP to hand over the Star-Bulletin to the city for just compensation.
Money would be provided through tax-exempt, long-term bonds by designating the Star-Bulletin as "an urban renewal project."
The city would then, in turn, sell the newspaper to a Kaapu-initiated organization called Public Interest Policy and Economic Research Institute Inc., or some other nonprofit entity, that would then run the paper.
"Every school child and every citizen or every resident of Hawaii who cared to could be a part-owner at a very, very nominal amount," Kaapu said.
"None of us want in any way for the city, or any government entity, to be running newspapers. They're the worst possible people that could do it. But they could use their power of eminent domain, which they alone have."
Kaapu said he's not suggesting that the city condemn every business in danger of folding. A newspaper, he said, "has a special role" with the community.
Such a scheme would have to be approved by the City Council, which has the final say on condemnation issues.
Councilman Steve Holmes, for one, doesn't like the idea.
"I don't think the government should be buying newspapers," Holmes said. "We call the newspaper the Fourth Estate for good reason."
Legal actions are being undertaken by the state attorney general's office and a citizens group calling itself Save Our Star-Bulletin to fight the newspaper's closure, and Holmes said he supports those moves.
"Those venues are appropriate, but I don't think they should ever use its condemnation powers to take over any business with the purpose of keeping that business alive," he said.
Most of the Council's nine members were out of town yesterday and could not be reached for comment.
Mayor Jeremy Harris was out of state yesterday, but a statement issued by Managing Director Ben Lee also wasn't encouraging to Kaapu's position.
"The City and County of Honolulu will do whatever it can within its powers to help save the Star-Bulletin because two independent voices are good for our community," Lee said. "But using the urban renewal law is a very unusual suggestion, and we are not aware of this approach ever being used before." City attorneys are reviewing the matter, Lee said.
Not all thought Kaapu's plan outlandish.
The city has used its eminent-domain powers primarily to condemn land for roads, parks and other amenities deemed "public purpose."
But in recent decades it has also condemned private property under the guise of the Land Reform Act, which allowed the city to force fee landowners to sell fee interests to its lessees.
UH law professor David Callies said the Council, in theory, could very well say that saving the Star-Bulletin is a matter of public purpose.
"Public purpose is whatever a local public body says it is," Callies said. "Legally," he said of a condemnation of a newspaper, "it fits the public-purpose clause."
He noted that the California Supreme Court cleared the way for the city of Oakland to condemn and purchase the Oakland Raiders professional football franchise. The city later chose not to.
"The public-purpose declaration is up to the city," Callies said. Forcing a newspaper owner to sell to the city "is not much different than condemning a viable store in a redevelopment district," he said.
Callies pointed out another instance, in the 1970s, when the city of Detroit was allowed to condemn an entire, viable neighborhood known as Poletown. Detroit then sold the properties to General Motors to build an automobile plant.
Star-Bulletin closing Oct. 30, 1999
